A Celiac Awareness Challenge

In honor of Celiac Disease Awareness Month, I’m writing a mini post each day with information related to Celiac Disease. Today’s post contains a CHALLENGE for you to share with those who do not have to eat a medically necessary gluten-free diet. 

Today’s post was inspired by something I saw on Instagram. “You make Celiac your WHOLE LIFE.” Someone said this to Casey Cromwell of CollegeCeliacKC. Give her post a visit for context and then follow her for fun and informative gluten-free content. 

Her post had me thinking about how Celiac disease really does impact our WHOLE LIFE. Because food is our only medication, because we have to eat to stay alive, we are thinking about our often.

Here is my challenge for those who can eat gluten:

Just for today, try this: 

1. Each time you have a meal or a snack, before you eat a single bite, stop and ask yourself if the food gluten-free? How would you know if it’s gluten-free? Could there be any chance whoever prepared it didn’t take seriously the request to make it gluten-free? Is the label on the food accurate? This is every meal for us. One bite on the end of our fork can make us sick for days and exacerbate long-term health issues. 
2. Every time someone says, “Hey, wanna grab a coffee?” or “Jane brought in donuts, they are in the break room,” pause for a moment and think about how challenging this is for someone with Celiac disease. Many specialty coffee drinks aren’t safe for us. Shared snacks at work and school are rarely something we can enjoy. 
3. When you reach for your daily medication, vitamin, afternoon headache remedy, think about whether it contains gluten. How would you find out? We spend hours trying to be certain medications are gluten-free and can’t easily get an answer on prescription medications. 
4. Any time you think about food today, any time you see a commercial or a billboard for food today, think about whether or not it is gluten-free. Food is everywhere!

While Celiac disease isn’t one’s whole life and doesn’t define those of us who have to eat a gluten-free diet, it is a major part of life. It is time-consuming, it can be expensive, it doesn’t allow for a lot of spontaneity. It can cause social isolation. It does have an impact on our whole life. 

Thanks for giving this challenge above a try. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this issue!