30 Ways to Make Your Celiac Friend Feel Normal by Selena De Vries, Celiac Dietitian
A diagnosis of celiac disease can be overwhelming. Often times, those with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity will deny food-related invitations due to the fact that they “don’t even want to deal with it.” Replacing food with fun takes the pressure off while your friend or family member adjusts to the gluten-free diet. Selena has some great ideas!
The Celiac Counsellor Talks About Mourning and Celiac Disease
Six months ago, my mom died after a lengthy illness. In mourning her since then, I have noticed familiar feelings I associate with celiac disease.
Celiac Counsellor Corner – How Meditation Helps Me Deal with Celiac Disease
Did you suffer on the Easter weekend, visiting relatives in gluten-filled environments? I did … but it definitely would have been harder without meditation. Let me explain! Maybe meditation can help you, too.
Selena De Vries, Celiac Dietitian, Unlocks the Potential of Dried Plums
For those suffering from celiac disease, dried plums can help close the nutritional gap in many ways by improving bone and digestive health and managing blood sugar levels. Delicious too, in Selena’s Gluten Free Dark Chocolate and Dried Plum Energy Bars!
Selena De Vries, RD Talks Gluten Free on a Budget: Healthy Breakfast Swaps
I hear it from clients all the time, “the gluten free diet is expensive.” And, while, there is certainly some truth to that for a minority of products, there are a multitude of ways to stay on budget, while still eating safely and I am excited to share them with you!
Celiac Counsellor Corner – How to Be Mindful When Things Are Tough
When life is challenging – financial woes, illness such as celiac disease, unemployment, divorce, or whatever – it seems hard to live in the present moment.
Selena De Vries, RD Shares 10 Gluten-Free Foods That Always Fill Her Grocery Basket
Ever wonder what is in a celiac dietitian’s grocery cart? Well, now is your chance! These foods are always stocked in our house, making meals easy to throw together with the pantry staples I keep in our cupboard, too (a post for another time).
Let Celiac Disease Motivate You to Be Your Own Ideal Marriage Partner
If you had the ideal marriage partner, how would they support you emotionally? What would it feel like to be married to them?
Selena De Vries, RD Shares Three Simple Strategies to Improve Digestion on the Gluten-Free Diet
On a gluten free diet, but still feel unwell? Tip the scales in favor of better digestion and vitality!
Experimental Blood Test for Celiac Disease May Replace Gluten Challenge & Biopsy
“An experimental blood test accurately identifies people who do, or don’t, have celiac disease, even if they are following gluten-free diets, researchers say.” Will Boggs, MD, Reuters1
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What Are Your Celiac New Year’s Resolutions?
Living with celiac disease is a challenge. It helps to take the time to identify our most painful difficulties and to come up with ways of dealing with them. Now is the perfect time to go through this process, and make Celiac New Year’s Resolutions!
Anxiety, Depression, and the Gut
When gut systems are compromised, the body’s happiness system is damaged, too.
Researchers Produce a Cell Atlas of the Small Intestine
The lining or epithelium of the gut is one of the body’s most diverse and dynamic tissues, an ecosystem of cells that acts as one of the body’s main interfaces with the outside world.
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What to Do When Your Celiac Child Isn’t Invited
THE SITUATION: My celiac child isn’t invited to a party because the party-throwers aren’t willing to make it safe for my child.
MY BELIEF: They should invite my child to the party.
Five Steps to Respecting Ourselves and Others Even When We Feel Like Crap
Celiac disease makes us feel like crap in many ways, and when we feel like crap, it’s easy to behave badly.
You Want to Say YES, but You Need to Say NO
As celiacs, many of our social and emotional issues arise from wanting to say YES, but needing to say NO. We need to learn how to feel comfortable saying NO. Psychologists call this “Drawing Boundaries.” There are lots of long and complicated books about it.
Are Celiac Disease, Autoimmmune Disorders & Trauma Related?
Trauma comes in many forms: it can be ongoing abuse that we experienced as a child, it can be a single horrible incident like an accident or a disaster, it can be a surgery, and so on. There’s even a thing called trans-generational trauma, in which we kind of ‘inherit’ the unresolved issues of our ancestors.
Celiacs: Want to travel but worry about finding safe food?
As a celiac, I find it frightening to go on trips. Will I be able to find safe food? Will I have to go hungry? Will I get ‘glutened’ and have to deal with the illness away from the comfort and privacy of home?
Getting ‘Glutened’ is Going to Happen
Years ago, when I was first diagnosed with celiac disease and was making a lot of mistakes with the gluten-free diet, I used to hide my digestive distress from everyone at work. The work scene, I thought, required me to be perfect. Being sick wasn’t perfect!
What to Do When Being Gluten Free Feels Unfair
One thing that comes up for me over and over as a celiac is the feeling that I shouldn’t have to spend so much time and energy finding something safe to eat. Everyone else just reaches out, grabs something to eat, and carries on with their fast-paced lifestyle. Why can’t I do the same? It’s not fair. I have to search and search while everyone else gets ahead of me and I’m left behind, hungry and cranky and feeling like the victim of an injustice.
Having a Child with Celiac Disease Can Be Difficult for Parents
As parents, we don’t want our children to have a disease … we feel our children’s pain, we want everything to be perfect for them, we fear for their wellbeing. Our celiac kids can sense when their parents are upset about their disease, and they feel bad about it.
How to Find Gratitude in Difficult Celiac Situations
It’s easy to see what not to like about being a celiac – I don’t like packing all my own food in case the available food is cross-contaminated, I don’t like eating a can of cold soup while everyone else is lining up for a buffet that I paid for too, I don’t like going hungry while everyone else is eating pizza, I don’t like saying no to food that people offer me, I don’t like worrying that something delicious I’m eating at a restaurant is possibly poisoning me with each bite, I don’t like facing weeks of debilitating digestive issues after a mistake, and so on.
Self-Care for Celiacs: It’s not Selfish – It’s Necessary
- Imagine yourself as a wheel, rolling along through life. Now that you’re in Celiac Territory, you will encounter all kinds of hazards that can give you a flat!