Food Intimacy

Disordered eating behaviors are implicated in the development andpersistence of obesity in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The purpose of thisstudy was to provide a qualitative perspective of obese youth’s eating behaviors throughthe lens of their parent as they attempt to create healthy changes. An in-depthsecondary analysis was conducted for the construct of food intimacy that evolved as partof a larger study investigating how parents promote health for their obese child.Seventeen parents of 10- to 14-year-old obese youth were interviewed. Themes andconcepts were developed using grounded theory. Parents described child behaviors such aslosing control and sneaky eating to obtain food, as well as using food for comfort,pleasure, and simply loving food. The relationship between these children and food wasidentified as the over-arching theme, food intimacy. This study highlights the intimaterelationship these children developed with food and the powerful influence of thisrelationship on their eating behaviors. This suggests that prescribed interventions suchas exercising more and eating less may be ineffective in certain obese children, andthat more focus should be placed on investigating the relationship an obese child haswith food