There are not many questions that I hate to be asked. I am pretty much an open book, as you’ve probably noticed if you read my blog regularly. I can sit down with a complete stranger and talk about my childhood, my biggest insecurities, my most embarrassing moments, and my life goals and aspirations. After a colonoscopy last year, I took the high-resolution pictures I received of my colon and intestines and made them into a birthday card for my father-in-law. He loved it. See? No shame.
People can pretty much ask me anything and I’m willing to answer. There is one question, however, that makes me feel a little annoyed.
“Oh my gosh, you’re allergic to egg?? Isn’t is so hard for you to not eat omelets, cookies, cake, and creme brulee? I don’t think I could do it, I would never survive if I had food allergies.”
my face when I hear this for the thousandth time
Is it hard for you to not go swimming in shark-infested waters with raw meat strapped to your body?
Is it hard for you to not grab a knife and stab yourself in the neck with it?
Is it hard for you to not go skydiving without a parachute?
…No, it’s not hard for me to avoid something that will kill me.
I’m not trying to be a jerk, I get that people are fascinated and confused by food allergies, especially life threatening ones, but come on. Telling me that you “just couldn’t handle life if you were allergic to egg” is a little dramatic, and maybe even insensitive. I never give these people a hard time because I know they don’t mean to be rude or annoying, I’m just surprised sometimes by their lack of tact. I do often want to ask “do you have nothing in your life that is challenging, nothing that inhibits you in some way? Is your life easy, perfect, and always operating according to your plan? If yes, I feel sorry for you (and I don’t believe you).” I firmly believe that life’s struggles and hurdles build character, they make a person unique. My struggles are food allergies and minor medical issues, others have their own demons to deal with.
I enjoy it when people ask real questions about my multiple anaphylactic food allergies. When they ask what I eat, how I avoid the emergency room, and how long I’ve had them. I could talk all day about that stuff, it is a major part of my life. But I am getting just a wee bit tired of assuring people that “no, I don’t sometimes cave and eat a brownie because I just can’t stand it anymore.” To me? A brownie is a little magical treat that closes my airways, shuts down my organs, and earns me a trip to the hospital and several thousand dollars in medical bills.
So no, it’s not hard to avoid food that my body knows is harmful. It is only frustrating when one of my allergens is hiding in a food that is unexpected (like the egg in my martini that one time), but it is never hard to avoid something that is my kryptonite.
The Other Courtney 
Interesting… but how do they even find out about your food allergies?
When people offer me baked goods or something ill usually just say “no thank you” but then they become insistent so I tell them I can’t because I’m allergic. Then it just spins off from there haha! It comes up a lot at the restaurant I work at too, coworkers and guests asking me to try a new dish or what I think about a certain dish. It prompted a post I wrote awhile ago called “the decision to lie”….basically it’s easier for me to just lie and say “oh yes I love the creme brûlée it’s my favorite!”
https://theothercourtney.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/the-decision-to-lie/ 🙂
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oh how i feel you on this. people LOVE to point out how hard something is to keep you when it’s different from their personal diet/habit/routine and specifically healthy. i’m a gluten-free clean eating vegan. i get “how can you not eat cheese/pepperoni/twizzlers” on a daily basis. clearly the quickest way to nip all that in the bud is to explain the medical side of it (which for me is the case), but yeah it’s very frustrating at times.
Oohhh yeah, a gluten-free vegan, I can only imagine the questions people ask you! I actually just started eating vegan and I’ve been gluten-free for the past 6 months! I’d love some tips on good snack foods if you have any!! I’m loving the fresh veggie eating but since I don’t eat tofu I’m a little worried about my protein levels. Do you take supplements?
And it’s funny, when people ask me “how do you NOT eat X food?”, sometimes I just want to say “how DO you eat it, have you read the ingredients on that junk? Can you even pronounce them?” But…to each his own! I let other people eat their food in peace so hopefully people will do the same to me haha.
in fact, i’ve done a lot of posts over the past six months on snacking, recipes, and just the general process of deciding to eat clean (+gluten free, +vegan). must say though, i sometimes do throw in an egg if i’m baking so it’s more like 85% vegan. i’m trying to find a balance between the three that works well for me. it’s trying at times, since the gluten free is medical and the clean eating part is since my body has trouble with sugar.
anyways, i’m sure we can relate well to eachother 🙂 i do not take supplements at this time, but i take a lot of vitamins and eat lots of produce. if you’re worried about protein, try beans and quinoa. i swear by the combination of those two!
all my health & food posts can be found here: http://leanerbythelake.com/category/food-health/
i did a specific post on my favorite snacks here: http://leanerbythelake.com/clean-eating-easy-snacks/
and breakfasts here: http://leanerbythelake.com/clean-eating-what-the-hell-do-i-eat-for-breakfast/
and YES, i absolutely try not to make a face when i see people toting McDonald’s bags into work at 8am. HOW DO THEY EAT THAT. lol
I feel your pain. Imagine those same questions when you don’t have allergies as an excuse, it is just personal preference. I am a selective (i.e. “picky) eater. I get sick of the same questions and looks of shock. “How can you not eat fish?” Um, because to me, it is revolting. (and many other foods.) Sometimes I am tempted to lie and say I don’t eat something because of an allergy. But I never have. Who knows? It could be true. But I am not going to find out.
Yeah…people just need to chill out on worrying about what everyone else is eating! 😀 I’m not going to lie there, there are certain foods that give me that same look of shock when people say they don’t eat them. Like ice cream. WHO doesn’t like ice cream!? There are so many different flavors/textures/brands to choose from so I get a little offended when someone just says “I don’t like ice cram.” Hahah…I may take it a little too personal. I love me some ice cream!
Other than that, I can totally see how people don’t like a lot of foods! We all have such different palates, I’m not sure why people think we should all enjoy the same things.
Is it hard for you to not go swimming in shark-infested waters with raw meat strapped to your body? I almost peed when I read that one!
Yes. Sometimes it is. Baby sharks tickle, and since normal forms of “tickling” don’t work on me, this is the only way to get my giggles out because it’s still illegal to own people, so I’ll never have a midget of my own to rub feathers all over me while I recklessly cover myself in chocolate syrup. (Thanks, Lincoln. Jerk.)
I don’t personally have any food allergies, but know a few people that do. I don’t understand how people can’t grasp the severity of some allergies! Some things can kill you. Some of those things happen to be magically delicious. But if I had to choose between living and yummy? I’d go without brownies forever. I’m kind of fond of breathing and watching my kids grow up…
Haha, exactly! There was only one time I chose yummy over living, but I was only 4 years old so that is to be expected. I didn’t quite understand what “deathly allergic to egg” meant, and I didn’t care. I grabbed a cookie and locked myself in the bathroom while my mom got ready to take me to the emergency room as soon as I was willing to unlock the door, haha! Poor mom.
And as far as your tickling fetish goes…you be careful with that 😉 haha
A client at work is allergic to cows milk. She can’t have anything with even a trace of cows milk in it, without getting severe health problems. For the record, I work in a nursing home. All staff are qualified nurses. A coworker once said to this lady: “Oh, it can’t be that bad, can it…”
I told her to get the h*ll out and reported her to my boss.
I can’t believe people think living with allergies is hard (or in the case above, think it’s overreacting). Like you said, if you know it will kill you, you just don’t do it. Simple!
Ugh, the gall of some people!! And I’m guessing the lady who said that has zero food allergies, hah! You’re right, it does go both ways. I have had people (some of those even being doctors) tell me that my allergies may be in my head, they probably aren’t real. I think the next time I visit the emergency room I’ll be sending those people my hospital bills!!
So nice of people (especially doctors) to tell you it’s in your head. Easy way of getting rid of people who they can’t deal with…