One of my biggest pet peeve is when people always tell me to eat more at meal times.
There’s actually nothing wrong with asking if I want more, but the way people ask me just makes me lose my appetite and makes me not want to eat at all.
During meal time, I’m usually the first one to finish. I would be joining in the conversation, enjoying the feeling of being pleasantly satiated, and then it comes…
“Yan lang kakainin mo?” [Is that the only thing you’ll eat?] (with matching judge-y, disapproving face)
The more that people tell me to eat more, the more I lose my appetite and the more I won’t eat.
I could never understand the so-called joy of eating.
I think this is precisely why I don’t enjoy eating.
No fail, every meal time at family gatherings, someone will be pointing out the little amount of food I have on my plate.
(Little is probably relative, compared to the mountain of food on that someone’s plate. Harumph!)
There are times when I want to reply, “Yeah, I really don’t feel like stuffing my face and getting fat kasi eh.” and then give the same judge-y look on their plate exploding with food.
But as usual, I would just smile politely and laugh.
Nakakawalang gana, promise.
You know, just because I don’t eat a lot doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate food.
I know how to appreciate a scrumptious meal. But I don’t need to eat a lot of it. And just because I don’t eat a lot of the food doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it or I didn’t like it.
I prefer to eat in smaller, frequent meals than eating big meals.
This means, I eat around 5-6 times a day. Yes, believe it or not. That means I eat breakfast, 2nd breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner, midnight snack, and more snacks in between those meals.
I don’t like the feeling of being full.
Since I’ve been eating this way since I was little, I could say I have a smaller stomach compared to some people. If I eat more than my usual serving, I would end up feeling sick, bloated and nauseated. Why in the world would I want to put myself in that situation?
Just because I don’t eat a lot of the food, doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate your cooking.
I know some relatives get all huffy when I don’t eat a lot of the food they prepared. But really, isn’t it equally rude to force someone to eat and make them uncomfortable when you embarrass them in public saying stuff like, “Why? You don’t like my cooking?”
Talk about putting someone in the hot seat.
/sigh
/rantOver
Anyway, this little blog post just came to me when I was enjoying my midnight snack of Spam Tocino, on bread with cream cheese.

So people, remember, I’m not anorexic and neither am I on a forever diet.
I actually eat what I want, whenever I want and as much as I want. (Yes, as much as I want, not what YOU want.)
The reason why I’m skinny is not because I don’t eat, as people assume, but because of genetics. Take a good look at my mom and dad, and siblings. ;)
And you’re right, I’m probably not the best person to go on a food trip with, so stop forcing me to eat more.
But if anyone wants to invite me out to dinner, I can appreciate fine dining as the servings as small ;)
XOXO,
