Holiday Party At Work Today

[luvs2eat]

I went to a holiday pot luck last week and took a huge portion of the yummy salad I brought and a few deviled eggs. People sitting around me were trying to "help" me and told me of other things that "probably" were safe. For example, someone brought a yummy smelling chicken curry that she put on cute little brioche rolls. There was some extra curry in a container. "Why don't you take that?" my friends asked. "Because," I told them "She undoubtedly scooped out the curry to put on the brioche rolls and then stuck that spoon/scoop back into the curry contaminating it."

They looked at me like I had two heads. "It's THAT bad? You're THAT sensitive??"

I never, ever pull a "woe is me" in public... I just smiled and said, "I'm just fine w/ the yummy food I have, but thanks for thinking of me."

Thank goodness I have HERE to pull the occasional "woe is me."

[Marilyn R]

Aw, shoot. I was so hoping you would not have a reaction! But I appreciate how you have chosen to learn from this experience. Learning to say "no" is not easy for many of us but I have had a lot of practice with that this year!

Thanks, love2travel. I appreciate your concern and good wishes! It hasn't incapacitated me, just gave me a good smack. I should be back to normal on Sunday.

Way to go on refusing the chicken curry.

[love2travel]

Thanks, love2travel. I appreciate your concern and good wishes! It hasn't incapacitated me, just gave me a good smack. I should be back to normal on Sunday.

Often these lessons are painful ones, aren't they? I love that you are using this in a positive way. Get better quickly!

[Marilyn R]

I hope things work out OK and you survive.

I took a slightly different route at work. We have a small department (16 people) in our own building, so last year I proposed a Christmas breakfast. I organized it and prepared/cooked most of the food. I prepped almost everything at home and brought it in and cooked it there. It worked out really well. We're doing it again this year. Three of us in our department are gluten-free by necessity, one additional by choice due to mild gluten sensitivity.

I'm very blessed in my work environment though. We have 160+ employees. There are no fewer than 8 of us that are gluten-free for health reasons -- celiac, non-celiac gluten enteropathy, or severe gluten sensitivity. There are another 3 or 4 that I know of who are gluten-free because of mild sensitivity. Every one of them has come about in the last 2.5 years since I got diagnosed. I've made it kind of a mission to educate people as much as possible at work whenever they ask about my 'diet'.

It also helps that we have a fairly new ND in the area who is very aware of food intolerance/sensitivity and gluten related issues. I've referred several people to her (though I don't see her myself) and one of them at work had her rheumatoid arthritis go into almost complete remission after a few weeks of being on a gluten/casein/soy/nightshade free diet. Another lady eliminated gluten along with a bunch of other food issue, and she is like a whole new person, personality and all. So that has help 'spread the word' so to speak as well.

WTG Korywn,

Wow the statistics at your employers are beating what the experts suggest and the doctors forget. Hope you have a great party.