So before I continue on about this post I have to honestly say, I know there’s far worse things than having to eat gluten-free.
In fact, when I was diagnosed with celiacs disease my nurse told me that celiacs is the best disease you could ask for…meaning if you had to choose a disease, celiacs would be the easiest one to deal with.
And I agreed and still do agree.
However what’s easier than Celiacs or being gluten-intolerant?
Not having celiacs or being gluten-intolerant.
Really, this post may sound like a venting session, but it’s meant more so to be a validation post on how the gluten-free lifestyle can be hard.
Here are my 3 Reasons Living a Gluten-free Lifestyle can be Annoyingly Hard..
1.Limitations
Living a gluten-free lifestyle can be hard because your mind is constantly living in food limitations.
Yes there are so many great gluten free options these days, but there are still plenty of items that aren’t gluten free, which makes food choices seem limiting.
Think of fast food , there’s a few fast food chains that have caught onto offering gluten-free food items, but not many.
So really, there are very few fast and convenient gluten-free options. Again, limiting the types of food for people with celiacs or gluten-intolerant.
The limitations can be hard.
2-Attention
There may be some people that like the attention that living gluten-free brings, but if you’re like me, you’d prefer to not drive all the attention that comes with living a gluten-free lifestyle.
For example, a group of close friends wants to go to dinner..they start discussing restaurants and the opinion always comes back to you because you’re the one that can’t eat gluten.
Your friends want you to help choose a place that is “gluten-friendly.” Of course this is very kind of your friends, but sometimes you feel like it could be nice to say “I don’t care where we eat.” And yet, you have to care.
And then when you get to the restaurant, you ask the waiter/waitress for a gluten-free menu … more attention, and then when the server brings your meal they always say “this is the gluten free entree”… more attention.
There’s no way around the attention, it’s not a terrible thing, but some days I think it’s the simplicity of things that is missed the most.
3-Fear of Food
Honestly, this is one point I’m working on myself.
There is definitely a different connection with food when you have celiacs or are gluten-intolerant.
There’s a fear of getting sick from all types of food.
Sure there comes a point where we all feel more confident with finding gluten-free food.
And yet, there are still times where gluten can be disguised in different food items which can result in many side effects if consumed. For many with celiacs and gluten-intolerance , we get very sick if we consume gluten.
So yes there seems to be now a new relationship with food.
Almost like a trust issue with food.
There’s somewhat of an anxiousness connected to food.
And food is something we have to have every day, throughout the day.
So yes if we don’t control that fear of food, it can quickly cause someone to be quite anxious.
And it’s no fun to live everyday worrying about what foods you can and can’t eat.
Yes it gets easier as you become more accustom to a gluten-free lifestyle.
However, it can be a constant battle to not gravitate to “fear” when it comes to eating foods.
All in all, living a gluten-free lifestyle is definitely something anyone can do.
A gluten-free lifestyle is not always easy, and yet, thankfully, things have improved in our day and age and there are many more gluten-free options than ever before.
Gluten-free living comes with many challenges, but I have learned a lot through my gluten-free journey, and I’m grateful that celiacs is a very treatable disease.
I would love to hear your experience with living a gluten-free lifestyle.
Please comment below.
xoxo,
Christy Lee