Grrrr....

[KaitiUSA]

Speaking of things people shouldn't say. I experienced a great revenge situation. On Friday someone brought in a truckload of donuts and one of my coworkers said "HaHa, you can't have one." This is a coworker that I have never gotten along with. I then noticed his protruding gut and his wife who also works there was standing next to him. I lifted up the front of my shirt and displayed my emerging six pack abs and said "I can't have a donut but your gut doesn't look like this." His wife them elbowed him in the gut causing him to spit out a mouth full of jelly donut and said "That's the last donut you're ever eating buddy." He then spent the remainder of the day giving me dirty looks. Today he had to have a lunch of fruit and vegetables instead of his usual Twinkies, Pop Tarts and Coke. He spent all day giving me dirty looks and will probably do that for weeks. I have heard it said that living well is the best revenge and I think that may be true.

You showed him good.

[Carriefaith]

ianm... That is the funniest thing I've heard all day!

[jenvan]

ha ha ianm! that is something i might think, but never have the nerve to say !!

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

She once compared my avoiding gluten to her avoiding certain foods due to acid reflux...

Maybe your grandmother has it, too. I had acid reflux before going glutenfree, too. It's all gone now...

[celiac3270]

ha ha ianm! that is something i might think, but never have the nerve to say !!

Exactly how I felt

[whimsygirl]

Ohhhh yesss, I can get into this conversation. How about my in laws that never remember that I can't eat any of this stuff so not much IS gluten-free and then the stuff that may be depending on the brands used when I ask questions like can you tell me what kind of BBQ sauce you used, or what kind of baked beans these are they just act like you are such a bother.

Cheree'

[stef-the-kicking-cuty]

Yeah, exactly. That's what's bothering me too. Not only do they act as if you are a bother. They act as if you are stupid sometimes too. Just like 'What? Wheat in BBQ Sauce? You must be paranoid...' Tsts, if they'd only know, where all wheat is in. I hate people like that...

[CateK]

Maybe I'm strange, but after about 2 weeks gluten-free I really don't want to eat food with gluten. Just the thought of it makes me feel a little queazy. Folks offer food to me at work all the time, and I just tell them no thank you. If I have extra I make a point of offering them stuff that I bring (like fruit, fresh veggies, etc). Sometimes they take me up on it. Sometimes they don't.

The biggest challenge are these working lunches. I'm learning to call ahead before they get too busy with the lunch hour, to the restaurant and explain that I will be attending with this particular group and I have (dare I say it?) an ALLERGY. This word seems to give me a better working relationship with the folks in the restaurant business and so far, they have been very accomodating.

Two restaurants (not chains), when I have given them adequate notice, have ordered special ingredients and prepared a dish for me that isn't even on the menu. Most of the time I settle for a salad and a grilled meat of some sort and that works well. I tip very well and when there is a special meal prepared I also send back a tip for the cook.

No one I work with finds this strange and seem to respect that I have special needs. Fact is, I think they respect me more for doing what it takes to stay healthy.

I've lost 30 pounds since becoming gluten-free in March. I'm also following Weight Watchers but the weight started coming off much faster when I went gluten-free. I have energy now, the pain in my joints is gone and I've joined a gym and work out 3 days a week.

I do miss the convenience of flour tortillas and wish I could find a good gluten-free recipe to make a decent substitute. I may have to invent one...

[junevarn]

Ditto to everything you guys said.

My husband and I went to an italian restaurant Sunday with friends. I ordered roast chicken, potatos and asparagus. Everyone else had pasta. That wasn't too bad. During dessert it was hard cause they ordered chocolate cake to share and apple pie with ice cream(my fav!) I didn't have any dessert.

My friend who is usually very nice said" This isn't very good, its just creamy and sweet and cold so you aren't missing anything" in kind of a sarcastic way. It kind of hurt my feelings. I don't think she understands what I have gone through with my health. (Sigh).She is very overweight. One time she said " we like you June even though you're thin". Maybe I shouldn't take it too seriously. My other friend who was there has seen me have a reaction several times,so she wouldn't say something like that. I guess I should buy some gluten free goodies to keep on hand for such an emergency. I like kinnickinnick biscotti and Crave bakery brownies.

It just sort of depressed me when I was already sick that morning from sausage I ate.

What are everyone's favorite brands for goodies?

Thanks for listening.

June

P.S.

By the way I went to Outback tonight with two other friends and got their

gluten free menu for the first time. I had a fabulous 9 ounce steak and veggies to make up for the other day. I ate the whole thing!

[Guest Viola]

Oh June, I can sure relate to that "we like you even though your skinny" remark. I always felt so bad that people didn't like me because they thought I could eat anything and stay skinny. (I was still undiagnosed at that time. I kept telling them that I would rather be fatter and healthy. They could never believe it.

I've gained quite a bit of weight since then and feel much better, but I still remember how my bones hurt when I sat on a wooden dining room chair, or a log out at a picnic. And if I tried to lay on the floor and play with the kids my bones hurt like crazy and I ended up bruised. And they all thought we were LUCKY being skinny!

To this day I cannot stand seeing a skinny ... some people call them "fit" dog. I think of the poor things laying on the ground or the floor with no protection for their bones. Mine isn't "fat", but she sure isn't skinny either

[celiac3270]

Foods by George makes brownies, crumb cake, muffins, pizza

Whole Foods makes cakes of various kinds and other gluten-free pastries (scone, etc.) --including carrot cake. The line will probably vary depending on where and when you go.

Pamela's -- cookies

[mandigirl1]

Hello fellow Celiacs......This is my first time being logged on!!!....I have soooo much to vent about Celiac and all things related to it. I am a 32 yr teacher living with celiac for 6 yrs....and havent had an easy time with it either.

What really, really KILLS me...... when people find out that I have this condition, I ALWAYS (no matter the person or relation to me) have to endure the annoying comments and questions. For example, in no particular order:

SO WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU IF YOU EAT WHEAT/GLUTEN? (I HATE THIS!!!!! WHY CANT PEOPLE HAVE THE SESNSE TO JUST MOMENTARILY USE THEIR IMAGINATIONS INSTEAD OF ASKING, DO THEY REALLY WANT TO HEAR THE DETAILS?)

WOW....SO YOU CANT HAVE BREAD

OR PASTA?

OR THESE COOKIES? THAT HOTDOG BUN?

OR PIZZA?

BLAH BLAH BLAH...........

HOW DO YOU LIVE WITHOUT IT?

SO WHAT CAN U HAVE?

I GIVE YOU CREDIT......I WOULDNT BE ABLE TO GIVE UP MY FAVORITE FOODS.....

NO WONDER YOU'RE SO THIN!!!!!!!!!

IS IT CONTAGIOUS? CAN I CATCH SOME OF THAT? (REFERRING TO USING CELIAC AS A WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT)

This condition (Celiac) is a shocker to most people. They simply can not believe that this exists or that you CAN do without the wheat/gluten. Whats more is that once its OUT, that you have Celiac, you are the "different one"....the only one there with this kind of diet. I HATE being singled out and then having to answer if that is why I'm so thin?

Please tell me, do some of you Celiacs go through this as well????????????

[celiac3270]

Definitely...ALL THE TIME!

[Guest Viola]

Yup, we all go through it, and some of the questions are so obvious it's silly. The only thing you can do is learn to look at it with a sense of humour (some of it really is funny)

It's not always easy though as it can get tiring. But hopefully, some of your family and friends will soon learn if they really are interested. And if you do find one or two that are interested, make use of them to help find restaurants that you can go to with them and yes ... even to educate some of the other people around you. And just think ... when my kids were teenagers, a couple of their friends asked them if their mother was on heroin as I was so thin! I'll bet you haven't got that one yet!

[printmaker81]

Whats more is that once its OUT, that you have Celiac, you are the "different one"....

I hate that! Just the other day my normally supportive roommate was telling me about how she was being a picky eater among some mutal friends, and someone piped in "Come on now, we're going to start having to call you Heather." She thought it was funny, but it was really one of those comments that I would rather not have known about

-Heather

[jenvan]

awww Heather, that was just a rude thing for them to say. i get that too. "good ol' high maintenance jen!" i just comment that relationally, i am the most low-maintenance of them all--which matters more !

[Guest imsohungry]

Hi Mandigirl1,

I noticed that this was your first post....WELCOME!

-Julie

[Guest gfinnebraska]

Mandi ~ you could not have written a better example of what I go through than you did!!! Have you been in my pocket listening to my conversations??!!??

I HATE it when people go through all those questions... and the list goes on and on of what they say! Most people have to go through ALL the items I can't have. Ugh!! Makes me so frustrated!!!!! I try and live my life telling as few people as possible. BUT, there are always the occassions where the new person you have never eaten with before is there... and the questions start. Sigh...

I also HATE it when I am singled out as the "hard person" to feed. Hello??? What in that comment is nice?!!? I would much rather always bring my own food then have someone else try and feed me.

Oh well ~ isn't this life always interesting??!!

[dogear]

I just went through a family wedding, without telling anbody I was gluten-free. It involved breakfasts at a friend of the family's house. I just ended up telling people "No Thanks" and "I'm not hungry." an awful lot, namely whenever either cross contamination looked like a risk or when I couldn't read a label.

To a certain extent, I was able to "pass off" the issue and the label reading under the fact that I'm allergic to sulfites and have problems with some other additives. Since sulfites show up in a lot of things, people knowing that gives me a good excuse to read labels and ask waiters and waittresses about food ingredients without question.

At the wedding dinner the choice was between Quiche and chicken with apricot sauce. From a gluten-free perspective this one should be a no brainer. But since my sulfite allergy is potentially anaphylactic, I felt safer with an uneaten quiche on my plate then with anything possibly involving unkown dried fruit. I just ate the mashed potatoes and vegetables-with full inquiries.

So far, I've been gluten-free since September 2004-although I wanted to be since 1998, but feared such a choice would be immoral without medical cause. The only person in my life who knows about it, is the celiac friend who I feared would want nothing to do with me because of what I've done-which turned out to be a completely unfounded fear.

As of now, I live alone and have a pretty decimated social life. But I know, that as things start to change, sooner or later, people will have to be told if about my gluten-free lifestyle. I actually hope to acquire a new boyfriend before too much time elapses. He will have to know.

When I talk about the gluten-free lifestyle I feel like my gay friends!

For years, I wanted to do this but felt guilty about it. Later, I ended up doing it anyway despite immense feelings of guilt. Now that I'm kind of sort of, getting over the guilt, it's a matter of "coming out of the closet" to people.

[Jnkmnky]

****

"So far, I've been gluten-free since September 2004-although I wanted to be since 1998, but feared such a choice would be immoral without medical cause. The only person in my life who knows about it, is the celiac friend who I feared would want nothing to do with me because of what I've done-which turned out to be a completely unfounded fear."

****

What exactly am I missing here? I don't get the "immoral" and not wanting to reveal gluten-free status. I've scanned around looking for a clue in some other post, but can't find an explanation for the tone of your post. Why would anyone care in a negative way if you are gluten-free or not? Hey...maybe you have a reason I can't fathom. Just asking. Open minded and all...short of you having targeted Celiacs for some form of discrimination in the past or anything like that. I didn't know Celiac Disease was so scandelous a diagnosis.

[Jnkmnky]

Okaaay. Found you over in the non-celiac going gluten free thread. Gotcha now. I can't believe you so passionately consider what everyone else will think of your personal choices *legal, harmful to no one personal choices* that you wait from 1998 until 2004 to begin a gluten free diet, then spend a year not telling anyone out of fear of "what they'll think of you". No one's starving in the Sudan because you've quit consuming gluten here in the U.S. *or are you in Canada? Actually, it doesn't matter either way, now does it?

I mean this in a very helpful way. Most people couldn't care less what you or I or anyone else is doing in regards to diet. Unless you're eating inappropriate things such as people, you're good to go. Get yourself a Gluten Sucks! t-shirt and walk your gluten free self around town and into the local bakeries *order some tea or something gluten-free, and have fun.

[ianm]

Gluten isn't really good for non-Celiacs either so were that Gluten Sucks! shirt with pride.

[cgilsing]

At my last job, we took turns making goodies for each other for our birthdays. When my birthday came around I told them not to worry about making me anything since its so hard to find gluten-free cake mixes and things in the small town we live in. The girl that got my name in the birthday exchange was very sweet though and was kind enough to drive 45 min. to find a cake mix I could have!

Anyway the whole office was educated about gluten-free and discused how good the cake was etc..etc...

A few days later I was given a job offer I couldn't refuse. I put my 2 weeks in to my boss and she was FURIOUS! She had brought in gifts for other people on their last day and I guess she felt obligated to bring me in somehting as well......My going away present.....a great big (full of Gluten) cake from the grocery store! This was two weeks after my birthday by the way.......definatly a vengful move and not just memory lapse. Oh well I don't like cake anyway!!

[Rikki Tikki]

I think if someone asks me one more time if I am on the Atkins diet I will barf!

[ianm]

Sally, welcome back. Hope your feeling better.