quote:

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Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
I also don't usually discuss my loathing of coriander / cilantro and how it ruins any dish for me. But perhaps I should be more assertive about these things(?)

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I have a friend who shares your distaste for cilantro. Apparently, something like 10% of people think that cilantro tastes like soap, and it's probably genetic.

I don't put cilantro in things if he's coming for dinner. Why would I deliberately prepare food that my friends wouldn't like?

Mostly, the awkward squad are my children's friends rather than my own. So most dinner invitations start "would yours eat...?" Because I want them to enjoy dinner, and not sit there pushing some pasta around the plate because I cruelly placed it in contact with some vegetables or something.

Clearly guests should be accommodating and not make a fuss. I've politely choked down food I disliked in the past, as I expect have most other people. But I don't think you'd expect a Jewish guest to join you in a bacon sandwich for the sake of politeness, and I see no reason not to treat someone's adherence to veganism or vegetarianism on a similar level.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
If you're a guest, you can't in good manners force a host to prepare and serve you what you want. If you're a host, you can't in good manners force a guest to eat anything. So the worst possible polite scenario that can happen is for a guest to come only to realize that there is absolutely nothing appealing to him/her--at which point the choices for the guest are a) to do without, even fasting entirely if necessary, or b) to compromise on issues where compromise is a possibility. (The choices for the host are either a) to allow said guest to fast / eat only macaroni or what have you, or b) to graciously prepare something additional.)

What host and guest work out in such a situation is apt to depend on their joint history together, as well as on the nature of the objections the guest has to the food provided. But nobody's under obligation to do anything. The guest is not required to eat; the host is not required to cook something else. All else is grace and kindness--or should be, anyway.

I confess that if I had a guest who was being a real pain in the rear, and had been so in the past, I would be more likely to let him/her suffer than I would for a guest who had always behaved like a reasonable human being. Similarly I'd be much more inclined to go to extra trouble for a guest with medical or religious issues than I would for one who was merely picky or who insisted on evangelizing for veganism or locavorism at the table.

As a guest, I'd do my darndest to choke it down unless it was cranberries (danger of anaphylaxis) or cannibalism (moral objections). I loathe and despise fish, but I've been known to eat it under the eye of mine hosts. And when a lady chose to honor me specially with a Vietnamese sea food taco prepared with her own hands, and topped with a mini-octopus (still intact and looking at me!) well, I did the deed.

And had a relapse of pneumonia the next day, but hey.

[ 16. August 2016, 03:25: Message edited by: Lamb Chopped ]
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Ach, hit Post too soon.

To be sure, if I knew I was inviting a vegetarian/vegan/whatsit to dinner, I would attempt to take their inclinations into account out of ordinary hospitality. But if I didn't know, I would expect them as decent human beings to refrain from rubbing it in my face. Similarly, if I am invited to dinner at the home of a family known to live almost totally on fish (Bleah!), I will either politely sidestep the invitation or come prepared to choke it down. I know what they're like. There's no excuse for me being precious.
 

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Posted by SusanDoris (# 12618) on :
 
Love the OP! All I would add is that it is lucky no-one knew about vegan diets etc when the human species first evolved or they'd have probably become extinct through malnutrition!
 

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Posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider (# 76) on :
 
For some veggiea/vegans it is a conviction as strong as religion and so should be respected as such; I would no more think a vegan should eat meat to be polite than I'd expect a muslim to eat a pork chop.

My non-medical sticking point is fish. I could no more "choke it down" than I could a dogshit.
 

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Posted by Lyda*Rose (# 4544) on :
 
Generally, if I know a vegan is coming for dinner, I'll try to have a vegan casserole that can be the entree for the vegan and a side dish for myself and the rest. Out of politeness I'll try not to have meat that looks, well, too meaty like meat on bones or slabs of red meat. But if the guest starts preaching obnoxiously or acts snooty towards myself or my other guests, that person is struck from future invites.

Luckily, I have no vegan relatives. In fact the relative who lives nearest to myself is pretty much a carnivore.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Apposite piece in The Guardian on why vegan is not the salvation of the planet. tl:dr - too many poor people depend on marginal land which will support livestock but not crops.

On a personal level, I always ask guests in advance if there's anything they Don't Eat. With the friends we dine with most frequently, it's apt to be a cooperative menu, with us/them bringing part of the meal (with suitable accompanying wine of course).
 

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Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 
For many vegetarians/vegans, it *is* a religious/spiritual matter. Hindus, for example, and many/most Seventh Day Adventists, but lots of others, too.

You need to invite some breatharians--people who try to live on air alone. As long as they don't ask you to set up an oxygen bar.
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
We have several vegetarians in our family, and some who will eat fish but not meat. If we have a family 'do' we tend to make it veggie for simplicy's sake. My brother's a veggie and lives with me three days a week. I enjoy concocting meals for us and I think it does me good too.

There are some brilliant veggie restaurants around.

Vegan I don't understand at all. Humans have lived with animals and their milk/cheese/wool/eggs for so many millennia I can't begin to imagine turning back the clock.

Personally I will eat anything which has had a happy life and a humane death (and doesn't have paws!)
 

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Posted by Ricardus (# 8757) on :
 
I have met lots and lots of vegetarians and a few vegans, and none of them have been preachy or evangelistic. Am I just fantastically lucky?
 

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Posted by anteater (# 11435) on :
 

quote:

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So what are the ethics, morals and behavioural guidelines about this?

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This interests me for several reasons. But for now I'll take one of them.

I can be a food bore - I admit it, because it genuinely interests me, and it grieves me to see so many people getting fatter, so I do become an anti-sugar soapboxer. Just like some are anti-smoking soapies - which is more politically correct.

It intrigues me why Churches are so intent on pushing sugary cakes down people throats - more so than doctrine it seems. "We don't do dogma. God loves you. Have a cake!"

Is this wrong, or just likely to lose me friends? Well it depends on how much I go on about it, and it is rather tricky if there are some f** people in earshot. I suppose the nearest equivalent in terms of being viewed as pernickety is total abstinence.

It's not a problem if I am a guest, since whereas I find people don't like you mentioning anything to do with the F word, I have never had anyone be at all fussed if I turn down there pecan and honey cheesecake with chocolate sauce.

It's just more for them.
 

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Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 
anteater--

IMHO, get down off the soap box, and turn it into soapbox derby car. You'll do less damage, and have more fun.

Seriously, you're apt to offend and hurt a lot of people, send them away from bothering with your version of healthy eating--and quite possibly drive them (even those of a "healthy" weight) to go home and self-comfort with several doughnuts.

Maybe just quietly serve healthy food when it's your turn; and if anyone asks, tell them simply what's in the food--without making a big production of it.

FWIW.
 

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Posted by anteater (# 11435) on :
 
GoldenKey:
Well I certainly take your point, and for this reason, I do limit my tendency to be a bit of a crusader.

But it is precisely the emotive aspects of this that worry me. It may well be true that I may "offend and hurt a lot of people" but then I wonder why people should react in this way, to a rational discussion of the bad effect of highly sugary foods. Let me assure you I don't approach this in the slightly flip was that my post suggests.

Maybe this is because a lot of people who carry too much fat (and get very offended even by this term) are unhappy about it and don't like to be reminded.

BTW I also am somewhat too fat. (BMI 27.3 compared to recommended max 24.9). And for men, visceral fat is not a joke. I have metabolic syndrome as do a high percentage of men with significant visceral fat.

As an aside, would you be against all attempts to advocate a position you believe in, even at the risk of offending? I mentioned smoking. Would you have taken the same attitude, in the days when smoking was much more widespread?

I also may be influenced by the fact that my life was turned around by a friend who didn't just advocate, but harangued me about getting of my arse and into a career. To such an extent that I did sometimes avoid him. But the odd thing is, in the end I was convinced, and did something about it.
 

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Posted by Doc Tor (# 9748) on :
 
My soapbox is the BMI calculation. It's a joke - pay it no attention whatsoever. It's a crude calculation that is essentially meaningless.

I've apparently got a BMI of 29 (overweight, one off obese), at a weight of just over 15st (95kg). My target weight is 13st, apparently. I've never been 13st as an adult except when I nearly died from food poisoning, and when I was at my fittest (football, cycling, swimming and a manual job) in my 20s, I was indeed technically obese.

I'm now 50, and anyone who quotes BMI at me can get their running shoes on and come out with me for 10k.
 

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Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :
 
Well, the first problem with such "discussions" is that they usually aren't discussions. What I normally see is one person holding forth at length while the rest of the people present desperately wish he/she would shut up. That's not a discussion, that's a lecture or even a scolding. And nobody signed on for that at a dinner party.

The other thing that's a problem is what you mentioned about fat people being put off by your lecture. There is an extremely good reason why that puts them off, and that is the fact that they face public shaming day in and day out. And that's usually at the hands of people like you, who assume that their problem is caused by overeating sugary/fatty foods (and is therefore a moral problem deserving scolding, even by total strangers in public).

But that simply isn't true. Some people gain weight by over-indulging; others have a variety of problems ranging from genetics to drug side effects to [this space left blank for the use of thousands of obesity scientists investigating everything from BPA to viruses]. And even those who over-indulge don't deserve public shaming. Yet by lecturing on the subject of foods-that-ought-to-be-avoided, you have just turned the thoughts of everyone in the room to the unfortunate fat person (or underweight person, or known diabetic) who is doubtless wishing the floor would open up and swallow them.

My BMI is high enough I'm uncomfortable mentioning it here. You can be sure, though, that I put up with fat shaming on a regular basis. And I simply CAN'T announce, every time it happens, that there are clear genetic problems in my family on both sides, going back at least four generations; that I am being treated for thyroid problems (yes, really, diagnosed by a real doctor and all, not some self-diagnosis off the internet); that I have PCOS, which has weight gain as one effect; and that I am on several medications with known side effects of weight gain. I know damn well what my fellow dinner guests are thinking; but you can't defend yourself against people's thoughts. And even against their words (should they be so crass), I have to ask myself: Do I really want to disclose my personal medical history to such people?

It's damned embarrassing to have a problem that is self-evident to anyone with working eyes, AND that half the population believes is due to my own moral failings. It's worse because I live in a world where what I eat, or don't, is still considered acceptable dinner conversation by acquaintances or even strangers. Seriously, I think I'd get more delicacy and consideration if I were a known convicted murderer.
 

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Posted by Liopleurodon (# 4836) on :
 
I'm an extremely fussy eater - largely down to autistic sensory issues with food. Many people on the spectrum are fussy eaters and find a large range of foods repulsive.

So yeah I'm the nightmare guest. I won't like the meal you slaved over all afternoon. Combine it with the fact that I don't eat meat, although I do eat fish, and it's almost certain that I won't want to eat the thing you planned to cook.

That's me. I'm fussy. I'm difficult to feed. I generally advise people not to try to invite me over for dinner. When people are doing events like weddings I advise them to please not bother trying to get something on the menu that I'd like. Save the £20 a head and leave me off the hungry list. Same for Mr Liopleurodon - he's actually even more difficult than I am.

What I can't get my head around is the idea that I'm doing this to be difficult. I'm not being fussy about food AT you. I'm happy to not eat at your party. I'd also be delighted to chow down on bread and cheese while other people are having some crazy complicated thing. I won't be offended if you don't make something specifically for me. I'll be relieved. I'm not asking anyone to go to any special effort. You may be offended by my refusal to munch that risotto, but you'd likely be more offended if I vomited in the middle of your living room.

If you enjoy eating everything that anyone considers food, then congratulations. You are lucky. You're not morally better.
 

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Posted by Belle Ringer (# 13379) on :
 
Lots of people are allergic to various foods - wheat, shellfish, corn, dairy, strawberries etc. Some are "mentally allergic" - my vegetarian friends hate the brutal way commercial meat animals are treated and don't want to endorse that with their food choices.

I have seen people at a gathering quietly skip the main dish and just eat salad, no big fuss. Vegetarian friends who land at a meat based restaurant because others took them there scan the menu for what veggies the restaurant has on hand and order a plate of veggies. Yes they tell the waitress "I'm vegetarian" - it's information explaining their unusual order, not preaching.

People talk about vegans and vegetarians as if they are judgmental of meat eaters, maybe some are but I've never met any; I have met meat eaters who resent anyone who doesn't eat meat.

I grieve the sugar addiction of many friends, but when they say "I would rather lose a foot to diabetes than give up desserts" nothing I could say would make any difference, better to just enjoy their company.

The food comments I resent are the "you have to eat this" whether because "it's so good" or "I made it for you." I was raised in a "you must be polite and eat what you are served" culture and people sometimes suffered terribly at home after a meal eaten to please the hostess. Since when is a hostess's pleasure more important than a guest's health?

Worse is when they lie about the ingredients to entice you to eat it. Some people seriously react to fake sugars or MSG or the slightest bit of peanut! Lying about ingredients to get someone to take a bite is evil.
 

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Posted by Hilda of Whitby (# 7341) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:

Clearly guests should be accommodating and not make a fuss. I've politely choked down food I disliked in the past, as I expect have most other people. But I don't think you'd expect a Jewish guest to join you in a bacon sandwich for the sake of politeness, and I see no reason not to treat someone's adherence to veganism or vegetarianism on a similar level.

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quote:

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Originally posted by anteater:

As an aside, would you be against all attempts to advocate a position you believe in, even at the risk of offending? I mentioned smoking. Would you have taken the same attitude, in the days when smoking was much more widespread?

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quote:

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Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
I'm finding it hard to accept justification of rigid adherence to these two types of V diet, and perhaps it is unfair to lump them together.

The vegetarians say that eating animals is bad for the planet and add that eating plants is also healthier. The vegans add some additional strict rules about avoiding animal based products in general within diet and lifestyle because of a moral or ethical objection to animals being commodities.

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quote:

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Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:

Individuality and freedom of choice seem to be lovely things to emphasize, but I find at times that someone's choices impose on mine, such as when someone invited over for a meal informs us of non-medical food avoidances, or decides to evangelize about it.

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quote:

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I don't smoke. But if I did, and I went outside for a fag after dinner, and you started going on about how smoking was bad for me, you wouldn't be invited a second time.

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quote:

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Originally posted by anteater:

But can you not think of any people in your life who, if they smoked, you would at least try to suggest that it's not a good idea.

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quote:

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Originally posted by mousethief:
I have heard tell of people specifying that, for example, they could not have dairy, and their hosts choosing to ignore what they thought was an unreasonable request, and the guest going to the hospital with an anaphylactic reaction. People without sensitivities can get very self-righteous, and if they act on their self-righteousness they could conceivably kill people. (Not breathing is very bad for you.) Thank about that, O ye put-out hosts, before getting snippy about dietary restrictions.

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quote:

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Originally posted by anteater:

A friend of mine was horrified to find his son had started smoking, and did the full Dad act on him. In this case it worked. Isn't it sometimes worth the try?

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quote:

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Originally posted by anteater:
it grieves me to see so many people getting fatter, so I do become an anti-sugar soapboxer. Just like some are anti-smoking soapies - which is more politically correct.

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quote:

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Originally posted by no prophet's flag is set so...:
This story about a server arrested in Québec is rather startling I think. The server mistakenly served salmon tartar instead of beef, endangering the life of a patron.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Firenze:
Apposite piece in The Guardian on why vegan is not the salvation of the planet. tl:dr - too many poor people depend on marginal land which will support livestock but not crops.

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quote:

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People getting fatter really shouldn't grieve anyone. Latest studies show overweight people live longer than thin ones and extra weight doesn't effect the heart as much as we were told. One thing for sure "the obesity epidemic," gets tons of news coverage. It's very unlikely you have any information to impart that everyone hasn't already heard.

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quote:

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Originally posted by anteater:
Twilight:

quote:

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People getting fatter really shouldn't grieve anyone. Latest studies show overweight people live longer than thin ones and extra weight doesn't effect the heart as much as we were told. One thing for sure "the obesity epidemic," gets tons of news coverage. It's very unlikely you have any information to impart that everyone hasn't already heard.

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Well I just plain don't believe that, and would value information about the latest studies. (Unless by "thin" you mean borderline anorexic).

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quote:

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According to this metastudy the jury is out on the dangers of sucrose - a longer discussion in Scientific American discussing sugar metabolism.

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quote:

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Please understand: As posters have said, in various ways, your behavior sounds very rude and hurtful. Do you want to drive people away from you?

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quote:

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Originally posted by The Midge:
My brother is a militant vegetarian with knobs on. He also won’t eat anything with onions or other alliums in it. His family are such a pain to feed that we have all but given up. And we endure a lot of preaching on the subject.

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quote:

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She is a positive terror to hostesses and servants. She is always turning from what has been offered her to say with a demure little sigh and a smile ‘Oh please, please ... all I want is a cup of tea, weak but not too weak, and the teeniest weeniest bit of really crisp toast’....she never recognises as gluttony her determination to get what she wants, however troublesome it may be to others.

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quote:

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Originally posted by The Midge:
We are often lectured by our nephew about eating meat . . . That same nephew approaches the buffet table and looks around to see if anyone is watching. He then samples the cocktail sausages, the tuna mayo and spicy chicken pizza. We gather round to compare notes and laugh. . . .

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Not to sidle up to him and snicker, "Good, weren't they?"
 

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Posted by georgiaboy (# 11294) on :
 
Also on the list of those possibly condemned by Lewis might be some erstwhile guests of mine.

In a former life I gave an annual Twelfth Night party, the invitations to which read plainly 'Please come for eggnog and dessert'. The offerings were homemade eggnog (Colonial Williamsburg recipe with 3 kinds of spirits) & also plain eggnog from the market with NO spirits -- both plainly labelled on the serving table. There were various traditional cakes -- I usually made one each day betw Christmas and 12th Night.

But there was this one couple ---- they RSVP'd promptly and arrived at the appointed hour. AND THEN. she asked for a cup of tea (demanded, really), and he said 'don't you have any beer?' I didn't have any beer and the kitchen was far too crowded/busy to make tea. (There were approx 75 guests.) I just said 'I'm so sorry, it's just not possible.' They were not on the next year's guest list.

Another year by way of contrast, a friend said, 'I just ate a big dinner, but i'll just pour myself a drink.' She knew the kitchen/bar setup, and helped herself. She rated a permanent place on the list.
 

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Posted by cliffdweller (# 13338) on :
 
as long as we're sharing anecdotes... my sons get a good laugh at their father: Mr. Cliffdweller has in recent years, decided not to eat mammals out of ethical concerns about the inhumane way livestock are raised/handled here in the US. I wouldn't have drawn the line in quite that same way, but it works for him and is easy to follow-- disallowing most of the more problematic meats, particularly those of more sentient beings, but giving him the flexibility to have chicken or fish. (My brothers dubbed Mr. C's dietary methodology with a take on the old vegetarian credo-- instead of "nothing with a face" it's just "nothing with nipples...").

Mr. C is, as others here, is very easy going about it-- if we're guests at someone's home and they're serving pork or beef, he'll fill up on salad or sides. He also makes an exception for his frequent mission trips for reasons that have been noted above-- it seems awkward and ungracious cross-culturally to refuse food that has graciously, and often sacrificially been offered.

The funny part: I'm often unable to travel with Mr. C due to work responsibilities, but our sons are frequent companions. Recently they revealed that Mr. C now begins the mission exclusion on the plane to their destination-- choosing the beef entre over the chicken or vegetarian one. And now it seems he's extended that even to the airport on either end of the journey...

[ 18. August 2016, 00:17: Message edited by: cliffdweller ]
 

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Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :
 
So, regarding militants and busybodies: How can one tell?
Vegetarians who believe you are ruining the planet, ruining your health, killing beings of equal worth as humans, etc., should never say anything?
People who care about you and wish you would stop smoking should let you kill yourself rather than speak?
 

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Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 
lB--

Matter of time, place, manner, and empathy.

--Don't hassle someone about their food while they're eating.

--Don't embarrass them about their perceived problem, especially in front of other people.

--Before you say/do anything, remind yourself of your own problems. (Difficult, and takes practice, IME.)

--Don't automatically assume that you understand the situation.

There *can* be exceptions: e.g., you're responsible for the person, or they're on the edge of doing something very serious. But might be better to try a softer approach, first. If you break their trust, it might not be possible to get it back. And they'll go ahead and do the thing.

FWIW, YMMV, etc.
 

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Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by cliffdweller:
He also makes an exception for his frequent mission trips for reasons that have been noted above-- it seems awkward and ungracious cross-culturally to refuse food that has graciously, and often sacrificially been offered.

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quote:

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Originally posted by lilBuddha:
So, regarding militants and busybodies: How can one tell?
Vegetarians who believe you are ruining the planet, ruining your health, killing beings of equal worth as humans, etc., should never say anything?
People who care about you and wish you would stop smoking should let you kill yourself rather than speak?

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quote:

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Matter of time, place, manner, and empathy.

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quote:

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Originally posted by anteater:

quote:

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So what are the ethics, morals and behavioural guidelines about this?

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This interests me for several reasons. But for now I'll take one of them.

...It intrigues me why Churches are so intent on pushing sugary cakes down people throats - more so than doctrine it seems. "We don't do dogma. God loves you. Have a cake!" ...

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quote:

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But there was this one couple ---- they RSVP'd promptly and arrived at the appointed hour. AND THEN. she asked for a cup of tea (demanded, really), and he said 'don't you have any beer?' I didn't have any beer and the kitchen was far too crowded/busy to make tea. (There were approx 75 guests.) I just said 'I'm so sorry, it's just not possible.' They were not on the next year's guest list.

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quote:

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Originally posted by lilBuddha:
Originally posted by Golden Key:

quote:

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Matter of time, place, manner, and empathy.

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I agree, but would add that our perception of these conditions is more subjective than we would often admit.

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Yes. I work on this, myself. What helps me most is training myself to take a step back, consider other perspectives, and think before I speak. Not easy, and I sometimes mess up. (Kind of like using Preview Post! ) But I'm learning.
 

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Posted by Belle Ringer (# 13379) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Twilight:
This woman came in the kitchen and watched me make the tea. Drag out the kettle. Boil the water (but not too long in case the oxygen goes out of it) dig out the tea pot, warm it, put in the leaves, pour the water, find a tea cup, saucer, sugar bowl, creamer, fill them, time the steeping. Oh quick find a strainer! The tea leaves clogged the spout and the stuff over flowed all over my spotless kitchen. My thoughts, "I hate tea! Liquid tin can! This is America, darn it, next time you'll have a coke and like it."

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quote:

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Originally posted by Golden Key:
Re gluten, fake allergies and illnesses, and supposed exaggeration:

{Long, because it's this topic, and it's been that kind of day.}

I know the idea that you can be sensitive to gluten, without having full-blown celiac disease is controversial.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Golden Key:

And I know some people think it's just a silly fad.

I haven't run into anyone who seems faddish about it. Maybe I simply haven't met the right people.

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quote:

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If something helps, you keep doing it, and . . . It gets expensive.

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That's a very significant factor for food choices. I got interested in the whole debate about carbs by a book which asked the simple question "How did obesity change from being a disease of the rich to being a disease of the poor?"

The answer offered was that carbs are the cheapest form of food. One of the downsides of Atkins type diets (which I wouldn't now follow but don't condemn) is that unless your prepared to spend a lot of money, you can end up eating a lot of crap: endless ham and bacon, too much cheese, and certainly too much salt.

Good quality protein rich food costs a fortune. Especially high quality fish which is probably the best form.

At least I can cope with tofu!
 

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Posted by anteater (# 11435) on :
 
i could try freeze dried leafcutter ants.

Only £430/kg.

Yum yum.
 

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Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 
LOL, anteater.
 

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Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :
 
lB--

quote:

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Originally posted by lilBuddha:

quote:

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Originally posted by Golden Key:
Re gluten, fake allergies and illnesses, and supposed exaggeration:

{Long, because it's this topic, and it's been that kind of day.}

I know the idea that you can be sensitive to gluten, without having full-blown celiac disease is controversial.

---

My understanding is the medical evidence is more and more supporting non-celiac gluten sensitivity being real. It is best diagnosed by a doctor, though.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Golden Key:
And I know some people think it's just a silly fad.

I haven't run into anyone who seems faddish about it. Maybe I simply haven't met the right people.

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quote:

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Originally posted by lilBuddha:
You live in California and you have not encountered faddish "sensitivities"? Really?
Trying not to stereotype but California, especially SoCal, is the home planet of imagined illness and health fads.
It is difficult to throw a rock and not hit a gluten-free, macrobiotic soy-based vegan colon cleansing hot yoga studio

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quote:

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Originally posted by lilBuddha:

quote:

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Originally posted by Golden Key:
Re gluten, fake allergies and illnesses, and supposed exaggeration:

{Long, because it's this topic, and it's been that kind of day.}

I know the idea that you can be sensitive to gluten, without having full-blown celiac disease is controversial.

---

My understanding is the medical evidence is more and more supporting non-celiac gluten sensitivity being real. It is best diagnosed by a doctor, though.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Golden Key:
What fads have there been where you are?

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quote:

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I don't know how you came to the conclusion that we specialize in "imagined illnesses". Is it possible you laugh off anything Californian as crazy, and therefore assume that illnesses with notoriety must be imagined? You might find the links at the end of my post useful.

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quote:

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Is it possible you laugh off anything Californian as crazy, and therefore assume that illnesses with notoriety must be imagined?

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quote:

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Originally posted by Golden Key:
Re gluten, fake allergies and illnesses, and supposed exaggeration:

...you can be sensitive to gluten without having full-blown celiac disease

...But I have various allergies and sensitivities, including gluten and dairy, and odd reactions to things. I generally class them, informally, as allergies,

...and I can eat a certain amount of them, occasionally.

...people can have bad reactions to things, be very ill, even if they don't have an official diagnosis and their illness isn't very visible.

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quote:

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Originally posted by Firenze:
Onthe subject of orthorexia, I have a friend who seems to suffer from this - to the extent of carrying about a special kind of bread to avoid the Dreaded Wheat.

I mock her cheerfully about it, but always discuss the menu (she usually comes to dinner when she is up in Embra). She invariably eats everything and I feel pleased that I have, for once, moved food out of the realm of mistrust and avoidance, and into that of straightforward enjoyment.

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