Tuesday, December 4, 2018

Replying to troll comments

Aww, someone’s trolling my youtube channel. BUT I got to make some good points in my reply, so here it is:
Hi, username with no content or history of liked videos or profile pic! I’m sorry if you’ve struggled to keep on weight with your food allergies, or know someone who has struggled to keep on weight with food allergies. It can be very difficult for a lot of people. I don’t have any recommendations to help you because I’m not a medical professional who has any familiarity with your medical history, but if that has been an issue for you I hope you’ve had good luck finding a RD who can help you maintain healthy nutrition - a significant challenge for people who are food allergic! Personally I have issues with folic acid deficiency but my doctor okayed me for a supplement and I’ve upped my spinach intake, which helped a lot - I no longer feel cold all the time and my blood pressure has gone up to almost-normal levels, with very little fainting on standing.
Anyway. Yes. I’m a total pig (not only because I fucking love eating but also because I’m cute, clever, and way too open about poop). I enjoy the hell out of food and getting diagnosed with Celiac and food allergies was a big blow because I *love* food, and I’ve been really enjoying finding allergy-safe versions of all the processed foods I used to love and re-experiencing them. I also think it’s worthwhile to sample things and describe the food for folks who have maybe been on the fence about a brand - it sucks when you buy something you’re excited about only to find out that it tastes awful or has the wrong texture, so hopefully I can save someone out there some missteps or let them know if something will work for them before they waste their money.
And I do struggle daily, as all people with food allergies do. Y'all don’t get to see it when I’m having scrambled eggs again for dinner, or having carrots for lunch three times a week, or eating oatmeal for the umpteenth time because that’s a boring way to run a channel - though some oatmeal-based recipes might be coming up, since I’ve found a lot of ways to make oatmeal less boring.
I’m not sure what your beef with processed food is. Boiling is processing food. Smoking meat is processing food. Blending is processing food. Unless you are home-growing all your fruits and veggies and harvesting your own meat and eggs and eating all of that raw I’m afraid you’re eating processed foods. And if you are doing those things you may want to consult a physician or therapist who has experience treating disordered eating because a quest for food purity that extreme is certainly not an example of a healthy diet and could leave you with some pretty extreme nutrient deficiencies. But I don’t know you - maybe you have a great greenhouse and a herd of goats and a flock of chickens and have the time and energy to make sure you get a balanced diet year-round. I don’t have that kind of time or energy, so it makes me SUPER PUMPED when I can find a microwave dinner that I can eat and tastes good (or, as in this video, when I can enjoy some chips and salsa after a long day in lieu of making a from-scratch meal after my nine-hour shift and hour-and-a-half drive home).
I’m glad you caught me when I have the spoons to write up a response because you bring up something very important that’s a common misunderstanding about people with food allergies or people with chronic illnesses: we are not a monolith. People present symptoms differently - which is part of what makes it so hard to get a diagnosis, and such a relief when you ARE diagnosed and finally know what’s going on.
I’m guessing your assumption here comes from the fact that it’s “common knowledge” that Celiac sufferers are all skinny and manifest malabsorption symptoms the same way. PubMed has some great articles about the prevalence of obesity in individuals with Celiac (here are just a couple: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26892766 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26508459 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26444646). Some people with Celiac Disease are underweight, many are normal weight, and somewhere between 10-39% are overweight or obese (in general) adults diagnosed with CD have a higher rate of overweight/obesity than children diagnosed with CD.
And let’s be real, you probably didn’t mean for these comments to garner an actual response otherwise you wouldn’t have stooped to body-shaming or calling me a liar. You should watch my other videos! In some of them you can see a lot more of my fat arms, stretch marks, and hairy pits. I’ve got killer double chin in quite a few of them (as will happen when you’re stuffing your face on camera). Calling me fat because of it is probably not going to phase me, though. So, while I’m enjoying making this response I’m also informing you that I DO moderate comments, and if you call another user fat on my channel (not that I have many commenters, let’s be honest, it’s not like you’re going after somebody actually popular) I’ll delete your comment and block you.
“Please shut up” is also kind of hilarious, friend. It’s not a real criticism, it’s just saying “I don’t want to hear what you have to say” and the fact that you clicked on my channel when you had all of youtube available is on you, not me. If you don’t like my videos go out and make your own - be the content-creator you wish to see in the world because I’m not here to cater to you.

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