Today, food allergies are becoming more and more common, affecting one in four Americans. Celiac Disease is an autoimmune deficiency that affects around one in one hundred and thirty-three people. People with Celiac cannot have wheat, oats, rye, or barley. Having Celiac is more than just an allergy; it is much more severe. With regular allergies, usually you just have a short term reaction. With Celiac, you have a long term reaction that takes a long time to recover from. We do not absorb the proteins found in foods containing those four grains and eating them causes our bodies to attack our small intestine. Going undiagnosed can cause serious health problems including being malnourished. The symptoms vary, but usually they have to do with your stomach.

People are not aware of all of the different kinds of food allergies and their severity. Some are as so severe that they can cause death if people are not careful. The fact that people just don’t know, nor do they realize, the damage and dangers of not being careful is what makes it all so scary. The reactions to allergies are case by case, but people need to be aware and ready for the worst. Celiacs reactions are long lasting. That is one of the main differences between Celiac, and a regular food allergy. Where normal food allergies usually give you a short term reaction, Celiac’s have a longer lasting effect. The more often you eat gluten, the more damage we do to our bodies.

People need to know and learn about what it is like to deal with limitations, and the consequences we face everyday when we don’t follow our guidelines and limits. One of the hardest things to deal with for people with food allergies is going out to eat with friends and family. Restaurants are not aware of all the different kinds of food allergies. Many times, you have to call them or look online to see if they can accommodate you. Often they say they can, but other times, they have never even heard of your allergy. There have been occasions where we have called places up and asked if they had gluten-free and they respond, “gluten what? I have no idea what you are talking about.” It is discouraging to hear things like that. Despite this unawareness many times it just takes going in and meeting with the chef and educating them on what the allergy is. Thanks to the education of the Gluten Intolerance Group, Garlic Jims now makes gluten free pizzas that are fabulous! If more people would only open up about their allergies and intolerances, maybe more and more places would be sensitive to it. Someday, people with Celiac and Gluten Intolerances along with others suffering from food allergies might be able to go to any restaurant and be able to eat without worrying about it.

Having food allergies in today’s society is not as bad as it used to be, but we still have a long way to go before they will seem like a normal everyday thing. It would be a dream come true if someday, people like me could go to any place they wanted and know that their needs could be met. The day that happens will be the day many of our dreams come true.