brown bag lunch: a gluten free necessity

I work VERY hard to keep a totally 100% gluten free diet.  (It's funny that I just used to word "diet".  My grandma drives me NUTS when she calls my "gluten free lifestyle" a "diet".  LOL.  none the less.)  I have the privilege (/ curse) of having lunch provided at work on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Which seems awesome but truly it blows...

I know I sound like a control freak (and a jerk) BUT it's really important for me to know ahead of time what's on the menu so I know if I need to pack my own lunch or not.  Sounds easy enough.  However, sometimes even if I think I can eat with the group I still get sick.

All the time I find myself saying things like, "No, I can't eat that.  It's ok.", "Don't worry about me.  I'll bring my own lunch.", "No, thank you.  I don't want any cake."  It's like people feel compelled to offer you food.  I don't want your food.  And I find myself constantly fielding, "Well, can't you eat that?!", "Well, why can't you just pick off the croutons?" and "Would you like some?"  I know people think it's polite, but it also drives me nuts.

It is certainly NOT like I asked for this.

This is the best way I can express how being (not just eating) gluten free makes me feel sometimes:  http://glutendude.com/celiac-rant/dear-world-here-is-why-i-eat-gluten-free/

  "Dear Friends, Family, and acquaintances:

• I am not eating gluten free as part of a fad, or because the latest celebrity has decided to jump on the G-free bandwagon.
• I am not eating gluten free to annoy you, inconvenience you or to make things difficult when we go out to eat.
• I am not eating gluten free to be the center of attention or to put a damper on your party.
• I am not eating gluten free to pay outrageous prices for a single cookie, cupcake, or a tiny little pizza.
• I am not eating gluten free to pay a lot more for a little bag of gluten free flour.
• I am not eating gluten free to worry about what I can eat when I go out to eat.
• I am not eating gluten free because I love to analyze every ingredient on every item I pick up to purchase.

• I am eating gluten free because that little protein that you cannot see in your muffin, cookie, cake, pie, beer, pizza, soup, and yes, even your soy sauce makes me ill.
• I am eating gluten free because that little protein hurts my stomach, my joints, my muscles and yes, even my brain.
• I am eating gluten free because I have a disease.

Any questions?"

I say all time that I'm going to just bring my own lunch.  It sounds easy and it probably is but I can manage to make it hard somehow.  It is especially hard when a room full of people don't understand why you need a special salad.  Or they think you don't want to have what they're having.  (Like I'm too good to eat the lunch provided.  Yup, I'm too good all right.  LOL.  At least I can laugh about it.)  

Well.  Today, I put my big girl pants on and I bought my own lunch from home.  YAH!  I've been doing research (on Pinterest, of course!) and settled on the idea of making my own "Bento Box" style lunch.  (See, I make it hard.  Instead of just packing a simple lunch; I had to do research first.)  

{slaps own forehead}  

Yes, I ate ALL of that and it was spectacular.  It was good; I'm going to make another one for tomorrow's lunch.  :)

Do you have any tips, tricks, suggestions, or go to's for packing a healthy, gluten free lunch to take to work?  

to share or not to share...

so i've mentioned my gluten free difficulties at work before... which i am VERY happy to report have been resolved when i changed jobs in mid february.  now i'm a receptionist at the allergy and asthma center (a.k.a. dr. walker's office) in springfield.  where we have a designated lunch time and eating outside of that time is discouraged.  no more constant snacking, yah!!  i lost like 5 pounds in the first 2 weeks of working there.

however, i have a new gluten free work dilemma... i take A LOT of phone calls from people wondering if they have celiac disease.  my dilemma is that although i have a TON of personal experience on the subject of trying to go gluten free; i'm no medical expert on the subject (and i'm self diagnosed.)  frankly, beyond diagnosis... no one else in the office seems to be a celiac expert either...  you are diagnosed, sent back to your pcp, who is supposed to send you to a nutritionist, end of story.

just this past week i spoke to a parent looking for testing for their child because of headaches.  they explained at length that they had tried everything and as a last resort they were coming to us for help.  i asked very casually if they had thought about eliminating wheat.  the parent admitted considering that as a possibility but not trying it yet.  i told them in my experience ditching wheat was the trick.  they seemed more open to the possibility and excited to hear that i had success with out wheat.

i was overwhelmed with a feeling of pride (i guess) that i might have helped someone with my words of encouragement and experience.  but then all i could think was:  yikes!  am i going to get in trouble if someone in the office finds out i'm passing out advice to patients??  i instantly decided to be more careful with my personal information sharing.  not in an embarrassed way, but in a "the receptionist does not have a medical degree" kind of way...  

however, i can't help but be compelled to at least offer a kind word, or a "hey, this website, or store has great gluten free stuff," to someone really looking for the answer to why they have pain, headaches, or "tummy trouble".  it sucks to feel crappy; i know that first hand.  like this parent said about their child, they're 16, they don't need to have headaches like this.  it sucks to be looking for answers and come up short, too.  

another patient said their spouse was just diagnosed after an endoscopy... only after their doctor told them they were bloated because they were swallowing too much air!!!!  after hearing that story i sat at my desk shaking my head, and thinking about how far celiac awareness has come in the past few years but also about how far it clearly still needs to go.

so, careful sharing from now on i guess... honestly, no one has made a peep at my current job about my sharing; where i make a point of not hiding my gluten free status.  i think these are carry over feelings from the last job where i felt as if i wasn't capable of doing anything right, especially answer the phone.


oh well.  have a happy gluten free day!  :)