I’m sure you have experienced it. You’re sitting down for a nice meal with a friend in a restaurant. You’re server asks for your drink order, and it happens. Your friend asks for a list of gluten-free options. Ugh.

I’ve seen that look a hundred times. It’s the look of annoyance, but tolerance. They want to ask if I’m just pompous or if I have a real problem. I’ve even heard, “Oh, you’re still doing that?”

“Yes, Susan. I’m still doing that.”

It’s something about the four days of nerve pain that happens when just the tiniest bit of gluten somehow makes it in my food (Thank you, Carl’s Jr. for putting soy sauce powder in your corn chips). I can’t tell you why my body reacts the way that it does. It has never made sense to me, either. It took years of trying to find causes for my symptoms. I had nerve pain, rashes, anxiety, lack of energy… and my hair even fell out (well, not all of it). All I know is that when I stopped eating gluten, those things went away. I eat gluten, and they come back. It kind of makes that warm, amazing, soft, decadent glazed donut seem a lot less appealing.

No, I don’t want to be tested for celiac. It doesn’t matter. If I find out I don’t have it, I will stay away from gluten anyway. It doesn’t change my outcome.

So, every time I travel, eat out, or visit a friend or relative’s house, my stress is not about money or hotels or drama (okay – sometimes drama). My stress is about eating. It’s about getting ‘the look’. It’s about explaining every time I ask for a special menu or ingredients. It’s about how ridiculous I feel asking “What’s in this?” before I scoop up what looks like potato salad on to my plate. I honestly get so tired of dragging a loaf of gluten-free bread with me just so that I have SOMETHING to eat if I can’t find anything else. I wish things could just be easy!

That’s why you’ll see so many gluten-free options at The Atom. While we are not a certified gluten-free kitchen, we are very conscious of the gluten in our cooking environment. All of our potato options are gluten-free. Our oven (we bake instead of fry) rarely sees anything with gluten in it. We have gluten-free breads, waffles, and flat-bread (made by our local Inspiration Mixes). We use corn tortillas for our tacos. Basically, I created a menu that would allow me to eat – and I do… pain free.

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