That's an interesting point, even if one guy did mortgage his house..how did he make those mortgage payments? I know some large, housebound people have at home jobs, but I can't imagine a job that supports a $300+ a day food addiction.

I watched a little bit of it last night as well, but just couldn't watch it... What I wonder is how these people can afford all that food?

-Aimee

It appears this show is going to be on again on February 18 and 19th. I set up a reminder to watch this

http://tlc.discovery.com/tvlistings/...=0&channel=TLC

Tara, I missed the first 20 min's so I didn't see the part about the bucket. Some of these people did admit they are very manipulative and could get "mean" if they didn't get the food they wanted. Or if the family or caretakers refused the food they'd get it by other means. I really don't know what I'd do if I had a family member who was in this situation with food. It's easy to say I wouldnt' cook for them like that or enable them to get the food but in reality I haven't "walked in their shoes".

I wondered the same thing about the money. They can't work. How can they afford to eat that much? We have a family of four and my food budget is $150.00 a week. Most of them spend more than that per DAY. I'm sure that because of their health they draw disability but it doesn't pay that much. (I know it's based on previous earnings, what did they do in the past?) . It made me wonder if government progams have to pay them more because of the huge amt. of food they "require" per day. These people didn't look like they had successful at home businesses to me. (I could be wrong here). Or do family members suffer financially for having to buy them all this food?

My Mom had to do this, not because she overate, but because she had a tongue thrust and her dentist wanted her to fix her problem before she got braces....she had to go to a speech therapist and learn how to swallow properly (at age 50) before they would allow her to get braces. She sure didn't like watching herself eat!

I'm going to have to look for this show. I love TLC and Discovery (esp. Discovery Health).

My husband and I watched this show last night on TLC. Like many of you, my husband had to look away when the close-up eating shots where on - totally made me put down my ice cream sandwich, that's for sure!

We also discussed how in the world these people afforded to eat this way. The show never touched upon the issue of where everyone got their money to spend on such a diet, much less living expenses.

I felt so sad for these men and women. Their lives are just slipping away and they all feel like there is no way out.

It got me thinking - just like a drug addiction, people can check themselves into a rehab, a safe place, and get help. Is there such a place for people with food addictions?

This sounds like a show I need to see, repulsiveness and all. I have had problems with binge eating and I go through cycles where I am totally in control and eating a healthy diet, but other times when I am really stressed or life seems out of my control I just comfort eat, like I'm outside myself. It is sad seeing these morbidly obese people on TV and the way it affects their families. Did anyone remember seeing that bit on Dr. Phil where that 600+(?) lb woman said she suffered a spider bite that caused her to gain 400 lbs? In reality, she stayed in her bedroom on her bed and made her family eat meals with her there. She would call her normal weight teenage/young adult son while he was out grocery shopping and tell him what she wanted i.e. potato chips, sodas, candies, or any other food product etc. and she would know exactly which isle the product was in even though she hadn't been outside the house for years! It was amazing and seriously depressing at the same time.

I guess I am wondering...what was the point of the show? Were they getting the people help or was it pure voyeurism into their lives?

As for a safe place for them, I did see another show on TLC before about morbidly obese people and a center where they could go. I can't remember what state ( Ohio maybe) where they could be placed in this center, have a strict food plan, exercise plan based on whatever their capabilities were. Even in this center, many family members would sneak them tons of junk food for them to eat. In this particular show, some of them died without ever being able to leave the center. It was sad.

Perhaps you're thinking of Andover? I believe it's a "retirement community" in Ohio somewhere. I saw a show that featured patients/clients of Andover but iirc they were encouraged to eat healthy but could request anything to eat and the staff would bring it to them.

I saw this show last night. It was very sad.

Im on disability and believe me, it doesnt pay enough to buy that amount of food!

Omg. I am so freaken skeeved-out just reading about this...thinking about this...I could never bring myself to watch it. I'd cry, or throw up, or scream, or have nightmares, or probably some combination of all of the above. How the heck can you just watch your family member, someone you love, killing themselves like this? You do what you have to do; that's how I'd look at it.

It's like getting a suicidal person help. You 5150 them - at least that's what it is in California, it's where you bring the person to the attention of a mental health facility for behavior threatening themself or others, and they are involuntarily committed for 72 hours, at which point the psychs there check them and decide whether or not they stay longer. The person in question doesn't get a choice; and I would think that totally appropriate for this situation. It is an ILLNESS. It's not just some lack of willpower or whatever. That, when it gets to that point, is an honest-to-Goddess disorder, and it requires that people approach it and treat it as such. Forcibly, if need be. Just like a suicidal person, like I said - they may hate you for it, but they will be better-off because of it in the end.

Just my $.03 or so.

Just did some web searching and found that the clinical name for excessive hunger is polyphagia or hyperphagia and it is listed as a type of eating disorder.

Jay

You know, Jay, I seem to remember there being a CSI ep that dealt with that. Something about the nerves that normally signal the hunger centers in the brain malfunctioning so that NOTHING can sate the person's hunger.

Nikaia, I remember that episode. But I couldn't find any description that sounded like what they had on CSI. Not sure whether that was real or not.

Jay