When Your Food is Everyone's Business

I once had a boss do the nicest thing for me…she threw me a birthday party at work and she didn’t serve cake and ice cream.

Nope. No cake, no ice cream…instead she brought cashews, cheese, grapes, and dark chocolate—all my absolute favorite foods! It was a lovely gesture to show that for my birthday we would break tradition and celebrate with food that I loved. (Sadly, we were missing the wine, but it wasn’t that kind of work place.)

Yet I can’t tell you how many times I have been pressured in a group situation involving food to just *eat normal*. Holidays and family events can be the worst!

“I don’t know why you can’t eat normal for just one day.”

“Geez, it’s Thanksgiving/Fourth of July/Billy's birthday—get some more food!”

Eating is often a social event, true, but eating is also deeply personal.

Isn’t it strange that people get worked up over what others eat or don’t eat? I’m pretty sure that’s strange.

Food pushers are everywhere.

Personally, I don’t like pie. I know it’s so weird, so un-American, whatever, get over it. I don’t like pie and I’m not going to eat it just because it’s Thanksgiving and it’s expected.

Yet, it always sparks comment.

Once at a family event, I made the statement “I don’t care if my eating choices offend anyone.”

It’s true. I don’t give a rat’s ass if my eating choices offend anyone, because they don’t affect anyone but me!

What others consider “normal eating” doesn’t work for me. Trust me, I tried it. I couldn’t make it work for me. So I did my own thing. I created my very own normal just for me.

You have the right to create your own normal, too!

You can be assertive about your food choices. If someone else chooses to be offended by what you are eating or not eating, that’s on them.

You can have salad for breakfast or eggs for dinner. It’s your choice. You don’t have to follow the cultural food rules. They are pretty arbitrary anyway, right?

Do your own thing. You rule.

What do you think?

Who’s the biggest food pusher in your life? Are there certain situations in which you feel pressured to eat certain foods even if it’s not what you want?

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