[Medusa]

Anya- Loved what you said about portion control and cleaning your plate.

I have some of the same stuff around thinking that I have to eat everything on my plate. My family is a blend of Southern American/Irish/Romany and we thoroughly believe in my family that not eating everything on your plate is a slap in the face to the cook. I can remember my Father piling both of our plates high when we were at family gatherings. He also was the type that if I said "I don't want any turnip greens, I don't like them!" he would pile an extra scoop on my plate and smirk and say "You'll learn to like them".

There was a bit of his own domination issues coming out in that I think but it pretty much meant that I was a plate-cleaner from a very early age.

Later, it became about class issues. When my Mother was a struggling single Mother and there was one can of chicken noodle soup to split between 3 people, it became about being hungry and there not being enough food for everyone. There was also some stuff around feeling deprived, not just because of being poor, but because my Mom had a nasty sweet tooth that often meant she would buy candy for herself and eat it in front of us. When I would ask for some, she would invoke the size issue: "You're already too fat, you don't need any candy."

Multiple intersections about the *value* of food with me.

I've been working on breaking the "cleaning the plate" habit. I cook smaller meals now and don't generally have tons of leftovers. I also am working internally on not feeling bad about "wasting" food if it goes to the dog or the compost bin. That's heavy lifting that we do with ourselves. I salute you!