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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to ask my friend to leave after criticising my diet?

547 replies

Dogingarden · 28/06/2026 22:13

I have a friend staying with me at the moment because it's just been my birthday.

I have been having treatment for breast cancer and have had no appetite for several weeks. Today I had a craving for pizza and have eaten a large pizza and some chips. I've also eaten most of a bar of green and blacks chocolate today too, along with some other bits.

Friend isn't very impressed and has said several times I need to eat healthy food. She's very much into healthy eating and is very disciplined about what she eats.

I've explained that my consultant says to eat whatever I fancy when I fancy and not worry about what I'm eating as long as I'm getting calories. I have long nearly two stone from chemo side effects, for context.

Friend disagreed with this and said I shouldn't be eating "processed crap" because it's just going to make the cancer worse.

I'm extremely upset by her attitude and what she's said. She's gone up to bed and I'm sitting in the garden with my dog feeling awful. She's meant to be staying until wed but I'm going to ask her to leave in the morning.

Wibu?

OP posts:
MorrisZapp · 29/06/2026 22:07

Well isn't she a joy. Is there any chance she's neuro diverse? My mum is forever handing out unsolicited advice/criticism and she genuinely can't understand that people aren't grateful to her for kindly supplying the facts they appear to be missing.

I'm sorry you're so unwell, do you mind me asking if the weight loss is a result of your illness, or a side effect of treatment? Hope you have an optimistic prognosis.

OneZanyCat · 29/06/2026 22:13

So sorry you are going through breast cancer and chemo and your friend is being thoughtless. I have been through chemo and breast cancer and my oncologist was very clear it was best not to lose weight during treatment so you are absolutely doing the right thing eating what you can.

WhatHappenedToYourFurnitureCuz · 29/06/2026 22:27

ScrollingLeaves · 29/06/2026 18:28

I don’t know either. In fact of course it isn’t trolling.

I have also suggested that programme twice and I am a cancer survivor ( for the moment) which is why I paid special attention.

This whole thread is bizarre. It sounds as though the friend was tactless in the moment, but well meaning over all.

The only bizarre thing in the thread is you and the other clowns who keep wanging on to the OP about diet. It is breathtakingly tone deaf and lacking in empathy. Especially since you keep on doing it when the OP has made it clear she doesn't want it.

Thisthreadhasbeendeleted · 29/06/2026 22:28

FoxyLocksie · 29/06/2026 00:20

Your friend is right, of course, that what we eat has profound and far-reaching effects on our health and longevity.

I listened to a very interesting episode of The Food Programme on radio 4 last week, which was on this very topic.
I think it's very remiss of oncologists not to inform their patients of the power of food. What we eat really does make a difference.

Someone with active disease who is losing weight unintentionally and is at risk of malnutrition will have worse outcomes, be more prone to infections, be less able to withstand treatment, experience a slower recovery, and potentially lose significant muscle mass.
They need energy and protein.

Girliefriendlikespuppies · 29/06/2026 22:31

Mandaxx25 · 29/06/2026 22:00

It sounds to me like your friend is just worried about you and loves you so she wants the best for you.

Nope she is sanctimonious and judgmental 🤷‍♀️

If she wanted the best for her friend she’d go out and buy her more chocolate and pizza!

Bigsigh24 · 29/06/2026 22:45

Dogingarden · 28/06/2026 22:13

I have a friend staying with me at the moment because it's just been my birthday.

I have been having treatment for breast cancer and have had no appetite for several weeks. Today I had a craving for pizza and have eaten a large pizza and some chips. I've also eaten most of a bar of green and blacks chocolate today too, along with some other bits.

Friend isn't very impressed and has said several times I need to eat healthy food. She's very much into healthy eating and is very disciplined about what she eats.

I've explained that my consultant says to eat whatever I fancy when I fancy and not worry about what I'm eating as long as I'm getting calories. I have long nearly two stone from chemo side effects, for context.

Friend disagreed with this and said I shouldn't be eating "processed crap" because it's just going to make the cancer worse.

I'm extremely upset by her attitude and what she's said. She's gone up to bed and I'm sitting in the garden with my dog feeling awful. She's meant to be staying until wed but I'm going to ask her to leave in the morning.

Wibu?

Is she medically trained oncologist ? Ask her to leave , shes rude, sending best wishes to you x

Dodorogers · 29/06/2026 22:46

Dogingarden · 29/06/2026 00:32

Please go back and read all of my posts. My diet before this hell started was good. I didn't get cancer because I didn't eat enough veggies, I got it because I have the gene for it. I'm going to have a double mastectomy and a hysterectomy at some point.

👏👏👏 I am sorry you have people saying bollocks like this to you. I really hope you tell your friend to bugger off. And to everyone who thinks that eating a veggie pizza and some very nice chocolate is going to impact recovery they can bugger off too.

bellhawk · 29/06/2026 22:48

Your friend was judgemental and certainly didn't need to go on a soapbox about healthy eating.

Many people with fixations on eating healthily, thinking they can control the future by having a salad three times daily with their supplement cocktail, are running on anxiety and a pathological fear of death.

Best of luck with your treatment and future pizzas.

localnotail · 29/06/2026 22:53

FoxyLocksie · 29/06/2026 00:20

Your friend is right, of course, that what we eat has profound and far-reaching effects on our health and longevity.

I listened to a very interesting episode of The Food Programme on radio 4 last week, which was on this very topic.
I think it's very remiss of oncologists not to inform their patients of the power of food. What we eat really does make a difference.

Yes, Keep telling yourself you will never get cancer (or any other illness) because you organic quinoa.

But on thing for sure - clean eating obviously does not make you a better person.

localnotail · 29/06/2026 22:59

@Dogingarden - first of all, big hug and hope your treatment is as pain free as it can be, and I wish you a quick and full recovery xxx

With regards to your so-called "friend" - she is clearly lacking empathy, kindness and understanding of what you are going through (or maybe its a wilful decision not to notice, who knows). She decided to score points criticizing someone who is going through horrendous life changing illness - and not just someone, her friend. When she should be happy for you eating- anything! You dont need people like this around you - not now, not ever. Tell her to leave, and forget she ever existed.

DierdreDaphne · 29/06/2026 23:00

ThreadGuardDog · 29/06/2026 21:24

You don’t ’beat’ stage 4 cancer, it’s metastatic cancer. It’s treatable and you can live a long time with it, but it’s not curable. And as I said upthread, the dietary advice to eat a healthier diet once you’ve had a cancer diagnosis is based on verified research. A diet high in saturated fats and over processed foods can cause inflammation, leading to cell division, which exacerbates the growth of tumours. In some cases it can also make various treatments less effective, and where it leads to obesity, again inflammation can feed tumour growth. The risk of some cancers is also hugely increased by obesity.

Fgs this poster is not obese! Yes in general a diet like this can lower your cancer risk. However as the poster discovered, you can still get cancer nonetheless. And she is now recovering from punishing treatment that drained away her body weight..She may well be metabolising muscle just tondonher daily metabolic chires. Her appetite has been dreadful. SHE NEEDS CALORIES NOT SANCTIMONIOUS SALAD ADVICE!

Ocelotfeet27 · 29/06/2026 23:02

OP ignore all the diet idiots. You've had professional advice to eat what you feel like, you crack on. Yes diet can affect health and yes at some point you might want to think about that, as I am sure you normally would, but that is not for now. You do what you need to do to be happy and healthy. Re your friend i am assuming you've already either kicked her out or not. But I'd say you should be selfish given your health and do what gives you peace of mind. If that's kicking her out then great. I'd just say that I am not well at the moment and need to have a positive mindset and it is hard to have that when you are feeling criticised so you'd like some space for now please. It doesn't mean you don't care about her or want to be her friend in future but just you saying what you need at this moment in time.

localnotail · 29/06/2026 23:04

DierdreDaphne · 29/06/2026 23:00

Fgs this poster is not obese! Yes in general a diet like this can lower your cancer risk. However as the poster discovered, you can still get cancer nonetheless. And she is now recovering from punishing treatment that drained away her body weight..She may well be metabolising muscle just tondonher daily metabolic chires. Her appetite has been dreadful. SHE NEEDS CALORIES NOT SANCTIMONIOUS SALAD ADVICE!

OMG OP is literally 7stone, how TF is this "obese" @ThreadGuardDog???

She is in the situation where every calorie is a good calorie.

mathanxiety · 29/06/2026 23:06

ScrollingLeaves · 28/06/2026 23:40

I don’t think you are being unreasonable, or that it matters what you ate that day, but I think she is right too:

There was an interesting Radio programme with a Professor of oncology speaking about the importance of diet in improving outcomes for cancer.

He also mentioned that most cancer doctors know nothing about it and often wrongly tell patients it makes no difference what they eat just like your consultant did.

You could eat good food and still put on your missing weight.

This was the BBC Radio 4 programme.
Could Food Do More in Cancer Care and Prevention?
The Food Programme
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002xpbp?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

You could eat good food and still put on your missing weight

Yes, if you could face the food, or if you could keep it down, or if the chemo hadn't given you bleeding gums or robbed you of your sense of taste.

Someone upthread commented on the breathtaking ignorance and smugness of many on this thread who had heard that programme, and I agree with her.

CandidLurker · 29/06/2026 23:12

I’ve had chemo for breast cancer. These diet people are highly irritating and have no clue. The chemo drugs are enormously powerful drugs. Eating a pizza, or not eating a pizza is going to have absolutely no impact on the outcome of treatment. It’s the drugs and other treatments that do that. I had chemo every three weeks for about 6 months. On my one good week between treatments i looked forward to eating some nice food. I never ate kale which seems to be favoured by these type of people.

Imbusytodaysorry · 29/06/2026 23:14

@Dogingarden i think id have been a bit miffed if she was putting a damper on the only food id enjoyed in a while. However I think your friend is worried about you and wants the cancer to go away , you to be ok.
She knows how well the body reacts to a proper diet. I mean she isn’t far wrong about processed foods.

I wouldn’t fall out with her . I’d say you know she cares , but you would like to be able to enjoy the small amounts of food you are managing at the moment .

CatsAreBetterThanMen · 29/06/2026 23:20

Dogingarden · 28/06/2026 23:02

To all of you going through this too, I'm so sorry and I hope you're doing okay.

To all of you saying diet matters; respectfully, please mind your business. I had days in the last weeks where I couldn't keep any food down. I've vomited so much I've made myself bleed. I currently weigh around 7 stone at 5'9 tall. That's dangerously underweight according to my doctors.

To everyone else; thank you. I don't think she's doing it from a place of concern but a place of judgement unfortunately. I have already explained what my consultant said and she still thinks I'm unreasonable for eating pizza (veggie pizza) and some chocolate.

You are most certainly not being unreasonable, stress is one of the worst things for your health and capacity to heal and she is causing you a lot of stress and unhappiness. I totally agree that you need to focus on getting calories in whatever way you can and to all the food police out there I would like to share that my daughter was a fitness fanatic that exercised everyday, ate only organic, home cooked, low fat food, drank only water, herbal tea and matcha, didn't smoke or drink alcohol and is riddled with multiple health conditions including the worst grade of endometriosis as well as osteoporosis (exacerbated, if not directly caused by over exercise, being underweight and excluding dairy and most meat for nearly two decades).

Of my two best friends, one is a hugely overweight, ex-smoker, recovering alcoholic who was diagnosed with cancer 16 years ago, told by the first three doctors she saw (I was with her each time) that there was nothing that could be done but to make her comfortable. After her op she was told that she was too ill for chemo, it would kill her and then whilst on chemo she developed multiple pulmonary embolisms that nearly killed her and incidentally, she too was told to eat whatever she wanted - advice which she thoroughly took to heart. My other best friend, like my daughter, was a fitness obsessed, vegetarian, who collapsed up a mountain whilst walking with family and was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

She survived a little over a year and her and her husband were so bitter about the "unfairness" of healthy people who had "done nothing wrong" succumbing to cancer whilst "unhealthy, irresponsible people" got to live - literally their words. It was very difficult not to completely lose it with them but I understood they were overcome with fear and grief, but to hear this kind of judgement and bitterness over and over was literally like listening to a religious fanatic who had lost their faith because they had thought that their piety would exempt them from all the ills of the world and it repelled me that they were implicitly saying it should be my other friend dying and not them.

Is it sensible to try to eat healthy and get some exercise? Of course. Is it healthy to be an orthorexic food puritan that is indoctrinated by health guidance and internet nutritionist gurus? Most certainly not.

My aforementioned best friend is still beautiful, imperfect, joyous and going strong (touch wood) and long may she remain so. My daughter has given up her puritan ways and has a devoted, loving relationship with Willie's chocolate and Lindt caramel bars. Unfortunately she's just as unhealthy but she enjoys life more.

I wish you a full recovery and a long future filled with happiness and Green and Black's chocolate. Be positive and refuse to give up, that's what will get you through more than anything.

Laurmolonlabe · 29/06/2026 23:29

I'd have asked her to leave at the time, and not waited for the morning.

LizzieLazzie · 29/06/2026 23:32

Why does she think she knows more than the hospital consultant? Just eat what you fancy, as you’ve been advised to do. These healthy eating gurus don’t always consider the context. . My sister is like this. In his last weeks of life my dad craved the comfort of cups of tea but she insisted he drank plain cold water as it was more healthy. He was clearly dying and a cuppa wasn’t much to ask for to cheer him on his way.

saraclara · 29/06/2026 23:33

Mandaxx25 · 29/06/2026 22:00

It sounds to me like your friend is just worried about you and loves you so she wants the best for you.

Telling OP, in her own house, that what she just ate (after two weeks of not being able to have food at all) will make her cancer worse, is NOT wanting the best for her. It's tactless, judgemental and cruel.

Instructions · 29/06/2026 23:36

You can eat whatever you like. I hope you loved every bite.

amargaritaplease · 29/06/2026 23:43

curious79 · 28/06/2026 22:38

She was very outspoken and spoke in a very insensitive and rude way about something that isn’t your every day …. I would ask her to go…. But…. She’s not wrong re the processed food, and where calories come from matter. Your oncologist is being remiss (and very old school). Read source like Dr Colin Kelly ‘stop feeding your cancer’, or listen to podcasts by Chris beat cancer for a perspective on the role of nutrition. Good luck!

What an incredibly condescending post. Are you always so insufferable ?

Dogmum6 · 29/06/2026 23:48

it Was rude but also sounds like she cares too. I would maybe say to her its not on to talk to me like that please don't mention it again but let her stay only if she respects your boundary

Dogingarden · 29/06/2026 23:51

ThreadGuardDog · 29/06/2026 20:17

I realise that. And in those circumstances I would go for the unhealthy food if that was what was tickling my appetite, because at that stage it’s the calories that matter. At no point did I say the opposite. My points were entirely in respect of long term habitually bad diet. The oncologists advice is for the here and now, and designed for a much needed calorie intake.

I do not/did not have a long term bad diet.

It was one pizza and some chocolate. One of these. https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/Market-Street-Vegetable-Supreme-Thin-Stonebaked-10-Pizza/109463922

OP posts:
Dogingarden · 29/06/2026 23:59

MorrisZapp · 29/06/2026 22:07

Well isn't she a joy. Is there any chance she's neuro diverse? My mum is forever handing out unsolicited advice/criticism and she genuinely can't understand that people aren't grateful to her for kindly supplying the facts they appear to be missing.

I'm sorry you're so unwell, do you mind me asking if the weight loss is a result of your illness, or a side effect of treatment? Hope you have an optimistic prognosis.

It's from the chemo. I have no desire to eat food at the moment (appetite has vanished again today ☹️), have spent a lot of time vomiting, and to be frank the drugs are fucking brutal.

Food tastes like ash. My mouth has been incredibly sore and filled with ulcers. I'm exhausted much of the time. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.

OP posts: