This week’s featured post is about friends: We all have them, hopefully, but when you have Celiac Disease your friends tend to fall into a few categories based on how they respond to your gluten free lifestyle. Here are five of the types of friends I have, but I’d love to hear what types of friends you can think of:

1. The Questioning Friend: This is the type of friend that wants to know every detail of your gluten free life. They say things like “But what happens when you eat some?” “Are you sure you have Celiac Disease? I heard that the test isn’t reliable…” “What CAN you eat?”. This can be a malicious thing (i.e.: they don’t believe in Celiac Disease) or just a curious yet somewhat inappropriate interest. Whether it’s malicious or not they always have a question for you, and it gets kind of tiring.

2.  The Oblivious Friend: This friend, whether intentionally or not, simply can’t remember you follow a gluten free diet. They offer you pasta when you stop by during dinner, they dip their pita in your gluten free humus when it is labeled as such, and they wipe their greasy pizza hands all over your face when they’re drunk. Overall, you’ve given up on trying to remind them and you’ve resigned to just give them a blank stare when they slip up.

3. The Accommodating Friend: This loving individual does anything to make you feel cared about and ‘normal’. Whether they are open to going to any restaurant you can eat at for a group dinner, or put aside a separate set of dishes for you at their house, they always do so with a smile. Really, they’re the best and you love them for their awesomeness. This is the best type of friend, even if you aren’t gluten free.

4. The Ecstatic Also Gluten Free Friend: This friend is also gluten free, and they’re happy they’re not alone (just like you I’m sure). Your entire relationship may revolve around the fact that you both go insane with desire when someone brings gluten free brownies, but even if that’s as serious as the relationship goes you are pretty okay with it. They may however be the type of gluten free that doesn’t strictly adhere to a gluten free diet and says things like “I just pick the croutons out of my salad”, so they may drive you a bit insane when it comes to cheating or cross contamination. If you are lucky they’re also a true friend, and someone you can mutually vent your frustrations with.

5. The “One Bite Won’t Kill You” Friend: This friend is similar to the oblivious friend, except a bit more obnoxious. They know you need to eat gluten free, but they simply don’t understand the severity of the situation. They may tell you to eat the filling of a pie because “You’ll be fine”, or they’ll get frustrated if you don’t try just one bite of their family recipe for lasagna when you stop by. You’ve tried several times to explain to them the extremity of your symptoms, the importance of no cross contamination, and that Celiac Disease and gluten sensitivity are not the same thing but they’re very insistent that you can have a little and be fine.

Regardless of where your friends fall on the spectrum of Celiac Disease understanding and tolerance, they hopefully have some lovable characteristics. I mean, they are your friends for a reason right? In conclusion I’d love to know: Do you have any other types of friends to add to the list? Can you relate to any of the above?