Living with roommates means navigating a minefield of personal habits. You learn to tolerate their weird taste in music and their questionable cleaning standards. The shared kitchen, especially, is a delicate ecosystem where everyone has their own way of life.
You respect their space, and they respect yours. But what happens when one person’s healthy routine is another person’s trigger? One student’s disciplined diet became the catalyst for a roommate war, forcing a difficult question about personal responsibility.
More info: Reddit
A shared kitchen can be a minefield of conflicting lifestyles and unspoken rules amongst roommates
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
A student’s strict, healthy diet was triggering their new roommate’s eating disorder
Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The roommate asked them to stop weighing food and to be “less strict” with their diet
Image credits: maryna_alex / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The student refused, telling her that her disorder was not their problem
Image credits: Accomplished_Elk_37
The roommate called them a jerk, and the apartment became a tense, silent war zone
This story is set in a classic off-campus housing situation, where a fitness-focused student lives with their friend and his new girlfriend. The narrator is a creature of habit, a gym-goer who strictly tracks their macros, weighs their food, and consistently turns down junk food. This disciplined lifestyle, which had never been an issue before, was about to become a major point of conflict.
One day, the new roommate pulled the narrator aside for a serious talk. She revealed that she has an eating disorder and that the narrator’s strict habits were triggering her desire to relapse. She then made a series of requests: that the narrator stop weighing food in front of her and generally be “less strict” with their diet.
The narrator’s response was blunt, telling her that while they hoped she was okay, she didn’t have the right to ask them to change their entire lifestyle, and that her ED “isn’t really their problem.” This, predictably, did not go over well. The roommate called them a jerk, and the friend in the middle has chosen the path of a conscientious objector, refusing to take sides.
Now, the apartment is a cold war zone. The narrator is left wondering if they are the jerk for setting a firm boundary around their own health and habits, or if they should have compromised their lifestyle to make their roommate more comfortable.
Image credits: kues1 / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The roommate’s request, while difficult, comes from a very real and painful place. As outlined by Equip Health, specific behaviors like weighing food, strict dieting, and labeling foods as “good” or “bad” are common and powerful triggers for individuals with eating disorders. While the OP’s behaviour wasn’t intentionally triggering, it did push the wrong buttons in the end.
However, there is a crucial difference between asking for reasonable accommodations and demanding control over another person’s life. According to Eating Disorder Specialist Kelly Flack, while the home should be a “safe place,” the person with the ED is ultimately responsible for their own recovery.
A reasonable request might be, “Could we avoid talking about weight or calories at dinner?” An unreasonable one, which is what happened here, is demanding a roommate fundamentally change their personal diet and stop their own health practices.
Ultimately, while the narrator’s delivery was blunt, their refusal to alter their lifestyle was a necessary boundary. As experts at The Emily Program explain, a key part of eating disorder recovery is learning to develop coping skills to manage triggers, as it is impossible to eliminate them from the world entirely.
Do you agree that the roommate needed to learn independent coping skills, or should her demands have been met? Share your opinions in the comments section!
The internet was understanding of the lady’s eating disorder but felt the roommate had the full right to enjoy their healthy ways
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