Health- drained
Well, it is one week until July 4th... and you know what that means... cook-outs with hamburgers, hotdogs, chicken, ribs, steak, salads, corn on the cob, watermelon and all the other goodies enjoyed on Summer Holidays.
For those with Gastroparesis and other Digestive Tract Paralysis conditions it means something else entirely... it means isolation and depression.
While we love being with friends and family, being at gatherings that are centered around food often is torture. We smell the smells of the grill and watch others eat the foods we would give anything to be able to eat again. While others are complaining jokingly about getting sauce or watermelon juice on their shirts we are either quietly apart or sitting there with a grin plastered to our faces as we sip at a drink and act like it is not bothering us.
I could ask friends and family to do a "DTP" (Digestive Tract Paralysis) friendly gathering, where the choices are limited to smoothies and easily digestible foods (nothing raw, nothing with skin, no fiber, no fat... basically everything can be cut with a fork) it would be unfair to them... but when is it fair for us?
I doubt seriously that people would pass up a BBQ elsewhere just to sip smoothies and eat softened often bland foods with me, so I will try to find something that I can eat at gatherings... and often pay majorly for trying to "'fit in".
Holidays are often this way... we love our families and want to be part of the action... but holidays almost always revolve around food of some sort so we know going in that it will be hard on us emotionally to attend but it would be even harder to stay home knowing that your friends and family are together and you are missing it.
Add to this that many gatherings are 'pot luck' so you make a dish you love but can't eat and take it with you to watch others eat it.
A compromise would be great... if at a BBQ there were all the traditional foods and maybe a 'make your own smoothie station' with different fruits, yogurts, milks (regular, skim, almond, etc) instant coffee, chocolate and ice were available so guests could make smoothies. I have a feeling that a lot of people there would love to make a smoothie on a hot day to sip and you never know if one of your guests has a condition (like Gastroparesis) where having such a thing would take the sting out of the day and make them feel involved and included.
On the home front, it was a major struggle to get the 'oomph' up to pull out the old laptop today... this social experiment is harder than I thought but as long as people are willing to be bored out of their skulls reading this blog I will keep writing it. :~)
Oh, the Awareness video is done and can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmQwvJ2EkHo
(Sapling-gate is still ongoing, those little tree hostages are keeping the faith and hopefully one day soon they will be liberated to the soil)
I hear you. I understand. Last time I went to a holiday party with friends I didn't bring anything because they said they'd cook for me. They'd had a copy of my list of what I can eat from months before. Must've forgot it. She decided I needed "healthy food" . There wasn't a thing I could eat. Because of the promises I felt so alone & hurt. I've gotten to the point where being around people eating stuff I can't doesn't (usually) bother me, but that works a lot better if I know it will be that way from the get go & can bring something of mine.
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