Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrggggghhhh!

[I'dratherbecycling]

I just walked into the lunch room and nuked my gluten-free df tuna noodle casserole (disappointingly bland). Somebody asked me what was in it, so I told her it was gluten-free pasta. She responded by saying her aunt just got diagnosed with celiac, and a general discussion was started about it. People asked questions, I explained.

At the end of the conversation one of the women in the room turned to me, and in all seriousness stated "Why can't I get that? Then I could be skinny like you!"

The things people say before they think! I had just explained how dangerous it can be not to get ALL the gluten out of my diet and how difficult and frustrating it is to try to do.

I'm sure other folks have heard similarly ridiculous comments - please feel free to share. It's such a relief to tell people who "get it" about such things. Somehow writing it here makes it easier for me to see the humor in such comments!

[LonelyWolf307]

My god, someone would actually rather be skinny with a completely f*cked small intestine than be overweight with a perfectly healthy body?!?! I have one thing to say to that...

#$*(@&#$*(^$)(!@&*$*()&!^@*&^%#^@&*(^$@!!!!!!

Good lord people are morons...

[rinne]

#$*(@&#$*(^$)(!@&*$*()&!^@*&^%#^@&*(^$@!!!!!!

Someone told me they could use a "touch of what I have" so they could look so good. I think what I find most frustrating about that kind of statement is that it is clear they really don't get that I am sick. I am in pain, I don't want to be invited to a dinner I can't eat and I don't want ten minute descriptions of a pasta dish from a a restaurant I ate at once. I ate there only once because the kitchen had only one cheap trick - grease, yes tasty grease, butter and heavy cream but it was all too much and this was way before I was gluten and dairy free.

There, thank you, I have been wanting to do that.

Oh yes, and this same friend is telling me about her gastro-intestinal issues and could lose fifty pounds if she wanted to.

I guess I wasn't quite done, actually I am thinking I had better stop before I really get started.

[sspitzer5]

I just walked into the lunch room and nuked my gluten-free df tuna noodle casserole (disappointingly bland). Somebody asked me what was in it, so I told her it was gluten-free pasta. She responded by saying her aunt just got diagnosed with celiac, and a general discussion was started about it. People asked questions, I explained.

At the end of the conversation one of the women in the room turned to me, and in all seriousness stated "Why can't I get that? Then I could be skinny like you!"

The things people say before they think! I had just explained how dangerous it can be not to get ALL the gluten out of my diet and how difficult and frustrating it is to try to do.

I'm sure other folks have heard similarly ridiculous comments - please feel free to share. It's such a relief to tell people who "get it" about such things. Somehow writing it here makes it easier for me to see the humor in such comments!

I've had many people say the same thing to me about weight, "oh, no wonder you're so skinny". They say I'm so disiplined and that they could never eat like I do. Then I explain (again) that it isn't a choice and that I get really sick from eating gluten. They act like it's just a choice, like being a vegetarian. And, they act like my not being overweight is just because of the gluten problem, as if I can eat anything I want without gaining weigt. For me, that's not the case, I can easily gain weight. I have to watch what my fat, sugar and carbs just like everyone else to stay in shape. Grrrr. It irritates me.

[jkmunchkin]

Yeah I think I get that comment atleast once a week.

One of these days I'm not going to be able to stop myself from responded, "oh yeah, it's and absolute joy having to wonder if I can chew a piece of gum and not being able to grab a quick sandwich when I'm doing errands and I'm starving. I love being afraid that everytime I eat something I may be violently ill for days and erode away my small intestine. Wanna trade?"

[Guest ~jules~]

Yep I have had those comments. I had a friend tell me I needed a little blush, cuz I looked like a corpse, before remembering how sick I was. Also back when they thought it was a parasite she asked me hey pass it on to me. I think its sad, and shallow that someone would want to be sick, just so they could be thin instead of getting off their butts and earning a nice body. Sorry, the comments like that really tick me off.

[Ashley]

I hate that comment more than any other. Sometimes, I would just love to say them, "Oh yes, I'm sure you would like be malnurished, in temendous pain from the antibodies attack your small Intestine, have your stomach pumped when every you come into a lot gluten, have your capillars burst so bad that it looks like you have the measles for a week, and lose nearly all convience in preparing meals."

[RunnerNYC]

Okay, I totally feel all of you. People say the stupidest things.

I hope you don't mind if I let out MY frustration.

I haven't been conclusively diagnosed with celiac, but since I've been improving with gluten-free for 3 weeks or so, my doctor thinks it's good to stick with it, even though I'm still having bad days.

So this type of thing has been happening a lot to me lately, but this incident happened TODAY: This morning I went for a jog through the streets (I usually feel best in the AM and have to take advantage of the time to run...btw, hoping to be well enough for Boston Marathon '07!). A group of women walked by and yelled, "Eat girl, eat!"

Boy, they really don't know the least of it. I really just wanted to swear back at them. It's a big enough thing for a runner to give up her pasta-let alone her running. Sigh...

[lonewolf]

I'm slightly overweight, not skinny, but still have the same symptoms, pain, etc. I'm one of those people who has always been slightly overweight, not obese, and can't seem to lose that last 20 pounds no matter how much I exercise, how sick I get or how little I eat.

I've heard an equally frustrating comment several times. It goes like this: "You can't eat wheat or milk or eggs or soy? Oh my gosh, if I couldn't eat those things I'd be SOOOO skinny!" Then they look at me with a kind of sheepish "Oops" look. I try to laugh it off and say that when I first found out about my food restrictions I did lose a lot of weight (and was almost anorexic), but that it came back on as soon as I discovered what I could eat.

Don't you know that skinny = healthy in most people's mind?

[jknnej]

That reminds me of the time Mariah Carey, no joke, on the radio, said she would love to be skinny like the Ethiopians, just without all the flies and disease and gross stuff.

[StrongerToday]

My "Grrr....." award goes to a very overweight co-worker. Since going gluten-free I have lost over 50 lbs, and whenever she sees me she says "oh, if only I could have that, then I'd loose weight like you". Of course she says this as she eats a sausage egg mcmuffin AND *two* bags of Lays chips for breakfast. Hmmm... maybe there's something to be said for watching what you eat wether it's gluten-free or not???

[CarlaB]

Once I was at the dentist office with my kids and was wearing my work-out clothes. I was scheduling an appt. for myself, so asked about their toothpaste to see if it was okay. They had lots of questions, which I don't mind at all, people are curious. Then they said, "So, what do you eat?" because they were thinking about how I couldn't eat anything they normally ate. I said, "Meat, chicken, fish, eggs, fruit, vegetables, potato and rice."

Then a few minutes later, I kid you not, one of them asked, "So, how do you stay so skinny?" Uh, I workout, I eat healthy, I have a disease where I don't absorb my food!

Someone who is overweight in our choir said last Sunday she wished she had what I did so she'd be thinner. I just answer that kind of comment with, "Trust me on this, you really don't."

To end on a positive note, I went into Caribou Coffee and a lady was in there selling jewelry near where you put cream in your coffee. I was making my Vance's Dari-Free cream and was talking with her about the jewelry. The conversation came up about my cream, and I told her I couldn't eat gluten or dairy. She said that she had a neighbor who was celiac and was thin and healthy looking like me (I do look a lot healthier even if I still feel like garbage), that it must be a result of being forced to eat right! She then suggested that if we look this way eating how we do, perhaps everyone should.

[Marlene]

I just walked into the lunch room and nuked my gluten-free df tuna noodle casserole (disappointingly bland). Somebody asked me what was in it, so I told her it was gluten-free pasta. She responded by saying her aunt just got diagnosed with celiac, and a general discussion was started about it. People asked questions, I explained.

At the end of the conversation one of the women in the room turned to me, and in all seriousness stated "Why can't I get that? Then I could be skinny like you!"

The things people say before they think! I had just explained how dangerous it can be not to get ALL the gluten out of my diet and how difficult and frustrating it is to try to do.

I'm sure other folks have heard similarly ridiculous comments - please feel free to share. It's such a relief to tell people who "get it" about such things. Somehow writing it here makes it easier for me to see the humor in such comments!

We went to a BBQ recently where an aquaintance announced that he was on the gluten free diet because he wanted to lose weight too!! I've lost about 25 pounds in the last 4 months. Then he proceeded to eat hamburgers complete with buns, salads of all kinds, and desserts. I wanted to get up and stuff his plate down his throat. The other comment that really gets to me is if people ask me "But have you been diagnosed by a doctor?" I even have a friend who has Celiac who doubts that I have it because my blood test came back negative, even though our symptoms are basically identical. How do you like that?? Marlene

[Queen Serenity]

Hi all!

Are these people kidding!!!!!!!! How could anyone be so stupid! They actually want something that causes pain and extreme exhaustion. The insanity of it all!!!!!! Maybe for every person who feels this way, they should be given a tapeworm for instance weight loss!!!! It may give them a little insight about how we feel!

Vicki

11 years and counting

[up-late]

I had women jokingly say to me "whatever you've got give it to me", like it was a virus you get over, it stunned me too. I told them as long as they took it off me they could have it.

I had other people that thought I was anorexic and would talk about me behind my back, I could see them whispering and looking my way and someone actually came out and said they were woried about my dieting, pft, dieting. The weight loss industry/celebrity obsessive skinny tabloid thing has got them well and trully brainwashed so they associate weight with vanity. What made it worse was I didn't know why I was sick so it made the whole thing that much more upsetting.

I've since put on a stack of weight that won't budge but it doesn't matter how many times I try to squeeze into my clothes I never want to be in that much pain again, it was worse than childbirth.

[Lollie]

I can so relate! I have had people accuse me of anerexia because I am afraid to eat out or at social functions where I don't know if the food is safe....I hate not being able to eat my own kids birthday cake, and have all the mom's whispering under their breath that's how I stay thin....I just don't eat! And one more thing, if I had a dollar for everytime some idiot said to me, I wish I had what you have, I would have no debt!

Lollie

[esthesio-vivi]

To end on a positive note, I went into Caribou Coffee and a lady was in there selling jewelry near where you put cream in your coffee. I was making my Vance's Dari-Free cream and was talking with her about the jewelry. The conversation came up about my cream, and I told her I couldn't eat gluten or dairy. She said that she had a neighbor who was celiac and was thin and healthy looking like me (I do look a lot healthier even if I still feel like garbage), that it must be a result of being forced to eat right! She then suggested that if we look this way eating how we do, perhaps everyone should.

It's great that someone who wasn't even familiar with celiac could look at it that way. About a month ago my family was sitting in Outback and my mother was bemoaning all of our dietary restrictions, as we all have rediculous allergies... and none of them the same. You should see what it's like trying to make dinner for us. I just said to her "it may not be convenient, or fun, but it makes it so we don't have live like everyone else." not to sound elitist, but so many people who don't even have celiac are destroying their bodies with unhealthy foods, and living worse off day-to-day because of it. You don't even need to have Celiac disease to be miserable because of food.... of course none are as treacherous.

Without celiac I would never have gained this awareness, I would never have even thought twice about what I eat. For the first time in my life I am feeling "right"! I feel like I could conquer the world just because I'm unhindered by food issues (except maybe I think about it a little too much now). I'm aware of what they do to me, and living without is worth it just so I can really LIVE. I never imagined that I would recover, it's quite unbelievable.

Sorry for the irrelevant tangent, didn't mean to spoil the stupid people comments thread. I guess I need to start a thread about reasons to be thankful for Celiac's disease

[eKatherine]

We went to a BBQ recently where an aquaintance announced that he was on the gluten free diet because he wanted to lose weight too!! I've lost about 25 pounds in the last 4 months. Then he proceeded to eat hamburgers complete with buns, salads of all kinds, and desserts. I wanted to get up and stuff his plate down his throat.

Those things weren't made with wheat flour, they were made with white.

[penguin]

My god, someone would actually rather be skinny with a completely f*cked small intestine than be overweight with a perfectly healthy body?!?! I have one thing to say to that...

#$*(@&#$*(^$)(!@&*$*()&!^@*&^%#^@&*(^$@!!!!!!

Good lord people are morons...

I understand the plight of all of you that are really skinny because of celiac, but it's not any better to make fun of overweight people. It is, of course, also possible to have a f*cked up small intestine and be overweight. So it's just as hard being overweight and having this without the vain benefits.

I *do* wish that I was skinny with a completely screwed small intestine, because if you're overweight with all the same problems, you feel a bit cheated. I mean, seriously, if I have to be this sick and still malnourished, couldn't I at least lose some weight in the process? Gaining 5 lbs a week instead of losing it when you're sick isn't fun either.

I'm slightly overweight, not skinny, but still have the same symptoms, pain, etc. I'm one of those people who has always been slightly overweight, not obese, and can't seem to lose that last 20 pounds no matter how much I exercise, how sick I get or how little I eat.

I've heard an equally frustrating comment several times. It goes like this: "You can't eat wheat or milk or eggs or soy? Oh my gosh, if I couldn't eat those things I'd be SOOOO skinny!" Then they look at me with a kind of sheepish "Oops" look.

I get that too, and especially got it when I was first diagnosed. It's almost as bad as being asked if you're pregnant and you're not.

Those things weren't made with wheat flour, they were made with white.

That bugs me more than anything....what is "white" made out of anyway in the minds of these people

Oh, another annoying moment: I was at the salon yesterday (aveda) and the chicky was getting frustrated that all the styling products they had had gluten of some kind in them. As I was reading the labels, the lady in the chair next to me said, "oh, that must be awful!" Yes, lady, my biggest problem with this is finding product.

[I'dratherbecycling]

I *do* wish that I was skinny with a completely screwed small intestine, because if you're overweight with all the same problems, you feel a bit cheated. I mean, seriously, if I have to be this sick and still malnourished, couldn't I at least lose some weight in the process? Gaining 5 lbs a week instead of losing it when you're sick isn't fun either.

I can totally see that. I guess I feel cheated, too, just in sort of the opposite way. I am a cyclist and runner and I have also always been extremely careful about what I eat, so I've always been slender - since long before I got sick. And celiac (pre-diagnosis) actually made me gain wait, and going gluten-free has helped me get back where I was before. So when people tell me they want what I've got so they can be skinny, it irks me because I feel robbed of any credit for all the hard work I do to stay fit - as if the 25 miles a day on the bike and foregoing the Foods By George (amazing) brownies don't count for me!

[jennyj]

My freind always tells me she wants "to do" my diet because if she could lose 35 pounds she would just love it. She says this as we look at the Schwan's catalog and I am looking up gluten free ingredients on the website. Her "Oh my God I just love their stuffed tortilini, and their garlic bread is to die for(yeah I might if I eat it). Oh my gosh just look at the lasagna. Oh, I'm sorry Jenny, it all looks just so good I can't help myself." AARRGGHH.

[CarlaB]

I understand the plight of all of you that are really skinny because of celiac, but it's not any better to make fun of overweight people. It is, of course, also possible to have a f*cked up small intestine and be overweight. So it's just as hard being overweight and having this without the vain benefits.

I *do* wish that I was skinny with a completely screwed small intestine, because if you're overweight with all the same problems, you feel a bit cheated. I mean, seriously, if I have to be this sick and still malnourished, couldn't I at least lose some weight in the process? Gaining 5 lbs a week instead of losing it when you're sick isn't fun either.

That would tick me off, too. With society's fascination with skinnyness, at least the rude comments lots of times come from envy ... at least in most of our cases, I know some here have real problems with being much thinner than I am.

I've been on both ends of the spectrum. Once, I was somewhat overweight and dieted to lose 20 pounds. Now, I work hard to keep the weight on. Funny thing is, someone here mentioned working out and eating right, yet the disease gets the credit -- I lost those 20 pounds and kept them off for years!! It's hard work. Now, I'm finding it equally hard to keep the weight on. I was doing really well for months and all of a sudden, I drop 5 pounds in two weeks.

[eKatherine]

That would tick me off, too. With society's fascination with skinnyness, at least the rude comments lots of times come from envy ... at least in most of our cases, I know some here have real problems with being much thinner than I am.

I've been on both ends of the spectrum. Once, I was somewhat overweight and dieted to lose 20 pounds. Now, I work hard to keep the weight on. Funny thing is, someone here mentioned working out and eating right, yet the disease gets the credit -- I lost those 20 pounds and kept them off for years!! It's hard work. Now, I'm finding it equally hard to keep the weight on. I was doing really well for months and all of a sudden, I drop 5 pounds in two weeks.

I think it's a sad commentary on society that we value slenderness so much that people envy the seriously ill who are wasting away and risk death through anorexia.

[Guhlia]

I get that too, and especially got it when I was first diagnosed. It's almost as bad as being asked if you're pregnant and you're not.

Argh, Chelsea... I get that ALL the time, people asking me if I'm pregnant (I'm not). That has to be one of the worst insults. I just look them dead in the eye and say "nope, I just got fat." Then I give them a withering smile and walk away. Hopefully that keeps them from every embaressing anyone else like that. Ugh.

[CarlaB]

I think it's a sad commentary on society that we value slenderness so much that people envy the seriously ill who are wasting away and risk death through anorexia.

Me, too. It always irritates me when I see these skinny stars on the front of magazines encouraging the general public to look like us ... people who are ill!!