Celiac rant #1

There is a rare disease called celiac sprue which kicked in for me in my early 30's. What is it? It's an intolerence to gluten. Gluten? A gluey substance found in grains such as wheat, oats, barley, and rye. There's no pill or cure. It's a matter of not eating these foods or anything made from these foods or anything with cross-contamination from these foods. Unlike a diabetic who can eat sugar but must monitor the amount, a celiac can NEVER eat gluten. If you want to know more about this disease look it up. The point is that my diet is different than others (not to mention complicated).

Before the spur reared its ugly head I could eat anything like most others can. I also knew most of the basics of the foods I ate. Bread was made from flour and flour from wheat. Sugar is a cane, potatoes are a tuber, and cheese comes from milk-milk from cows.

Since I've had this disease I have discovered just how ignorant people are about the foods they eat. Typically when someone learns that I have to eat certain foods, they ask too many questions...this usually occurs when I'm trying to eat. "Shut up! I'm hungery!!!!" If this isn't bad enough they say the most stupid things. Like "oh, so you can't eat sugar?" Since when did sugar become a grain you idiot. Another one I've heard is "so you can eat white bread" WHAT??? Is your mother also your sister??? And yet another "so you can eat cake". I asked this person what they thought cake was made of and they replied that they didn't know. One other was a comment that I couldn't eat potatoes.

These are basics. I of course now know all kinds of ingredients. This is mandatory for me. I wouldn't expect everyone to know that some fruit drinks have wheat in them but I would expect that they know that oranges are a fruit and grow on trees.

Listen up people first...know what the hell you're eating....second...if someone has a rare disease and they are not a loved one, leave them alone. We are not freaks in a carnival!