A friend and his wife came over one evening and we sat down in the living room. I had put out nuts, dried fruit and fresh fruit, and had a cake waiting on the kitchen counter to serve later on.
The wife took a handful of nuts, but our friend ate nothing. After a while I offered him some melon cubes, but he politely refused. I asked if I could get him something else, but he said no - he was limited in what he could eat, and I shouldn't fuss, he was fine.
He changed the subject, and we had a lively discussion the rest of the evening. He ate nothing, just drank some homemade ice tea I had put on the coffee table. But he is such a fun and funny conversationalist, pretty soon we forgot he wasn't eating.
We later found out this friend has Chron's disease. He is extremely limited in what he can eat. He can't have what others are eating - there is not even a question about it. But because of the delicate reason behind it, he doesn't go into the whys and wherefores. He simply says thank you, I can't have that, I'm fine, I ate before I left home, no worry, let's chat. And then starts a fun conversation.
Imagine doing that - politely declining whatever food doesn't suit you, not giving lengthy explanations, not trying to get people's approval for your eating style, and focusing on an interesting subject to talk about.
When you downplay the issue of the food, and focus on conversation and on expressing interest in the people around you, they will let go of what is - and what isn't - sitting in your plate.
Sarit
: Hi everybody. I'm new here. I'm up to
: step 5. Hasn't been easy but I'm
: getting used to it. My problem is
: other people. They either think
: I'm making all this up, or they
: say good for trying, but they
: think I'm being to extreme when I
: try cutting back on sugars. I
: can't get anybody to understand
: how sensitive to sugars and carbs
: I am. They get upset when I don't
: want to eat what they eat. How do
: I get people to understand this?
: I've already given a couple of
: people the book to read but that
: didn't help.