> I had terrible arthritis in my knees, was facing surgery, etc.
> Then went on paleo diet and the pain all went away.

>A relative of mine has terrible arthritis in his knees.

I've had similar experience with these things.  When I was in my early
20's I had arthritis-like symptoms.  I had to walk up stairs slowly
because of the pain in my knees.  My elbows would have similar pain
sometimes.  When I got a job doing data entry I started getting carpal
tunnel-like symptoms in my right wrist as well.  My father told me to
cut dairy products out of my diet, so I gave it a try.  Within a week
the pain was almost gone.

More recently I conquered hypo symptoms by going on a mostly paleo
diet.    My father has had similar symptoms to mine for many years.  We
discussed it many times but I only learned recently about hypo.  Now
that I know what I do I want to share the knowledge with him.
Unfortunately it may be too late.  A few years ago he started having
seizures and problems with short-term memory loss.  Whether they were
brought on by his diet I can't say but the doctors couldn't say what's
wrong w/ him.  I remember the last time I went to visit him.  He was
sitting in a chair watching TV with a large bag of M&Ms next to him,
along with a box of sugared breakfast cereal.

I'd like to get him to try a paleo diet to see if he might improve.  I
don't see how it could hurt.  The biggest problem is that he's quite
stubborn, lives halfway across the country, and his meals are prepared
for him by his wife.

The way I see it aside from flying out to California and either moving
in with him or kidnapping him to try to get him to try a change in diet,
all I can do is appeal to both him and his wife by sharing my personal
experiences and whatever information I've gained about diet.  If they
don't go for it, I'm not sure what to do.

It's really difficult to see someone you care about having health
problems, especially when you think you can help them but they are
unwilling to accept your help.

Again, my best suggestion, what I am currently trying myself, is to keep
hitting them both with more information and emphasise that if the
alternative is knee surgery, what's it gonna hurt to give this a try???
I think anecdotal evidence can be the most convincing with many people.
Share your personal success story, and those of other people with your
relative and his wife.  You might be able to find such stories in this
list's archives but that's just a guess.

Good luck,
-Greg