I know I've posted before about the constant junk food at work. Yesterday, at a meeting, there was a big container of munchkins that was brought in to be passed around. I thought it was rather amusing that nobody took any until somebody said they'd take some if only "not to be rude". I thought that was such an interesting comment, and it's one of the reasons I feel funny in situations. How is it rude, though, to not eat something that is bad for you/you don't really want? Still, there's a mindset. I'm amazed at the things I observe that I would never have noticed before I started my journey.

We frequently have junk at work too, it's kind of depressing when you look around and realize a good majority of the people you work with are chubby too and it's all of our own making! We even had an ice cream social to raise money for the AHA. (figure that one out, lol) I donated but refrained from eating any of it.

When I worked at our Alaska campus we instituted a healthier attitude.. The majority of our potlucks had employees making healthy food to bring in and all of our meetings had veggie/fruit trays and water as opposed to donuts and coffee.

That person was searching desperately for an excuse to munch the munchkins! Next time I want to eat the whole pizza, I'll just have to say to myself, "I don't want to be rude!" That was just plain silly. I'm surprised you just didn't laugh! Speaking of work, I took TWO bags of light potato chips because weekends, everyone brings sandwich stuff and regular chips, etc. My two bags were eaten first...I was lucky to get some! If I could afford it, I would take big vegetable plates with low-cal dip on the weekends. Betcha everyone would enjoy them!
Texaspoet

People who bring food are trying to do something nice, and that's not a bad thing. That said, no one is obliged to eat something simply because it has been offered! Let's look at a different example: Suppose that your are Orthodox Jewish and the food is not Kosher. NO WAY would you eat it "not to be rude." Or, suppose you were diabetic, or a strict vegetarian, etc. NO WAY.

So, whoever took some "not to be rude" was probably making a little joke, the way people do sometimes when they want something but don't think they should have it. At least, I hope so!

WE are living differently. The rest of the world will do what its doing--we can't control it, but we don't have to go along. AND we can be nice about it!

Jay

We have this issue at work as well, I have literally had co-workers wave doughnuts under my nose and say "don't you want one?". My answer, "nope, I'd rather be healthy, thanks." Maybe it was rude, but it is just as rude to do that to someone you know can't partake in that particular activity. We wouldn't demand that an alcoholic join us for a drink after work would we? Of course not! Would we bring in a beer and taunt him or her with it? Nope! I have no problem with people bringing in things to be nice, but respect my decision to not join in the food.

Whew! I feel better now

The only time I felt I should eat something when it was brought in was when it was prepared for a reason. For example, a Filipino woman would bring in homemade egg rolls and Pancit every year on her birthday. That tradition was continued with a friend of hers when she left the company. Then we got a new employee and he loved the idea and he would bring in Swedish meatballs on his birthday. And another would bring in homemade tamales on her birthday. Never did I feel it was rude to say no to doughnuts or pizza or candy.

Agreed with allinell ~ for special occasions with homemade foods I would feel rude to refuse it. But for the cookies, pizzas, doughnuts and other junk that I can have just about any other day, a "no thanks" or "I'm not hungry" suffices w/o me feeling guilty.

I didn't feel rude for not eating it. I just thought it was interesting that I'm noticing things I never noticed before. I usually don't feel *rude* per se for refusing food. The only time I get feeling really funny about refusing food is around my mother, after all the noise she made before about suspecting I had some kind of eating disorder. "Every time I offer you something, you say you just brushed your teeth" "I haven't seen you eat anything in front of me for ages" "You've refused everything I've offered you lately"
Welllllllllllllllllllllllll, maybe it's because I DID just brush my teeth/already ate b/c I DO actually keep my OWN food supply/Simply don't want what you're offering...
I'm telling you, there was such a stink made by certain family members about my weight loss. I don't feel as funny around coworkers (sometimes I do. It's not b/c I want the food, though. It's b/c I feel like I'm drawing attention to myself) but around some family members, I feel like they'll think I'm "anorexic" or something if I don't eat whatever. Blah

Most of the women in my office are weight conscious--either having lost, in the process of losing or half-heartedly trying to but not really succeeding. None of us brings in fattening goodies...lately, we've taken to having a jar of pretzels in the office, which are pretty low-calorie. Whatever else comes in is either as a result of an event or party held here or a friend or client wanting to make a nice gesture and they're not around to see what becomes of it. Luckily, there's very little outright passing around of food, putting people on the spot, but when there is, nobody takes offense. Everybody at my office has their quirks anyway...who eats/doesn't eat what, etc. When there are parties and such with tons of leftovers, people will take home what they feel comfortable with, even if it's for dinner for their families....whose husband likes this, whose kids like that, etc. Usually, most of the stuff gets divvied up and finds a happy home somewhere without causing people upset.

The idea of rudeness can be cultural as well. I'm from an Italian background. The older generations of my extended family and friends take great pride in their cooking and would make you feel very uncomfortable or guilty for refusing. They also tend to have a broader definition of skinny (no pun intended)...and they don't have a love/hate relationship with food. It's all love, lol. And nobody cooks better than one's mama. Heck, my mother is like "isn't my sauce better than a restaurant's?" "What should I go out for? I can make it better."

By taking the food you are being rude and cruel to your body and to yourself and you are the most important person in your life!

I am respected at work for my ability to say no and they see the results in my weight loss over the past few years.

Christy K.

Work is hard for me too. Only I work with ALOT of overweight women and men, because we sit on our butts ALLLL day, and every vending machine in the world is there, * which I almost never visit, and when I do.. its the lesser evil of course.. trail mix/fig newtons*** Anyways.. people always have something to say about my food... veggie burgers/vegetables/salads/apples/ ect... but I dont say anything because then *I* would be the rude one. When we have potlucks, I eat too... because I want to. But thank god my team is anti social and we dont have alot of those. I just hate the snide comments I get......... " umm.. nuh huh I gots to have meat" and I am thinking in my head... 1. "gots to" isn't proper english, and 2. I GOTS TO have clear arteries.. thanks. lol Im not a vegetarian, but very closly resemble one. I only eat fish, very very seldom turkey, and of course I go for the by-products.. yogurt, cheese, milk.. ya know. But one thing i have NEVER figured out.. is WHY the heck does the way *I* eat bother everyone else? I dont get it. I dont analyze their Micky D's, which the smell I just find utterly repulsive. I am a total food snob and I really just wont do fast food. period.

Way to GO, Ready!!!!! Normally, I find *snobs* rather offensive, but in this case, it's the entirely *proper* attitude. Your weight loss sure is inspirational to me. I'm still struggling along slowly, and regularly reminding myself that I didn't GAIN it all overnight - it crept up gradually - so I'm not going to LOSE it all overnight. But, as I'm sure you can recall, it DOES get frustrating at times, and it does feel insurmountable at times. For seven years after my last child was born (many moons ago) I lost - and maintained my weight loss - on the Atkins plan. Now, after being up and down for longer than I'd like to think about, I'm finding that I just can't tolerate all the high fat and concentration of protein when I eat that way. Soooo, I've had to completely re-think my eating style, and my DIETING style (in the past, whenever I'd tipped the scales a little too heavily, I'd go back on Atkins for a while). Now, I'm really beginnig, for the first time in my life, I think, to actually ENJOY *healthy* eating - high fiiber, low fat, low calories, and lots and lots of water (I always hated drinking plain water and avoided it like the plague). I feel SO much better. It's amazing. And, when I falter - on those days when it just doesn't seem worth it to forego the doughnut, or with me, it was that morning stop for a McDonald's sausage McGriddle...I just LOVED those danged things...all I have to do NOW, is come on over to 3FC and read a post from you or someone like you, who has reached his/her goals , and I am immediately motivated and determined again. Thank you so much for sharing - and sticking around for the rest of us.
Have a great day!!!!!

Ella

What I found to be so strange was when the Curves I was attending put on a benefit for one of their employees who had cancer. What kind of benefit would you think Curves would have? Well we got sponsors for us to walk/run around the park track to raise money. Of course we could also buy bottled water which we needed after the exercise. But since we would also need lunch, lessee, what goes good with exercise and water for a weight loss group? I betcha no one would've guessed hot dogs, potato chips and cookies/cakes. ::sigh::

ok that curves incident is over the top! I can relate howver... At my gym they sometimes has member appreciation day which included a fruit tray which is great, then on another table they would have PIZZA!!!! I am like 'are you kidding me'! Why would you put something that is one of the most unhealthy food choices out in the middle of the gym? It made absoluetly so sense to me...

As for the whole work/food issue I deal with it too. There is someone that brings in doughnuts on a weekly basis, and we just had a food day yesterday for someone leaving. Menu consisted of the following: take out wings, brownies, cake, tortilla chips and sour cream dip, potato chips, cookies and my fruitie couscous salad which not too many people touched b/c they were too busy eating the junk. This is also the season for girl scout cookies in the office and people actually get pissed off when I refuse to "be bad" with them. My one co-worker said to me that I "drive her crazy" with my ability to turn down junk food. Stay strong everyone and we will reach our goals of being healthy together!!!

Girl.. I have one better than this... my gym... the first monday of EVERY MONTH.. Pizza day.. big fat, grease ladden, thick crust, pepperoni/sausage/xtra cheese PIZZA. I never eat the crap.. because I dont really feel like spending the evening in the bathroom, and th only pizza I can stomach is thin crust veggie.


Bella _ I meant to quote yours.. but thank you so much for the words. I used to love the McGriddles as well. You know its been 2 years since I have eatten anything from a f.f. resturant.. well I did have fries when I drank way too much, but I was desperate,dying, and needed something to soak up the alcohol lol. Anyways.. now the McGriddles arent a temptation for me primarily because real eggs hurt my stomach.. some weird intolerance, and then there is pork which I havent eatten a morsel of in over a year now. Nothing, no ham, sausage, bacon, proscuitto ( my fav) nothing.. and I havent had beef in over 2 years. Wow.. best part is.. I dont even miss it. Especially not with companies like MorningStar