Yes, sometimes we need to help others understand by sharing our personal experience.

Maybe we need to make up some t-shirts! I am SOOOO…. glad you feel better. It’s sad that many people are uninformed about food intolerance OR are only able to see things through their biased and privileged lens. It must be nice to eat anything you want without consequence.

I love that response–and I would leave it there. You could also say, “how lucky for you that you can live well without food intolerance. It’s difficult at times when eating some foods leaves me in significant pain.” Just do your best to ignore the attempts of shaming or discounting your food intolerance.

I was recently caught off guard when I experienced some very judgmental comments about my own “picky” personal food choices and, more generally, about “those kind of people who eat fad diets like gluten-free.” Ugh. The person went on to say that the “supposed need” to eat gluten-free is “new” and that there was no such thing when they were young, that “kids ate peanut butter on bread every day and nobody died.” 🙁 Wow. What do you say to that? I tried to provide a bit of education, but soon gave up and walked away.

For me, the low FODMAP diet has saved me from so much pain and misery. As mentioned above, it allows me to focus on what I CAN eat! I still struggle occasionally with tummy troubles, but at least now I can generally trace the problem back to something I ate at a restaurant with questionable ingredients – and more importantly, I know what I need to do to get my tummy back on track. Before finding the low FODMAP diet, I was quickly reaching a point where I was afraid to eat anything because it seemed like EVERYTHING caused me pain and problems. 🙁 Many think that starting the elimination phase is daunting and overly limiting, but to me it was such a relief!!! I finally knew there were foods I could eat and had some guidelines that helped me get back to some sort of normal. I am so thankful to Kate Scarlata and this website/blog. The recipes and informative posts on here and in Kate’s book have really helped me on my FODMAP journey!! Thanks, Kate!

I’m not sure the AIP is science-based.

Great attitude and perspective. Thanks for sharing, Camille!

Thanks for you comment, Esther! I appreciate you chiming in and sharing your experience–that many others have experienced too!