Why I Eat Gluten At My Parents House
Every time I visit my parents house I eat gluten.. but not necessarily by choice!
I am very.. consistent.. when it comes to eating out with food sensitivities. I plan the event in advance, read menus, and ask an absurd amount of questions to make sure that I am not getting hit with any of my laundry-list of food sensitivities.
This, unfortunately, does not translate well when I am visiting my parents...
It's likely a mixture between the comfort of being home and the assumption that my parents always have my back (since they always have since day one, right!?). Also, I really don't want to inconvenience my parents. They do so much already!
But, I always end up eating something that I shouldn't (typically a beer-marinated piece of meat.. thanks dad!), and end up dealing with the unfortunate side effects for the remainder of the visit - headaches, GI distress, and a return of the dreaded geographic tongue.
[Geographic Tongue: I always had a geographic tongue which unexpectedly cleared up when removing food sensitivities from my diet. This was an added bonus considering none of the doctors or dentists I had knew why my tongue looked like a hot mess.. here is a picture of a "flare up" for me.. It's not very attractive and I typically would refrain from sticking my tongue out in any pictures for obvious reasons (beyond the lack of classiness.) Bare in mind sharing this picture makes me cringe, but it is in the name of education!]
My parents are trying, though, and that's what is really important. On my trip to visit them this weekend, my dad labeled certain containers "N/A" which apparently meant "Not Approved" and not the typical "Not Applicable". Unfortunately, I didn't ask what "N/A" stood for prior to digging into the beer & soy sauce-marinated pork tenderloins..
The lesson here is to always ask questions, even when you are around people who you expect would have your back in these circumstances. You never truly know what is in your food unless you cook it yourself. So always ask questions and don't eat anything until you are 100% sure it is good to go!
