Ten Tips for Living Successfully with Celiac Disease

Adapted from Celiac Disease For Dummies

1. Strive To Be Healthy – If you are living with celiac disease, one of the things you’ve had to re-evaluate is your diet as you’ve faced the challenges of living gluten-free. A person lives gluten-free to not only feel well but to be well, and the necessary dietary changes make this all the more likely to happen.
2. Keep Informed About Your Disease – Whether its highly practical information, like what new gluten-free foods have recently made their way onto the shelves of your corner grocery store, or more academic information about new discoveries, knowledge is power. Remain informed by consulting your celiac disease specialist, your dietitian, a support group, health organizations and informed publications.
3. Discover How Avoiding Gluten is Sexy – Medical research from Italy has found that people with celiac disease who follow a gluten-free diet have sex more often – and find it more satisfying – than they do before they start their gluten-free diet.
4. Prepare for Your Child’s Visit to Friends – There are a few ways to keep you child gluten-free, whether she’s a youngster attending a friend’s birthday party or a young adult having meals at college. Teach your child early about what foods contain gluten and the need to avoid them, and how to cook gluten free.
5. Eat Out Without Standing Out – Call the restaurant before you go and ask if gluten-free foods are on the menu, or if you can order “off” the menu. Take some gluten-free snacks along, or consider having a light meal or snack before going out.
6. Learn How to Save On Food Purchases – Replacing wheat-based components with alternative products means the manufacturer incurs increased costs, which are passed on to you. Learn how to do your own gluten-free cooking, fill up your always-hungry teen with rice, beans, corn and potatoes, or find suitable restaurants to help cut costs.
7. Be Prepared for Blank Looks – It may be helpful to have different comments or responses prepared in the event the topic of your having celiac disease comes up. Many find the simplest thing to do is to describe their celiac disease as being a food intolerance or allergy.
8. Have a Good Answer to “What Happens If You Eat Wheat?” – Assuming you don’t want to tell someone all about what happens to your insides if you eat wheat, you may want to have an alternative answer ready. Often a simple “I get an upset stomach” will suffice.
9. Pack Your Bags, We’re Going To… – Before you go on a trip, learn about the foods likely to be available in the place to which you’re traveling. A number of Web sites provide helpful information about traveling while living with celiac disease.
10. Deal With the Slipups – Life happens, and the odds are that at one point or another, you will consume gluten-containing food. Reassure yourself that you’ve not just swallowed plutonium and you’re not going to diet; get quickly back on track and don’t feel guilty about your slipup.