When you're expected to eat... page 5

[al09]

People take food choices very personally, so I agree that it's mostly about them, and not about you. I get it all the time. I have night classes for grad school, and people take turn bringing "dinner". Of course, by dinner, I mean chips and cookies and pizza and all that shit. In two years of school, I have never had anything anyone has brought in, and I don't even know if they have noticed until recently. Someone made some offhand comment like "oh, well that's why you're a toothpick". I just said, "sorry, I don't eat that stuff". In my head I thought, "Don't try to make me feel bad for not being overweight like all of you!". Whatever with them, just do what you need to do to be healthy...they are just saying what they need to say to make themselves feel better for eating crap food. Grok on!

[activia]

Just try to tell somebody you don't like pizza! Better to say it doesn't like you.

You just say I don't like THAT pizza but thanks anyways.

I know some picky kids that dont like pizza from X or Y.. or maybe you can say you don't like the toppings... I also remember refusing pizza that really didn't taste that great before because it just wasn't worth the calories.

You can do the same with cake. I'm not a fan of that kind of cake, no worries you enjoy.

[Linny]

Gotta be careful saying you don't like X type of pizza or cake because the next time ordering happens they might want you to pick your favourite. I agree that it's better to say it doesn't agree with you since it's less likely to put you on the spot later.

[Nivanthe]

I just say "No thank you!" and keep it at that. Everyone and their mother is on a diet nowadays, it really shouldn't be that big of a deal.

After the usual "Are you sure? It's good!" I just repeat myself and that's it.

My office has actually been a bit letter lately, since at least half of the people/women will pass on cakes and pizza because they're watching what they eat -- so people just don't care anymore.

[Catharsis]

Man, some of you guys need firmer backbones. Luckily I no longer have to function in an office setting. A lot of people aren't pushing it in their minds. It's a social thing, and depending on the part of the country you're in, it's cultural too. Here in the south, if there's a bunch of food and someone isn't eating it, the natural assumption is that the person not partaking either doesn't know about it or thinks they aren't welcome to it. Hell, hope and pray a family member doesn't die because everyone and their mother will call and say, "I'm cooking y'all dinner." "What do y'all need for lunch?" "I'm bringing you a casserole". That stuff is a statement, not a question and refusal is taken as an insult. Someone dies and you'll have home cooked meals 3 times a day for a freaking month!

Your perspective needs to change on it. If you lash out with your inner A-Hole, then you're alienating people that you have to see every day. A friend of mine that works for a large corporation with a ton of employee's is honest. He tells them that he doesn't eat trashy junk food at work and saves it for the weekends and also mentions how he puts too much time in at the gym to undo all the work by partaking in office food everyday. At this point too, all of his coworkers understand it. He's not being holier-than-thou, because that WILL make people harass him constantly, but he cracks his jokes right back at them.

I was out of town with my boss a few weeks back and he swung through a fast food joint. He's a pretty in shape dude. He really does watch what he eats but he's more of a 40/30/30 kind of guy, just the regular Joe that doesn't need to lose weight and doesn't eat trashy as much as the average American. Anyway, he came back with his food and got on a phone call. He didn't realize that I was tossing together a big ass salad out of my cooler with chicken and all kinds of stuff. So he hangs up, looks over, and there I am with this complicated looking lunch that materialized out of no where and he started dying laughing. And you know, it really is ridiculous. Hell, I started dying laughing about it. Now every time he sends me out of town overnight we crack jokes about how have to get the salad bar packed before I head out.

I have the kind of personality where I'll crack a joke about anything. Hell, I have a rough batch of friends. We're relentless. Example, being a road warrior, I keep a sewing kit in my trunk. Several years ago bunch of us got together for our bi-annual vacation and a buddy ripped some buttons off a shirt doing his superman impersonation (we throw down). His wife told him that she'd fix it when they got home since she didn't have a sewing kit. I replied, "Hold on" and walked off then returned with a sewing kit. Not a small one, a freaking HUGE one. 2 seconds later we were all busting out laughing at the fact that me, a single dude, travels around with a sewing kit. There's no telling how many jokes got tossed out there. We rarely all see each other and here, all these years later, every time I see a friend of mine he'll ask me if I'm ready to admit I'm clearly gay because only a gay dude would keep a sewing kit in his trunk. Or, "How's the Singer Sower!?" "Damn, almost in your mid 30's and still single..... now we all know why!" The list is long and hilarious.

If I was uptight and easily offended by things, then life would be bland and suck. The reality is that my diet and lifestyle IS ridiculous by standards. I see it as an opportunity for humor and adding some spice to a relatively unexciting life 80% of the time. You guys that encounter this stuff have two choices.

1) Let it bother you and either keep it bottled up or lash out and piss off people that you may have to rely on at work.

2) Roll with it, crack a joke and a smile and enjoy life. Most people will end up respecting you if you're consistent in your own convictions, and eventually they'll really want to know the why's. And when someone really wants to know why you do what you do, well, then you have a relationship with someone where you can change their perspective and impact their life in a positive way...and why the hell wouldn't someone want to do that?

I recommend the latter.

[PaleoPenn]

I love it when after I explain to people what I eat they respond with "Well, everything in moderation!"

Oh yeah? So you think I can take HEROIN in moderation? Some things ARE poisonous and not meant to be consumed ya' know.

[adkatsim]

I have one friend who is often in these situations with me . . . he thinks what I eat is super weird, but he knows by now that I'll happily pick up a serving of xyz and give it to him, which he loves! Most of our other friends don't notice, and it makes me feel better about those uncomfortable situations. I also try to make comments often that tell people I'm not judging them for eating xyz; they don't actually care what you eat, they just don't want you to be judging them!

[fiercehunter]

What amazes me is how the pro snacking thing has taken off to the point that even in an environment where people ought to be working standards have changed so that now you have to socialize and eat in order to get along when what you are there for is to work. Oh, how old fashioned.

[Analog6]

Catharsis, I loved your reply. I could just picture you and the boss and you and your mates rolling round laughing!

When I first did Atkins, 7 years ago when I was working, I got tired of telling people why I ate like I did and just said, "Oh, I like weir stuff" and laughed. Worked every time!

Life is too short to let the turkeys grind you down.

[oxide]

I take the view that wheat is a low-level drug, everybody is an unwitting addict, and they are unwittingly acting as pushers. No wonder everyone brings stuff to work. No wonder they get angry when we say no. It's exactly like those old anti-drinking and anti-smoking films where the drinkers and smokers get all defensive.

For an excues, definitely use an immediate bad effect like celiac or acne or even Crohn's. Don't bring up the "eventual" diseases like diebates or obesity; that just shines the light back on them. My tried-and-true is heartburn: Since I gave up wheat, I haven't needed to take Prilosec.