Emotional floodgates opened for me as well, after reading... it's probably accurate to say I'd guess many of our families here sadden, depress and infuriate us? Definitely mine so as well, however much I love them.
Everybody here is right, and I get totally Jeff's toxic food and obesogenic environment references. Still... it's like watching for me somebody choose to keep on throwing away the winning lottery ticket, time and again, if they become informed. They don't feel it's the winning lottery ticket of course somehow, which is why they refuse.
Nobody's perfect of course, but the change in some people around me is just so little, it's still amazing how far the mental gymnastics start to stretch to stop anything changing. it's especially devastating to see family do this. I envy so much stories I see sometimes from this site, or on Forks Over Knives site etc. of people's family and friends joining in. Many of my family still label me strange and a weird outlier I'm sure - part of me disgusts them...?! I suppose? God, that sounds sad. I envy, really envy, the extra life and time together other families and friends might well have, when my own and others will probably be cut unnecessarily short and in great pain.
Drew-ab's comment is pretty emotional for me, as I think what riles me most perhaps is that, when a next close family member has a heart attack/stroke etc. I'll be expected I'm sure by other family to coo and cry over how "unlucky" they were... to support their doctor's every decision to try and make them better, or comfortable. Even though neither they, nor their doctor, may even look at what could well have caused that heart attack or stroke. "
"Stay silent, or you don't stay at all". "Don't dare start with that whole food plant based nonsense' - that'll be the nonverbal messages, from some I know.
Still not quite sure then what I'll do, if and when that happens to the next family member. But yep, family and friends can dismay all right. I'm grateful too we can write here about it. I know we can all struggle with change so much - anybody - and how left field this still is to most people. Humans are weird creatures.
Thanks all for reading - appreciated
As I'm pretty such that my close ones still won't be reading this forum any time soon, doubly appreciated today.
"All people are made alike - of bones and flesh and dinner. Only the dinners are different.”
Gertrude Louise Cheney