Just Venting

[angel-jd1]

Ok I just have to vent. I went out with some friends for supper tonight. I went ahead and ate before time. I knew we were going to Applebee's and they are not very celiac friendly. They put seasonings on their meats and even plain veggies aren't safe there.

I really thought I would be ok to just sit there and order a pop, seeing as I was full. I HATED sitting there and not getting some of the yummy coconut shrimp and pasta stuff and all the good smelling food.

I had fun, got to see people I hadn't seen in a while, but I hate feeling the way I felt tonight. Waiters kept asking why I wasn't eating etc etc. My waiter even bought my pop for me because he felt so bad!!

I really haven't had one of these "poor me" days in a while. I guess I'm due for one. Thanks for listening.

-Jessica

[Laura]

I hate those days!

I get them when I go grocery shopping when I'm hungry. I learned not to, but not until a couple times in the grocery store where I just about cried when I went past the frozen foods aisle, with all those pizzas. Now I've learned to shop when I'm not as hungry, and instead of crying, I stick my tongue out at things I can't eat.

Tonight, however, it's me and a bottle of champagne and a lot of Sex & the City videos and everything is good....(Dinner was cheeseburgers wrapped in corn tortillas...mmm) Gluten-free cookies later? Or ice cream? It's nice every now and then to take a night to have things I want and can have, and be totally decadent about it just for me. Then I don't feel so bad next time I can't have something I want.

[hsd1203]

Guess the old "misery loves company" is true sometimes, but thanks for starting this thread as it makes me feel better that I was almost in tears at the grocery store tonight at all the things that looked yummy but I couldn't have... the worst are the foods that there is really no reason to put wheat in them but the companies feel the need to throw a handful in anyway (like my pre-celiac favorite kind of potato chips, for goodness sake) .

But on a happier note, I came home to find my (celiac) mommy had sent me super yummy gluten-free macaroons in the mail. Such a nice surprise and made me feel sooo much better.

So best wishes to everyone and hooray for the help this message board gives in keeping our chins up.

[Guest jhmom]

Jessica, I am so sorry about your night, I've had those too! After a while you get "tired" of explaining to everyone the reason you are not eating, it all gets very frustrating!!!

Maybe next time you and your friends can meet at a place where you will be able to not only enjoy their company but some of the yummy food too!

Hang in there

[outthere39]

I know just what you are talking about (jessica), going out to eat can be down right miserable. I went out to a really nice restaurant a couple of weeks ago with a bunch of friends, and I wanted to scream. I ended up having a plate of sushi while others sampled everything on the menu. Needless to say I was still hungary. I am also sick of waiters and waitresses acting nimble minded when I try to alter a dish so that it is gluten-free. But the worse is my friends and new acquaintences asking repeatedly," do you want to try this...or why are you not eating>>even after I have informed them of being a celiac. I try eat out as little as possible and generally eat before doing so.

[debmidge]

It's also depressing to go to a party like a wedding and not be able to eat anything, or being afraid to eat something plain that is normally gluten free.

[guppymom]

Wow, are we all having a time? I was asked to make dinner for an elderly, ill couple tonight, so I whipped a frozen veggie lasagne into the oven...one that we used to love, even though it made us sick. sigh. So it's cooking and it's all smelling so wonderful and I take it to their home, and THEY AREN'T HOME! They ditched me. So home it came and husband is going to eat it tonight. At the same table as the rest of us. Wanna bet there'll be drool over the top of it?

Remember my post about my daughter going to this day camp thing and how cool it was 'cause they were going to make food for her especially? ha. "it's too expensive to make non-gluten food, so we're having subs, she can eat the stuff on it and just leave the bread."

argh

I didn't even bother to explain about the condiments and the meats and etc etc etc.

i'm just sending food with her that she can eat. But good gosh. I thought we'd made some progress.

[danesmom]

It's hard for me to understand what you have to cope with. My one year old is having his biopsy to confirm this on monday. It's depressing reading your messages and tears are rolling down my face as I type this thinking of him in your shoes. But thank you for sharing and making me understand a bit more into what he will - We will- have to begin dealing with.

Dane's Mom

[Laura]

Not that it won't be terribly difficult for your son, but he won't have a chance to develop favorite foods that have gluten in them, so it'll be a different kind of difficulty. I guess it's like, would you rather be blind from birth and not know what you were missing or would you rather have the memory of sight so you know what other people are seeing?

It's also important to remember, for all of us, that the food situation gets better and better. In the 1970s my mom knew a woman whose son had celiac disease and she told my mom about trying to make him a birthday cake out of cornmeal. Now when I want cake, I just go to the grocery store and have several mixes to choose from, and so many different gluten-free flours to use to bake from scratch. As more doctors learn what to look for, there'll be more of us eating gluten-free, and more incentive for companies to make more and better foods for us to eat.

There are always going to be hard days, for sure. I have them often enough too. But at least on my birthday I can have a real cake!