I am lucky to have a group of friends that is really careful about celiac and have known me for so long that they know almost as much as I do. Two of my friends even have celiac or gluten-sensitive family members! In this post I will tell you first, how to explain celiac to your friends, and second, a funny stories of how my friend used her knowledge of celiac to help me.
Telling your friends...
Although you can just tell strangers it is an allergy, telling your friends more about celiac will help you a lot. For example, they have know to not touch you or your things after eating wheat, and they can help you be on the lookout for cross-contamination. Also, having celiac is nothing to be ashamed of! Many people have dietary restrictions and nobody thinks less of them. It is also really helpful to let people know that you have celiac if you are going to their house or eating with them.
I think that the best way to tell them is to give them some basic information about celiac, cross-contamination, what things you cannot eat, etc. And give them some resources if they do want to learn more. This is the best way because if they really want to know how to help you, they can ask or look at the resources, and if they feel like they know enough without learning the names of proteins in wheat and the intricacies of the intestinal system, they don't have to!
The Story...
My six best friends and I were at one of their houses, and we were planning on going out to eat before going trick-or-treating. My friend started the restaurant hunt by researching all the restaurants we were thinking of going to and, even though I told her I could ask my mom to bring something, was determined to find a place all of us could enjoy. We ended up picking a Mexican restaurant.
When we were ordering, I was telling the waitress about celiac and I mentioned cross-contamination. I forgot to tell the waitress about grill surfaces and my friend jumped in and said, "and just so you know her food can't touch anything that has touched wheat. For example, if the wheat tortillas touched the grill, she cannot eat anything that touched that grill unless it is cleaned." I was so proud of her and I could tell she was proud herself!