'AITA for pointing out how much salt my mother-in-law consumes?'
"AITA for pointing out how much salt my mother-in-law consumes?"
My MIL claims she can’t have a lot of salt...as a result we’re not allowed to add salt to any meals we cook. We can’t have salt on French fries, we can’t add salt to recipes I cook and she actively makes a fuss about anything over about 500mg of salt.
She is also a chronic faker and if there is something wrong with you, she has it. The best example is when I was pregnant she tried to claim she was having labor pains and cravings.
She’s been staying with us for the past 2 weeks and she has eaten her way through 2 family size packs of potato chips and 6-8 small packs of potato chips, these are our snacks that we keep for movie nights with the kids etc. They’re for special occasions, but I went to get some the other day and they were gone...so she’s snuck into the kitchen to take them.
As the kids can’t reach them and my husband would just tell me if he ate them. My son said the other day he wasn’t feeling good he’s lactose intolerant and had grabbed the wrong milk, so he had a stomach ache. She instantly was saying she wasn’t feeling well, so it MUST be a stomach bug and I pointed out that she probably wasn’t feeling well because of all the salt she had consumed over the past 2 weeks.
She instantly recovered from her illness and demanded to know what I meant. When I told her that she’d consumed a huge amount of salt in the multiple bags of potato chips she’d eaten. She lost her mind and told me that I was an ahole for “tracking her food consumption."
I didn’t think I was in the wrong as I wasn’t actively tracking anything, but just noticed they were missing and she’d be the only person to eat them. My SIL told me I was in the wrong for commenting on her food consumption.
My husband said she’s pissed because I indirectly pointed out her salt restriction is nonsense. Sooo…AITA for indirectly calling out that her salt restriction is nonsense?
Here's what people had to say to OP:
TheWidowAustero2 said:
NTA. Why is she staying with you? She needs to leave.
theworldisonfire8377 said:
NTA, but his family is for enabling her.
KaraAuden said:
NTA. But also, if I were in your position I would set aside her portion, and then salt the rest. SHE "can't" have salted fries; you can. Making pasta? Set aside a bowl, then salt the pot. If she makes a fuss about it, turn it right back.
"I don't want to risk my very active kids developing an electrolyte balance from not eating enough salt. You wouldn't want the grandkids to develop health problems, right?"
Gennevieve1 said:
NTA. But kill her with kindness and remove anything she supposedly can't eat from her reach. And when you are with her when she's in the store or ordering something just take over whenever she tries to have the wrong food and say "oh no, she can't have that because of her health!" and buy a special version of said food without the ingredient just for her.
Start really track her consumption and you can always tell her that you're concerned for her health and you can't have it on your conscience to have her be sick while she's your guest.
See how long she'll last before she suddenly "has to return" home. She says she can't have it. Believe her and treat it like a restaurant would treat any guest with an allergy. You don't have to do anything mean, just take her seriously.
UnPracticed_Pagan said:
NTA, but your MIL sounds exhausting.
Maleficent-Big-4778 said:
NTA, LOL. I know you’re ready for her to leave!
Feeling-Invite7953 said:
NTA. Lock up the high-sodium snacks the next time she comes, and only put “baked “chips within her reach. Lay’s makes a variety of snacks that are baked, rather than fried.