Yes other people do seem to be really really really really more interested in what we eat than what we are ourselves and as some of you have already pointed out they seem to enjoy pointing that out to all when we're in the restaurant with them and there are many many reasons why they're like that; some of you have already listed some, jealousy, envy, concern.
But we need to write down the concern into two types. These concerns for us that we may be doing the wrong thing which in their eyes will do us harm. But there is also a concern for themselves that we may be doing the right thing and they may have to change their understanding of what is a good diet and of course many people really do fear change which remind me, some of you may have heard the old saying that "you never talk about religion or politics as that can lead to heated discussions" because people don't like being told what to believe or how they should vote. One thing I found is that neither do people like being told what they should eat.
Anyway, I digress. As far as eating at restaurants goes I found two helpful little things that we can do. Whenever I go into a restaurant now I pick up the menu, scan down it, make a choice of one or two things, close the menu and put it down and say " Yes I know I'm going to eat" whereupon everybody looks at you to say "Oh!". So that then takes away their opportunity to try and choose things for us because we've already made our choice which means that they get on looking at what they want to eat. Now once they are all engrossed with deciding what they want to eat, you can then return back to the menu if you want to just to confirm your choice or maybe decide on something else. The other thing I always do is order first again for much the same reason, by getting in first and giving the serving staff my order, it does mean that the others in the party will probably have to go back and look at the menu to make certain that they're ordering the right thing which takes away the opportunity for them to talk about what we're ordering.
The next time you're in that situation try those two little tips, you'll find them very useful.
Hope that helps,
Mark
