Be in charge of what goes into your mouth. Don’t let others push food onto you. You don’t have to eat to be polite or sociable. Having a cup of coffee or a beverage of some kind should suffice. I wouldn’t let anyone pressure me into putting anything into my mouth that I didn’t want to put there.
I remember an incident some years ago. It was the occasion of an afternoon tea at the home of a relative. The host, an old man was doing the rounds offering a tray of biscuits. Seated on my left was the old man’s wife. When her husband came to her she took a biscuit. I was next to be offered the array of biscuits and when they were put in front of me I politely said, “Oh no thank you.”
My response was not appreciated by the old man who retorted harshly with, “what’s the matter, are you anorexic?” I was shocked at his reaction but I looked up at him and said politely, “No, I just don’t feel hungry thank you.”
The old man’s wife, far from being in synch with her husband, seemed to gain strength from my refusing a biscuit. Surprisingly, with biscuit in hand she moved her arm towards the plate and dropped her biscuit on it and said, “And I don’t want mine either thank you.” Her husband seemed shocked, but the old lady looked at me and beamed. I got the feeling that this act of hers was most probably the first time in her life she’d been able to assert herself and say without words, “No thank you, I don’t feel like a biscuit and I’m not having one.”
Don’t let anyone bully you into eating what you don’t want to eat. No-one has the right to expect you to put anything into your mouth other than what you choose to put there.