<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>> > 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