Dear Abby: I am 5 foot 2 and weigh 90 pounds. I try very hard to gain weight, but my doctors tell me that I have an overactive metabolism and that it will work itself out someday. I accept that and try to do whatever I can to stay healthy and gain weight.
The only thing that bothers me is the people who refer to me as skinny. They say things like, ”Every time I see you, you look skinnier and skinnier,” or they`ll grab my arms and measure them with their fingers and say, ”Your arms are so skinny, you must eat like a bird.” I could never imagine someone saying to a person who was overweight, ”Every time I see you, you look fatter and fatter!”
Abby, the reason I am writing is to make people aware that it hurts a thin person when you call her skinny as much as it does when you call an overweight person fat.
I wish they would stop treating me as if I am so fragile I`ll fall apart if they touch me. And if they don`t have anything nice to say, refrain from saying anything at all!
Sick of Being Called Skinny
Dear Sick: Although some people are probably reacting more out of envy than intentional cruelty, your message deserves to be heard. Now hear this:
Any comment of a personal nature concerning the weight of another is rude and uncalled for.
Dear Abby: My fiance and I are very compatible except in our eating habits. I love just about everything, including fruits, vegetables and ethnic foods. The problem is that he is very much a meat-and-potatoes man and refuses to touch vegetables, fruits or anything he has never had before.
I am very scared that after we`re married, our food differences will end up causing huge problems. (Especially when we`ve had every meat-and-potato recipe and I am ready for a change.) Have you any suggestions?
Meated Out in Minnesota
Dear Meated Out: You and your fiance should discuss this problem with a doctor or registered dietitian because it is very important. The old meat-and- potatoes diet on which many Americans were raised is responsible for many health problems.
Unless your fiance is willing to be enlightened, the two of you will disagree three times a day for as long as your marriage (or your husband)
lasts.
Dear Readers: The ultimate in handling an awkward situation:
”I`ll bet you don`t remember me,” said a woman constituent to the late Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois.
”Madam,” replied the senator, ”if I remembered a woman of your extraordinary beauty, I`d never be able to get any work done!”
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Most teen-agers do not know the facts about drugs, AIDS and how to prevent unwanted pregnancy. It`s all in Abby`s updated, expanded booklet,
”What Every Teen Should Know.” To order, send a business-size, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $3.95 ($4.50 in Canada)
to: Dear Abby, Teen Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, Ill. 61054. (Postage is included.)
