GF is my YSL

I have a confession to make. I’m turning into a labelist. Not for clothes, I don’t have the budget for such an indulgence, nor do I really want to be a walking billboard. No, my obsession with labels is all about food. I know the law; I know anything derived from wheat must be listed in the ingredients. Still, I have trouble feeling confident about anything not listed as Gluten Free. If it wasn’t advertised in large or small print on the package I used to look online for its placement on a list or for a statement on the company’s website. But as I found out, those lists and websites may no longer be accurate. Instead, they can be constantly circulated information that is now out of date, like Burt’s Bee’s gluten-free list that is everywhere on the Internet except their website and is, as I found out, sadly not correct.
It’s those kinds of instances that undermine my trust in all the research I do. Too many times I thought I had hit the jackpot and could buy anything on this long list and be safe only to find out months, and several dollars, later that I was wrong. It’s a lack of confidence thing that can’t be bolstered by a pep talk from Cosmo magazine or, sadly, by the perfect shade of lipstick.
So now I only shop at Wegmans, Wholefoods, and Trader Joes, stores that not only keep their gluten-free list up to date but mark their foods with a little gluten-free label. Wegmans even gave me a whole aisle to feel relaxed in, giving me, for those brief moments in that aisle, a chance to feel normal. I’ve become so dependent on these little labels though that I’m starting to doubt foods that don’t have the stamp but are clearly gluten-free – like bananas. Somehow, in my most insecure moments I start to question the peel! I know it’s crazy but I’ve been burned too many times before. The simple joy of finding the perfect shade of gloss dashed, the sickening result of a changed formula on a multivitamin and a jar of salsa, it all adds up so that I no longer trust produce at a farmer’s market.
Most people want their food to taste good and give them the nutrients they need. I would like that as well, but I also want to have faith in my food; faith that it will not harm me. But faith is one of those tricky things that has to be felt deep down and is derived from a complicated combination of trust and joy. For me, trust and joy in a gluten-free lifestyle seems a long way off, but hopefully not too far away. Until then I’ll stick to my labels, it may be limiting to live this way, but like someone who only wears Prada, at least I know it’s worth it.