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If you're newly diagnosed with celiac disease, read this.

Being newly diagnosed with celiac disease can be super overwhelming. You’ve lived your entire life up until this point not thinking twice about gluten and now suddenly you’re supposed to completely remove it from your life?!

And your doctor gave you a handout or just told you to go gluten-free but you’re quickly finding out it’s not that easy…

You start googling what to do when diagnosed with celiac and you don’t even know where to start with all of the info.

You’re frustrated because despite your best efforts, you’re still getting exposed to gluten or you’re not feeling any better.

It’s hard. I get it and that’s why I’m writing this post. If you’re newly diagnosed with celiac disease, know that it is going to be okay. It’s a lot to take in right now and there’s a lot to process, take your time as you adjust to gluten-free living for celiac.

Table of Contents

Reminders for a Newly Diagnosed Celiac

While there’s a lot to a gluten-free diet for celiac, I have some tips to keep you on the right track.

To the Newly Diagnosed Celiac - What to Do When newly diagnosed with celiac disease - Tayler Silfverduk, RDN - Celiac Dietitian

Don't Give up

It can be so easy to feel overwhelmed and like it’s not worth it when newly diagnosed with celiac. Remember that you aren’t going to perfect a gluten-free lifestyle overnight.

Keep trying your best and learning from your mistakes and things will slowly start to become routine.

Don’t give up, your body needs you to stick with it!

It Will Become More Routine

It’s hard and overwhelming right now, I get it. Know that with every day you try and stay gluten-free, the more routine it gets.

I won’t say easy because I think it’s not fair to put celiac disease and easy in the same sentence, but it does become more routine.

It’s Okay

It’s okay to feel overwhelmed, angry, upset, sad, anxious, and whatever else you feel.

Celiac disease and grief is real. It is natural to grieve a life without celiac disease and don’t get stuck here. If you feel stuck reach out for help.

Action steps for A Newly diagnosed Celiac

  1.  Decide if you’re going to live in a shared home or a dedicated gluten-free home. There are pros and cons to both and don’t feel pressure to live in a dedicated gluten-free home if it’s not feasible. Living gluten-free in a shared household safely is possible.
  2. Prepare your kitchen accordingly.
    • Replace kitchenware that is hard to clean to prevent cross-contact. Preventing cross-contact with celiac disease is important. You don’t want gluten to contaminate your gluten-free food.
    • Stock up on gluten-free delicious foods.
    • Find a home for your gluten-free food if living a shared kitchen.
  3. Learn how to check food labels for gluten. The best tool in your gluten-free living tool-kit is being able to read a food label for safety. If you can’t identify if a food item is going to be safe, living gluten-free can be especially paralyzing.
  4. Find gluten-free lifestyle support. Living gluten-free for celiac is hard, and research shows support can improve your quality of life.
  5. Prioritize self-care. Self-care is important when you have celiac disease and having a solid self-care plan is vital to your success. If you’re running low on energy or mental space, it gets really hard to be kind and gentle with yourself as you try to navigate a gluten-free life.
  6. Explore other avenues of celiac disease and safety. Staying safe with celiac isn’t just about avoiding gluten. Your mental, emotional, social and spiritual health are all impacted by celiac and need attention too. Make sure you’re not neglecting these other categories of health and safety.

Newly Diagnosed? Have A lot of Questions?

Check out my Celiac Crash Course which I designed to walk you through the basics of staying safe with celiac.

From dining out, reading a food label, to educating others, this course walks you through all of the things you need to know when you’re first starting off living gluten-free.

Don’t fall down the rabbit hole of google and facebook groups, there’s a lot of misinformation and fear-mongering out there. I keep it simple in my course so you know exactly what you have to do to stay safe with out being afraid of everything.

Sign up!

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