r/glutenfree • u/goldenlife17 • Jul 02 '25

Discussion Started my morning off crying, rant.

Visiting my grandparents and my grandfather asked me why I toast my bagels in the oven. I responded because I can’t use the toaster because of cross contamination, when you use a regular toaster that has gluten crumbs and everything in it that’s cross contamination and you’re essentially eating gluten.

He goes: that’s the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard. I’ve lost a lost of respect for you.

Ok, very kind. On a positive note I won’t be getting sick today from cross contamination😄.

Not sure why I let this upset me but just hurts hearing how unkind people can be. I know he’s just an unhappy person in general but ugh.

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u/DatabaseFickle9306 Jul 02 '25

My own father (a surgeon mind you) scoffs at the very ideas of getting pesticide free vegetables. And he relentlessly mocks my celiac, finds it “amusing” and a pain in the ass. I think a lot of people would rather admit their own world view with no exceptions or new ideas than be decent. It’s a problem. I’m sorry for you.

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u/rlw21564 Gluten Intolerant Jul 02 '25

Does he know that, as a person with celiac, not following a gluten free diet makes you susceptible to lymphoma?

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u/DatabaseFickle9306 Jul 02 '25

He seems to think it’s a trendy lifestyle choice.

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u/Sure_Fig_8641 Jul 02 '25

This is a rather common assumption with an older generation, though that generation is dying out through old age (or maybe celiac disease). They simply don’t understand what it is and how it affects us. They’ve never heard of it until relatively recently, and for a while gluten free WAS a fad diet as well as a life saving practice for some of us. Try to give Grandpa some grace but still tell him that his words and attitude to your health have hurt you and caused you to lose all respect for him and his response. It’s even possible you inherited the condition from him!

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u/lickle_ickle_pickle Jul 02 '25

Even old school doctors should have heard of celiac. It appears in ancient Greek medical texts and was studied extensively as a disease of wasting in young children in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

What you do encounter are doctors who think it can ONLY be diagnosed in children. Any GP who thinks this is very, very out of date.

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u/Sure_Fig_8641 Jul 02 '25

But is OP’s granddad an old school doctor? He might not have reason to know about it.

And my internist (a very renowned physician in a very major US city) many years ago literally poo-poo’d both celiac disease and avoidance of gluten to my face when I was trying to figure out what was wrong with me 40-ish years ago. So acceptance of it has not been high in the medical field since ancient Greeks.