Updated June 4, 2020
If you read my About Me post, you know that I have celiac disease and have gone through the process to go gluten free. I was diagnosed in February of 2016, and it’s been a long road. Breaking up with gluten is very hard to do! Read my post “A Diagnosis and…the End of Bread?” to learn more about how I was diagnosed and the additional health issues I’ve tackled since then.
After I was diagnosed, I didn’t really get much help from my doctors – their help ended after the endoscopy. I even saw two nutritionists, and they were entirely unhelpful. One simply handed me a list of “ok” foods and “gluten-containing” foods and the other recommended I get Chex cereal and Lean Cuisines (what?!?!).
Nowhere did I find a guide to tell me, step-by-step, what to do. So now I am going to share with you what I learned along the way, in hopes that it may save you some Googling! Here are a few of my tips for getting started.
Educate Thyself
I began with a simple list of “yes” and “no” foods. Gluten is found in wheat, rye, and barley. Simple enough, right? Except that there are also a bazillion code names for those, like malt, spelt, and semolina, and products used in manufacturing that could be derived from gluten, like malto-dextrose. So reading labels, and looking up ingredients if you aren’t sure, is really important. I learned to read labels very closely and look for allergen warnings (“May contain wheat” or “Produced on the same line as wheat products”). I quickly realized that something like peanuts, which should be gluten free, may be processed on the same line that manufactures wheat – which is not okay to eat due to the risk of cross-contamination.
Prevent Cross-Contamination
Say What? Cross-contamination? Yup. For celiacs, even the tiniest crumb of gluten-containing substance can cause an auto-immune reaction. It’s not enough to just eat something that doesn’t inherently contain wheat, like a salad, for example. Celiacs have to make sure the non-gluten ingredients aren’t contaminated with anything containing gluten. That means that if your gluten-eating husband licks a spoon to taste the soup he’s making and puts it back in the pot, the entire meal is now contaminated. If a waiter brings you a salad with croutons by mistake and offers to remove them for you, run far away and insist on a new one (pro tip: keep the old salad at your table to ensure a new one is actually made).
Cross-contamination is no joke. Celiacs who continue consuming gluten (intentionally or not) continue to damage their intestines. Damaged intestines then cause all sorts of issues – nerve pain, joint pain, additional auto-immune diseases, and more. My frame of mind is that if I wanted to take that risk and eat gluten, I would eat a heavenly piece of chocolate cake (or a Taco Bell Crunchwrap, not that I’ve thought about this at length) and thoroughly enjoy it. I don’t want to waste the week of fever, aches, pains, and bloating to come on something accidental that I don’t even get to enjoy.
If you want to learn more about cross-contamination, the Gluten Free Society offers a simple guide to the basics.
Determine If Your Home Will Be Entirely Gluten Free
Many celiacs choose to make their entire home gluten free to avoid any chance of cross-contamination. I have a husband and two small children, and to limit the impact on them, we decided to continue allowing gluten in our home. Instead, I developed a labeling system that I detail below. But you need to decide what makes sense for your family and get everyone on board. Oh, and that includes your pets too. If Fido likes to jump up and lick your face, you may want to switch him to gluten free food too.
If you have little ones, preventing cross-contamination will take some extra care. Kids are, well, sticky messes. And little ones in particular like to give open-mouthed, gluten-filled kisses. Keeping myself safe while welcoming all affection was challenging at first, but I’ve learned to wipe them up quickly after they’ve eaten gluten and I have ninja-like head-turning reflexes when a gluten-filled kiss comes my way. I just have to remember to wipe off my cheek later!
I’ve also learned that some things are worth buying gluten free. In the beginning, pasta was one of those items. My littles got pasta EVERYWHERE, and it stuck to them, the counter, the floor, you name it. So until they were old enough to voice their preference for regular gluten pasta – and keep their food on their plates – I served them only gluten free pasta.
Take Inventory of Your Pantry and Refrigerator
Before I stocked up on my new, gluten free foods, I took inventory of our refrigerator and pantry. Because we decided to let my husband and kids continue eating gluten in our home, I did a few things to make my own “safe space” and make it clear to my husband, who does a lot of our cooking, what I can or can’t eat.
I designated my own shelf in the pantry. Anything I cannot eat was moved to a new area. If it was something that I would normally eat but couldn’t anymore because it contains wheat (like a can of tomato sauce, or a spice), I either threw it out or put a red sticker on it. That way my husband knew he couldn’t use that if he was cooking for me.
Anything both my family and I would normally eat, such as a jar of peanut butter, was moved to the other shelves with red stickers, and I bought fresh jars for myself. I labeled them with my name and put a bright green sticker on them. That way my husband knew, for example, to not make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with my jar of peanut butter, because touching the gluten-filled bread would contaminate the entire jar.
I replaced all condiments with squeeze jars. That way, we could still share things like mayonnaise, mustard, and ketchup because there would be no cross-contamination (providing the mouth of the bottle doesn’t touch the bread).
Replace Kitchen Wares
Due to the cross-contamination risk, it is strongly advised that celiacs replace their kitchen wares. That includes scratched pots, pans, toasters, colanders, and utensils like spatulas. This ensures that any gluten stuck to those scratches or crevices doesn’t manage to contaminate the gluten-free food.
This is where my husband and I disagreed. He felt I was taking it a little too far, but Google confirmed my contamination concerns. Apparently my husband forgot that when I do something, I go all the way. So I did what any slightly perturbed girl would do – I ordered new pots, pans, utensils and a toaster from Amazon, in BRIGHT PINK. That way, he would know that if he’s cooking for me, he needs to use my pretty pink cookware. And, it would always remind him that I was right and he was wrong. I’m all about killing two birds with one stone!
Replace Your Personal Products
Yup, even your personal products need to be gluten free. That includes toothpaste, floss, shampoo, lotion, lip balm, makeup, baby wipes, and other items that may touch your skin or mouth. Why? Well, let me ask you – how many times have you touched your hair or put lotion on, and then popped something in your mouth without thinking to wash your hands? Have you ever gotten shampoo in your mouth in the shower? It’s a pain at first, but you want to ensure you’re ruling out any source of cross-contamination.
Learn How to Eat Out, Safely
With new gluten free foods in the kitchen and new kitchen supplies ordered from Amazon, my next task was to attempt to eat at a restaurant. We went to a quick service pizza place nearby that advertised gluten free crust. I had my speech about cross-contamination all planned out and was feeling very confident. But, full disclosure – I ordered, felt completely burdensome and annoying, and then ran to the bathroom to cry. This was hard. I’m a pretty low-maintenance person and don’t usually speak up in public settings, so being the complicated one at a restaurant was really hard!
To top it all off, I later learned I overlooked a serious source of contamination and could have gotten very sick. While they changed gloves, washed hands, and got out fresh ingredients for me, they used the same pizza sauce and ladle that they used to smear the sauce over all of the gluten-filled crusts. Oops.
Invest in Help to Heal
It will take time to heal, and you may discover you have other celiac-related digestive issues. Your gut may need some extra help in healing, and what you eat will play a critical role in how quickly that occurs. For example, processed gluten free food can be good to replace your favorites on occasion, but it’s really not your friend.
Getting healthy again and losing the digestive issues, brain fog, low energy, skin problems, and joint pain that typically come with celiac disease won’t disappear overnight, and it helps to have someone with you every step of the way. The Happy Gut Reset and Bright Side Transformation programs are excellent ways to jump start your path to feeling amazing.
Summary
If you are just starting out, hopefully these tips have helped you think through a few things you’ll need to work through. You can read my post Eating Out Gluten Free for further guidance on eating out safely. I know it seems daunting at first, but you will learn as you go, and soon it’ll just be life as you know it. But, hopefully a life that leaves you feeling better and healthier – perhaps a life on the Bright Side of Happy (sorry, just couldn’t resist that one!).
Got more questions? Check out my calendar here and let’s find a time to chat!