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> Poster:       [log in to unmask]
>
> My problem is that family members seem bent on contacting me & telling
> me how "easy" this is- that it is "just dietary" changes. We all know
> just how Celaic Sprue turns one's life upside down in term of dietary
> prohibitions & living in the *real* (gluten laden) world.

My brother was diagnosed decades ago, so my family is used to the
concept.  I was worried about my wife's family though.  My
mother-in-law doesn't believe in illnesses much and has long thought
me a hypochondriac (I had a mild sinus infection for three years
before the operation, I had a broken foot for 19 years, I have a bad
knee, and I've had minor gastro-intestinal problems that left me feeling
slightly ill often - I guess I know where that last one came from now!)

But because there is a doctor's label she can accept it.  Or maybe
she just figures it's another one of my idiocynchracies that I
wouldn't eat anything she cooked if it had flour in it, so she makes
sure there's something I am willing to eat.

The most interesting thing is that everyone in my wife's family has
had an "eating disorder" to put it mildly.  They all know how hard it
is to maintain a diet.  What they don't understand is that someone
trying to lose weight thinks their body can tolerate the high-fat
things they "really shouldn't" eat, so they look at those things and
are tempted, and argue that it's really hard because "people have to
eat, so it's not like quitting cigarettes".

But I can't eat certain things.  So I'm not tempted.  It's not a matter
of willpower.  Now if people trying to lose weight would look at
donuts the same way I do, maybe they'd have less trouble with their
diets.

I'm actually finding I get a lot of positive sympathy from women. I
kind of like the extra attention!

Stuart