Getting Family to Understand

                    I knew my trip home for the holidays would have challenges but not as bad as it was. I know Celiac's disease can be confusing and it is difficult to navigate at times even for me. I have had it almost two years and I am pretty comfortable with following the diet. It will never be easy but I have learned how to navigate restaurants, potlucks and traveling when having it. I know my father seems to think that Celiacs disease is a fad diet and not related to health at all. He said it was all my mothers fault. So nice of him to blame my dead mother for it. I really do not care who passed it on but I am thankful that I feel so much better now verses then. My father has this idea in his head that I can go eat a hamburger because it really could not have that much gluten in it anyways. That is really not true sadly. I really wish I could just eat a hamburger like I used to and be okay.

                    I know my dad made reservations for Chinese food for Christmas Eve like the family used to every year. I was really unsure how I was going to handle this because the only Chinese restaturants I had been to had a gluten free menu. I looked at the menu online and figured if I would see if they could modify the dish if possible. I went and sure enough the cashew chicken I wanted to eat had a white sauce but I asked if they could not use flour. The lady asked if corn starch was okay to use to thicken the sauce and I told her yes. So they made my cashew chicken thickened with corn starch and honestly could not tell the difference. Over all a very sucessful adventure with no reactions from eating the Chinese food. I have been trying my best to explain to my father that yes Celiac's is a disease and what it does affect such as the digestive tract.  He just does not seem to get it but I should not of been surprised. My mother was always the one who understood the health related issues.

Duchess checking out the neighboorhood from Grandma's house.