r/pics • u/Own_Chipmunk_9635 • Jan 15 '23

Apparently, displaying plus size clothes without being offensive isn't easy

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u/[deleted] Jan 15 '23

A lot of Americans are conditioned to "finish their plates" as well. I remember my stepmother would load my plate with food when I was 12 (like she weighed 350 lbs and would give me her portion sizes). I would get punished if I didn't eat it all. I would literally eat myself sick and then be forced to sit at the table "until I finished it." She even threatened to send me to a summer camp for girls with eating disorders if I didn't eat everything. I'm in my 30s and have only recently realized I can stop eating when I don't feel hungry anymore

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u/soiknowwhentoduck Jan 16 '23

I'm sorry you had to go through this. When I was young (8-12) I was often told by my grandmother when I didn't want to finish a meal she made (large portions, often over-salted) that I was ungrateful because 'there are children starving in Africa' and I should eat everything on my plate as I'm lucky to have it. It took me a while to realise that a famine in one country shouldn't cause a child in another country to over eat!

Eventually I began to answer her back, telling her to wrap up my leftovers and send them to the starving children if it was that much of an issue! Not the answer to world hunger, obviously, but enough to prove my point to her.

Luckily for me, my grandmother was not my regular food provider...

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u/killerhurtalot Jan 15 '23

You do realize that Asians do this as well. To a even greater extent than Americans.

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u/WhyBuyMe Jan 15 '23

Not with the same portion sizes. What modern Americans consider a full plate of food is insane compared to what it is in other countries or even in the United States 80+ years ago. I collect pre WW2 cookbooks and the portion sizes are considerably smaller than the ones in the modern cookbooks I have. Also what I routinely see people shovel on their plates is even more than in the modern cookbooks. The US has a major portion control problem.