No you are not stupid...when I do this it is more of a knee jerk reaction and it is done and eaten before I realize what I did. I know I have done this with things I do not favor so much and could of saved my money or donated it. I guess I have to learn to think before I do it. Also never having cash only a debit card has helped! Especially with Girl Scouts and those coooookies!

I have definitely done that. When those kids sell candy like M&Ms to raise money for their basketball team uniforms, I'm a total sucker. Why I actually eat the candy is beyond me. I could not take it and they could sell it again to someone else or I could give it away to someone at work, but instead I stuff it immediately in my mouth and I even think wow, maybe I don't like chocolate as much as I thought I did, that wasn't so great. But I continue to do it again and again. Don't beat yourself up for it. You (we) are not stupid. We just need to try to think before we respond.

I can't think of a time where I have bought something from a sale but I can think of many times that I have ordered something at a restaurant or been served something at someone's house or even made something or someone else made something at home for that matter and I can steady complain about it while I eat the whole thing and then afterwards I think and sometimes even complain out loud. Why did I even eat that? I didn't even like it! The last thing I did that was some pop tarts. The only ones I like are the cinnamon ones but my dad bought the smores ones and I ate 2 packets of them and then was like....I don't even like these!!! Maybe next time we'll all think twice and won't eat it. This was a good post and no you aren't stupid, Marah. If you are we all are!

Sometimes I think I get that old saying from mom stuck in my head...."You better eat that, there are starving children in Africa that would be greatful to have it"!!! I am very guilty of eating things I was not very fond of, and then I go on and eat what I really wanted as well!!!! UGH......

Tleaw: I couldn't agree more. I have noticed that sometimes when I eat things, even chocolate, I'm saying to myself (or outloud) that I must not like chocolate as much as I think I do because it wasn't very good or that special, yet in my head I LOVE chocolate. Seems I only like some types and not all, but eat the stuff I don't like that much and don't realize it until after I'm done.

Oh yes, when I was growing up, you finished all the food on your plate or else. I hadn't thought of that connection before. Sometimes I was still at the table at bedtime because I hadn't finished dinner yet. I am now a vegetarian after being physically forced to eat liver as a child. My dad would put the liver in my mouth, close my mouth so I had to chew and swallow. Then I would go throw up after. I really never made that connection before.

Oh ya, JustConfused...I left that part out... after eating whatever it is that I didn't want or like usually I'll go on to eat what it is that I do want or like. Same thing if I have a taste for something I will eat everything I can get my hands on trying to avoid eating the ice cream (for example) and then finally just eat the ice cream (for example) anyway!

I was lucky enough not to get the "children in Africa" speech. I was however rewarded with food from day one as well as every family event...any happy occassion for that matter was centered around food so for example...automatically when I think birthday...my head goes straight to cake. I never understand when people have birthday parties and they have a fruit tart or pie or some other crazy thing (no offense if this is you LOL) I just can't imagine a birthday without a cake!!! Sorry I got off the subject.

Marah: I grew up with the opposite food philosophy. My mom was really skinny and viewed fat as a sentence worse than death. I didn't grow up hearing I needed to eat everything on my plate, but instead was taught ladies take 1 serving of food and then leave half of it on their plate. It left me hungry and needing to sneak snacks or eating double in protest. Plus, when my mom didn't think the food she prepared tasted right she would walk around the table picking up the plates throwing out the food. Even though this probably didn't even happen 5 times in my entire life, I picked up a strange habit of needing to race through my food before she decided if she liked it or not.

Tleaw: For me, my rewards were always food based. Depending on the age or what I did well, it was a special meal, a decadent dessert (before dinner), or just a little sugary treat.

When I came home from college for the holidays or whatever the first day was all about food. My favorite meals, my favorite snacks, my favorite whatever my mom used to cook that I loved. So it's not shocking that I associate food with love and feeling good and wanted.

This is sort of a tangent, but my family hangs out together sharing meals, not activities. I haven't really figured out what to do with my friends when I don't want to eat (or spend a lot of money). Anyone have any tips on how to do that?

i think we tend to give the donation to help the charity... then take the product because we bought it... so because we spent $$ on the product we eat it, instead of wasting it... too easy to just give the money and go lol! its not stupid, i do it all the time as well :)