Mac and cheese, sandwiches, churros, cookies, cookie flavored Dippin’ Dots, pretzels. I can’t eat any of them. But ASB still serves them on spirit week and similar school days, with no hypoallergenic alternative.

Food allergies, more specifically celiac disease, is a growing epidemic in America.

I happen to suffer from celiac disease, along with a handful of other people at PHS. And when ASB shovels out hundreds of dollars on mass quantities of food for the school, I ask myself why they can’t throw down thirty bucks for a few bags of gluten-free cookies.

Celiac disease prevents me from eating any gluten, which is rye, barley, and wheat.

And when I do ingest gluten, it causes short term depression, indigestion, anxiety, prolonged weakness and fatigue.

It also blocks my system from absorbing any nutrients, so I practically starve, nutritionally speaking, if I have accidentally ingested any gluten in the previous day or two.

And the long term effects are just as scary. Ingesting gluten can make it easier to develop certain types of cancer, including gall bladder, liver and intestinal, if I’m not careful while checking out the ingredients list.

And I get made fun of for it every day! I guess celiac is still “On Limits” for diseases you are allowed to tease people for.

I’m sure there are many of you who can sympathize with the day to day struggles of a celiac. We can’t eat cake at your birthday parties. We can’t eat fries at drive-thrus. We have to ask the waitress if our meal contains any gluten every time we go out.

The best candy-bars? Out of the picture. Bread bowl chowder? I wish.  Even gravy contains gluten!

All of the really cool stuff that contains gluten is off limits, and we celiacs are forced to eat  the lesser-quality, more expensive alternatives.

So when it comes to picking out what to give the school, keep dispensing your glutenous food, but please, put out a couple boxes of popsicles, or a few dove chocolates leftover from Halloween.

Or if you want to really win us over, Tate’s gluten free chocolate chip cookies are the bomb.

Really, when it comes down to it, giving us anything that we can eat is better than giving us nothing.

And always remember: It’s a power to eat flour! So don’t be sour, and don’t cower. Please let