Please Keep Your Comment About Other's Food to Yourself

There is a certain stigma around young boys and their eating habits. Sadly, it has been normalized to comment on the amount of food they eat. There have been multiple incidents I’ve encountered with the guys in my life where someone thinks their opinion about what the guys eat matters.

Often, these people who make comments don’t second guess what they’ve said. While the boy goes home to think about it the rest of the night. Yes, men are known to have a higher metabolism than women. However, that doesn’t mean they should be shamed for the amount of food their body needs and craves. Men also can develop eating disorders.

It is common for people who identify as a male to suppress their feelings about their body and food, only to have those thoughts resurface when other people point out what they put into their bodies.

Now, what can we do to fix this?

We need to start educating each other about eating disorders earlier in life.

Too many times I’ve heard people say things to my guy friend’s such as:

“You’re going to eat all of that?”
“Oh my gosh, how much have you had already?”
“Are you not done eating yet??”
“Just don’t eat for the rest of the day, or go to the gym and work it off.”
“You’re getting seconds?”

These phrases and sentences of the like should never be said.

These statements can be detrimental to a young man’s growth and development.

I have noticed when a young person makes statements like this, they most likely heard it at home, or someone has said those things to them. I hope that if you’re reading this, you’re reading this to re-imagine the way you think about eating and speaking about food. Eating disorders are not going to disappear completely. But there are ways that we can start at home to help those around us avoid going down that path.

Eating disorders can come with a lifetime of recovery. By watching what we say to others and teaching the people around us, we can make a change and break the stigma of eating “too much.” The person beside you is just trying to make it, by eating and doing what they can to survive.