Dietary busy bodies

This afternoon, a coworker and I were discussing nutrition and eating habits. She related how two friends had invited her over for dinner and how she felt obliged to eat what they offered her, even though she keeps herself on a pretty restricted diet. Several days later, one of the friends remarked at how glad they were that she ate the dessert in particular since they worry that she is "too thin".

While I must admit that I think S is too thin (and that her dietary restrictions are extreme), I joined her in being a bit outraged that her friends would say this too her. Then it suddenly struck me. Really. This was a revelation.

Why is it that we, as a society, think that it is perfectly acceptable to foist food upon people while making overt comments to them that we think they are too thin? Conversely, as a society, we would never dream of trying to keep someone from eating something bad for them, or from having a second helping, while telling them that we are concerned that they are too fat.

Once we got to discussing this particular topic, S went off on one of her tangents about our materialistic American culture, and how wasteful and environmentally unconscious we all are. I'll leave all of that for a later discussion.

However, think about it, would you try to discourage a friend from having a second helping when you know they are at least 25% overweight and can hardly walk up a flight of stairs without turning beet red and breathing heavily? Maybe you're not the type to encourage someone thin to eat, because you think they may be too thin (in your non-medical opinion). Then again, maybe you have, even if only by subtly offering that person more food even when they appear sated.