General

I've always been a slow eater, and my years of fighting an ED made it worse.

Although my appetite has increased as I've gained (yay!) I'm still the last one to finish. I'm usually baffled by people who seem to be able to talk through dinner, not talk with a mouthful at all, and still have their food disappear. 😂

When I try to rush just to keep up, I get indigestion and even heartburn, perhaps from ...anxiety? I don't drink a lot (water) before or while eating, I don't *think* I swallow a lot of air? This happens no matter what the food is, a salad, a burger, ice cream, anything.

So, I can eat MORE but it takes even longer. When I'm home alone it's fine but I have limited time at work, and it's embarrassing when I am out with other adults.

Right now I want to keep gaining, which means eating more, which means taking so much longer. Anyone else experience this? Any ideas for improving this at all??

Is this the result of a natural process,
or from the meds used to treat ED?

I can’t say I have had any ED, but I am a very slow eater, where my food is on my plate visibly as I’m talking.

Same here. When I try to rush I get heartburn as well. I think because when you're hurrying, you're not taking enough time to chew, so you end up with more solid food in your stomach that's harder to digest. My coping mechanism is just talking less, and trying to get comfortable with the idea of making people wait for you, lol

Etiola and I have talked about EDs before. I think we've had different experiences and my body didn't react the same way. I used to be athletic as well and I've had a high metabolism for many years. I found it very difficult to gain both mentally and physically. It was as if I'd "broken" my body with a smaller stomach, heartburn, and no appetite at all. These are things I've had to work on for a long time.

I have never taken meds for ED as I never told anyone and hid it - people just complimented me when I lost weight. 😥😠 Not their fault I guess.

I tend to probably chew *too much*?? I am trying to take larger bites, but tend to chew a lot and have a totally empty mouth before the next bite.

I think when I try to rush I get embarrassed and anxious, and that may be a big factor for upsetting my stomach too. I have started talking less - which is VERY hard for me I'm really chatty. 😂 But I think you're ultimately correct in saying I'll have to get used to making people wait a bit longer. Or, eat less in front of people and pig out in private? 😂 Not ideal, but an option I suppose.

I appreciate all the convo everyone, this really helps. 😁

I have this same problem too and I believe for me it stems from what my mom one told me when I was a kid, that if I ate too fast I would get the hiccups and I hated getting the hiccups so I started eating slow. :V

If I eat to fast I get bad ingestion but I tend to eat fast enough even with more food that I’m the first one done and up for seconds if applicable. But I tend to eat my food very hot not letting it cool at all unlike some people where they wait a bit to eat so that’s a factor