The title says it all.
Example 1:
So, I am sitting at my lunch table today, and my music teacher walks through the cafeteria. To me, he says: "What are you eating?", (I am eating PB&J on a corn patty), and I answer, "PB&J on a corn patty". He says "Oh. Why not just bread?". Since, I really almost never feel like explaining about CD and my intolerance, I answer, something along the lines of "I am allergic to gluten." My music teacher then goes on for an extended period of time about how his daughter eats 'Lara' bars, and those are all-natural, and could he bring one in for me to try? They are all-natural! At this point, I had to make some excuse to leave, because I didn't have the heart to tell him that 'all-natural' and GF are not the same thing, and 'all-natural' often times does not mean GF.
Example 2:
I am over at my friends house, and a babysitter is over for her younger siblings. I have brought my own food. The sitter asks about it, the usual "why do you have your own food" type-question. I answer with my usual"I am allergic to gluten" type-spiel. The sitter then goes on to describe, in detail, her friend's vegan diet. Apparently, I should look into vegan-ism (is that a word? Spellcheck does not seem to think so), because it is "Full of whole grains, like wheat!". I am sorry, forgive me, but I had to respond to that. I was very polite, though. A lot of, "Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley, blah de blah de blah."
Thank you.
That is all.
C.C.
4 comments:
It's sad that a lot of times we do have to spend several minutes explaining what CD is. However, I feel that taking those few minutes to let someone know, and get the awareness of the disease out, is worth the time. And again, in my previous "Dream" comment, I never say "I'm a Celiac" I always say to them "I have Celiac Disease, which makes my body react to Gluten by attacking my small intestine." Usually when I get to the "attack my small intestine" part, they don't ask any more questions because they think i am going to go into detail about what it does and how gross it will end up being...lol
Also, I found this online
http://www.celiactravel.com/restaurant-cards.html
they are cards you can print out in any language that you can give to waiters that explains what you can't eat to help with cross contamination at restaurants.
We get this all the time...all it takes is educating the other person. A pain, yes, but I kind of see it as "I didn't even know what gluten was before Ty and I were diagnosed, so how can I expect them to?"
I explain what celiac is and that Ty knows his own limits and abilities to any adults who will have consistent authority over him (teachers, leaders in Scouts or church, etc.) so that when he says "I can't have that", they respect it. (As a teacher, I know how hard it is to differentiate between an actual "I can't do this" and "I don't feel like it, so I'll make something up".)
But yep, we've gotten those responses too - and it's just a matter of educating them. Many people honestly don't know what gluten is, or how prevalent it is - but once they find out, a lot of people are a lot better about watching out for it. (Not all...but many.) If you look at it more like educating them, it gets easier - promise :)
BTW - Larabars are gf as well as "all natural" :) They're not fabulous, but they're good, and easy to take along. We take them while traveling, for a quick energy boost. Not saying to go out and buy a bunch, just letting you know it's an option.
It's great that you're vigilant about gluten - it's your job to keep yourself safe, and you have a really good attitude about it. That's 90% of the battle, right there.
@Jenn and @Ty's Mom- That is true. And ordinarily I would be totally into sharing and rasing awareness. I kind of justed wanted to eat my lunch and hang out with my friend. :) At a track meet,(this is legend with my friends), after getting grief for wanting to read a label, I replied "Better safe than projectile vomiting". That was a bit extreme, I know. But I do beleive there is a happy medium, as you guys described. Thank you for the Larabar Tip, as well as the continued support!
Nancy
My granddaughter has celiac disease, and I want to know what kind of appetizing food I can have in the house when she comes to visit.
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