A Poem For Those Who Doubt Being Gluten Free: Hear My Voice

By: Taylor Miller

The definition of diet: "To restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight."

Key words, "in order to lose weight".

When you hear the word diet, what comes to mind? 

Something that's meant to make your body look fine? 

Magazines filled with all sort of lines, 

About the next new diet to make you a "hot looking dime". 

Never a line about what we deal with on a basis. 

Never about disease, only about what our weight is. 

Can you say they're to blame? They just promote what pays bills. 

I mean it's only our lives, what we live with against our wills. 

I didn't choose this disease, this disease chose me. 

So why is it hard to see that I didn't choose gluten-free? 

What I live with is a lifestyle, not a diet by choice. 

I've been dealing with this for a while, so please hear my voice. 

When I ask for a gluten-free menu, I'm not being stuck up or needy. 

I'd just like something besides salad, please, maybe something that's meaty. 

But even then, though, I don't know if I am truly safe. 

There could be carelessness, cross contamination, or even gluten in the grill base. 

That comment right there is what gives me annoyed stares. 

Again, I didn't choose to eat this way, so please don't give me those glares. 

You see, we always have to be conscious of what we eat when we go out. 

We always have to care despite all the doubt. 

The doubt we get from people every single day,

That we make all this up and choose to eat this way.  

I don't enjoy asking questions about your gluten-free menu. 

I don't enjoy asking questions about every single venue. 

I don't enjoy always feeling at risk. 

I don't enjoy feeling like a tisk. 

Believe me, I can withstand this disease that is on hand. 

I don't choose to disband from what was unplanned. 

I don't demand that you understand. 

I just demand that you don't judge me, first-hand. 

This "diet" isn't easy because it's not a diet at all. 

It's a lifestyle, not by choice, something I live with, something that's raw.

If I could eat all the gluten in the world, I would, maybe...we'll see. 

But I enjoy my lifestyle, I enjoy my life, I enjoy this because it's a part of me. 

That may sound contradicting because, sure, it's a pain in the ass. 

But at the end of the day, it makes me feel better, I can say I'm pain free at last. 

Free of joint pain, diarrhea, gas, and fatigue. 

Free of brain fog, hair loss, migraines, and bloating. 

Free of all these symptoms forever, free of them at last. 

But it only takes a small amount of gluten to bring them all back. 

I enjoy who I am, I enjoy how I eat. 

I enjoy who I am, I enjoy it because it is me. 

In the future, don't treat it as a diet; it's a lifestyle, not a choice. 

I am gluten-free, it's my lifestyle, it's my life, hear my voice.

Thank you for reading! Please share this with anyone who is gluten-free or anyone you think would understand your lifestyle more from reading it. -Taylor