Was going to post this in food, but I think being a featherweight is key to what I'm saying, so I'll post here...

I think about food CONSTANTLY. I don't mean I think about food in terms of counting calories or fat (I log everything I eat but I actually don't count either fat or calories - just try to keep it low/reasonable and notie to myself when I eat something unhealthy). It's more that I just think of all the things that could taste good and I get excited about.

I don't plan meals for the week because I really love cooking whatever I'm in the mood for that day. On the subway on the way home from work, I think about what to get at the grocery store (I go almost every day); when I get home and look in my cupboard, I think of a hundred yummy things I want to eat. I love making meals out of a meat and then two veggies with coordinating spices to the meal, or doing a theme like miso soup and tofu stir fry, and I love coming up with ideas for that.

However, sometimes I worry that me thinking about food so much is unhealthy. I know they say focusing on food is a sign of an eating disorder, but I do eat a very balanced diet, and I'm definitely not starving myself OR overeating. My weight is within normal range - not dangerously low or high, it's just a few pounds more on the higher side of normal than I'd like it to be.

So what do you guys think? Is this some kind of eating disorder? Or just a sign that I've outgrown my picky-eating-past and am becoming more of a foodie?

Scenestealer - I don't have the answer but you sound a lot like me!!! I have thought about food (obsessively?) as long as I can remember. I can recall being a child visiting at a friend's house or visiting my aunt and uncle and hoping to be offered something to eat!! I am the kind of person who thinks about lunch while eating breakfast, and dinner while eating lunch! I love to go to the grocery store - and don't even get me started on farmer's markets or high end gourmet shops!! HEAVEN! I love to dine out and I love to cook. I have taken a number of culinary arts classes over the years. I look forward to making dinner (most nights) and entertaining others with a meal is a passion of mine. Food for me is much more than nourishment - it is a very social thing. I tend to eat fairly healthy, well balanced meals and I'm not big on processed foods but I think about food constantly! Do you have the same problem with alcohol? I don't think I drink too much (yet), but I am always picturing that perfect drink that I want to have. Sunny day? Time for a Margarita! Cool day? Time for some red wine! Football game? Time for a beer! Gray's Anatomy is on? Let's shake up a cocktail!...you get the picture. I've often wondered if this fixation on food and drink (oral fixation?) is normal or not - but like I said I don't have the answer. Good to know there is someone else like me!

I wish I had an answer. Unfortunately I don't. :| I'm in the same boat, although I haven't always been--this has been lasting for a few months only. I don't know the reason. Is it all this focusing on calories? On not overeating? Is it because in order to eat in a healthier way, I've opened my mind freely to vegetables and plenty of yummy healthy foods, and now it's like 20 years of eating only bland foods are getting washed down by such a huge free flow? I have no idea. Maybe it's just that. Maybe we just like food because it's tasty.

I don't think it's unhealthy. I consider food to be one of my hobbies; it's something I enjoy, so of course I spend a lot of time thinking about it. I love food; I love everything about it. I love thinking about it, I love planning meals, I love finding new recipes, I love organizing my recipes, I love grocery shopping, I love the farmers' market, I love talking about food, I love reading about food, I love trying new foods, I love cooking and baking, and most of all, I love eating. The only thing I don't like is cleaning up.

No one questions how much time people spend on other hobbies unless they start to interfere with their relationships or their careers. For example, I have a friend who is really into movies. She spends tons of time watching moves, thinking about them, talking about them, making her own movies, etc. No one thinks this is unhealthy. Or consider people that are really into sports--they often spend excessive amounts of time and money on their sport and no one thinks that is unhealthy. And it's not like I don't have other interests; I have lots of other things that I enjoy doing (including some sports, even). Food is just one of my many interests.

Unless food starts to get in the way of your relationships or your job, I don't think it's unhealthy to spend lots of time thinking about it, so long as you enjoy it. Some of us are just into food.

I'm no expert, so I can't give you an "official" answer. But my belief is that some people think more about food than others. It only really becomes disordered when it starts to affect your behaviour around food in an unhealthy way, eg. starving, planning binges, being extremely rigid re: eating, etc. It doesn't sound like you do any of that stuff, I think you sound (to me) like a girl who just enjoys cooking and food. I think about it a lot too - moreso if I've been eating badly. Once I'm in the groove of eating well for a while, I think about it less.

Some of us are just "more into food" (thanks to Barbara for that one) than others.

My focus on what I'm putting into my mouth shifts with my circumstances. Last week on holiday I really just enjoyed what I was eating. No calorie counts, measuring, etc.

Now I'm much more attuned to the "diet factor" again and I am measuring, counting etc. I think about food a lot because I'm the one that cooks/feeds all of us but I don't think it's an obsession. Again Barbara expressed it well when she said food was one of her hobbies. Mine too!

Dagmar

Wow, I am SO glad to hear everyone feeling the same way I do I guess it's just all that "warning signs of an eating disorder" that we get drilled into our heads in grade school... makes me question what are actually normal behaviors. Enjoy your food planning and cooking, everyone

I think about food ALL the time too... What I will make for supper, what will please everyone, etc... I think it's pretty well normal if you enjoy food like most of us do here... We don't actually come to this site because we "dislike" food ...