DC Metro Celiac Organization: Tips for Gluten-Free Living

Celiac Disease & Gluten-Free Diet Videos

Finding out you have Celiac Disease is a big transition. Often it’s a good one that leads to feeling great, yet initially it’s a lot of information to take in at once to understand what you need to do for your health. Much of it is because we’re been eating one way for 15, 30, 50 or more years and it can be overwhelming to to instantly unlearn everything we’ve done and change overnight. Wouldn’t life be easier if you could take a doctor or dietitian home as a portable reminder of the basics? And so the Celiac Disease Video Project was born. This page includes videos of Dr. John Snyder, Chief of the Department of Gastroenterology at CNMC in DC; Dr. Gary Kaplan, Medical Director of Kaplan Center for Integrative Medicine; and Cheryl Harris, MPH, RD Registered Dietitian and Nutritionist discussing testing, diagnosis and follow-up, eating a gluten-free diet and a short segment on non-celiac gluten intolerance.

www.harriswholehealth.com/celiac-disease-video-project

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(Use this link to download the following Gluten-Free 101 Guide!)

Gluten-Free 101: 10 Tips for People Newly Diagnosed with Celiac Disease
By Sandra Robins

Locate a celiac support group using this list (www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/groups/groupsus.html) and this directory (http://celiacgroups.com) and join the group.
Establish online support through celiac and gluten free yahoo groups, Gluten Free Faces, twitter, blogs, and Examiners. For the latest gluten free news and many links to celiac resources, visit and subscribe to Gluten Free Optimist (my blog: www.glutenfreeoptimist.blogspot.com) and About.com Celiac Disease by Nancy Lapid (http://celiacdisease.about.com/bio/Nancy-Lapid-33948.htm).
Purchase essential books, including a grocery guide (Triumph Dining www.triumphdining.com/ or Cecelia’s Marketplace www.ceceliasmarketplace.com, or Clan Thompson www.celiacsite.com) and a general celiac book. Three good books recommended by many are Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide by Shelley Case, The First Year by Jules Shepard and Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic by Dr. Peter Green. Dr. Green’s book has 55 five star reviews on Amazon and a revised and updated version will be available January 26, 2010. (All at Amazon)
Download the Celiac Survival Guide written by the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. www.celiaccentral.org/Resources/Support-for-Patients/Getting-Started-with-Celiac-Disease/112/
Buy the necessary items to avoid cross-contamination in your home kitchen, including a dedicated gluten free toaster, pots, pans, cooking utensils, bakeware, and condiments.
Read reviews of gluten free products on Amazon, the Gluten Free Mall, and blogs to find recommendations. Gluten Free Food Reviews is an excellent blog. Also, many bloggers list favorite foods on their blogs. (A list of members’ favorite websites and members’ blogs is on www.dcceliacs.com.)
Locate restaurants by purchasing the Triumph Dining restaurant guide (www.triumphdining.com) or use online resources such as the WACSSG Yahoo Group database, the Celiac Handbook (www.celiachandbook.com) and the Gluten Free Travel Site (www.glutenfreetravelsite.com/index.php).
Use the Gluten Free Recipe Search engine to search gluten free recipes from many blogs (www.google.com/cse/home?cx=002292927902074388316%3A-ha1hc2z12k)
In addition to food, check that your vitamins, medication, hand lotion, lip balm, lipstick, and anything that comes in contact with your mouth is gluten free. (WACSSG has a list of GF medicines on our website: www.dcceliacs.com.)
Assemble a good gluten-free flour blend from cooking blogs or cookbooks or purchase all-purpose flour blends such as Jules Gluten Free and Domata Living Flour.

This article originally appeared in the Gluten Free Examiner: www.examiner.com/x-5121-DC-Gluten-Free-Examiner~y2010m1d12-Gluten-free-101-10-Tips-for-people-newly-diagnosed-with-celiac-disease?cid=examiner-email

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Gluten-Free Food Additives

Reading food labels can be quite a cumbersome process, especially with all of the additives in food to help prolong shelf life. To help you and your family have an easier time finding safe foods at your local grocery store, the Children’s National Medical Center’s Celiac Disease Program created this list of food additives that are safe for people on a gluten-free diet (click here for a printable version). Unless otherwise noted on the food item label, these additives are considered gluten-free: 