Yes,I do!
I also cannot have rice,dairy,and possibly soy.
When people discover I can't have certain foods the reaction is usually as follows;
"Oh,my goodness what do you eat,I feel so bad, you can't have like anything."
I always grin wide at these exclamations cause I find them so humorous.
"Yes,thank you for stating the obvious." I'm tempted to say this sometimes,just cause I come from a sarcastic family. I sometimes will tell people on purpose when in line for food at a families get together,just to watch peoples reactions,if I really want to get a reaction I throw in the truth that I can't have dairy or rice (although I cheat on those,and live to regret it every time) and the other times when people say, "You don't want a bun for your hamburger." me: "Noooo."
The most awkward situation is when you order at a restaurant and ask with a sweet,innocent smile,"Can I have it without the bun?"
I'm going to answer a few questions that I get asked sometimes and some that I'll ask just from experience about my allergies.
Isn't it hard? Yes,it is. I'm totally used to not eating gluten which people think is the hardest,but for me not eating dairy and rice is the hardest,in fact I have intense pain cause I have very poor choices,what can I say, I really LOVE ice cream and rice is like in all gluten free products.
What can you eat? Celiac disease is I guess you could say 'popular',so now there are many products and box mixes that you can buy. For cooking from scratch almond flour,rice flour,tapioca flour...etc... are flours you can use. I have to mention an amazing 'certified' gluten free company called 'Udis' they make amazing bread products....so bagels,loafs of bread,etc.... they are very good. In case your wondering what I meant by 'certifiied' I mean its created in a factory that is made just for gluten free products,so no gluten products are made there. Betty Crocker has box mixes,they may say "Gluten Free" on the front,but they are made in the same factory gluten is,so people who have serious allergies have to be careful when shopping gluten free.
Can I add wheat flour to a gluten free box mix? NO,you cannot, gluten is wheat. We had a friend that is an amazing baker and they had us over,she wanted to make a gluten free dessert for us (shes very sweet like that) but not knowing alot about what gluten is,she added flour to a gluten free cake mix she bought to thicken it a little (I think that's why,its been a while) so when we arrived she asked us if that was okay,is it still gluten free,we hated to tell her,but no it was no longer gluten free and we couldn't eat it.
What is one little,but important thing people don't think about? Separate spatulas. Once we went to a friends house and we brought dessert,pies actually one of them were gluten free. One of the girls wanted to try the gluten free one just to see what it was like that problem was she took the spatula from the other pie and stuck it into the gluten free pie. I cringed as the wheat pie covered spatula crumbs wedged into the gluten free pie. So that is a small example that most people wouldn't even think twice about.
So what happens to you and celiacs when they eat that stuff anyway? Well,numerous things happen to me,the reactions are different for different people. For me its kind of complicated,but if you want to get to the core,if I continued eating gluten,dairy.and rice,after loads of pain and bloating I'd get cancer. Now not everyone gets cancer, some just get so sick they'ld die. Someone at my church has her own special food cause that is how allergic she is,no wheat is allowed to enter her house,if it does its eaten on paper plates. My brother reacts by getting sick with tongue sores called ulcers. They are all over his tongue and are like holes in his tongue thus,very tender and he'll get weak in his legs. Those are just some examples of what can happen.
Don't you get depressed that you're allergic to so much food?
I can get depressed,not because I can't have the cake at a birthday party or the ice cream at a party,but because my body hasn't been eating right long enough or I accidentally eat, thinking a certain food is perfectly okay and I have a painful reminder later on. But you know what I remember when I was younger and I seriously have no idea how I did it, I was having SO many issues/problems and oh,so much pain cause I wasn't eating right and when I started to try to eat right there wasn't a whole lot out there,we didn't fully understand everything (we knew dairy was part of it I think we actually thought that was the main problem,since we didn't even really know about celiac then.),my mom and I learned just along the way. We started to realize more people and our family members had issues with gluten.
How do you stay happy,don't you get upset that God made you like this?
God has blessed me so much! Trust me if I didn't have so many issues I wouldn't have been able to realize, to an extent how much I really needed God,when it would get tough I was so thankful that God was there to carry me and to talk to. So even though some days I hate what is happening/happened to my body I'm thankful God chose me for it,I eat healthier my family and I know so much more about healthy eating etc....
I'm also thankful,cause I see people my age with diabetes,I know thousands of kids have cancer,what if God planned one of those in my life instead of being allergic to foods. If I had diabetes could I daily give myself shots? I ask myself. I couldn't have as much candy as I wanted. If I had cancer I'd have to do chemo. Could I stand being sick all the time?
So it is easy for my to try to stay happy when I think of what I could have.
I'm thankful for the body God has given me.
Philipians 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything byprayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
