Please Don't Comment on my Nutrition

[aloe]

Hi there!    I take back my statement a little bit though--when on the road, I'll eat a Subway veggie sandwich, or pizza and about once a year a BK veggie burger or a Taco Bell 7-layer burrito.

[thebadchemist]

Hey Marina! I lived with a woman who was a lot like your friend. She cooked chicken plain (no sauce, no salt, no pepper, etc.), bought bulk bags of salad, drank a ton of smoothies, and even used applesauce in lieu of butter when she baked cookies. There were some serious body and food issues with this person, even though she was a stunningly lovely young woman.

One day, I made some cookies (this was my trademark recipe) and since I was running short on time, I put the batch on a plate, took a cookie, and went to class. Upon my return, our other roommate corners me and snaps, "I can't believe you didn't leave me any cookies! I've been DYING for one!"

"But... I knew you'd been waiting for them. I left the plate on the table."

We never knew for sure, but by process of elimination and past behaviors, we figured out that our super-healthy roomie must have inhaled the entire batch (we knew she didn't throw them away) when no one was around. We're talking over 30 cookies in 2 hours.

Unlike your friend, she didn't hound others about their habits, but she'd be the one constantly criticizing herself about what she's eating and the contents of EVERYTHING. So, I suspect that your friend probably has some similar issues and they're pretty deeply rooted.

With that said, my general tactic if anyone bugs me about my nutrition is to reply, "Better happy and fat than miserable and skinny. Back off." If that doesn't make them shut up, I sit there and really, really enjoy my meal. I tune them out and eat with lots of mmmm's. My indulgence is a cheeseburger with grilled onions, fries, and a neopolitan milkshake from In-N-Out. When I restrain, I have a diet coke instead of the shake. So, I think you're doing pretty well by eating your burgers with fruit! It's not the etiquette that would have me dropping your co-worker like a bad habit, it's the fact that I love to savor my meals and that's best done in peace.

It sounds to me as if your roommate was suffering form bulimia...my mother in law had issues with anorexia years ago.

She suffered from it in high school, as far as I knew, and said she was doing much better. Of course, incidents like that made us seriously doubt her. Unfortunately, there was little we could do to help and she ended up cutting off contact with all of us a few months later. They say that eating disorders are about control and my old roomie was a textbook case. The bulimia, sadly, was only the tip of the iceberg.

[Clara Bow]

My Granny has food issues also, there for a while I strongly suspected her of laxative abuse...
I find those disorders particularly frightening. When people start getting all weird about food (theirs and others) I wonder.
I don't mean health conscious, or careful about eating bad for you foods. I mean when they become the food police or start having long involved conversations about their caloric intake...

[aloe]

I think it's a good thing for people to eat healthy food and maintain a weight that isn't extreme BUT despite what society, the media, etc. say, it's not as direly important as it's presented to be.

My mother watched her weight.  She was fashionably slim.  She ate healthy, balanced non-vegetarian meals every day.  She went to the doctor regularly for check-ups.  She died of cancer at 71.

My MIL is fat.  She doesn't live on junk, but she doesn't eat like my mother did.
She goes to the doctor, but doesn't get every test available as my mother did.
She's 86 and going strong.

Both women had similar personalities: forward-looking, happy

[kingsrings]

I go to Weight Watchers. the program has been very easy for me to follow, and I have lost 22 pounds over the last year. I like WW because I can eat anything I want. A small McDonald's hamburger is about 300 calories - or 6 points on WW system - including bun. I could lose quicker if I completely cut out desserts, mcdonald's, etc - but it is more realistic to eat what you like, when you want it - just in moderation. Slow and steady weight loss is more likely to be long-lasting, also. Eating a Big Mac with fries and milkshake every day will make you obese, a hamburger once in a while will not. Even eating a Big mac once in a wile will NOT make you obese.
So - tell your friend you can't eat with her on the days you plan to have your McD. fix. Enjoy your meal!

I did the WW thing too last year, and not once were we ever told that we had to cut out fast-food completely. It's all about everything in moderation. Like the OP, I get a craving for McD's once a month too, and I always indulge it. A quarter pounder w/cheese, fries, and their orange drink. I've had people come up to me and question why am I eating that since I went to WW, or aren't I worried that I'll now gain it all back if I eat like that again. I shouldn't have to explain to them that it's my once-a-month treat because it's none of their business. I see plenty of people I know eat things I don't agree with, but I always keep my opinion to myself because it's their body, not mine.