Family came in and left tons of food. Before they came, I made the resolve that I was going to throw away whatever food they leave after themselves.
Here I am now, about 10 days after they have that they've left now. I've been nibbling on the food everyday.
The mere thought that there might be someone, somewhere who is dying because they can't get this food cripples me. I lie myself that I can keep it for later, but I can't live around ANY food.
How do you get over that?
Personally, that "dying poor kid" reasoning accounts for a lot in my weight gain. I'd say between 10-25% of my extra weight is due to that. How about you?
PS: This is not the kind of food that can be donated.

On a personal level, it was just something I had to get over. If it's not something I can donate, it's not something they even have a remote chance of getting. Therefore I'm not keeping anything from them, or depriving them of anything, just because I throw out the food. Along those same thoughts, you keeping the food, and gaining extra weight through nibbling because it's in the house, also doesn't help them. They aren't going to see you and think "Thank you for eating what we couldn't have!" or "Thank you for never letting anything go to waste!"

In the end, for me, I had to come to terms with the fact it was something I was using as an excuse to make myself feel better about keeping the food in the house. It wasn't something I was doing for charity, it was all just feel goods for me, and they weren't healthy feel goods so I had to find a different way to cope.

As a side note, that some may find amusing.. The "finish your plate, there are starving kids elsewhere" line is one my parents used on me a lot when I was a kid. I clearly remember thinking starving kids in Africa had nothing to do with the food on my plate, and even thought that it'd be better if I threw the food away so people looking in trash for food would have something to eat. Mind you, I was probably around 6-7 years old at the time. I don't think that way now, but I do laugh about the fact I had that thought.

I also don't use that line on my kid now. I'd rather him quit eating when he's full and not learn to "appreciate" food by eating more than he needs to just because it's there. I do think my reluctance to throw food out, and determination to not let anything go to waste, led me to eating bigger portions as I got older. I'd want to finish all the food at the restaurant and so on. I can't say how much of my weight gain that caused, but I do think it was a contributing factor.

The real starvation comes from people eating the wrong foods, low in nutrients, and not not enough food.

So throw away that cr@p. I wouldn't feed it to a poor kid.

Poor kids are often obese because of the sh!t they eat, which is cheap.

Poor kids need healthly food and so do you.

Bin it.

I've had to get past this as well, as I grew up in a "clean your plate!" household and I'm generally not one to waste. I hate waste. LOATHE waste.

BUT - you have to find other ways to avoid the problem without eating all of it yourself. If it's junk, send it home with family, bring it into work, etc. If it's good food (meat, maybe) but just too much, try to freeze what you can or turn it into healthier meals.

And finally, it sounds like this is something that won't happen very often. Sometimes you just have to THROW IT OUT. If you have a garden, COMPOST it! If you have a food disposal in your sink, put it in there! (In many cities they actually welcome this because they use the solid waste for energy)

And then, donate money to a trusted charity to feed those children you are so worried about.

It's an excuse to eat more. Really it's just BS. Every year I make charitable donations, I do volunteer work in my community, I buy Christmas presents and donate them at my local
Hospital, was a part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and I perform free concerts at local nursing homes. There is a huge difference between being charitable and eating all the food on my plate. When I go to a restaurant I package whatever food I didn't eat and hand it to a homeless person on the street (I live in NYC so homeless hungry people are everywhere).

Don't fool yourself into thinking that you are helping the world by eating all the food on your plate. The only way to help the world is by actually helping the world.

I don't doubt that the anxiety or guilt you feel is real over it. But whether you needlessly eat it and feel bad over that, or throw it away and feel bad over starving kids, you're probably going to feel bad either way, unless you change your thinking.

Is there a way you can turn it into something positive? Donate time or items or money to a food or shelter. Get rid of it with our blessing!

Eating the food isn't help the poor anywhere. Our grocery stores throw away millions of pounds of good food every year so the amounts we throw away is just a drop in the bucket. For your health, physical and mental, if you don't want to eat it, throw it away.

Honestly? I was that poor kid, and I think that's a big reason as to why I am overweight. I didn't really have access to the "special" foods (ie JUNK) that I wanted/felt deprived of and definitely not in as large quantities as I do now...

I also have a habit of liking/eating "poor" foods that are not nearly as nutritionally good(ie white bread vs wheat, canned foods vs fresh), that I've had to work a long time to break that habit.

The most wasteful thing you can do with food is send it down the throat of an overweight person who has already had enough. It's like pouring water over a drowning person because you didn't want to waste the water.

I guess I'm not sure how you decided that eating to excess was somehow less offensive to the poor than throwing away the extra food.

Become active in a group that helps promote healthy birth control in starving countries. The only long-term solution to starvation is returning populations to the numbers that can be sustained by the local food supply.

That is so true. It's a shame that we in first world countries have a problem with eating too much while they starve, but the answer is certainly not for us to eat even more.

I have dealt with this a lot too...my parents used the whole, "clean your plate, we paid for this, there are starving people who would love to eat this," mentality. But then a couple of years ago a friend of mine said, why should I overeat just because other people don't have enough to eat? The food you have can't be given to people who are hungry. These foods aren't good for you or for them. I know it's hard to just throw things away, I still have a hard time doing it. But try to just get rid of it, even if you can only throw away one thing at time.

YES to all of this. I have turned leftovers into pretty much anything just so I can freeze it.

I remember, my Mom got after my youngest sister, "clean your plate, there are starving children, in China." My sister, 7 years old, said,

"Send it to them, I am full"

Can you donate it? If so, fine. If not, can it be composted? Maybe a local ag group could use it.

Here is the thing, I get not wanting to waste food, but eating it for that reason only, helps no one.

It does not help you, and the people you feel sorry for aren't getting it either! The starving children, elsewhere, won't feel better, if you clean your plate.