The horrors of wheat...

So this past weekend I found out that I am allergic to wheat. Of all things that I could be allergic to, I get wheat. My daily diet consists of bread, pasta, and dessert, usually a cupcake of some sort. When I found out I was allergic to wheat, I literally could not eat one thing in my entire kitchen, except for Craisins, which don't make for a very substantial meal by themselves (trust me, I tried). Although this entire process has been a royal pain in my butt...well stomach actually...it has made me realize two things.

The first: There is a huge market, especially in Austin, that is allergic to wheat. More and more people are finding out that they are gluten or wheat sensitive, as Doctors like to call it. In addition, there are many people out there who would just prefer to not eat wheat, even though they aren't allergic. If this segment is growing and growing, what are they choosing to eat?

The second: There could be such a better selection of wheat-free food. I mean, come on. After one week of going wheat-free, I am already tired of eating quinoa, frozen bread, and other products I can't even begin to pronounce. If there's such a large market of people waiting for a good tasting pasta substitute, why aren't there any better options? Of course, there are a lot more products than I would have originally expected. Whole Foods and Central Market even have entire aisles devoted to gluten free foods. However, many of these products are the exact same and don't taste very good. This is upsetting to a 20 year old who now has to search up and down aisles with fingers crossed for something other than frozen bread.

Okay, so I'm being a tad overdramatic and this doesn't have much of anything to do with advertising...let me try and make this relevant! After seeing just a small portion of an untapped market, I can't imagine how many other portions of the population aren't being fairly served. Advertisers especially know how much clutter there is with products and advertisements flying everywhere, but billions of products don't mean anything if they aren't serving a target market.

Rant over!