He Told His Wife That She Needs To Stop Labeling Foods As “Bad” And Making Comments About Her Appearance Because It’s Beginning To Affect Their Young Daughter
This man is married to a woman named Alice. Sadly, Alice has struggled with an eating disorder for the majority of her life.
Right now, she doesn’t eat foods that contain a high amount of carbs or sugar. Alice’s meals mainly consist of protein and vegetables.
At the beginning of their relationship, she wanted to move toward recovery and improve her feelings about food.
In order to go about this, Alice began therapy, and she also included a doctor in her treatment team, and she was getting a lot better. Luckily, his wife made huge strides, and he made sure to show up for her however she needed him to.
Unfortunately, this changed after she gave birth to their 8 and 10-year-old daughters and struggled to accept her postpartum body. Alice was triggered by the physical changes she experienced and was extremely self-conscious.
“She completely refused to get any help after because she didn’t want to gain weight. I’ve done everything I could to try to help her, but she’s completely against it now,” he said.
During family mealtimes, he and his daughters eat the same thing together, while Alice eats her own version because she only allows herself to consume low-carb, low-fat foods.
As of late, their oldest daughter has started saying that she wants to eat the version of the meal that Alice eats. When he asks their daughter why, she essentially parrots what Alice has said.
“One night, we were having rice, salmon, and veggies for dinner. My daughter said, ‘Dad, don’t put rice on my plate. I’ll be bloated tomorrow.’ I asked her why she said that, and she couldn’t give me an answer,” he explained.
F8 \ Suport Ukraine – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
His daughter declined to eat rice during the meal, and he knew that he couldn’t make her eat it, but he was obviously deeply concerned about this. Over time, she’s been exhibiting this behavior more frequently.
To try to combat the issue, he had a talk with his daughter about food, expressing to her that carbs aren’t “bad” and that they are actually necessary for her to grow and be healthy. He added that a balanced diet was crucial for her.
During this conversation, it seemed like his daughter was receptive to this information, but it hasn’t changed her behavior at all.
“She still refuses to eat any rice/potatoes/bread or snacks at all. I told my wife that she needs to stop making comments about her appearance and labeling certain foods as bad because it’s affecting our daughter, and I’m scared of what level this could get to for such a young child,” he shared.
In response, his wife sarcastically apologized, suggesting that she turn off her eating disorder for him since she hadn’t known it bothered him so much.
Alice’s attitude annoyed him, so he asked her to drop the sarcasm and snark. He continued, letting her know how concerned he was about their daughter, emphasizing the importance of staying on top of the situation before it potentially worsens.
However, his wife told him that it was silly of him to mention this to her since she also has issues with food. Alice pointed out that if she knew how to handle someone developing an unhealthy relationship with food, then she wouldn’t have been battling an eating disorder for most of her life.
Now, he doesn’t know what to do. He’s debating on looking for resources on his own so that he can receive guidance on how to navigate the issues his daughter is currently facing.
Even if he does go forward with this plan, though, he predicts that it will be a huge challenge for his daughter to maintain a healthy relationship with food if his wife continues voicing her disordered thoughts around their daughter.
What advice would you give him?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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