Ask but don't force people to eat

Do not force people to eat

Disclaimer: I am not talking about moms running behind their kids and trying to feed them. That's a different situation altogether - which I wouldn't know how to handle. So this post isn't about that.

The situation I am talking about is when we try to persuade someone-a friend/family member/guest at home to eat more than they can eat or to eat something which they don't want to. I know this sounds as if I have a problem with everything in the world. It sounds as if I am exaggerating. But, let me explain. I know the intention of this may or may not be bad - you want the person to be fed well, you think they aren't eating well enough, you think they are following silly fads and unnecessarily giving up on some foods.I myself used to try persuading my friends/family to eat something. This has been a way of showering our affection and attention on them.

This may not be such a huge problem to most of the people. The worse that can happen to you may be- you are little full and you cant move. But then I saw few dear ones actually struggling with this.

Some people are diabetic and they don't want the entire world to know about their health condition. So they discretely avoid sugar in all possible ways. But when someone offers them a sweet dish and tries to persuade them saying "It's just one piece, you wont gain any weight", they really have a hard time. I have seen some of them just eating it up after few times of asking just to avoid "drawing attention to themselves and creating a scene". 

Some people are on strict diet- as strict as in they wake up very early, work out and measure every serving they eat. May be they are doing it for weight loss or for fitness. It's not easy for them to say no to all the yummy food options, but they do it as they really want to achieve their goal. Their dedication is awesome. They may even have a disorder that leads to their weight- like hypothyroidism. They may be suffering from so many side effects because of their over weight like knee pains.

But again, someone forces them to eat something and says "you don't have to diet, you are married now, whats the point ". May be they want to achieve their goal for themselves. A piece of a dish- for that matter even a tiny bite matters a lot, not just because it has enormous amount of sugar or calories, but it just breaks their flow and routine. It just ruins all their efforts.

Some people are really allergic to gluten. The effects may range from bloating to Celiac disorder. Gluten free diet isn't just a fad. Its just not gluten, people have all sorts of allergies all the time. If they don't want to eat something, then just let them be. "This is such a trend now, people in the past ate everything and they never had any problems" - yeah, may be they just died early.

These are just a few things which I came across, but there may be plenty of other reasons why people can't have some food item.

Last but the least, vegans/vegetarians bashing non-vegetarians and vice versa. You cant force people, just lead them by example. If they like it, may be they will follow it. But if you just criticize and try to thrust your opinion on them, they will definitely not follow it.

Adults know what they can eat and what they can't. 

An open ended question- "Hey, would you like to have <food_item>?"

instead of "It's just a tiny piece and won't harm you" is good enough.