Has your friend just been diagnosed with celiac disease?  A diagnosis of celiac can be overwhelming at first and can make so many food related activities off limits or require a lot of pre planning, making the experience more stressful than enjoyable.

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.”

Food related events outside of the home, especially at the onset of diagnosis, can be anxiety provoking.  In fact, did you know, that a diagnosis of depression and/or anxiety is commonly associated with celiac disease?

Not only is the individual still learning what gluten free entails, they now have to think about navigating this diet with someone else preparing the food, which is next to impossible.  And, let alone, stressful!

Think about it like comparing celiac (a condition that medically requires a gluten free diet) to a peanut allergy.  Would you want a friend to cook for you who has a mediocre knowledge on managing a peanut allergy (potentially risking anaphylaxis)? Likely not.  Same answer for gluten free.

Our friends may have the best intentions to make a meal gluten free, but unless they have been thoroughly educated on cross contamination and reading labels, it is very unlikely that they will be able to prepare a safe meal for a celiac (read – please do not attempt!).

Eating out in a restaurant is another hurdle that a celiac has to climb.  Imagine going from ordering whatever you want, whenever you want to having to basically interrogate the server on safe kitchen practices for allergens and asking for ingredient lists on food items.  Sound overwhelming?  It is.  And, it is even more so for someone who is newly diagnosed because they still need to learn to identify risky foods in restaurants and learn the correct questions to ask to reduce the risk of cross contamination.

There are even individuals who have years of a celiac diagnosis on their belt and still experience a mountain of stress when considering food invitations outside of the home.  Because we all have to eat three meals a day, food and, more importantly, safe gluten free food is always on the mind of celiacs, 24/7, 365 days out of the year.  It can be exhausting.

So, sometimes, it’s nice to forget about it.  And the activities below take food out of the equation so your celiac friend can forget about their diagnosis, if only for a few hours.

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