Here’s a little potpourri of thoughts rattling around in my head lately.

First — gluten-free food isn’t always expensive.

Gluten-free processed food is expensive.
There’s a difference.

Most of what I eat is naturally gluten free. Dinner last night was shelled edamame, cucumber, homemade air-fryer chicken nuggets, crispy rice, avocado, and a sauce made with sweet chili sauce, mayonnaise, gluten-free soy sauce, and a little water.

The only specialty items I bought were gluten-free panko, soy sauce, and sweet chili sauce. Everything else was naturally gluten free. The whole meal took under 30 minutes and probably cost less than $2.50 a serving.

Now — I also bought a gluten-free frozen pizza this week that cost three times more than a questionable gluten pizza. So yes, I buy processed gluten-free foods too. I just don’t build my entire diet around them.

Second — I cannot fix food insecurity, especially in the celiac community.

Food insecurity is real and awful. In Atlanta, about 1 in 5 school-aged children experience it. In a country as wealthy as ours, kids going to bed hungry should bother all of us.

I advocate, volunteer, donate, and when I meet with food organizations, I push hard for awareness of food allergies. I do my part. But I don’t live every part of my life online, and I don’t have to defend my entire existence because someone wants an argument in a comment section.

Third — disagreement is fine. Cruelty is not.

We don’t talk enough about what living gluten free actually looks like in a modern world. It’s complicated. It can be isolating. It can be exhausting. We should be able to discuss it.

But name-calling, belittling, or intentionally inflammatory comments won’t stay up. And discussions claiming glyphosate caused celiac or that celiac disease isn’t real will get you removed. I’m not hosting that debate here.

And finally…

Yes, celiac disease can suck.
But the treatment is still a gluten-free diet.

I can spend my life miserable about it, or I can adapt.

I can learn to cook the foods I miss. I can find gluten-free versions of almost anything I want. Is it exactly the same as before? No.

But the longer you live this way, the less you actually miss it — and sometimes we remember old foods a lot more fondly than they really were.

So that’s what’s been on my mind today.

Thanks for letting me process out loud.

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