It’s the end of May, and the end of Celiac Awareness Month.
To wrap up the awareness month, I wanted to share the Celiac Sprue
Association’s (CSA) Gluten Free Self-Management Plan. I followed this plan when
I was diagnosed and switched to a gluten free lifestyle. You can read the CSA’s
plan in detail on their website here: http://www.csaceliacs.info/self_management.jsp
and I recommend that you consult your dietitian before implementing your plan
to discuss with them. This article is meant as a way to share my personal
experience, and hopefully bring more awareness to the CSA as a resource.
Building a solid foundation of a gluten free diet is the
first step of self-management. You’ll want to approach this step after being
diagnosed or if you think you may have some the symptoms of Celiac or gluten
sensitivity. During this stage, you eliminate all food that contain gluten, and
begin learning what foods you can eat, what contains gluten, and any
supplements you may need. It is also a great time to find support groups local
to your area, and to find communities online. When I began, I developed a good dialogue
with my doctors, and looked into local gluten free events where I could join a
community. I also brought gluten free topics into my blog (which at that point
had been a mix of recipes and technology topics).
After your diet and health are under control, you can begin
looking into how to expand your diet. For me I remember this period of time
taking about 6 months before I felt a lot better and was brave enough and comfortable
enough to expand my diet. Six months is what worked for me, but that amount of
time would be different for each person. Discuss with your doctor and use
personal judgment to figure out the best plan for you. Once you’re ready to
expand your diet, you should start learning more about how food is made, and
what is involved in processing food. This is where I got a resource called The Essential Gluten-Free Grocery Guide which was extremely useful when learning what food I could and could not buy
in the grocery store.
Once you have become experienced with expanding your diet, and
feel comfortable with a gluten free lifestyle, this is where you’ll be able to
maintain a diet, and have the ability to experiment with foods as you please.
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