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Last updated on March 31st, 2025 at 02:41 am
Secret eating and hiding food are most often the result of food scarcity. Food scarcity may come as the result of food insecurity, strict rules about eating in the family or self imposed rules around food.
Common eating disorder or disored eating behaviors may include:
- Eating in secret
- Avoiding social situations that involve food
- Stashing foods in spaces such a bedroom, drawers, closets or other space where food may not commonly be consumed
- Purchasing food in excess amounts or amounts that won’t be used
- Purchasing foods regularly that are rarely consumed
- Needing to purchase additional food storage space to accommodate over-purchasing food
This article explores some of the triggers that can lead to the desire to hide food or eat and secret, how these behaviors may be linked to disorders eating and treatment to help you stop eating in secret.
Why Do I Secret Eat
If you are eating in secret or hiding food a few reasons for this might be:
- Fear of judgment surrounding food choices
- Body image concerns
- Off limits foods created by parents or the person sneaking food
- Locked pantries or refrigerator access as a child
- Strict guidelines for when food is allowed to be had
- Feeling guilty after eating
If you find yourself constantly eating in secret, it might be a warning sign of an eating disorder such as anorexia nervosa/atypical anorexia, bulimia nervosa, orthorexia, or binge eating disorder.
Causes of Secret Eating
Most of the time, sneaking food or hiding food is a result of some sort of mental or physical food scarcity. In many cases sneaking, hiding, or stockpiling food are symptoms of an eating disorder or disordered eating.
Some contributors to secret eating might include:
- Food insecurity
- Dieting
- Trauma
- Abuse
- Relationship difficulties
- Parental detachment or neglect
- Fatphobia
Secret eating can be a big part of a binge restrict cycle, a behavior that is often seen in restrictive eating disorders. While there are many contributors to food hoarding, messages from diet culture are the most likely contributor for someone feeling like they need to eat when others are not around or hide food.
The most common candidates for food hoarding are people in larger bodies that may frequently experience body image abuse and unsolicited comments about weight that can negatively impact body image and elicit shame when food is eaten.
People often begin sneaking and hiding food to avoid the immense amounts of shame they feel not meeting the body expectations of Western culture. They may feel like certain foods are off limits because they should always be on a diet. They may choose to eat in isolation to avoid negative comments or people judging them.
For those with eating disorders, eating in secret is also a key way for someone to feel like they are in complete control of their food. The need for control is a cornerstone of eating disorder behavior.
Are They Hiding Food
Someone who is sneaking or hiding food can have suspicious behavior.
Things you might notice if someone you love is eating in secret include:
- Times where your loved one simply disappeared without explanation
- Stashes of wrappers or even old food in drawers, beds and other personal spaces
- Eating only “healthy” foods or minimal food quantities when other people are present
- Dieting
- Only being willing to eat during certain times of the day
- A list of fear foods or foods that someone feels like they can’t keep in the house
Guilt, shame, anxiety, self harm behavior, and depression are common symptoms of food hoarding.
Your loved one may also social isolate as hiding their food behaviors can be very time consuming. Relationships are impacted as those that hoard food may have very strict rules about which foods can be eaten, when and how.
Why is My Child Eating in Secret
You might notice your child eating in secret or stashing food if there are strict rules about food in the house. Locks on the pantry or refrigerator will almost always lead to eating in secret for children.
Even more subtle well intended rules about food can lead to secret eating. These might include rules like only eating at certain times or finishing a meal before eating dessert. While these rules may seem innocent and even health promoting, they develop a sense of food scarcity in the brain of a child that can heighten the desire for these foods.
A child is often likely to sneak or hide food when they receive a lot of body comments, have poor body image, or are encouraged to lose weight regularly.
In children, food hoarding often shows up in
- Stealing food
- Isolating themselves for periods of time in bedroom
- Sneaking food, especially off limits foods
- Eating when no one else is home
- Skipping school to eat or seek out food
- Limiting food intake when around friends and family to appear to be eating less
- Dieting
- Obsessing over the scale
- Self criticism
- Body checking
- Night time eating or binging
Since food is often one of the only things that a child can control in their world we will see food commonly used as a coping tool for stress, anxiety, grief, sadness and other powerful emotions.
Certain holiday traditions such as switch witch on halloween can encourage kids to feel the need to hide food.
Secret Eating In Adults
If you have food trauma, disordered eating or an eating disorders it will often show similar symptoms to children including sneaking food, isolating themselves with fear foods, obsessing over the scale, and self criticism.
Some differences we might see in adults who struggle with their relationship with food versus children include:
- Sneaking to restaurants or fast food
- Purchasing food in large volumes
- Refusing to part with expired foods
- Purchasing foods for the sole reason that they are on sale
- Refusing to keep certain foods in the home (fear foods), which can lead to stocking up or hiding it later on
Adults will often be more diligent with hiding the evidence that they have been sneaking food or eating in isolation. They may go to great lengths to get wrappers and evidence of the food consumed out of the home.
Adults are also more likely to use compensatory methods after they have been sneaking, hiding, or binging certain food items. For example, they may purge, exercise excessively or restrict their future food intake.
How To Stop Secret Eating
Tips to stop hiding food include::
- Eating meals and snacks no more than 4-5 hours apart, more frequently if needed
- Eliminating any off-limits foods
- Practicing eating meals with people you love
- Allowing free access to foods for kids
- Tell someone you love if you feel like you have an eating disorder to get support
- Follow an eating disorder meal plan where appropriate
- Keeping all food types in the home
- Not shaming kids for engaging in food hoarding
- Watching for habits of food restriction or purging
- Practicing food neutrality
- Practicing ways to respect your body
- Using an intuitive eating hunger scale to help navigate body cues
- Practicing urge surfing to work through binging or hoarding food
- Keeping a short list of eating disorder recovery quotes/affirmations on hand to help you work through the urge to food hoard
Remember to have grace with yourself or a loved one if hiding or sneaking food is happening. This is often the body’s way of trying to protect the person from harm, shame, grief and guilt.
If someone is eats in secret, sneaks or hides food and is experiencing an eating disorder, their eating disorder voice is likely to get extremely loud when this coping skill is taken away. This can be extremely stressful for the person and result in an overwhelming emotional response.
If you are food hoarding, you are not alone in your journey. Check out these eating disorder recovery books to see how others have overcome this very difficult challenge.
© 2022 Peace and Nutrition
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