A Complaint

Samara has this really funny post over at F-Word about women and eating. Normally I find this kind of gender-stereotyping humor annoying, but I can identify with her in this case:

I was at a press conference the other day, at which the organisers had kindly provided us with a big tray of yummy pastries. As is generally my way when there is free food around, I had pretty much parked myself next to it, but I decided to use my vantage point to conduct some observations. I listened to the comments of every single person who approached that tray of yummy pastries, and boy was it depressing. Not a single woman took one without commenting on how she really shouldn’t be eating it.

“I’m being really naughty”
“Oooh I really shouldn’t”
“Oooh I’m so fat”
“This is going to go straight to my hips”

Weight-related comments while I'm eating are enough to make me lose my appetite. Perhaps I'm just being a snob about this, since I've never struggled with weight loss or gain, but quite frankly the last thing I want to hear about while I'm putting something tasty in my mouth is how many calories I'm consuming.* (Mostly because I tend to think that calorie counting is a pointless exercise in any case. It's just a lot of wasted math.) If you have issues with weight, please, keep them to yourself. I'm perfectly happy to go through my day without thinking of calories. And I don't need a reminder from a woman who wants to loudly announce that she feels bad about eating what she's eating. Perhaps the most hilarious comment from Samara was this:

There’s an unwritten rule that we must constantly be seen to be making an effort to keep our weight down. We can eat cake, as long as we suffer terrible guilt as a result.

I for one, am ready to continue living my life, guilt-free.

*Full disclosure: I'm almost certain I have uttered similar words at one point just because the culture of food shaming is so pervasive.