Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Please Sir, I (Don't) Want Some More

One of the things you find after having had gastric sleeve surgery is that your need for portion sizes diminishes drastically. For the rest of my life, I will only ever eat a quarter to half a cup of food per meal.

Now, when cooking for myself at home, this is easy to deal with - I just serve myself a fraction of what I give the Hussyband (and then usually push what I still couldn't finish off my plate to him at the end as well!)

But eating out causes a whole other dilemma. The scenarios I have encountered so far include:

  1. The Incredulous Server: who cannot fathom that a person of my size could possibly ONLY want a starter when my dining companion is having three courses. Not forgetting "Oh the horror!", that I do not want wine, as I am unable  to drink 30 mins pre-, during- or 30 mins post-eating. I mean, you are taking a valuable seat in our establishment and not spending more than £5-25 (depending on the quality of said establishment.)
  2. The Disappointed Chef: when no other options are available for dining portion control (or the starters fail to entice my taste buds) and I am left with ordering a main size meal, there is the inevitable kerfuffle when the server clears my plate after I have finished dining, and 80% of the meal is still on it. My entreaties of "Of COURSE I enjoyed the meal, I just can't eat that much food!" are usually met with looks of disbelief as their judging eyes roam my (quickly shrinking) frame. 
In both these cases, I find myself having to explain my surgery to justify my eating needs. Now, I am obviously out of the surgery closet, but it does get tiring having to explain it to complete strangers, what I have already taken great pains to explain to my nearest and dearest (and those of you who I have also never met, but take the time to read this blog!)

I almost wish there were little cards like this that I could give to staff at restaurants, it would save me a lot of stress and reduce tears on bad days....





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