[bonnnie]

Throwing food away.

The thought of that brings many images to mind: starving children in Africa, or a trashed world where we carelessly over consume and throw away....

It is really an ethical problem for me.

So, my current dilemma is all about throwing food away.

1. My boyfriends mother ALWAYS sends food over to his apartment. Prepared meals, soups, breads, cookies, etc. Of course my skinny boyfriend couldn't care less. He eats a bit, then it just sits there.

Then of course I feel like it has to be eaten. Its not especially unhealthy, just not exactly health food. I don't overeat - but its not in my diet plan, its somewhat sabotaging my healthy clean eating habits.

2. The other day my boyfriend decided to order me takeout food while I was in class, so that when I returned he'd have a nice dinner waiting for us. He even attempted to order "healthy" for me - he actually found a spaghetti dish with vegetables.

He looked a long time through his little take-out menus for something for me. Oh how he tried.

Well, I hate takeout. It's no friend of mine.... and I can spot cheap food and preservatives immediately.

The spaghetti had, perhaps, 3 pieces of broccoli, a bit of onion, and a sliver of a red pepper. The rest of the takeout container was filled with cheap, processed, spaghetti noodles and oil.

Unhealthy, not to mention ENTIRELY boring. There's no worse feeling on earth than gaining weight from eating bad tasting food......

I just couldn't eat it. I felt terrible rejecting his gift. I felt terrible throwing it away.

ALL of this food that is sabotaging my healthy eating is literally flying right at me! And I have massive feelings of guilt about throwing it away!

I do realize the poor children in Africa will never eat this food. I also realize the damage to the environment was done without me causing it ---

AHHHHHH

I'm seriously considering becoming a vegan because I can still eat most of my favorite healthy foods and maybe people will finally STOP trying to feed me!

Only problem is, I live in Europe and its not so easy to buy some essential vegan products because they just think you are crazy if you don't do dairy.

[Kae]

Stick with it... you are the only one who has to benefit or suffer from what you eat so don't waste your time worrying about how others feel about what you put into your mouth. Easier said than done, obviously. But I would try to refocus your energy back to yourself... His mother is probably going to continue to send free food home with your boyfriend and you can't control that... You can only control YOU.

[CardboardCutoutCat]

I'm living in Europe too so I can totally empathise on the dairy thing. I went vegan for the first half of this year.. but it was beyond difficult, living in a country where there are no vegetarians.. the national dish is rabbit, lol.

I'm a bit like you I guess.. I try to stick to whole foods and I avoid meat and processed crap. I totally agree - NOTHING worse than putting on weight for something you don't even enjoy! I would have done the same if it were my boyfriend.. or just made some excuse and left it!

Regarding throwing it away... Throw it away!!! I'd much rather see food in the bin than on my hips!