I'm having dinner with my parents tonight. I told her when we made the plan that after my baking-fest and carb binge all last fall I was really trying to eat healthier and not eat a lot of carbs. She knows I've tried to do this for years, so it wasn't a shock, but she doesn't really approve. They're very into the whole 70s & 80s very low fat, low protein, red meat is bad mantra. She asked if I would eat lentils and I told her no pasta, no bread, no rice, no potatoes, no beans, no grains, etc., but that it wouldn't bother me if they ate those things.

She called this morning and said she was going to make fish stew (bouillabaise). Great! I said I'd bring a salad and she said they'd have some bread with dinner.

Then she says "For dessert, I have ice cream. Or I thought maybe I'd poach some pears and serve it French-style with some cheese." Oh, Mom. Bless. I tried not to laugh out loud when I said that I would love some cheese, but definitely nothing with sugar. Of course, I wouldn't mind a bit if they had something sweet.

I honestly don't think she was trying to sabotage (not that she's above it, she'd just be way more huffy about it). She just doesn't get it and can't get her head around it. I think we need to remember that sometimes what seems like sabotaging friends or relatives, is really just people who can't understand.

Bless her heart! She was trying to be accommodating. Can't really be mad at that.

Sounds like you WILL have a lovely OP dinner!!


I was fortunate to have a nice dinner of summer squash and plain pork chops at an Aunts when I was pregnant with the complications of gestational diabetes. I realize NOW how lucky I was to have such an AUnt. ( No-one else in the family gets the lc thing).

This is something I had to work through with many of my family members who couldn't really understand why I was eating the polar opposite of what they learned was healthy over many years. It's a process and loving patience with firm guidelines is required. It's part of the journey. Sounds like you have perspective and are prepared.

Yeah you really have to stand your ground on LC, family members, friends, work mates might not get it. Oh well, eat LC and be healthy. they will see when you lose 50 pounds and then be wondering what you did, then they will remember you saying low carb/no sugar. they will still kill high carb stuff .

It's crazy how hard it is for people to give up the matra of what they have been told to eat. I never change or try to change people on what they eat. I lead by example. then when they ask, I say I ate bacon

You may become a good influence. When my children got into their 20's and no longer burned off the junk food like a furnace, they switched to lower carb eating. I abused carbs until I was prediabetic. They know if they are more careful, they may never develop the problem. Seems to be working. All are at a stable, healthy weight and eating primarily whole foods.

I have come to believe people sometimes absorb Rules instead of Concepts.

As lowcarbers, we see food in terms of their carb counts. Other people see food as Good/Bad, whether that is their concept of nutrition, tastiness, comfort, or even sentiment.

Food sharing is such an important social ritual that conformity is treated as though it is a personal rejection.