Addictive Eaters Anonymous
I didn't know what was wrong with me
Right from a young child I have always loved food; I loved gatherings because of the food. As I got older I would steal food and money to buy food. My life was all about food and if I wasn’t eating, I was thinking about eating and food.
I was very athletic at school and not terribly worried about my weight at that time. It was when I went into high school and the “beach girls” came to our high school that I started looking at the differences. They were brown, thin and seemed to be very popular with the boys. I watched them and what they ate. I started eating what they were eating at school, but would eat as much as possible at home.
I tried to fit in, but wasn’t able to make friends easily. I was obsessed about my weight and food by now and it drove me to exercise and diets. I went on my first diet when I was sixteen years old, I took herbal diet tablets, exercised like a person obsessed and I drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes and drank black coffee to control my weight. I lost five stone and got a lot of compliments about how I looked, but that didn’t stop the self-loathing and madness in my head. It didn’t matter how much weight I lost or how thin I was, I was obsessed about my body, how fat I was and how thin I wanted to be. My self-obsession and food controlled my life, and it was to get much worse as I got older.
Brain Teaser of the Day 🧠✨ Can You Solve It? 🤔💬
Make a hearty dish. Take just half a minute. Add four parts of kestrel. Then just add one. What have you made?
(Trev from Silverdale kindly provided this head-scratcher ... thanks, Trev!)
Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post and we'll post the answer in the comments below at 2pm on the day!
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Have you got New Zealand's best shed? Show us and win!
Once again, Resene and NZ Gardener are on the hunt for New Zealand’s best shed! Send in the photos and the stories behind your man caves, she sheds, clever upcycled spaces, potty potting sheds and colourful chicken coops. The Resene Shed of the Year 2026 winner receives $1000 Resene ColorShop voucher, a $908 large Vegepod Starter Pack and a one-year subscription to NZ Gardener. To enter, tell us in writing (no more than 500 words) why your garden shed is New Zealand’s best, and send up to five high-quality photos by email to mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz. Entries close February 23, 2026.
Poll: Are you a Te Huia fan?
All three Hamilton MPs appear to be united behind the retention of the Te Huia passenger rail service between Hamilton and Auckland, as well as potentially expanding it to Tauranga.
But whether Hamilton East’s Ryan Hamilton, Hamilton West’s Tama Potaka and soon-to-be Labour list MP Georgie Dansey have the combined power to shunt transport minister Chris Bishop and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon onto their line of thinking remains to be seen.
Are you a Te Huia fan? Tell us more in the comments (adding NFP if you don't want your words used in print).
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80.7% Yes
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19.3% No
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