This blog is about the different kinds of people around you and how to respond to them.
When you’re on the LCHF way of eating in a carb-crazy, fat phobic culture, the path may not be easy. It’s like anything else in life that you want to achieve – when you want to do something different, reach out for something higher, set out to achieve something that those around you cannot imagine, they will oppose you. Simply because you refuse to do what they are doing; you are doing something different.
Now, if we lived alone on an island, it would be easier to eat just what we want, but we live in a society. So, we often have to encounter people – at work, in places of worship, in social gatherings, in events and at our own homes.
It’s not difficult to maintain this WOE. Believe me, I’ve done it for more than 2 years.
A tip for social gatherings: In a bigger social gathering like a wedding, there used to be something called ‘panthi visaarithal/பந்தி விசாரித்தல்’. (I wrote this when I was a high-carb eater. So, you can understand that I was hangry (hungry and angry) all the time.) Nowadays, nobody is panthi-visaarichufying, nobody is coming and personally peeking at your plate, so it’s quite easy to avoid the food that you want to avoid, or eat minimal quantities of it. I’m in Tamilnadu, where biriyani is served at almost every social event. Here’s the tip – eat an LHCF meal before you go for these events. You’ll be full and satiated. So you can eat just a little of the starchy food for ‘sentiment’ sake. You’re happy, they’re happy, Kumudha happy!
But for daily life, I hope the following classification of people and methods to deal with them will help you.
There are 4 types of people that you will come across:
1) Those who agree with you and join you on the journey
2) Those who half-heartedly agree with you, but are afraid to do it themselves
3) Those who disagree with you, but respect your choices
4) Those who disagree with you and try to dissuade you
The above 4 kinds will be spread over these 3 social circles:
1) Family
2) Friends
3) Society – relatives and other acquaintances – like at work, hospital, social clubs, etc.
Each circle has people of all 4 types. And each type has people from all 3 circles.
1) Those who agree with you and join you on the journey.
These are people who can see sense in what you’re doing. Some of them gather knowledge about what you’re doing, educate themselves and are convinced enough to do it themselves. Help them, share all that you know with them, teach them and learn from them.
Some others may not be knowledge-seekers, but they see what you have done, they see the results and want it for themselves. So they just want to know how do it and they will do it themselves. Be supportive of them and help them. Answer their questions. Be patient with them.
2) Those who half-heartedly agree with you, but are afraid to do it themselves.
These are people who have seen your results, and want to do it, but are afraid for various reasons. Mostly, it’s because they’re not equipped with knowledge. Knowledge is empowering. Without knowledge, one cannot move forward with conviction. And because they haven’t educated and informed themselves, they have imaginary fears. Those around them will fuel their fears. These people ask you ‘what if?’ questions. You answer one, they’ll have another. You answer that, they’ll have one more.
If they care enough about their health, they should make at least the smallest effort to educate themselves. Instead, they’ll just tell you, ‘I have this problem and therefore I can’t go LCHF’. You ask them why and they won’t have an answer. Do they have any scientific basis for what they’re saying? No. They won’t even go on the internet and type out the question – ‘Can a person with xyz problem do LCHF’? On no! They won’t.
So, just leave them to their ‘what if’ questions and their phantom fears.
3) Those who disagree with you, but respect your choices.
These people have a basic, healthy respect for others. They may be of the exact opposite view, but they respect the fact that you are an individual entitled to your convictions. It’s not unpleasant to be with these people. We have such friends. We occasionally visit each other’s home for meals. They cook what we eat when we go to their home and we cook what they eat when they come over. They are never judgemental or sarcastic of our choice, and we aren’t of theirs.
4) Those who disagree with you and try to dissuade you.
There are two types of people under this category.
… To be continued in the next blog.
