How to deal with family issues surrounding diet?

Many people I deal with are struggling with major dietary changes.  These issues have interrupted thier own lives, and often cause wedges in familial relationships.  Many times parents, siblings and spouses can’t understand WHY you do what you do.  I was once questioned about how I dealt with my family’s reaction to my choice to eat all Raw.  The individual had been struggling with people who were accusatory and unwilling to allow the purchase of healthy choices.  Its not just ‘fringe diets’ which bring up problems.  Someone once told me that when they finally suceeded in losing 5 pounds through increased exercise, their family tried to sabotage them by filling the house with hundreds of dollars of junk food!  So here are my thoughts in response to family issues surrounding the Raw diet.

I can honestly understand your situation. My family has always been really supportive of my raw lifestyle, they brought us up vegetarian, they fast and cleanse regularly, etc., however, I do have some close friends and collegues who don’t “get it” and at times have endlessly tried to rant about protiens, and stuff.  One of those friends even told me what I needed was a large bloody steak to increase my iron!  Can you imagine?

I have found that the best way to deal with this kind of situation, is to either not give details, ie: don’t talk about it, and therefore stop the opportunity for thier attacks, OR offer them a book written by a scholarly writer, such as gabriel cousins. You could offer a copy of Alissa’s book, especially since it is not just a raw cookbook, but really goes over the reasons and why fors, including the befores and afters. You just might be able to swing them over to your corner!

Sometimes people will have a hard time understanding a concept when they are hearing it from a person to whom they have a strong personal attachment to. The emotional stuff gets in the way. See, your family loves and cares for you and your sis, that is the reason why they are saying what they do. Only, they don’t get that they are misguided. A good reference book, sent without judgement, without commentary might help them see what you are trying to say…

Just my thoughts.