What positive things has Coeliac Disease taught you? List your top 3.

[FionaGFG]

After a while on a gluten free diet can you reflect and list your top 3 things that you've learnt, discovered, managed, changed as a result the diagnosis? i.e. have you explored foods you wouldn't normally eat? Have you ditched the Free From aisle products for eating naturally gluten free? Have you adopted more exercise and a better understanding of healthy food? Do you now cook when you were the Ready Meal King or Queen of simple shopping before diagnosis? Has having Coeliac Disease made you take more responsibility for your health and push your GP to help you with other conditions / health problems you have? Have you ditched a 'last minute Annie' lifestyle to a forward planning approach so you arrive places on time and phone ahead so you know what you can eat that's gluten free? Do you now take pleasures in discovering new local indy restaurants that can cater gluten free? Have you found new friends online?

[ThatPandaGirl]

First and foremost, 10 years on I am so much more in charge of my health and my body. Coeliac disease has sent a lot of health problems my way, and post CD I am a lot worse off from a health perspective but coeliac has taught me to handle it all in a way I never could have before. It taught me that I know my body and persist when I know something isn't right.

Secondly coeliac has taught me who my friends are. Those who thought I was faking it before diagnosis and those who don't even try to understand or accommodate me now (coincidentally there is some overlap) no longer feature as main parts if at all in my life and those who do their best to help me are much closer to me now. It has also brought me a lovely wealth of new online and IRL friends.

Thirdly coeliac diagnnosis sparked a chain of events in my life that have left me much happier and much more settled.

[pretender]

1. We have learned where ingredients are sourced by origin to give a varied diet.

2. We go by what the body says, a reaction means leave alone

3. If it says Gluten Free leave alone, if its Gluten/Wheat Free check ingredients.

4.If these diets do not solve my problems continue eliminating foods, drinks & medications there is always an answer

5.When it comes to personal health who knows best? we are not all the same and not textbook.

[barny]

be sure to read all lables and dont by procesed foods make a lot my self been celiec 3years now but find it easey now at first was hard

[Hidden]

1 It made me realise my diet was terrible.

2 It made me realise that I couldn't pronounce most of the ingredients in 'gluten free' food let alone work out whether they were good for me.

3 It made me interested in finding out what is healthy food and realise a lot of official advice is a bit suspect which is probably why I developed CD in the first place.

[Andrea-LifeAfterBread]

1. It taught me to trust my own instincts about my own body and life.

2. It has led me to eat an amazingly varied, tastier, healthier array of foods and taught me so much about how we are misled by the food giants and govt as to what REALLY is healthy food.

2. It has ultimately led me to a completely different and much happier career as a health coach, where I often get to help other people 'leapfrog' a lot of the steps I had to go through to get to the stages of properly healing from gluten damage and moving on to REALLY living life!

I can honestly say that if my fairy godmother came along today and told me she could wave her magic wand and whooooosh away my gluten intolerance, I would happily have her grant that! BUT I would never go back to eating gluten grains, knowing the damage they can cause.

[SilverDreamMachine]

1. Provided me with an education of what the body needs and doesn`t need re diet.

2. Medical knowledge in this specialist area is in its infancy. So always trust your own judgement and don`t be afraid to make waves if you think the battle is worth it.

3. To try and not make my condition become the centre of my life. In other words manage it whilst trying to live a normal life.

[Hidden]

For me there is one outstanding advantage and that's I get a buzz out of feeling well and this is whoosh way above the heads of most non coeliac wheaties.

I guess the second is that I'm more aware of the importance of a healthy life style and thirdly I'm very aware of the importance of healthy eating even tho' I ate wholefoods when diagnosed.

But having a sense of well being is priceless.