Come to the GF Side....We Have Pretzels

It's interesting, in the last year or so, I've had 4 or 5 friends "come out" as Gluten-Free because of problems with wheat, barley or oat based foods once they reach their 20's. This is a common type of story it seems with this allergy. It can develop over time without any noticeable discomfort or it can be the bane of your existence for years until you finally find the cause. The latter is basically my mom's story in developing the allergy. She didn't figure out until her mid-20's that it was breads, pastas and baking that was giving her grief; she then cut gluten from her diet completely and hasn't had a problem since. 

As my mom was GF by the time I was born, she knew what to look for and the house was already half adapted for the life style (my sister and dad don't have the allergy and thus still had normal breads and pastas). Whatever it was that tipped her off that I might have the allergy as a baby, she caught it early because I literally have no memory of NOT being gluten free as a kid. If I ever did accidentally eat something with gluten in it (believe me, it's in waaaayy more than what you may think as the obvious) I didn't get big stomach aches per se, but my immune system would just absolutely crash and I'd get sick.

Though my allergy is MUCH less severe now (in reverse it seems to almost everyone else) I still try and maintain a GF diet overall. I find it keeps me healthy and I say better safe than sorry.

But, I remember being so self conscious about my lunches in public school. Constantly being made fun of and having to explain how I couldn't eat wheat. Kids would look at my - albeit dry and cardboard like - rice bread sandwiches like I was some freak. I really didn't care about eating my alternatives at home, but I hated having to eat at school or in public.

Now, know that this was the '90's and gluten allergies were fairly hush-hush. Peanut allergies were barely being addressed at the time. So trying to explain, at 7 years old, to your classmates why you couldn't have the class pizza was embarrassing and a pain in the butt.

Because of this, over the years I would try and hide the allergy. People stopped commenting on my lunches or noticing that I wouldn't buy food from the cafeteria, but if there was a party or if someone brought food to share, I'd give in to the pressure of conforming and take whatever was offered. Better that than being the only kid sitting there not eating and making everyone uncomfortable.

Now this is just my personal experience. I know allergies can be hugely important to be aware of, such as peanut allergies, and it is essential that everyone be on the same page. But for me, my allergy wasn't even that severe sometimes and was more just this annoying social problem.

Sometimes if parents or teachers found out they'd try and compromise by buying or making something gluten free - which was almost worse. If you aren't familiar with the diet, know that it is quite a task trying to find something with flavour that doesn't have the texture of concrete. There are about 10 times more options available today than when I was a kid. It used to literally be one shelf in one aisle in one grocery store that would offer subsititutions. So parents would buy the first thing they saw that said "Gluten free" or "wheat free" on it and presume it was edible. If that wasn't bad enough, it would usually be presented to me in one of 2 ways:

1. A big awkward production on behalf of said grown up to show they were including me. eg. "Okay kids! Here's the pasta alfredo with garlic bread! - OH AND SHANNON I HAVE YOUR SPECIAL PLATE RIGHT OVER HERE. NOW I KNOW YOU CAN'T HAVE BREAD BECAUSE OF YOUR ALLERGY SO HERE'S A CARROT."
or
2. I would be taken aside into the kitchen like I was being ushered to the Principal's office and said grown up would try and quietly give me the alternative in hopes that the other kids wouldn't notice the obvious difference between the giant double layer chocolate cake that everyone else had and the sad excuse for a charred lump of rock I was eating.

Surprise - both were equally humiliating. I grew to loathe the allergy. I hated the way it outcasted me just enough in social gatherings to make them awkward. I didn't want to offend anyone by not eating their food, and they didn't want to look ignorant by not addressing my allergy. What a lovely uncomfortable impasse. Thus, as I hit my teens I decided if no one asked, I wouldn't tell. I just ate and went along with whatever and if I had to pay for it later then so be it. Obviously this was not the best line of thinking, but in my head it saved a lot of social anxiety.

It really wasn't until I was heading off to college that I learned to embrace my Gluten Free-dom. I decided that with a fresh start I would be forward and have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude if people thought it odd.

What I didn't expect, was to find a whole culture that I had been missing out on. One of the very first friends I made in my program I found out immediately was Gluten Free and talked passionately about cooking. As our conversation about this common ground expanded, others piped in with mentioning family or friends that they knew who were also GF. Suddenly it was like the Gluten Free gods opened up and were showing me this new world of acceptance.

In my second year of college I moved in with a classmate and she knew right off the bat that I had to buy my own alternate groceries, but when it came to my turn to cook dinners she was very open to letting me cook GF. In fact she often admitted to not being able to tell the difference from me cooking rice pasta, or making pancakes with potato flour, or buying snacks with GF flour mixtures. She was very accepting and encouraging, which in turn made me more willing to experiment with my alternatives. As I've grown older I can handle wheat in small dosages more often, so long as my diet stays mainly without it. And this isn't to say that everything GF is comparable. Nothing beats freshly baked muffins or a good old bagel, but c'est la vie.

I've grown to have a good support system of people who understand what I eat and why I eat it. I have friends who know when to drag me away from a bakery window as I drool over muffins, or who will ask if I can have something before serving it, or who aren't weirded out if I have to bring a substitution. I know a lot of people who are adapting the lifestyle now either as a way to try and eat more healthy or to aid in health problems and have started turning to me for questions.

Suddenly I've gone from the outcast who can't eat anything, to some guru on the topic.

So, this is a message to 7 year old me:

I know your bread tastes like cardboard now and people are jerks, but your day will come just you wait. Also the flavours get better.

And the greatest pretzels known to mankind are invented.

And God Said: Let there be Heaven in a Snack.

Just trust me on this one.

A/N: I intentionally did not mention Celiac's disease here as it does not apply to my personal situation. But if you do suspect you may have or could be developing an intolerance or allergy to gluten, please talk to your doctor about the possibility of Celiac's. I am no expert on the topic either, I just encourage the acceptance of the dark GF side.
Image from: http://justvittles.com/favorites/food/products/snacks/glutino-gf-pretzels/