The article questions the way by which the family commensal situations represent a challenge to the diabetics who are engaged with the practices of taking care of themselves. From the field research in an association of diabetics in the city of São Paulo, Brazil, the analysis shows how the researched group - men and women between 53 and 90 years - deals with the changes in their social practices while they try to take care of the diabetes. The practice of taking care of the self confronts the gender representations around the caretaker's feminine role, and points to the break of the family relationship of exchange.
Commensalism; Care of the Self; Diabetes; Gender; Familiar Relationships