Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance Making You Feel Excluded From Social Life?

Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance Making You Feel Excluded From Social Life?

4 Steps to Surviving Gluten Free.

When you first discover you have a problem with gluten from grains and possibly the casseine in dairy it can seem like the world just collapsed in on you, especially if Friday night at your house or out with the gang has always been pizza and beer. Yes you are up for a change. However, there is no point in moaning and moping about it and you need to do some learning about gluten free living and then view the change as a new fun challenge.

Steps To Surviving Socially with Celiac Disease

1/ Educate Yourself. In the last couple of years there are dozens of books on gluten free eating, plenty of you tube videos, and thousands of recipes on the web to inspire you to try new things. You will need to learn to read food labels on any kind of package or bottled foods and learn about the hidden gluten in items. I have become what I call a Food Nazi.

If you eat out a lot the #1 priority is to uncover the long list of foods that have gluten in them so you don’t get nailed at every restaurant you enter.

Many have gluten free menus and staff are becoming much more knowledgable about food allergies and are willing to accomodate your new gluten free needs.

2/ In the end it is up to you. Many restaurants understand what you can’t eat but they don’t understand about cross contamination in the deep fryer or on a wooden bread board or butcher block in the kitchen. You will need to educate them. You may want to take the bull by the horns and start experimenting with new types of foods. Rice based cultures such as Thai food, Vietnamese food, and Korean restaurants could serve you well. Also Greek food and middle eastern food is more rice based than Western style dining. These will still need some care and adjusting but will prove better bets for you.

3/ Before going to a restaurant I check their menu online. If it looks challenging I call ahead. If they don’t have a great attitude and a “we want to help you mindset” I simply book somewhere else.

4/ It’s all about attitude…. Yours … not anyone else’s . Make it an adventure and start trying out the many Raw Food restaurants and Raw Food Bars that are starting to pop up. Right now it is a fad. But as people start to feel better, have greater health , lose weight more and more folks are trying.

Take a Raw Food class and learn to make yourself a good Smoothie for the morning and maybe a big salad to take along for the day…. you will have more energy and you can ditch the coffee. You will soon find yourself grooving to a new beat and improving your friends health along with yours.