{"id":4130,"date":"2011-12-16T09:28:15","date_gmt":"2011-12-16T14:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=4130"},"modified":"2011-12-16T21:14:26","modified_gmt":"2011-12-17T02:14:26","slug":"dear-martha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=4130","title":{"rendered":"Dear Martha,"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wlWriterHeaderFooter\" style=\"float: none; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 0px 4px 0px;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: none; width: 450px; height: 80px;\" src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/widgets\/like.php?href=http:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=4130\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>I don\u2019t know where to start, as I am still in disbelief of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/femail\/article-2074302\/Gluten-free-diets-welcome-chez-Martha-Stewart.html\" target=\"_blank\">stance you have taken on guests with food allergies<\/a>.\u00a0 Do you know how many people you have now alienated, or was that your goal?\u00a0 Let\u2019s sort out some quick facts:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>1 in 133 people in the US have Celiac Disease that requires them to follow a gluten-free diet.<\/li>\n<li>Many more people have a gluten sensitivity.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/foodallergies.about.com\/b\/2010\/10\/21\/7-8-million-people-in-u-s-have-food-allergies.htm\" target=\"_blank\">It is estimated that 7.8 million people in the US have food allergies<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I am really happy for you that you don\u2019t have to worry about the food that you put in your mouth, but many of us do.\u00a0 Does that mean that we should be excluded from dinner parties or other functions?\u00a0 The most important thing I have learned since being diagnosed with Celiac Disease is that while I do have to follow a gluten-free diet, social situations aren\u2019t always about the food.\u00a0 Attending a dinner party, wedding, baby shower or even a work conference usually means that some kind of food will be served and eating will most likely be complicated (especially if the hosts are anything like you).\u00a0 I have learned to shift my focus from the food to the people.\u00a0 I focus on catching up with friends and family; I aim to try to learn something new about each person I speak with.\u00a0 Work functions that include food are spent networking or getting to know co-workers.<\/p>\n<p>What do you have against those of us who can\u2019t eat like you do?\u00a0 Is it because preparing our food is more complicated?\u00a0 I used to look forward to reading your magazine and support the sale of your products, but no longer.\u00a0 Additionally, I have a feeling that I am not the only one who feels this way.<\/p>\n<p>Sincerely,<\/p>\n<p>A former fan, supporter, reader<\/p>\n<p>Edited to add the link to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nypost.com\/p\/entertainment\/food\/let_them_eat_nothing_1OokdyoFmbIJBc0FHasoPN\">NY Post article<\/a> where Stewart shares more info. \u00a0She does mention whipping up an egg dish for gluten-free or vegetarians, but then goes on to say that &#8220;Everybody can skip a meal&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=4130\"><\/div>\n<script><!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_div_class=\"linkwithin_hook\";\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 135270;\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts with Thumbnails\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I don\u2019t know where to start, as I am still in disbelief of the stance you have taken on guests with food allergies.\u00a0 Do you know how many people you have now alienated, or was that your goal?\u00a0 Let\u2019s sort &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/?p=4130\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n<script><!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_div_class=\"linkwithin_hook\";\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 135270;\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts with Thumbnails\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1R9ov-14C","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4130"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4135,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4130\/revisions\/4135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glutenfreeislife.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}