argh

[rm]

Among the basic facts of my life are:

- I have celiac disease
- I am very very busy

This means a few things:

- I have to consume about 3000 calories a day to maintain my weight
- Food that is safe for me to eat that is not made from scratch, in my own home, is limited
- the time I have to make food from scratch in my own home is almost non-existant

So when the freezer at Whole Foods that carries all the gluten-free food is being repaired, and instead of moving that gluten-free food somewhere else they stick it in the back of their storage freezer and are rude and uninformative to me about when it will be back, I get upset. Granted, I got up set in a really mellow, defeatest way, so there was no public humiliation for me or anyone else, but things like this are hard.

Yes, there are other alternatives, and yes I'm always careful to have extra food around. But finding good food I enjoy and is safe for me to eat is expensive, time consuming and often dissapointing. Today I had to stop myself frm crying tears of joy when I discovered that Smarties are both gluten- and mollusk-free (yes, it really says that -- I don't have a problem with mollusks, but I wanted to share). Anything that happens to make that process harder or more time-consuming is legitimately upsetting especially when I am dealt with as if it's a quasi-luxury choice a la eating only organic or raw.

I have an autoimmune disease that literally effects dozens of choices I make every single day (is this safe? is this a contamination risk? how much fat have I had (my body still can't digest it well since the severity of the onset -- it's getting better, but slowly)?) If I make the wrong choice my ability to work can be compromised for days. It causes strangers to judge me and me to have to choose betwen sharing TMI or having people not believe in my illness.

This is easy bullshit compared to what many of you deal with all the time, and I know that. That said, food is still a core, panicky thing and poor logic and poor customer service from one of the only place I can shop really screws my day.

So I'll try again tomorrow.

Comments

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

Any chance you can get to Trader Joe's? I know it's a trek for you, but, whole gf guide sheet to their products - easy peasy.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yup, I go there sometimes too, and I'll do that tomorrow if Whole Foods is a strike out again. A lot of the Trader Joe's products are made in facilities with wheat and I've had some fairly minor but annoying contamination problems with their stuff.

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

Ugh. What a pain.

Maybe my cat can go shopping for you.

[rm.livejournal.com]

AND SHE WILL PUT HER LITTLE WHEATY PAWS ON EVERYTHING!

[melebeth]

I'm sorry your day was so difficult. If you haven't resolved your whole foods problem by wednesday, and send me a list, I can shop for you at one of the NJ whole foods and bring food in with me Thursday. I don't think I'll be in the city before that, but if I am I'll let you know. I actually haven't been to whole foods in a while, so I could also use the chance to shop for myself.

Also, I am endlessly amused by a "mollusk-free" label. Not shellfish, but mollusk? That's just BIZARRE.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It lists shellfish and mollusk!

I will call around to the other Whole Foods (which have more limited selections in the GF department) in the city (at least we have three) and I can probably get it done. It's just so irksome that they were mean about it.

Like I did a ton of holliday shopping first that was painless, and then the supermarket was evil?

Anyway, thank you.

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

shellfish and mollusk matters to me! (good on them for differentiating.) isn't it CRAZY what's in stuff (or not)?

[winterknight.livejournal.com]

i am so sorry you're having these troubles. is there any chance you could find a cooking service in your area that could do meals for you? i know they can be pricey, but so is illness and missing work. i wish i lived closer, i'd come over and cook for you in your kitchen (which seems to be really what you need, because it's safer for you).

[fuyukodachi.livejournal.com]

I know it's a pain in the ass comparatively to get to, but you could try the two Whole Foods on the west side: Columbus Circle and 23rdish and 7th.

Fairway has a lot of GF food, but I usually buy unrefrigerated food there (because of my ridiculous travel times) so I don't know about their freezer selection.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Yeah tomorrow I'll go to Columbus circle -- they have about 60% of the things I eat. The 24th anf 7th one hardly has any and stores their baked stuff unsafely. It's annoying.

[crazycatlady.livejournal.com]

I went to the Whole Foods around the corner from my apartment and holy tofu cheesecake Batman, is it posh! Well, posh for Milwaukee where it's practically a city-wide past time to open beer bottles with your teeth and see exactly how many bratwursts and deep-fried cheese curds one can consume before death sets in.

I have to say though, since I started reading your journal I've noticed a lot more when things are gluten free and such. I don't really know what it is, but it's just interesting how much stuff is or isn't.

Hunger makes everyone cranky

[espidre.livejournal.com]

Hope you find some convenient food. It's just not right to get in between someone and their food.