Eating with co-workers... Will they stop commenting? How to deal? page

[bdfink]

I'm sure most of us are confronted with comments about our daily eating habits while working at the office. Without fail, someone always makes some type of remark about what I'm eating every single day. I usually grab lunch with co-workers as a nice break from sitting in my cube all day. I am surrounded by people pounding soda, pizza, sandwiches, fried foods, and other non PB meals. I eat mainly fruits, vegetables and some type of protein just like anyone that has any respect for their body should. I never make comments about what other people are eating and could really careless. However, these comments get annoying from time to time.

Sometimes I just try to change the subject right away or I’m patient and I’ll explain what the PB diet entails and encourage them to give it a shot. Other times I just want to fire back with something offensive and tell them that they should be thanking me for caring about my body. They should be grateful that I do my best to be healthy so they can enjoy their cheap insurance premiums and prescription pills. And that they should apologize for their physical appearance and nauseating meals that they bring to work every day. However, I am a very nice person and can’t imagine ever insulting anyone, because in the end, what’s the point?

How does everyone else deal with this situation?

[quelsen]

you eat lunch? why dont you eat enough breakfast?

[athomeontherange]

simple solution: quit eating with them

[Sassy]

I usually just shrug and say, "I like this stuff...."

[Sudenveri]

Well, it depends on what type of remark it is and the tone and intent behind it. Most of the comments I got were just curiosity, as I'm a fan of Indian and Thai food and end up cooking "unusual" stuff like curries. There wasn't any judgment, just a little bafflement from the fast-food munching hordes (and even when it was something like a BAS, I'd get questions because they found the answers interesting, in a "oh, what's Sudenveri got today?" sort of way). It can get a little old eventually, but there's no malice, so you should just take it in stride.

If, on the other hand, people are being rude about it - "Why would you eat that?!" - well, then you might want to re-evaluate spending time with them. That's not an issue of food, that's just manners.

[Diana Renata]

Depends on what's ok to say at your workplace.

If it were my coworkers, the response would be "I don't give you s**t for what you eat, so go f**k yourself." It would be, naturally, partly in jest, but it would get the point across.

[MightyAl]

You owe them as much explanation about your food as they do about their food.

I usually tell people this is how I look this damn good.

[bchanel]

I just posted about something similar to this!

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread54225.html

[activia]

I dont have this problem. So can you explain what kind of comments are you getting? Most of the comments I get.. is that looks soo good or I wish I was having that (especially when they look at their crappy healthy choice meal)! Otherwise, if I'm just eating a salad no one says anything... who doesn't eat salads?

[Dan208]

Luckily I sit with people that are very good friends, so it's all in jest. They poke at me and I poke at them. I've learned to ignore other people's comments. I just tell them that's what I like and move along.