Gluten Free Life | "It's not that hard"

This should say 'gluten intolerance.' Good gluten
bigots know gluten allergies are completely different.

Unintentionally being part of a new diet craze has certain perks - for example the increase amount of celiac-friendly products that don't taste like cardboard or chalk is nice. It is also nice when ordering in a restaurant that no one assumes I'm on the Atkins diet (which always really irritated me as I'm very opposed to Atkins). 

However, I must say it is not without its drawbacks and annoyances. Now when ordering in a restaurant servers assume I've chosen a gluten free diet. 

As you know, I will not judge anyone who chooses the gluten free diet for whatever reason they choose it. In fact, welcome to the gluten bigot club! However, I do find annoyance in one by-product of this. And that annoyance was funny because it goes two ways:

First, people who have tried a GF diet will pity those stuck with it. "I tried it for a month and it was so HARD! How will you do it FOREVER!?" Umm, thanks for that. Upon resolving to adhere to my compulsory GF diet, I definitely had a mourning period. However I do not find it to be detrimental. Thanks to my diet I live an active, healthy and happy life - something that was not always attainable on a gluten diet for me. That is certainly worth more to me than a bagel ever would be.

Next is actually the flip side. "I tried it for a month, and it was so eat. No bread? So what? They have gluten free bread." I do agree the diet is very easy once you become accustomed to it. However, it is not easy at the get go, and you will always encounter challenges. If you choose to give a GF diet a go, and you have some hidden gluten or your food was cross contaminated, no big deal. You will never even never even notice. However, if you are gluten intolerant or celiac, you're probably going to have some sort of reaction (unless you are not symptomatic). There is a different level of diligence required when the diet is mandatory, so lets give our celiac/gluten intolerant friends that one. Also, when you have not chosen the diet you mightn't be so well prepared to give up bagels.

How did you end up on a gluten free diet? Did you find it or did it find you?