For the past eight years, I have lived a completely gluten-free life. Right now, you’re probably asking yourself one question: “Why in the world would she do that?” Don’t worry guys, it’s not by choice! I have Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disorder, but don’t let the word “disease” freak you out; all I have to do is avoid food that contains gluten, and everything is a-okay.

Eight years after my diagnoses, I now consider myself to have mastered the gluten-free lifestyle. At any given moment in time, I have the phrase, “Is it gluten-free?” ready to rattle off. I’ve also become a professional ingredient reader. If you’ve never stood in a freezing cold supermarket isle huddled over a bag of chips, squinting your eyes to read the teeny tiny ingredient list to make sure it’s gluten-free, then you most definitely have not lived yet.

Although being gluten-free is very easy for me at this point, the one thing that continues to baffle me is the lack of progress in the gluten-free bread market. It has been eight whole years, and the majority of gluten-free bread is still hard as a rock, dry as a rock and as flavorless as a rock. Though gluten-free bread has yet to prevail, gluten-free pasta, on the other hand, has become quite delicious.

While the delicious pasta is definitely a plus, my favorite part of being gluten-free has to be the hilarious interactions I have with non-gluten-free people. Sometimes, I’ll be chowing down on an enormous bag of pretzels (gluten-free of course!) and a friend will say, “Oh my gosh those look so good, are they gluten-free?” Every single time I hear this phrase I am left in complete and utter disbelief. I always wonder if they truly think I am consciously eating glutenous pretzels. I typically respond with an eye roll or a simple, “I think you can answer that for yourself.”

When I was 9, I loved messing with people for the fun of it. My favorite thing to do every time a teacher gave me a water bottle at lunch time was to ask, “But wait, do you know if this water gluten-free?” This puzzled so many people to the point where they would hop on Google and do immense research about whether or not water was truly gluten-free. To clarify for any of you wondering, water is gluten-free.

When I was younger, I wished and prayed on every lucky star and every four leaf clover, that some day, and somehow, my Celiac would go away. Whether it was because I couldn’t eat cake at birthday parties or because I could never participate in grade pizza celebrations at school, I couldn’t stand my Celiac. Now, I have to say, Celiac is probably my favorite aspect of my identity. I love wearing my shirt that says “Gluten-freak” to free dress days, discovering new gluten-free restaurants and having something that makes me unique.