Has Anybody Just Tried This?

[PattyBoots]

I'm new to the gluten-free diet, but not new to the "picky" diet.

Whenever anyone has ever offered me anything I didn't want/didn't like/gave me troubles, I just said "No thank you." I never offered a diatribe. I never tried to educate anyone. I just said, "No thanks." They moved on. No questions asked, no questions answered. Even when they "pushed" I just simply said, "No thanks." and they said, "Okay".

[Skylark]

That works fine with strangers and it generally works for me at work and in casual social situations. It's very normal to offer to share cookies or snacks, and equally normal to turn them down.

It does not work so well with friends and family. I've educated my friends (gently) and many of them bring gluten free food to my parties so we can share treats. It's fun when they say "look what I found!" and discover a new gluten-free food I haven't tried. I educated my family and my SIL had a basket of gluten-free goodies from the health food store last time I came to their house. Educating my mother lead to her discovering her own gluten sensitivity.

It also doesn't work in restaurants, where glancing down the menu does not necessarily tell you what you can and can't eat.

[PattyBoots]

I guess since I LITERALLY have no family - they've all died, and I suspect my mother from undiagnosed gluten issues, I really don't give a rat's ass if anyone is offended anyway. Having worked in the food service industry years ago, I don't like going out to eat anyway just because of the filth. Although, there is ONE pizza chain I'm partial to and that's going to be tough. Especially since I only got it every 3-4 years to begin with.

In the next two weeks I will be moving into a brand new house. Nobody has EVER lived there. Just as my husband understands there will be no smoking in the house (and it's a lot easier coming to that understanding since I'm a FORMER smoker), there will be no gluten in the house. Oh, okay, he can have beer in cans, but that's it.

[Cypressmyst]

I can certainly understand the sentiment and I think if I wasn't feeling up to talking about it I'd have no problem just saying no.

However, I do like to educate people on this issue whenever possible. Saying "No I'm Gluten Intolerant." often provokes more questions about it. The more people who know the better off we all are.

With 40-50% of the population having a Gluten issue the more we bring it up the more people can get the help that the current medical system is failing them on.

In only 3 months I've helped 2 other people realize they are Gluten intolerant and they feel so much better having cut it out of their diets.

I'm never pushy about it but if people ask I will tell them and about half the time they really do listen or know someone who could benefit from looking into it.

It is a sad fact but it appears to be up to us to help heal our community, the overpaid doctors of the world sure aren't doing it.