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A Gluten Free Thanksgiving

By on Nov 27, 2016 in Advice, Celiac Disease, Gluten Free, Travel | 0 comments

Having a gluten free Thanksgiving is a dream to most Celiac suffers.  An array of food with no cross-contamination fears, no gluten in the stuffing, no gluten in the butter.  But this is far from most people’s reality, so how do you get through a Thanksgiving meal without being glutened?  This is how Julie and I handle Thanksgiving. The first year after Julie’s diagnosis, we went to Thanksgiving dinner without fully understanding what cross-contamination is.  We analyzed the food and determined that only the bread was dangerous, because it was the only food that we knew surely contained gluten.  But this was early after her diagnosis, only 4-5 months, so we weren’t overly concerned about the effects of cross-contamination either.  Like most meals for her after her diagnosis, she didn’t feel great afterward and for some time after that.  We would go through...

Be the Voice of Celiac Awareness

By on Aug 29, 2016 in Advice, Gluten Free, Health | 0 comments

Be the voice of Celiac Awareness in your circle. Help by making an effort to understand, comfort and respect all allergy sufferers, but be an expert on Celiac Disease. Whether it is your family, friends, work colleagues, neighbors, or anyone else in your life, you cannot simply ignore the disease and hope that others will subliminally pick up on what ails you. And while there are literally thousands of blogs and informative articles on Celiac Disease, they are often overlooked by people outside of the gluten-free community. How do we help people outside of the community to understand the disease to the point where they fully grasp the damaging autoimmune reaction experienced by consuming gluten? Raise Celiac Awareness One of the largest hurdles in this quest is there are many people who don’t even know what gluten is. Maybe they understand that some people cannot have it, but...

Food Allergy Compassion: Celiac Edition

By on Jun 28, 2016 in Advice, Celiac Disease, Dining Out, Gluten Free, Health, Travel | 0 comments

Food allergy compassion is a delicate subject to many who suffer from Celiac Disease or other autoimmune disorders. While the general public lives their lives relatively care-free when it comes to food consumption, someone with food allergies lives in constant fear of their next exposure. They know it will eventually happen, but will the circumstances be manageable? What if they are miles away from home in a strange town, or even out locally with acquaintances. The people you are with and the people who are serving you have varying levels of food allergy compassion, and you have to be confident and aware that you must control the situation. Scenario 1: Visiting Family Afar Imagine you are 2500 miles from the gluten-free oasis that is your kitchen. Your kitchen equipped with pots and pans that have never touched gluten, dedicated prep surfaces and care from your live-in family, this is...

How Celiac Disease Affects Your Friendships

By on Jun 6, 2016 in Advice, Celiac Disease, Relationships | 0 comments

Celiac Disease can have a serious impact on relationships in your life.  Friendships are the most strained, since friends are often met at different times in your life under different circumstances. Your family will tell you things like, “we’ll always be there for you,” or “call me anytime you need to talk.” This is great for some people, but many need the connection with friends in their life to help them feel secure. Maintaining friendships after Celiac diagnosis is one of the more difficult challenges. Initially, your friends may say that they support you. They may tell you that others in their family or friends circle experience other auto-immune disorders, or even serious diseases like cancer. They may try to push you to do things that may seem dangerous to a Celiac sufferer, like attending a cookout or join them for a dinner out. Again, these may be...

Life Before and After Celiac Diagnosis

By on May 25, 2016 in Advice, Celiac Disease, Health, Relationships | 0 comments

Life before being diagnosed with Celiac Disease is vastly different than life afterward. Beforehand, you are more carefree and willing to take risks. Vacations are easy to plan, spontaneity is second-nature, and the prospect of exploring the world is just a car ride or plane ticket away. After Celiac diagnosis, you realize that there are many more things in the world that can harm you than not. Curiosity turns to fear as you realize that very few truly understand the seriousness of Celiac Disease. Gluten free becomes a phrase that courses through your veins every time someone mocks it or dismisses it as a fad. It’s like being ridiculed for having an O negative blood type. We’ve always considered ourselves an adventurous couple. Early on we would take day trips to different places, like malls or parks in the area. As we ran out of local places, we started taking long...

How Celiac Disease Affects Confidence

By on May 24, 2016 in Advice, Celiac Disease, Health, Relationships | 0 comments

The way that Celiac Disease affects confidence is similar to the way a scar on your face might affect your confidence. If it has been there your whole life, it might not have the same effect as if it were to happen a month ago, or a few years ago. When you live for thirty-some years in seemingly good health, with no indication that something underlying is terribly wrong, the Celiac diagnosis cuts you like a knife and your confidence with it. When Julie was diagnosed, she was experiencing a full plate of Celiac symptoms and we thought it might be diet related. The trial and error of testing different foods, including going vegetarian and cutting out different fruits, vegetables, dairy and nuts was making us crazy. People in the family never knew what to expect when it came to her diet trends, but nothing was working. Going vegetarian only made her physically tired. Cutting out specific...

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