People Who Think It's So Easy....

[Fire Fairy]

We have a mixed kitchen, although there isn't a lot of gluten in it. I buy bread from time to time and when husband is home, there are other baked goods sometimes. He is currently on a diet so not eating cookies, cakes, etc. I do not bring flour into the house or regular pasta. So no worries about cooking stuff.

What I do is use all kinds of paper plates and plastic utensils. If I am using margarine or jam on wheat bread, I dip the plastic knife once. If that wasn't enough, then I throw out the knife and get another. I do not do this with the peanut butter since daughter has a peanut allergy so doesn't eat that. Bread is never put directly on the cutting board. Only on a paper plate.

That's a good idea. Thank you for sharing it.

[kareng]

That's a good idea. Thank you for sharing it.

When we are travelling and sharing PB, we put a bunch out onto a clean plate and the gluteny ones have at it. I keep the jar for my far superior gluten-free bread. If they need more, too bad!

[T.H.]

Wow, I did not realize just how hard I would find it to respond to this post! It's kind of hit a few of my hot buttons, so I think I'd better be pithy or I'll go on and on, heh.

I think this post touches on something that I find really frustrating in our celiac community, both the original post and some of the responses. How many of us went through YEARS of pain and trouble, with people telling us we couldn't be experiencing what we were experiencing, that we weren't feeling pain, or nausea, it was all in our heads? Far too many, from what I've seen.

And then we get diagnosed, and I am still shocked at how many celiacs will look at others and...it's almost like this attitude gets passed on. And of anyone, we should know better! I know I'm not the only one getting that response of 'what? You can't react to THAT, because 'I' don't react to that.' As though we all have one body, one experience, one level of sensitivity, now that we are celiacs. As though we're clones, and our experiences should be clones of one another.

And I KNOW that none of us think that way, not when we sit down and talk, but discussions like this tend to set off that feeling of being told 'you can't feel this way' or 'you have to feel this other way,' at least in me. I know that's not what a particular poster is trying to say (well, usually, heh), but sometimes it's difficult not to take it that way.

Like, I'll be honest, the side issue that's started here on being sensitive. And that if you find it easy, you couldn't be super, absurdly sensitive, and the response seems to be that no, I AM super sensitive, and it's not that difficult.

Now, I can appreciate being irritated at being told you must feel a certain way. But I'll admit that I was a bit taken aback at what I took as an implication that the level of sensitivity mentioned was the MOST sensitive a celiac could be, so it was a good example of a sensitive celiac's lifestyle.

I know that being sensitive in the first place brings us a lot of grief, and I would be the LAST person to say someone ISN'T sensitive when they say they are. But the experiences mentioned as sensitive were so different from my own that it feels like a totally different world, and I'm sure there are people who are more sensitive than I am who look at my way of living and must feel the same.

As an example, I seriously cannot imagine even HOW one would eat at a restaurant successfully as a crazy sensitive celiac. You would have to be so dedicated it kind of boggles my mind. I've tried and failed before, too often. If I wanted to try it now? I'd have to ask about the soap used on the dishes I was served with to make sure it didn't have gluten derivatives (and yes, that's made me sick at a restaurant, more than once. All I had was a glass of water, every time). I'd have to ask about the soap and cleaners used on the equipment that cooked my food. I'd have to ask about the farms that made the produce, and what equipment processed it, what pesticides, coatings, and waxes there might be on it. I'd need a brand new scouring pad to scour out a metal pan with no crevices for them to cook my food on. Have to ask what soaps were used to wash any packaging used on the produce, meats, and so on.

That's the kind of routine that I, as a super sensitive celiac, have to follow. I'm sure it's not what everyone does. And I am NOT saying that everyone doesn't have to be careful, but I think there are differences that make our experiences quite different (not that everything else in our life doesn't, right?). I don't want to tell anyone that it isn't easy if they find it easy. If you do, you do, IMO. But I don't appreciate folks telling me it's easy to eat this way, and believe that it should be easy for me, too, without understanding what MY level of sensitivity is, either, you know?

For anyone who is curious, or doubtful of just how many things get gluten, seriously, you should try tracking it down sometime. Just as an easy example, call an apple grower that supplies your apples, and find out if they add wax to their apples. And see whether casein or soy protein was added to the wax (usually it's one or the other, for the type of wax used on apples). And try to track down the people who grew the soy added to the wax and see if they shared their fields or harvesters or anything else that processed the soy with something with gluten.

If I don't want to get sick, I get to do this now, with everything I buy. And I'll be honest, sometimes I am starving and I think - maybe this one will be okay. Maybe I'm not as sensitive as I though - and I buy something without checking all this out. I've pretty much paid dearly for it. Now my way of making things easy is to stop calling if a questionable contamination risk appears, rather than taking the time to track it all the way to its source to ensure its safety.

So I guess all I'm saying is...hmmm...aw heck, don't even know anymore!

Heh... maybe just an old Bill and Ted quote for all us celiacs: be excellent to each other. :-D

[mushroom]

Wow, I did not realize just how hard I would find it to respond to this post! It's kind of hit a few of my hot buttons, so I think I'd better be pithy or I'll go on and on, heh.

I think this post touches on something that I find really frustrating in our celiac community, both the original post and some of the responses. How many of us went through YEARS of pain and trouble, with people telling us we couldn't be experiencing what we were experiencing, that we weren't feeling pain, or nausea, it was all in our heads? Far too many, from what I've seen.

And then we get diagnosed, and I am still shocked at how many celiacs will look at others and...it's almost like this attitude gets passed on. And of anyone, we should know better! I know I'm not the only one getting that response of 'what? You can't react to THAT, because 'I' don't react to that.' As though we all have one body, one experience, one level of sensitivity, now that we are celiacs. As though we're clones, and our experiences should be clones of one another.

And I KNOW that none of us think that way, not when we sit down and talk, but discussions like this tend to set off that feeling of being told 'you can't feel this way' or 'you have to feel this other way,' at least in me. I know that's not what a particular poster is trying to say (well, usually, heh), but sometimes it's difficult not to take it that way.

Like, I'll be honest, the side issue that's started here on being sensitive. And that if you find it easy, you couldn't be super, absurdly sensitive, and the response seems to be that no, I AM super sensitive, and it's not that difficult.

Now, I can appreciate being irritated at being told you must feel a certain way. But I'll admit that I was a bit taken aback at what I took as an implication that the level of sensitivity mentioned was the MOST sensitive a celiac could be, so it was a good example of a sensitive celiac's lifestyle.

I know that being sensitive in the first place brings us a lot of grief, and I would be the LAST person to say someone ISN'T sensitive when they say they are. But the experiences mentioned as sensitive were so different from my own that it feels like a totally different world, and I'm sure there are people who are more sensitive than I am who look at my way of living and must feel the same.

As an example, I seriously cannot imagine even HOW one would eat at a restaurant successfully as a crazy sensitive celiac. You would have to be so dedicated it kind of boggles my mind. I've tried and failed before, too often. If I wanted to try it now? I'd have to ask about the soap used on the dishes I was served with to make sure it didn't have gluten derivatives (and yes, that's made me sick at a restaurant, more than once. All I had was a glass of water, every time). I'd have to ask about the soap and cleaners used on the equipment that cooked my food. I'd have to ask about the farms that made the produce, and what equipment processed it, what pesticides, coatings, and waxes there might be on it. I'd need a brand new scouring pad to scour out a metal pan with no crevices for them to cook my food on. Have to ask what soaps were used to wash any packaging used on the produce, meats, and so on.

That's the kind of routine that I, as a super sensitive celiac, have to follow. I'm sure it's not what everyone does. And I am NOT saying that everyone doesn't have to be careful, but I think there are differences that make our experiences quite different (not that everything else in our life doesn't, right?). I don't want to tell anyone that it isn't easy if they find it easy. If you do, you do, IMO. But I don't appreciate folks telling me it's easy to eat this way, and believe that it should be easy for me, too, without understanding what MY level of sensitivity is, either, you know?

For anyone who is curious, or doubtful of just how many things get gluten, seriously, you should try tracking it down sometime. Just as an easy example, call an apple grower that supplies your apples, and find out if they add wax to their apples. And see whether casein or soy protein was added to the wax (usually it's one or the other, for the type of wax used on apples). And try to track down the people who grew the soy added to the wax and see if they shared their fields or harvesters or anything else that processed the soy with something with gluten.

If I don't want to get sick, I get to do this now, with everything I buy. And I'll be honest, sometimes I am starving and I think - maybe this one will be okay. Maybe I'm not as sensitive as I though - and I buy something without checking all this out. I've pretty much paid dearly for it. Now my way of making things easy is to stop calling if a questionable contamination risk appears, rather than taking the time to track it all the way to its source to ensure its safety.

So I guess all I'm saying is...hmmm...aw heck, don't even know anymore!

Heh... maybe just an old Bill and Ted quote for all us celiacs: be excellent to each other. :-D

Wow, I have to say that I have never before come across that level of sensitivity before. Hmmm - don't know that I could go to that much effort to eat Think I would have to grow all my own or not eat it. At the very least the cell phone would get a helluva workout.

[T.H.]

Think I would have to grow all my own or not eat it. At the very least the cell phone would get a helluva workout.

I am actually going that route. :-P I live in a desert, so the growing season is longer, and I've been planting like crazy...but I have to make my own mulch and compost and stuff because - of course - the local hay and compost stuff has gluten ingredients too. Ugh.

Ha, and yes...the first few months of calling have been doozies!