003. Is that All You're Going To Eat?

So, something that has really been getting on my nerves recently is when I sit down for a meal and someone asks me, "Is that all you're going to eat?" Most often this seems to happen at work during lunch. Twice now it's been the same co-worker who has asked me.

First of all, how does one even respond to that? I've been eating for a while now (over 25 years) and I've spent the last 10 months being as conscious as possible when it comes to what I am putting into my mouth and my body. I think I can figure out the appropriate amount of food to eat at any given meal. I don't need you to question how much I'm eating. You don't see me asking "Are you really going to eat that?!" as you're stuffing your face with the sodium-laden, food-tragedy that is Ramen noodles.

Second, the meals that have been questioned are fairly substainal. The last time this happened I had 6oz of organic baby carrots, 1 oz of "everything" pretzel slims from Trader Joe's, 3T. of Roasted Garlic Hummus (also from Trader Joe's) and a medium sized apple. Seriously. That's quite a bit of food. I walked away from the meal full. I guess maybe it doesn't look like much, but have you ever eaten 6oz of baby carrots? It's a lot of food.

Today's lunch only illicited a look, but it was clearly a "That's it" look. So what was my meager lunch today? I had a piece of Trader Joe's BBQ Chicken Pizza (and by a piece, I mean 1/3 of the pizza) and a pretty large (an wicked yummy) pear.

(In case you're wondering, the TJ's BBQ Chicken Pizza is hands down the best frozen BBQ chicken pizza I have ever had. It's totally worth the 340 calories.)

As annoying as it is to have my lunches questioned, it's really made me think about just how bad America's portion distortion actually is. Then, as if I wasn't already irritated enough by the questioning look my lunch got, after lunch my friend/ co-worker and I went to Freshii for some low-fat fro-yo. Unfortunately, they only offer one size - bigger than necessary. When I ordered, I asked for half the usual amount of yogurt and toppings. It was as if I was speaking a foreign language. This is basically how the interactiong went.

Me: I'd like a yogurt with organic granola and coconut, but I'd like half the usual amount
Cashier: So you want less yogurt and more toppings.
Me: No, just half of everything
Cashier: Here's your yogurt (as she hands me a fully-filled cup with two layers of yogurt and two layers of granola and cococnut.)
Me: Thanks.

Okay then. Apparently, this was just such an out of the blue request that this girl couldn't comprehend why someone wouldn't want the value of a $4 giant cup of fro-yo. It wasn't as though I was asking to pay less. I was still going to give them their $4.06 for half the amount of yogurt. I just didn't want to waste food I knew I wasn't going to eat. In the end, I ate half and threw the rest of it in the garbage. (I should have taken a picture. I'm still getting used to this blog idea.)

Does this ever happen to any of you - people questioning your portion size/ the amount of food you're eating as not enough? How do you respond when this happens?