VCSL2015

I spent 1 week in close quarters with family members I see approx. 1x every 2-3 months. I had chosen to eat muesli for the 4th time in a row and really wanted a smoothie or eggs. I would have been unpopular for me to actually fry eggs for myself and not make a fry up for 8 other people. I felt it was rude for me to bring special food and did not want to unleash backlash as much as possible, but still was not going to succumb to eating what other people were eating because that was what was being served. Eating a bowl of muesli could be argued without raising too many eyebrows. Drinking water and low fat milk as much as possible.

I felt i hit the jackpot at breakfast when dark rye bread with grains, salami, and hard boiled eggs (approx. 5 to split between 5 children and six adults) provided a welcome variation. Breakfast typically every morning consisted of processed bread rolls with margarine, jam and 45+cheese.

At 3'oclock each day (coffee time!) At coffee time I enjoyed the proverbial coffee with low fat (Organic) milk provided on the table. With stern self discipline, I declined the beautiful cakes with jam and glaze made from powdered sugar which I knew would spike my sugar levels. Typical comments that followed were "Oh she's on a diet" and What diet was that called?" and "Does she not like the cake?". The first time I offered a "well, im just trying to eat healthy" That was not greeted well and I was not prepared for more raised eyebrows because my comment was offensive. Not wanting to be an outlier or create more tension, i sat with my coffee cup in front of me smiling and jovial trying to still play a part of the group.

Typical dinner variation was meat, vegetables in oil, broccoli with mayo dressing,boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, brown gravy made with cream. Here i could choose the meat, the veggies and potatoes, red wine. Frozen french fries, cut up hot dogs, hot dog bread. This was the last night and I had to give myself a break, made the leap ( to bring on the comments from others) and fried 3 eggs in rapsolie ate it with dry rye bread with a small layer of butter , scarfed it up in the kitchen and then sat with everyone else with a tall glass of water in front of me the comments flowed. "Aren't you going to eat anything?"

All of these foods I supplemented with intense brisk walks along an amazingly and beautiful coastline.

Voluntarily later in a small discussion i disclosed I usually eat veg and fruit smoothies, eggs and meat. One direct comment made was "The suggested daily allowance is 1 egg per day to avoid high cholesterol". You can imagine my stomach at this point, pure grain bread and muesli. No fruit and no clean vegetables.

I would love to hear what you would have eaten in this situation without raising eyebrows, and how do you deal with peer pressure in large groups.

EastCoastDHer

Farm fresh eggs on average have 1/3 the cholesterol of store bought eggs. (I'm a farmer.)
As far as criticism i ignore it or if it becomes abusive and constant a quick "Do i criticize your choices?!" Usually followed by me saying "No. I dont, so back off."
My family and friends are all fitness minded. Im lucky. It was usually coworkers who were never fitness anything. Once or twice ill have enough and just ask "Are you racing downhill with me?" "Did you just spend 3 hours in the gym?"

indyfabz

Interesting. Does the same hold true for, say, eggs from free range chickens, like the sort of eggs they ell at Whole Foods? The carton says the hens are fed a diet of pure grains with no added animal fats. We don't eat many eggs at all (the carton we have is probably over a month old), but I am just curious. A few years ago we went to a cycling camp in Veneto, Italy. The egg yolks were a gorgeous orange, not a washed out yellow. The guy who runs the camp said that is the result of their natural diet. Does that make sense to you?

WonderMonkey

Reading your post it makes it sounds like peoples comments and such are done with malice. At times when I've opted to have other food and get comments it is just chatter. I say "Nope, trying to a little better, staying on track!" and that usually results in a conversation about riding bikes or exercise or something. I get teased a bit but it is with good intentions.

DrIsotope

I have diverticulitis, a good old fashioned (and wonderful- not) medical condition, which comes along with it a whole passel of dietary restrictions. So If I don't want to eat something, I just say I can't. When I bring my own food to make for myself, I just say, diverticulitis. While it's certainly annoying that I can never have a Snickers bar again, it does get me out of eating a lot of crap. But I never impress my restrictions on other people. They're free to eat whatever they want, whenever. If I'm in charge of cooking for a group, I prepare a meal for them, and something related on the side for myself. The only remarks I occasionally receive are along the lines of, "whatever you're having, it looks pretty good." Well of course it's good, I'm eating it, ain't I?

So if you want to be diplomatic about your dietary choices (which I seldom do) do as the diplomats do, and massage that truth.

EastCoastDHer

Whole food eggs may be more ethically raised than your average supermarket eggs. Real farm fresh eggs far surpass any eggs at whole foods. My wife worked there for 7 years. We ended up with a waiting list for our farm eggs, from all the staff at her store and surrounding stores (we have 3 whole foods stores within 45 minutes travel distance.)
The US government defines "free range" as 1.4 square feet of space per bird. They have no regulations about cages - you can cage your birds and if the cages are big enough you can label them as "free range". This is in contrast to most commercial factory farms where thousands of birds are crowded together in what are basically giant warehouses - the birds are so crowded they often cannot move or spread their wings.
Our birds are what i call "true" free range, they are let out every day to freely roam on 10 acres. They come in at night and get locked in. Predators are always an issue and all anyone can do is minimize the loss with fencing, dogs, and careful watching. Part of farming is death and loss, so i do my best to ensure my birds get the best lives (even if they are short ones). Its never fun but its part of the job. You have to learn from it, deal with it and move on. The best advice is get to know your farmer. Ask about the feed and conditions. Many farms offer tours where you can literally see how, where and what goes into your food.
Pure grains is funny. Are they GMO or organic grains? Chances are they're GMO grains unless the feed is certified organic.
No added animal fats? This makes me wonder, did they add other fats to compensate?
There is a french word about the quality of the food in relation to the land it comes from. I cant exactly recall it but its something along the lines of "the taste of the land." High quality food along with high quality care can do wonders for animals. We already know it works with humans. Any high quality egg will have the dark orange yolk that is firm and rich. You can also tell the quality of eggs by smell before you even crack them (At least i can), a high quality egg has little or no smell whereas a low quality egg has a noticeable smell of sulphur (or the classic "bad egg" smell). Much of this comes from the quality of food the birds are fed. It makes perfect sense that the guy in Italy told you what he did. I'll bet those were some very tasteful and enjoyable eggs.

My thoughts and actions about my birds are this: We all have one chance at life. Not two, not three but one. I make sure i eat well, so why not give my birds the same quality of life? My health and the health of everyone who eats my eggs depends on the care and diet of my girls. I avoid GMO food, why put that to waste by feeding my birds junk? I eat their eggs too! So why not give these animals the best life possible. These animals give every day to provide for my family and I. We have the means to give them a good life so why not. Im not just giving my pets a better life but im also trying to make a name for myself. I wont get wealthy but ill be rich.

XXLHardrock

I have some obese and overweight family members, so my own efforts to no longer be either are met with support for the most part. I did meet with serious opposition from my overweight wife a few years and about 90 pounds ago when I started down the high fat low carb road. I told her that if I was trying to quit smoking she'd be in favor of any attempt to do so and that this was just as important. The healthier blood tests brought her around and my GP tells me to keep doing what I'm doing.

Neither of them know I drink 6 eggs almost every morning.

TrojanHorse

"certified organic"

lol.

indyfabz

Nice

And I actually love to see chickens when I ride. I like how they just hang out and do their own thing. The variety of colors and sizes is also neat. Roosters, too.

obed7

I do not pay any attention to what folks say...but then again I rarely spend time with anyone but my wife. I might eat a half a dozen meals a year with anyone else present. i am not eating for them.

Gnosis

You’ll have to excuse me, but knowing firsthand how headstrong most women are; I find it somewhat difficult to fathom that a grown woman concerns herself with the “negative comments/raised eyebrows” of family members as concerns that which she prefers to consume.

If those family members are that obnoxious, I’d elect to ditch them altogether and this isn’t mere idle chatter. I had family members who also presumed themselves empowered to make judgments on all kinds of matters and in all honesty, they were more trouble than they were worth, so I eventually elected to ditch them and it felt fantastic to rid myself of those self-righteous losers. They were so obnoxious that I’m unable to miss them (and it’s been 20+ years now—it was a good riddance).

A friend (who was a police sergeant that I rode with for many years) once conveyed his negative family situation and summed it up wisely. He said: “You get to pick your friends, but your family is dumped on you via no choice of your own. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide whether family members are the type of people that make you want to associate with them. Reality being; some family members aren’t worth their never-ending hassles.”

So, eat that which pleases you and ditch your unwarranted concern for family’s “raised eyebrows” and their negative comments. If they don’t like what you’re eating, then tell them “it’s actually none of their business” (and it surely isn’t). You only live once; enjoy each day and that certainly includes enjoying the types of meals that YOU prefer…

IBOHUNT

I'm 56. My give a damn is busted... I eat what I want, when I want.(and by the way that's 2 eggs and 4 pieces of bacon every day.)

SpikedLemon

My wife prods me when I eat healthy as though I'm trying to be "better than her".
I have colleagues who comment on my lunches on a regular basis but I easily shrug those off.

I love big breakfasts and brunch is my weakness. But, to me, it's about balance - so I balance a large meal, or sedentary day, with a smaller one.

In the end: I find people prodding into my personal choices, like food intake, to be inconsiderate (unless it's a good friend where neither of us take it personally). For me: it's wearing to continue to hear comments like that on a regular basis and I sympathize. I, instead, take opportunities like that to comment on how I believe in a food balance - one good, healthy, deed (e.g. exercise, salad, fruit) is balanced with a less healthy one (e.g. beer, bacon, cheeseburger) and I do not find many people trying to argue it.

My wife invited over a friend and her husband on the weekend and it was refreshing to have people over for good conversation (with kids similar age as my own) and no one commented that I barely filled my plate (as I was balancing against the beers I had).

Null66

Dietary cholesterol has little to no effect on serum (blood) levels.

sorry about the mean people...

Black wallnut 

Interesting, I am also a chicken farmer although I only raise enough for my family and occasionally can give away a couple dozen. My flock is completely free range in that they have open range all the time 24/7/365. Meat chickens are an exception to this. Anti-GMO and organic are two concepts I do not agree with.

I'm not too concerned with others opinions on what, when and how I eat. I am accustomed to eating a different meal than others in my family.

McBTC

The rye bread sounds good... how about whip out a round of brie and say you received a gift pack from a friend and want to use it before it goes bad? Oh, and included in the gift pack was this sourdough baguette and... looky here: red wine too.

Erwin8r

Bah. Just eat what you need/want--they are family, afterall, and should understand. If they don't, well, they can just go pound sand... imho.

VCSL2015

Yeah, i left out the part where i should have written I am lactose intolerant. So i bought the "special milk". I got the comments "that must be expensive" next time i was at the store i saw the milk they buy organic, is the same price had I have known that I would have had an argument. Like trump says...Whatever, whatever!

VCSL2015

When in close quarters, yeah i did fight the peer pressure but the comments hurt.

VCSL2015

love it!

DMC707 

Friends and family are 2 of the biggest saboteurs in a lot of people's diet programs .

Families feign disappointment when you dont eat their casserole, or whatever ----- friends are bummed when you cant go out for beer and nacho's on game night

They dont mean anything by it in most cases -- but the human ego can be a fragile thing

VCSL2015

+1