AIBU to be intolerant of food intolerances?

[MrsJeff]

Well, not really the intolerances themselves, just people who BANG ON ABOUT THEM ALL THE TIME. A girl I work closely with has a number of intolerances - fine, nightmare, must be difficult, and I sympathise, but I truly don't need to hear about them every day. Nor a blow by blow list of what the canteen is serving and whether she can or can't have it. Or to cover for her when she's off sick having eaten a truck load of "bad things" the day before and made herself ill.

Please let me know - AIBU???!

yabu

not really being unreasonable but it is likely the bint is just making very boring conversation

i used to work with a guy who talked about the type of poo he had been for that morning

maybe she is just dull or lacks social skills

it could be worse she could talk about her periods or her sex life......

The problem with food intolerance is that eating is so tied up with being human, that every mealtime is an issue if you have an intolerance. Therefore it is very much an ingrained part of her life.

My DH and DS2 have intolerances. It's not a particularly interesting topic but something that gets discussed every day just because food comes up in conversation every day.

Maybe she should just make packed lunch though if the canteen can't accommodate her.

Does sound like her food intolerances are the problem, more the fact that she is an incredible bore.

Food intolerances don't need to be diagnosed by a medically qualified person. In fact my GP failed to identify dairy products as the cause of DS2's eczema and just prescribed E45.

It's simple - he eats milk products his skin flares up and gets itchy. We cut out dairy, his skin improves.

I don't bang on about it all the time, but I do need to let people know what he can and cant eat when we aren't at home.

I'm desperately hoping it's something he'll grow out of, because on top of the eczema he'll also have to deal with peoples unsympathetic attitudes to it.

We all agreed to go out for a pizza. Then one of our group said, very aggressively, "You do realise that if I eat anything from there, I'll die?!"

"Well, no, mate, we don't really know you that well, do we? So how would we realise that?"

Some people are just knobs though aren't they - the food intolerence just gives them something to be knobby about.

As I say, it really isn't the intolerances themselves - I have a number of friends who have various foods that they can't go near for one reason or another - it's not an unusual problem. (In this case she CAN eat them - and frequently does fully in the knowledge that she'll be ill afterwards!). I suspect chopstheduck and Lauriefairy may have hit the nail on the head. Ah well, I guess it's better than going into detail about poo....

meemar, so true.

I get annoyed with certain food "intolerances", I've nearly lost my temper with people who claim they cannot have wheat products at all because it will make them bloated, and then talk about how inconvenient it is. My family has coeliacs disease so inconvenient doesn't come close to it!

bloating - just a fancy way to describe the effects of eating too much too quickly if you ask me.

YABU. Food intolerances affect our lives as DS1 is violently sick after anything strawberry flavour (inc real strawberries). It makes life difficult as numerous medicines/sweet/yogarts etc that are designed for children are strawberry flavoured. At home is ok because I just dont let anything into the house but where out&about its more difficult.

His intolerance is easy compared to my allergies (yep true professionally diagnosed anaphylactic allergies).

Unless you have personal experience of living with an intolerance/allergy, you should shut up.

As someone said. some people are just knobs and want something to be knobby about

I have worked with women (and it is usually women) who use intolerance as an excuse to follow weird and/or restrictive diets. Some people do use "intolerance" to disguise unhealthy relationship with food.

My old flatmate used to do some kind of food combining. Which meant whe basically ate nothing but vegetable soup during the day and then gorged on starch at night. And she got terrible indigestion But rather than alter her food habits, she went to a medical herbalist and came out with a bag of marigold tea...

I bit my lip.

I have a friend with a dairy intolerance so can't have milk on her cereal. But eats vast quantities of cheese and that's fine

There is a big difference between having a real intolerance and deciding you don't want to eat carbs because you're too greedy not to eat an entire loaf of bread or whatever

I find it far more irritating when people bang on about the (weight loss) diet they are on - 'oh, I can't eat that, Im dieting'. Well, just eat less of it then.

At least an intolerance actually results in them feeling ill, and so it is legitimate to completely avoid the food in question, as opposed to the dieter that seems to be trying get the entire room to share the quest to limit how much of it they put away.

Some aren't real though are they?

My MIL claims to be "allergic" to hot milk, not cold milk mind....

Ooooh this is the thread I have been waiting for.

Absolutely YANBU. It REALLY gets on my wick when people say "i have a wheat intolerance". I have occasionally said "that is a really serious problem, it is called coeliac disease and if left undiagnosed can cause serious vitamin deficiencies and weight loss". I trained as a nutritionist and saw people with some really bad food allergies and a proper allergy can be an awful thing.

TBH I hate it when people use their food phobias (which surprisingly is more prevalent in slim women than any other group in the country) as an excuse to not eat.

I am also often tempted to say to woman who claim they feel bloated after eating wheat that the feeling they are experiencing is that of feeling full and they are probably unfamiliar with that feeling because they have been on a starvation diet for so long.

Tant over. Now I am back to placid, docile Ali.

My friend had a wheat allergy that came and went, is that possible?

It is always carbs, isn't it. My old colleagues were unable apparently to eat pasta, potato, any sort of bread etc etc. All that was left was thin soup and fruit for lunch. And then they'd all woof into piles of chocolate biscuits at about 3

I particularly like the pained expression that often accompanies the explanation of the intolerance - real hangdog, I'd love to but can't... often touching tummy for good measure...

We have coeliac disease in our family too, so I'm always aware of the difference between 'trying to avoid' (which is fair enough, if done politely) and 'I really can't'.

I find it odd that bread is out, while cake is in. Aren't they made of the same stuff?

And does "bloated" mean "a bit farty"?

And WTF is "digestive discomfort"? Does that also mean a bit farty?