Forms of Self support for celiac disease
Support is one the most important aspects of living with celiac disease and not all support has to come from others. There are important self-provided forms of support for celiac disease too.
Month: October 2020
Restaurants with Gluten-Free French Fries
Where to find restaurants with french fries made in a dedicated fryer.
Celiac Disease Management – It’s not as simple as a gluten-free diet
Celiac disease Management
It's not as simple as following a gluten-free diet
Celiac disease management involve a gluten-free lifestyle but it’s not as simple as it sounds. Managing celiac disease is multi-factorial and involves addressing a lot. Let’s talk about what celiac disease is, how to manage celiac disease, and the struggles that come with celiac disease management.
What is celiac disease
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that involves damage to the small intestine. More specifically, when someone with celiac disease eats gluten, their immune system responds by attacking & damaging the small intestine. This leads to many symptoms and complications.
How to manage Celiac disease
The only way to prevent the body from attacking the small intestine when you have celiac disease, is to follow a gluten-free lifestyle.
I say follow a gluten-free lifestyle and not a gluten-free diet because that’s really what it is, a lifestyle.
Living gluten-free impacts more than just our plate and calling it a gluten-free lifestyle and not a gluten-free diet does this fact justice.
Because a gluten-free lifestyle impacts everything, celiac disease management involves more than just eating gluten-free.
Challenges of a gluten-free diet
Following a gluten-free diet or living gluten-free comes with many challenges. Often health care professionals and even the gluten-free community can be harsh about people who struggle with sticking to their gluten-free diet.
However, living gluten-free and following a gluten-free diet is not simple. Here are some things to consider when it comes to gluten-free diet challenges:
- Access to and quality of support
- Access to and quality of resources
- Food expenses
- Food availability
- Food palatability
- Cooking skills
- Access to and quality of follow-up care
- Symptom presence and type
In fact, research shows that the top celiac disease management barriers are cost, availability, and time limitations.
Addressing Celiac Disease Management Challenges:
These challenges should serve as starting/check-in point when assessing a gluten-free lifestyle. Whether or not someone has support, strong self-care practices, and access to quality food, care, and resources is all important.
Take a moment and reflect…
What celiac disease management challenges do you face? What can you do to ease them?
If you’re struggling with any of these things, I highly recommend working with a dietitian or at the VERY least, checking out the 10-Week Celiac Disease Wellness Journal.
The Celiac Disease Wellness Journal addresses many of the challenges of celiac disease management through out it’s 10-weeks of guided journal prompts and worksheets. Check it out below.