Are radically changed eating habits a sign of some kind of nervous or health disorder?

That certainly sounds strange…I’ve never seen someone’s eating habits change drastically like that. I have no experience with people who have had strokes, so I can’t speak to that. But my first thought on reading your account was that perhaps he can’t chew/swallow his food as well as he used to, and that’s why he cuts his food up so meticulously. And then, maybe, he is embarrassed of this fact, and that’s why he eats so quickly. Just a thought.

His behavior sounds alarming to me. I would think his wife should get him to his PCP immediately for a serious exam.

Stroke, brain tumor, senile dementia, early Alzheimer’s, emotional issues…no one here can possibly diagnose this guy.

His speech and conversations are normal. (If you can call ditto head political leanings normal ) The quantity and type of food he eats is also normal.
I’m wondering if anyone here has ever seen anything like this. I searched around on the web and didn’t see this kind of behavior outside of specific eating disorders.

Nobody wants to mention it for fear of either embarrassing or upsetting him. Even his wife doesn’t want to bring up the subject. She pretends all is normal. There is no way she can suggest a visit to his doc.

If this were a member of my family, I would override the embarrassment or discomfort and get him to his PCP for a “routine check-up.”

If nothing else, this can’t be good for his digestive tract. Wolfing food means little chewing and that means trouble.

His wife may consider possible truly serious consequences if she waffles.

I just found this frightening little tidbit. Wolfing down your food doubles your risk of diabetes

@gailcalled It is bizarre.behavior. I had breakfast with him and he chop, chop, chopped his scrambled eggs so fast. then he did his pancakes. All conversation stopped and in a few minutes it was gone. It was a little scary.
Interesting article. Diabetes… huh. But I’m pretty sure that is not an issue here. Something else is going on.

Whatever it is, sitting around and speculating does him no good, as you know.

How can you be sure about pre-diabetes? Has he had any blood work done within the past twelve months? If nothing else, a CBC is in order (complete blood count).

Waxing descriptive is useful only up to a point.

If I might butt in here… I am type 1 diabetic and I have known so many type 2 diabetics (this is the kind someone his age would get) and pre-diabetics… I swear it doesn’t make you chop up your food into tiny pieces and then eat it fast.

@LuckyGuy: Are you the sort of friends with this guy where you could sort of jokingly bring it up in a conversation? Are you that scared of offending him? Or could you honestly and seriously bring this up with him in private and just tell him you are a little worried about his health?

Wolfing food doubles your risk. That is different from having diabetes and dicing and wolfing food..

@gailcalled: But @LuckyGuy was asking about what might be causing this strange behavior. Sure, eating food very quickly doubles your risk for developing diabetes. So if he continues with this practice, he will apparently have a great risk for diabetes. But that doesn’t mean that diabetes is at the origin of this inexplicable behavior.

I know. I was simply emphasizing the need to see a doctor.

@bookish1 I suppose I could mention it the next time we are out. Something like: “Hey, are we in a race or something?” or “Do you have a promise later?”

If it was a stroke the time has long passed for doing something.
I’ll have to think about it.

I was really hoping somebody had seen this before.

@LuckyGuy, I think if you feel able to do this, you’d be doing right by your friend to bring up your concern. And even if he already had a stroke, it still would be best for him to be seen by a doctor in order to hopefully prevent future ones, and perhaps work on recovering from some of the effects.

I wish someone could help you. I wouldn’t even know what kind of search terms to enter in Google to look this up… Please let us know how it goes if you have a talk with him!

I think you (or his wife) should mention it to him. He may not even be aware of the change (hard to believe but it may have been something that gradually came on). It sounds like a dramatic change in behaviour though and as @gailcalled suggested, should be investigated.

You are a tactful man. I am sure you will find a way to bring this up diplomatically.

Dementia was the first thing that popped in my mind. Look at the link I posted and read number 9 and 10. It’s a possibility he has the beginnings of dementia or Alzheimers.

My first though was dementia, too. His wife should be the one to urge him to the doctor, though. Perhaps she can schedule appointments for both of them, and act like it’s just a routine check up. She’ll have to let the doctor know in advance what the real issue is.

Does he have any military background (as in serving at some time)? I know many military members that eat the way you have described. Perhaps something has happened mentally (stroke, dementia, Alzheimer’s, etc) that has reverted him to old habits. Has his behavior changed in any other ways?

@chyna That is useful link. I don’t notice those other things they mention. I will be on the look out.

@Seaofclouds He was never in the military or, as far as I know, any place where he had to wolf down food. This was a recent change. From what I can see, everything else seems unchanged.
I’ll say something the next time we are alone.

It sounds a bit like OCD behavior possibly too but I don’t know if that is something that comes on suddenly. I seriously think his wife should be talking to him and getting him to a doctor for a physical and perhaps psychological work-up/