To look good for Hud? Did she secretly love him, and wanted to look good for him, even though she told him she didn't want another cold-hearted bastard in her life?
Is that why she doesn't eat her own peach ice cream?
Clearly there was a spark between Alma and Hud. She says so herself towards the end of the film when she tells Hud that "without the rough stuff sooner or later it would have happened". But she is also wise enough and has experienced enough to recognize Hud for the user that he is, so I would not say she loved him. At most they would have had a brief fling.
"Always with the negative waves, Moriarity....always with the negative waves"
I don't think she's doing it for Hud, specifically. She mentions playing poker with a bunch of boys, some nights. And a woman doesn't have to have a man in her life to keep her from not wanting to go to pot.
Alma probably tasted and snacked all day while cooking in the kitchen, and knew she was at that age when random pounds begin to stick if you don't watch it.
Unless you were a "skinny minnie", which was as bad as being obese back then, most women were all trying to "lose a couple of pounds" to get the waistline needed for the hourglass figure popular at the time, and your "going out" dresses were all cut to fit your waist, so you couldn't wear them if you put on even a little.
shareWell, Hud teases her about eating all of the groceries as she eats an orange then Fig Newtons. Maybe she'd filled up on that and thought better of eating the ice cream.
(W)hat are we without our dreams?
Making sure our fantasies
Do not overpower our realities. ~ RC