Food Glorious Food

So much for not eating Japanese food. I've discovered that foreigners gain the "Japanese 15" because either A) the food is SO damn good OR B) because it is impossible to say no. Japanese food tastes nothing like Colorado makes you think it tastes. It is almost always a million times better.
During those impossible-to-say-no times, I am usually with my host family or Japanese host of some sort and I can't be rude. They serve me a ton of food, since I am the guest, and I have to eat the WHOLE THING regardless of whether or not I am hungry. A Japanese concept called mottainai (don't be wasteful)is ingrained in everyone, even toddlers, so I MUST finish everything. EVEN if I get a stomachache. It is INCREDIBLY rude if I don't finish.
I am always the guest and the first one to try everything so usually everyone waits for my reaction when I try something new. If I say "oishii" (delicious) then everyone is happy. If I don't say it, then people will be really upset, so on only a few occasions, have I said "ehhh....daijobu" (uhhh...[the food is]....ok). I could never ever say that something is gross, UNLESS they know that foreigners typically don't like a certain type of food like nato (green sickness with the consistency of snot), basashi (raw horse) or sashimi (raw fish). ONLY then I could make a face and say 'Sorry I can't eat it'. But heaven forbid if they counter with "Please you try. Japanese Challenge'.
AHHHH! I'm screwed! I can't ignore 'Japanese Challenge'. If they say that, then I HAVE to eat it to 'save face', another cultural pillar. If someone gives you a Japanese Challenge, you rise to the occasion, or risk losing something valuable, like respect. SUCH DIFFICULT choices I face: stomachache or rudeness. I always choose stomachache, and apparently, that's what other Japanese people do too. I am not used to eating huge meals all at once. In the US, I ate a little bit all day long, so it has been very hard. I am usually the last one done because I am trying to psych myself into eating that one last sushi roll by making room in my lungs and re-arranging my internal organs for yet more food. I'm also still not that great with chopsticks.
On those days, when I am pregnant with a foodbaby, I can't eat at all the next day. I know, I know, what you're thinking; that is SO UNHEALTHY, but I don't know what else to do, and until I can learn the subtle way to say no, I am stuck. So I am motivated to study harder on those days. BUT, my co-workers are starting to realize my dilemma and tell others about what they call "Cassandra's Eating Rules". They think it is very funny and a little eccentric and I am saved from being rude and getting a stomachache. If only someone would tell my host family, then they would stop making me eat so much...