I go to law school. As part of my work study I tutor other students in classes I already took. One of my "students" that I no longer teach is from China. He literally arrived like 3 days before classes started, so his main problem was he was having trouble understanding the professors (they spoke to quickly). After a month or two he felt he could keep up by himself and so I no longer tutor him. He and his wife are very nice. And they've invited me over for diner two times now. The first time I couldn't go...and now I felt I had to say yes to be polite.
The thing is I really don't like to go places and eat food when I don't know how many calories are in it. I know it will be Chinese food-because that's where they are from and what they eat daily. And I know in their culture that they are very generous with guests, etc. So I feel like they're going to cook a lot of food-that I'm sure will be very good-and I'll feel like I have to eat it. How do I politely eat very little? Or say no? I really don't want to derail my diet because I'm trying to be polite...but I know myself, and if they're being super sweet and putting lots of food on my plate I'll feel rude if I don't eat it. Sigh. Any suggestions??