Ah...how to deal with this??

[shadowkat]

As many of you know - if you've read my lj for the last five or six months, I am gluten-sensitive. This means I cannot eat anything with gluten in it. Gluten = wheat, barely, oats, kamut, spelt, and millet. Also be careful of buckwheat (cross-contamination), oats is controversial.

Here's the problem...I'm considering doing a couple of things that involve lots of activities around food and with people who love to eat foods high in glutens: BBQ sauce, pancakes, pizza, cakes, cookies, brownies, most creative chocolates/candybars, pies, bread, sandwiches, bagels, muffins, smores, beer, some wines (not all, most are fine - particularly California wines are fine), crackers...and some ice creams. Both trips will be in environments where my choices are going to be limited. They group decides. Money is a factor. And one takes place at a conference in a Holiday Inn.

I don't know what to do? Do I bring food with me? I don't want to be an inconvenience or put people out. This has been my fear from the beginning. I *hate* being a bother or a pest. I *hate* being noticed. I'm the sort who goes along with what the group wants to eat - yay democracy. This diet makes that impossible. I will get sick.

Help???

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

There may be some health food stores & even restaurants in the area where you can get gluten-free prepared food. There's a thread on various activities & amenities (http://community.livejournal.com/atpobtvsats/46522.html) in & around Tahoe in the ATPo community's LJ; you can ask about restaurants/food stores if the info isn't there already. And there are online gluten-sensitive community or discussion groups, aren't there? Someone in 1 of those might be able to tell you what's available nearby. But it's probably a good idea to bring some foods for yourself too, esp. since the cabins have kitchens.

As for your conference, there's usually someone working either for the group having the conf. or for the hotel whose actual job it is to answer questions like yours & help you make the arrangements you need. Some conf. registration forms even have a space to fill in for dietary considerations. If you inform the hotel/conf. people ahead of time, they'll probably be able to take care of your needs. They get paid to do it, so you're not being a nuisance to them. And you certainly won't be to your fellow ATPosters, who want you to be at the Gathering!

I'm surprised glutens are used in some chocolate bars. Checking the labels of some of my favorite brands, which I just happen to have right here @>), I don't see anything wheat- or gluten-related in the ingredient list of the G&B Maya Gold (only traces of nuts & dairy mentioned), & the Dagoba bars specifically say "gluten free." Unfortunately, the wheat-free cookies I mentioned way back in another thread in your LJ have oats in them.

"I'm the sort who goes along with what the group wants to eat - yay democracy. This diet makes that impossible. I will get sick."

Well, good democracies have procedures to prevent the "tyranny of the majority," & I'm all for that. The prevention part, I mean, not the tyranny. And we'll be much less bothered by your taking care of yourself than by your getting sick!

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Okay...let me try to explain about organic chocolats. It has to do with the fact that they are high in caffeine, higher than most hershey or regular chocolats. Why? Ah. They use more coco and less milk and other products. So I reacte to them. Many many good chocolats have glutens - lindt does. So do a lot of Belgian chocolats. It doesn't say it does - it's in one of the preservatives or fillings. I had a lindt truffle and felt like I swallowed a brick.

See like most gluten-sensitives, have more than one issue going on here. Acidic stomach, small stomach, sensitive to caffeine and highly addicted to it - I adore the smell of coffee for instance but cannot have it. At all. Can't have pseudophredrine either. For the same reasons. I get sick. But in small doses like hershey's chocolat? Or hot coco with steamed milk? It comforts me. In high doses. Bad.

I posted the same query on the NYC Celiac Society Meet-up Board that I am a member of. They are a little nutty over there - the suggestion was to bring along my own toaster. Okay. Ahem. No. Honestly, let's try to be reasonable, shall we? So yes, I posted this in more than one place - I go to about ten sources of information when I have a problem, not just one. Then take the bits and pieces of information that work, let go of the rest.

Regarding the last - comment, it's not about the tyranny of the majority. They aren't forcing me to come nor did they ask me to. I do not want to impose myself on anyone and I do not want anyone to feel guilty. That's wrong. That's why I posted this, to let them know my issues up front, to ask them how best to handle it.

What it is about is being considerate of others needs and desires and not forcing my own issues on to them. I don't want to inconvience or make anyone uncomfortable. It's their vacation too after all. Which they are paying for.

I don't like imposing on people. I like to be self-sufficient - I'm very like Buffy and Angel in this regard. It's a family trait. My entire family is the same way.

[(Anonymous)]

@>)

Ah--I didn't realize caffeine was also an issue. Assuming I can come to Tahoe, I'll be bringing a variety of chocolate bars, incl. some milk chocolate bars, which have a lower percentage of cocoa solids (52% & 37% on the ones I just checked). I hope those would be OK for you. One of them is made on equipment also used for products that contain wheat--are trace amounts a problem for you?

Gotta say I don't get the "toaster" suggestion from the meetup board at all. Besides, we're gonna have kitchens, & there are probably already toasters or toaster ovens there...are some people so sensitive to gluten they can't eat gluten-free bread toasted in the same toaster used for wheat bread? I was thinking someone in a less locally based group might live in or near Tahoe or go there often on vacation & know where in the Tahoe area you can find gluten-free products in stores or restaurants where the management/staff are aware of the gluten problem. Either way, the "gluten-free travel kit" sounds like a great idea, whether it's your main source of food or supplemental.

The "tyranny of the majority" bit was meant as a joke, off your "yay democracy" comment. It referred to the food-conformity issue, not whether anyone was forcing you to come. And by the way, at least some of us are asking you to come! I don't know of anyone who doesn't want you to be there. I don't think anyone thinks you'd be imposing yourself on the group, & I don't understand why you think any of us would feel guilty. If I can presume to speak for the group, we don't want to impose on you or for you to feel guilty. We want to be considerate of your needs. I think you overestimate how much this bothers other people, esp. your friends. And it doesn't seem to cut both ways for you--you're the one who suggested a couple of years ago that we have my birthday get-together at a vegetarian restaurant, even after I said I didn't want to restrict other people's choices!

Speaking of which, my own experience both as a vegetarian & as a religious Jew puts me in the position of having to ask for accommodations from others fairly often, like having a meet on Sunday instead of Saturday, or taking time to ask questions about ingredients at a restaurant. I'm not always comfortable about this myself, but I've found ATPo one of the most considerate groups I know when it comes to acceptance & accommodation of these limitations, even though in my case they're a matter of choice & not necessity.

As for being self-sufficient like Buffy & Angel, remember, both of them needed to learn to rely on others as well as on themselves. And Angel had some pretty severe dietary restrictions himself...but his friends never gave him a hard time about it.