Made you eat crow

This is going to be a short blog post.

For years, this particular person has been telling people, and making snide and indirect remarks to me that I have an eating disorder. Now, it all started when I left JC and I started to eat proper meals and go to the gym once a week (although I have stopped going since 2015). All this time, I kept quiet about it because I did not want any unnecessary drama and I thought this person would observe my eating patterns and realise that she is wrong. 

But no, just hours ago, this person had the audacity to come up to me and tell me, 'You are so skinny. Why don't you eat?' 

I find that comment unsubstantiated and very untimely. Like I said, this person had never spent a day with me and had never seen how often I eat, how much I eat, or heck, what I eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner (and ahem... snacks in between meals). Also, I was actually eating a bowl of wanton noodles when she said that. What do you mean I don't eat? 

Unabashed by what she said previously, this person went on and said, 'you would look better if you ate more and had more meat on your bones'. Excuse me? 

Am I on 'Just for Laughs: Gags?' Where are the cameras? I mean, this person literally does not know me. She has only seen me like twice a year and some photos on Facebook. That's it.

Yes, I lost like 3-4kg since I was 18 years old... Yes, my old clothes don't fit me anymore and sometimes, I shop at children's department cause I am that small. Yes, I eat extremely little per meal and I get full easily. But are these facts alone enough for you to assume that I have an eating disorder? Possibly stemming from a mental disorder?

Oh god. I know people who have eating disorder. I have seen what eating disorders do to people; the symptoms, the dilemma, the pain, the guilt, etc. I would never ever wish it upon anyone. I would also never insinuate that somebody has eating disorder simply because he/she is skinnier. 

SO WHY, WOMAN? WHY WOULD YOU NOT EVEN FIND OUT WHAT THE SYMPTOMS ARE AND WHAT IT DOES TO PEOPLE BEFORE MAKING ASSUMPTIONS LIKE THAT?? 

I am horrified that this just happened. Obviously, unable to tolerate another day of this torture and back-and-forth backhand compliment, I told the person in a very serious tone that I do not have an eating disorder and I asked her to explain why she thinks otherwise. She told me that she notices that I eat very little for lunch. She also realised that I am skinnier. She even went on to psycho-analyse me and tell me that I probably feel fat among my friends/family members because they are skinnier than me so I have a tendency to 'undereat'. WHAT IN THE WORLD.... Just when I thought we are progressing...

At this point, I am done. I made my case and I advised her to be careful when it comes to making assumptions like that. Some people do have eating disorders and I don't think they would want some random person to tell them to eat more. It is not just a physical problem that can be solved by eating more...

In the end, she apologised and said that she only said those things out of concern. I accepted her apology and told her to just end it. Don't need to back peddle. It's fine. 

___________________

So tell me, guys. What would you do if you were me? Would you tolerate such treatment for years? What would you tell her?