Another Pizza Party At Work

[hlm34]

We have pizza, cake etc. all the time at work or for rewards etc. I usually keep some stuff I really like at my desk and then eat that when the pizza etc comes in. That way I can socialize without feeling like I'm missing out. I don't think it's fair that my coworkers should miss out on the stuff they really like because of me. My diet is my responsibility.

I agree that my diet is my responsibility. i definitely know that. and i would never say it is someone else's responsibility. And i would never say that other people should miss out on pizza because i can't have it. I would never feel that way. All i am doing here is venting. I am sure alcoholics vent about feeling a little akward at a bar. Doesnt mean they think other people shouldnt drink. I am sure diabetics feel a little akward at a dessert party - doesnt mean they wont go. And i will still go and socialize with everyone at the pizza party and be fine and fun and talkative. It doesnt mean I dont feel a little odd when everyone is passing around the pizza and i am eating my fruit slices. And yes, fruit slices are less calories than pizza, but again that isnt really the point.

[ravenwoodglass]

You sit there mentally grumbling and are unhappy about the situation? Then stop mentally grumbling. Think about something else entirely. If you aren't happy about a situation, and you can't change it, think about something else that you can be happy about. Focus on the positive instead of the negative, or at least don't focus on the negative. It's a mental exercise, and a perspective thing. But the more you mentally focus on the negative, the more it will affect you and the more it will make you unhappy.

At some point, it *is* a choice to remain unhappy about it. I'm not saying you should be happy that you can't eat the food they bring in. But there is a place of neutrality that can at least serve not to drag you down further, or at least serve not to shove you forcefully down a steep cliff. :-)

Could not have put it better myself. I went through a lot in my childhood and what with suffering from undiagnosed celiac for most of my adult life and the resulting 'it's in your head diagnoses' and years of therapy. This way of thinking saved my sanity prediagnosis and has helped me cope alot since. My biggest problem isn't people that bring things in to work that I can't eat though. Some days I'd give anything to be able to go to work to be irritated. I was misdiagnosed too long and have too many residual problems and am virtually home bound. So as they say ' I felt bad because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet'.

[jerseyangel]

Could not have put it better myself. I went through a lot in my childhood and what with suffering from undiagnosed celiac for most of my adult life and the resulting 'it's in your head diagnoses' and years of therapy. This way of thinking saved my sanity prediagnosis and has helped me cope alot since. My biggest problem isn't people that bring things in to work that I can't eat though. Some days I'd give anything to be able to go to work to be irritated. I was misdiagnosed too long and have too many residual problems and am virtually home bound. So as they say ' I felt bad because I had no shoes, then I met a man who had no feet'.

Ditto--exactly!

[smacky]

At my previous job, we had won a free lunch for hitting our goals and they brought in Subway subs. I knew they were bringing them in and I stewed about it for an hour or so. Then I went out, bought a fresh loaf of gluten free bread from the British baker at the farmer's market. I bought some prosciutto from the Italian sausage guy, some fresh provolone and a small container of olives from the olive bar and headed off to work. At lunch time, they were all stewing about how my lunch was better than their cheesy sub.

At my current job, there is often constant talk about what sort of novel item I have in my lunch and at first I wondered why the hell they were all so curious about what I was eating, but then realized they were trying to help. One lady I work with often comes up with some great ideas of things I could bring in a lunch that I hadn't thought of myself. There is another celiac at my work as well, so everyone knew what gluten was when I got there so I didn't have to have "the talk." There was a potluck lunch last week and we both opted out because after looking at the list there wasn't a thing on there that we could eat and thought it would be stupid for us to go to the trouble of making a dish for 23 people if all we could have was the salad. So I didn't have to be the lone woman out on that one.

I have some awesome friends too, who have learned a lot about gluten free cooking and invite me over for some great home-cooked meals. All in all, I try not to look at my limitations as something that I am lacking in my life. I still manage to eat some great tasty food in social settings and I'm grateful for that.

[eKatherine]

I feel for you. I just won a year long sales contest. My reward - a week in Cancun. I'm excited and terrified. Out of the country where I can't bring along snacks, I don't speak the language, and I'm hundreds of miles from the nearest Whole Foods without a car.

I also have to bring meals to my customers 4 times a week, so I'm constantly in the position of watching people eat food that I bring for them, but can't eat. I wish we didn't have to have a discussion with every meal about the fact that I'm eating something different, but that is how it goes.

I really haven't figured out how to deal with this and keep a great attitude. I just try to think how lucky I am to be feeling better and I don't have to take pills every day. I also think about how healthy I'm eating and that these pizza-eating people are probably on their way to extra pounds and heart disease - that is a bit of karma (but sorta mean).

Try Open Original Shared Link. You can download it and play it for them. It says, "I can't eat wheat. I can't eat pasta or pizza or bread or anything that contains wheat flour. I can eat meat, fish, chicken, vegetables, and fruit. Is there anything I can eat?"

[lilfarfa]

I know just how you feel. I am not actually a celiac, but have a wheat protien allergy. Since it's the same cause, I just group myself with ya'll. But see, with mine I quite breathing. If I eat something that was produced on the same line as something that had wheat in it, I can have a reaction. I have had my worst reactions walking through a bakery and into an italian restuarant because of flour in the air. Im a teacher, and whenever the opportunity presents itself, we go eat as a faculty. (We are a faculty of 6 at the alternative school; I can't just not go.) Here lies the problem. We're a little bitty Mississippi Coast town with even less restaurants than before Katrina. They say, "Let's go to the italian place or the pizza place, or the chinese buffet." All to which I have to say, "you can, but I can't". I was actually told, "You need to suck it up and take one for the team." Take one for the team? Take one what? Epi pen shot, trip to the hospital, or if that doesn't work...my own funeral....I think not. This happens EVERY SINGLE TIME! I don't get pouty, just let them know if they go somewhere I can't, I won't be joining. Then they get pouty. Any suggestions on how to handle this group?

[casnco]

Yet again the reward (or occasionally enticement) for the team having accomplished some horrible goal at work is to bring in pizza. Yay, yahoo, my enthusiasm knows no bounds. I will join in the jolly fellowship, drink some Coke, and sit at the far end of the table to avoid getting their crumbs in my lunch from home. I assure them I'm fine, thanks, there's nothing they can get me from the pizza place, it's okay, they don't have to struggle to find something to include poor little me, but inwardly I stew in my bitter celiac juices and wish them all digestive harm. Okay, I'm being overly dramatic, it has been a frustrating couple of months, but don't you just wish there was some appropriate way to balance out the karma of having to watch them scarf down hot, cheesy, doughy triangles of joy while you don't? Does this happen to you and what goes on in YOUR heads? The doughnuts, the birthday cakes, the continental breakfasts at the hotel where your business meeting is (which has no other breakfast option). I did bring in Enjoy Life No-Oats Oatmeal cookies once after giving up on trying to eat them, which was almost like revenge as I watched the look of revulsion on each person's face as they tried one (they still remember the "shellfish-free" cookies with awe). What would be an appropriate way to balance karma?

I am rather rough so that people will just leave me alone. I tell them their food is poison for me. The people who know me laugh and the people who dont know me leave me alone. Mission accomplished. It does anger me when my supervisors who know me offer a contest with a gluten prize at the end. I am not motivated. How about a gift certificate at least. Or Starbucks for the office when it is a team prize.