Cookies for breakfast?

I am studying in Florence, Italy for the Spring semester and chose to live with a host family. They are kind and generous, and love to try to get me to eat. Each morning, I eat breakfast at their home, and every evening, the Signora, Signore, and I share dinner together.

Now, breakfast is quite simple: little toasts with jam, instant coffee made with heated milk, and biscotti. Now, the first two items are not too surprising. But, for the last, I was expecting a type of biscotti, like those one dips in coffee in the US. No - these are straight up cookies. Pepperidge farm-like butter cookies topped with sugar. My first thoughts ran to the old commercials for "Cookie Crisp" cereal, where children tell their mother that they want cookies for breakfast. She replies "No, you can't have cookies for breakfast", and out of nowhere, a cartoon wizard emerges and chimes, "but you can have cookie crisp!" (Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln982_hkuJs&feature=related). So, every morning as I'm dipping my cookies in my warmish instant milk-coffee, I wait for this wizard to pop out and put a spell on me for eating cookies and not cookie crisp. I wonder if my cookies are a part of a balanced breakfast?

And then, there is dinner. Meals are varied, but often consist of soup or a bowl of pasta. I love pasta, but as everyone knows, it is very filling. And it seems that every night, after I somehow find room to fit the whole bowl of pasta, my host family says "formaggio?" - formaggio, means cheese, and also my dread. I think, "would it be rude to decline? where am I supposed to fit this?" And, most nights, I often cave and eat some cheese. But seeing that I ate the cheese, they offer me fruit. Ok, now we have problems. I think to myself : First the pasta, then the cheese, now they want me to eat fruit?! Don't they know there are limits to the human body??

Oh, and this is after drinking the two glasses of wine I also couldn't refuse.

So, after the first two nights, I decided to look up "I am not hungry" on an online translator and quickly picked up "basta" meaning enough. And somehow, I've programmed myself to immediately reply "no, grazie" when I hear the Italian word for "would you like more?", even before I fully comprehend what they've asked me.

I'm thinking about carrying a white flag in my pocket for the inevitable day they ask me if I would like dessert.