Helping you find peace within the chaos of a gluten-free lifestyle
Gluten-free Beauty Products: do you need them and how to find them. Do people with celiac need to use gluten-free beauty products? How do you even identify gluten in beauty products? We will be discussing this and more in this post. Do Celiacs Need to …
Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter
2 tbsp agave syrup
1/4 cup collagen
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
Living with celiac disease means that you have to live gluten-free for the rest of your life. Even if you welcome your celiac disease diagnosis with open arms, managing a completely new way of living can trigger a boatload of emotions. In this post, I’m going to talk about the potential benefits of writing in a journal, how to start building a habit of writing in a journal, and lastly, I’ll give you some celiac disease journal prompts to help get you started.
Before I talk about the how and what of journal writing, we should first explore the why. Why should you write in a journal?
Writing in a journal can be a powerful form of self-care. It might help you process and clarify your thoughts and feelings around your diagnosis and perhaps, help you cope with the new lifestyle that you’ve been thrown into.
In fact, in many studies, they’ve found that people who part-take in gratitude journaling or expressive writing (writing that is deeply personal and occurs without regard to grammar, punctuation etc.), have improved optimism, purpose, and resilience.
That being said, only you can know if journaling is right for you. If you think it is, then let’s talk about how to start the habit!
First, writing in a journal doesn’t have to be a “dear diary, omg today my crush winked at me” situation, unless that’s why you want it to be. Journal writing should only be about writing what you want to write. It could entail stream of consciousness writing or perhaps, responding to journal prompts; whatever you need.
Journaling is what you need it to be. This also means that you don’t have to journal every day, every week or on any schedule! There should be no pressure around when you journal.
Journaling should be about what you want it to be about and it should happen when you want it to happen.
So if you’re just getting started in the habit of journaling, like starting any other habit, be gentle with yourself and start slow if you need to. You might find that writing weekly or even biweekly is all that you can manage, and that’s okay.
Now that we’ve discussed the why, what, and how of journaling, you’re ready for some celiac disease-related journal prompts! Remember, journaling should be about you and what you need, so don’t feel pressure to answer all or any of these. The purpose of this list is to spark inspiration and to help spark exploration into your emotions around your diagnosis.
Hopefully, this discussion on celiac disease journal prompts and journaling was helpful and inspiring. Let me know in the comments below if you journal! And if you want more journal prompts like this, check out the Celiac Disease Wellness Journal.
Happy Journaling!
How to follow a Gluten-Free Vegan Diet Need to how to follow a gluten-free vegan diet? Whether you’re following a vegan diet and have to go gluten-free, or you’re living gluten-free and are considering a vegan diet, this post is for you. Concerns and considerations …
Is the cross-contact from a shared toaster really something to worry about? Before now, there hasn’t been a lot of research on the true impacts of different potential cross-contact scenarios such as sharing a toaster with regular gluten-containing bread when you have celiac disease. A …
Calcium rich breakfasts (and meals in general) are important to make sure that your nourishing your bones and body appropriately. This list of calcium-rich breakfast recipes is dairy-free, plant-based, and gluten-free.
Adequate calcium is especially important for those experiencing impaired absorption, like those who are healing their gut following a celiac diagnosis. Often these individuals have impaired calcium absorption. Additionally, due to small intestine damage, have trouble digesting dairy products, which is a large source of dietary calcium. This makes getting enough calcium especially important and might even warrant a supplement.
However, I am a huge food first advocate and while you might want to consider and talk with your health professionals about a calcium supplement, that doesn’t mean you can’t focus on calcium-rich foods too!
Here are some of my favorite calcium rich breakfast recipes that you definitley want to try!
Chia seeds are an excellent source of calcium! 3-tbsp of chia seeds contain 233 milligrams of calcium which is nearly 20% of your daily needs!
Despite them containing phytic acid which could impair calcium absorption, you still get a decent amount from eating them. Additionally you can make chia pudding with plant-based milks which are often fortified with calcium. This makes this breakfast option a nutrient and calcium dense choice!
Here are a few of my favorite gluten-free chia pudding recipes!
Chia pudding is just so versatile and perfect for meal-prep making it a great option for busy people too!
Perhaps my favorite of all of these calcium rich breakfast recipes are Vegan Breakfast Nachos.
The beans and kale in this recipe help pack in the calcium into this delicious breakfast recipe. Not to mention there’s tons of flavor from the avocado, tomatoes, pickles onions, and salsa. YUM!
This garlic pinto bean toast is a plant-based and calcium rich alternative to your avocado or simple buttered toast. It’s packed full of flavor with a balance of crispy and soft textures that are sure to rock your world!
Not to mention, it’s EASY to make!
Smoothie bowls if made with plant-based milks (which are fortified with calcium) can be a great calcium rich breakfast option. An even better option if you make a delicious green smoothie bowl!
Here is an awesome resource on how to make a smoothie bowl! Smoothie bowls are highly customizable. You can flavor and top them as you please!
Similar to smoothie bowls, smoothies are a great calcium rich breakfast option because of use of plant-based milks (and hopefully dark leafy greens). Not to mention they are easy to prep for the week and great to take on the go!
My favorite smoothie of all time is my Raspberry Red Velvet Smoothie (just omit the collagen peptides to make it plant-based).
What are your favorite calcium rich breakfast recipes? What about calcium rich foods? Are you worried about calcium? Let me know in the comments!
This Paleo Falafel Recipe is not your typical falafel recipe. Typically falafel is made with chickpeas but to keep this recipe paleo I used purple cabbage instead. How this Recipe came to be… I’m not one to share stories before my recipe posts (I like …
These Peanut Butter S’mores Fudge Bars are the perfect dessert for anyone. Seriously, whether you are vegan, gluten-free, avoiding nightshades, or even trying to follow a low- FODMAP diet, these Peanut Butter S’mores Fudge Bars will not disappoint. Low-FODMAP diet? Say what? As a dietetic …
Should you follow a gluten-free and nightshade-free diet? Whether it’s for celiac or non-celiac gluten-sensitivity, many people feel better after going gluten-free. However, for some they don’t always feel better after going gluten-free and may need to look at other trigger foods. In this post we will talk about a gluten-free and nightshade-free diet and why you may want to follow it.
You might know nightshades to be toxic plants that you shouldn’t eat; think plants like belladonna. However, many of the foods in our diet today are of the nightshade family as well.
As members of the Solanaceae family (commonly known as the nightshade family), a lot of foods in our diet feature chemical compounds that act as a naturally forming “bug killer”.
Essentially, these chemicals in the nightshade family foods act as a defense system for the plant. Killing any pests that might be trying to take a bite out of it.
However, edible nightshades, or nightshades found in our diet, have such low amounts of these toxic chemicals that they shouldn’t have any harmful impacts on humans. That being said, some do report not tolerating nightshades well.
A nightshade free diet is just that, a diet free of nightshades. That means a diet free from the following foods:
A following a gluten-free and nightshade free diet can be tricky as many common dishes feature nightshades. Dishes like hot sauce, ketchup, spice blends, soups, tomato or pepper based sauces, and other dishes.
A nightshade sensitivity means that your body is unable to efficiently digest nightshades. This is not to be confused with a nightshade allergy, where your body launches an immediate allergic reaction to nightshade foods.
Likely, if you have a nightshade sensitivity, you lack the enzymes that allow you to digest these foods which in turn can lead to a variety of inflammatory symptoms. Some nightshade sensitivity symptoms include:
The only way to know if you have a nightshade-sensitivity is if you follow an elimination diet under the guidance of registered dietitian. It’s important you have the help of a dietitian to make sure you eliminate and reintroduce foods back in correctly so you can get to the root cause of your symptoms.
Following a gluten-free diet involves an incredibly restrictive lifestyle. Adding a nightshade-free diet to an already restrictive diet isn’t an easy decision to make.
Restrictive diets, in general, are stressful, exhausting, and often time-consuming. It involves reading food labels, relentlessly questioning restaurant staff, calling brands to ask about manufacturing processes, and so much more.
Needless to say, restrictive diets of any sort, aren’t easy. So should you follow a gluten-free and nightshade free diet too?
That depends. As always, this post is not to take the place of individualized nutrition and medical professional provided advice. Most definitely consult your gluten-free specialized dietitian to determine if you should also avoid nightshades. (Need a gluten-free specialized dietitian, Hi! Let’s chat!)
However, some things to consider when deciding if you should follow a gluten-free and nightshade free diet:
Something else to note is that if you have food sensitivities like a nightshade sensitivity, that they don’t always last forever.
Having a dietitian follow you on your healing journey can make sure that you’re assessing food tolerances as needs to make sure nothing can be added back in. And if foods can be trialed again, a dietitian can help you with that.
First of all, know that you might not have to avoid all nightshades forever if you do go on a gluten-free and nightshade free diet. When following a nightshade free diet because of a sensitivity, there is a phase where people reintroduce nightshade family foods back into their diet to assess if they trigger a reaction. So not to fear, you might not have to be entirely nightshade free to reap the benefits of following a gluten-free and nightshade free diet.
Second, when following a nightshade-free diet and trying to find fun recipes you can try, it could be helpful to search AIP compliant recipes on top of nightshade free recipes. The AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) diet is both gluten-free and nightshade free so often these recipes will be compliant with your gluten-free and nightshade free needs.
Lastly, when following a nightshade free diet, find alternatives to nightshade foods that work for you. Missing white potatoes for instance? Try eating sweet potatoes or carrots instead!
And if you’re in an immediate need of nightshade and gluten-free recipes, below are a list of some of my favorites!