Gluten in the holiday season...

Party scene:

Welcome to the party, the hostess begins by explaining that some of the food is Gluten Free. She did this special for me because I have Celiac Disease. Everyone appears to be listening to her. She explains that the 2 smaller pizzas are Gluten Free and asks attendees to NOT take any of those if they are NOT required to be Gluten Free.

Let’s not rush the food table now, we don’t want to look like pigs.

Oh, there are 4 people ahead of us in line… 3 of them think those Gluten Free pizzas look good, despite there being regular pizzas with the exact same toppings…. They help themselves to the Gluten Free pizza,… now I feel obligated to overload my plate with most of the rest of those SMALL Gluten Free pizzas, lest I go hungry otherwise.

Oh, yes, there is a Gluten Free salad, with no croutons in it… but someone carelessly dropped the only serving utensil for that salad. I watch as they shrug and grab the serving utensil out of the salad with the croutons in it, and plunge that utensil into the Gluten Free salad… no salad for me today. *sigh* That was all of the Gluten Free food for the main meal, so I only get Gluten Free pizza, and not enough to satisfy my hunger either.

The hostess stops by my table, and I pretend that I had plenty to eat and thank her for remembering to have some Gluten Free food for me. And she tells me that the red velvet cupcakes are Gluten Free! So when the desserts are on the food table I run up and take 3 of those Gluten Free cupcakes for myself. I do not feel guilty for doing so, because so many of the people at this party are careless pigs, who do not pay attention or are too ignorant to ask what Gluten Free means.

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This happens to people with Celiac Disease ALL THE TIME. You have NO IDEA how hurtful it can be to watch while everyone else eats anything they want, but I am served a plain salad of iceberg lettuce. 

Try not eating the food, and just watch the faces of everyone in the room... they are joyfully devouring whatever they please. 

And: NO, I don’t want to eat before the party and then watch everyone else eat/enjoy the foods I cannot have (smell the delectable scents) – because those foods would make me extremely ill for the next several weeks. That is no exaggeration,… recovery time from being glutened can take weeks, and cause other complications. It will knock you flat, with intestinal cramping and watery diarrhea.

Celiac Disease is AUTOIMMUNE, it’s a serious illness. Autoimmune disease means that my lifespan will be shorter.... because I have had Celiac Disease my entire life, but was not diagnosed until I was over 50. The damage done cannot be undone. 

link: can-celiac-disease-cause-early-death

link: new-clues-to-risk-from-celiac-disease#1

link: what foods to avoid if you have Celiac Disease

link: surprising-products-that-contain-gluten

link: an-open-letter-to-skeptical-health-care-practitioners

link to celiac.com website


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