Unsolicited advice on "healthy lunch"
 

I just went down to the work cafeteria for lunch, and the woman serving me decided to give me a little advice on how to make my lunch healthier. I just got a chuckle out of her advice, because it is a walking LF sterotype, and it sounds so unappetizing.

What I ordered: A romaine salad topped with grilled salmon, olives, avocado, parmesan cheese, diced tomato, a chopped boiled egg and please hand me the bottle of olive oil and red wine vinegar so I can pour some on as my dressing.

Her advice on a much healthier salad: good for me for having salad, but I should use chicken breast instead of salmon (she says salmon has too much fat in it), omit the avocado and olives (because they have too much fat in them), have two boiled egg whites instead of a whole egg (again with the fat), add more veggies to my salad bowl (especially the very healthy grilled corn, chick peas, green peas, etc), use the fat free pre-shredded cheese instead of the parmesan I requested, leave off the olive oil and just use a nice "lite" vinegrette. And I might want to add some whole wheat croutons or very healthy baked sesame sticks to my salad to keep me full longer.

I bet she'd die if she knew I had a breakfast of two eggs scrambled in butter and a handful of beef jerky.

I felt badly for her, because she is overweight, and I am sure she is probably trying to follow all of her healthy advice, and I have btdt.

LOL! You're 2lbs from goal...I'm gonna guess you know a little something about healthy ;)

Those are the kind of people that I inform that I lost 105 lbs in 10.5 months eating this way, so I'm going to stick with eating my "not so good for me" lunch. ;)

You're obviously much kinder than I. I would have smarted something back about all her bad advice- hoping it might spare the next poor soul she thinks she should 'advise'.

Next time you see her, tell how much weight you lost eating that way?

Some people want to hear it... some don't.

This company is a big promoter of Weight Watchers. It seems everyone here is on WW, the WW points are listed on the cafeteria choices and the Company even subsidizes the cost of WW membership. So, people are always offering free commentary on my foods. From people in my department to comnplete strangers in the cafeteria, I hear this type of advice ALL.THE.TIME.

I am constntly warned about eating food with fats in them, and how one of these days my diet is going to "catch up with me." (I've only worked here 6 months, so they didn't know me when I was heavier.)

And yet, despite all the unsolicited comments about my food chocies, they don't seem to notice that when we have our monthly b-day cake for the department, I never take a piece, while they are all calulating how many points are in a piece of cake and how they can have X amount of cake if they just skip lunch. And when we have pot lucks, I do load up on meat and salad, but I never touch the desert table, ever. So, even on a calories in, calories out straight equation, I just don't eat as much. Yet, the fact that I eat fat seems to startle everyone.

I've gotten used to it, and I just don't have the desite or energy to respond most days.

Ahh. I have a much clearer picture, now. The poor lady is probably compelled by her boss to "help" people.

I would say "Thanks for your concern, but I tried a low-fat diet and it didn't work for me." (While thinking:It doesn't look like it's working for you either)

The thing that gets me is that her nutrition info is pretty bad.

Salmon is a power food. It has good fat. I thought that bit of info was mainstream.

Weird.

F

Yeah, I kinda raised an eyebrow at that, too. Even the low fat crowd doesn't normally demonize salmon. All I have ever heard was "Salmon is the best thing for you EVAR!!!!111!"

Yeah, I echo what most people are saying on here. "Wait, I lost weight eating high fat, eating THIS way, not THAT way."

Why would she be trying to counsel you on a healthier lunch, you are 2 pounds away from goal!

It's sad, but I spent years eating like the lady suggested. It didn't taste very good and I kept gaining weight, but I knew it was healthy because everyone said so.

So you're near goal - aka not overweight - she IS overweight and she is giving advice about what you should eat? That is just weird.

Wouldn't it be funny if she was giving you the advice, but secretly making mental notes about what you are eating for tips? :lol:

And you didn't respond with "thanks anyway, but I lost 80 lbs eating this way"?!?!?! What did you say in response??

ETA: sorry, just read all the replies that said exactly what I said. At work that would be considered a "MOO" response: Master of the obvious. hehe.

This is so absurd
You should have told her that it's impossible to survive without dietary fat because they're essential for the body and her salad would be 0% fat while even the nutritionists that promote low-fat diets say that fats should be 30% of the diet. So she's not even following the advices of those that the promote the kind of diet she thinks to understand.

Also, while I'm not a fan of the other extreme (i.e. eating abnormal amount of fat in a way that would be almost impossible if it wasn't for modern food technology and wealth) I think it's absurd to remove fat where nature put it.
So the idea of de-fatting milk or de-fatting eggs or aschewing avocados doesn't make any sense.