Articles & Guides
Practical wisdom for navigating celiac disease, from newly diagnosed basics to Catholic Communion guidance.
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Budget Gluten-Free Living: Strategies That Work
Gluten-free doesn't have to mean broke. Real strategies for eating well without overspending.
How Celiac Disease Works: An Accessible Explanation
The immune system, the intestine, the genes, a clear explanation of what's actually happening in your body.
All Articles
The Endoscopy Experience
What to expect before, during, and after an upper endoscopy for celiac disease, from someone who's been there.
The Hotel Breakfast Challenge
How to navigate the continental breakfast, the buffet, and the restaurant breakfast when traveling with celiac.
The Celiac Household Divide
Managing a home where some people have celiac and others don't, the practical and emotional challenges.
When Fasting Feels Impossible
Navigating Lenten fasting and abstinence when your food options are already so limited.
Building Your GF Pantry
The essential staples to keep on hand for easy, safe gluten-free cooking at any time.
The Invisible Labor of Celiac
The mental load of constant vigilance that no one else sees, and how to acknowledge it.
Eating Safe at Weddings
How to navigate the reception dinner, the cake, and the dancing without getting glutened.
The Lipstick Question
Can gluten in cosmetics harm you? What the science says about skin contact and celiac disease.
Seasonal GF Eating Guide
The best naturally gluten-free foods for each season, and how to build your year around them.
Celiac Disease: Children vs. Adults
How the disease presents and progresses differently at different ages.
Finding Thankfulness Despite Celiac
Gratitude feels complicated when you've lost so much. Here's how to cultivate it authentically.
Friends Who Get It (And How to Find Them)
The value of friendships that accommodate your celiac, and how to cultivate them.
GF Living on the Go
For busy people who don't have time to cook every meal, strategies for eating safely with a hectic schedule.
Talking to Your Therapist About Celiac
How to help your mental health provider understand what you're dealing with, even if they've never heard of celiac disease.
Theme Parks with Celiac Disease
How to eat safely at Disney, Universal, and other theme parks without missing the magic.
Spiritual Communion: A Complete Guide
When you can't receive the Eucharist sacramentally, the tradition, the prayers, and the reality of spiritual reception.
Deep Cleaning Your Kitchen for Celiac Safety
A thorough guide to eliminating gluten from surfaces, appliances, and equipment.
Refractory Celiac Disease
When the gluten-free diet doesn't heal you, what it means and what to do.
What to Expect in Your First Year
A month-by-month guide to the healing process, lifestyle adjustments, and emotional journey ahead.
Marriage and Celiac Disease
The partnership of managing a chronic illness together, what helps and what hurts.
GF Products Worth Trying
My recommendations for gluten-free products that actually taste good, bread, pasta, snacks, and more.
Summer Camp with Celiac Disease
How to prepare your child (or yourself) for camp when you can't control the kitchen.
Celebrating Catholic Feast Days with Celiac
How to observe the liturgical calendar when food traditions don't work for you.
What to Do After You Get Glutened
Recovery strategies for when exposure happens, because it will happen despite your best efforts.
Celiac and Identity
When a disease becomes part of who you are, finding balance between acknowledgment and over-identification.
Silent Celiac Disease
When you have celiac but don't feel symptoms, why it matters and why the diet still applies.
Raising an Independent Teen with Celiac
How to help your teenager take ownership of their celiac management, and let go as a parent.
The Grieving Process
Diagnosis means loss. Here's how to grieve what celiac takes away, and eventually move forward.
Finding Safe Restaurants Anywhere
Apps, strategies, and questions to ask when you need to eat out in an unfamiliar place.
The Anointing of the Sick and Chronic Illness
Can you receive the Anointing of the Sick for celiac disease? What the sacrament means for chronic conditions.
Surviving Potlucks and Buffets
The highest-risk eating situation, how to navigate church potlucks, family gatherings, and communal food.
Kitchen Organization for GF Safety
How to organize your kitchen to minimize cross-contamination and make safe cooking effortless.
Celiac Screening: Who Should Get Tested?
Risk factors, symptoms, and when testing makes sense, even without classic symptoms.
When Your Parish Won't Accommodate
What to do when the priest doesn't care, the EMHC doesn't know, and you feel invisible at your home church.
Business Travel with Celiac Disease
Conferences, client dinners, and work trips, how to navigate professional eating without derailing your career or your health.
Celiac Disease and Anxiety
The hypervigilance of constant food monitoring, and how to manage anxiety without compromising safety.
Hosting GF-Safe Gatherings
How to throw a party, host a dinner, or plan an event where the celiac can actually eat.
Building Your Medical Team
The doctors, dietitians, and specialists you need, and how to find ones who actually understand celiac.
Emergency GF Meal Ideas
What to make when you're tired, the fridge is bare, and you just need something safe to eat.
Why Antibody Tests Matter
Understanding tTG-IgA, EMA, and the blood tests that diagnose and monitor celiac disease.
Celiac Disease and Catholic Fasting
How to observe Lent, Ember Days, and other fasts when you already have so many food restrictions.
The Condiment Problem
Jars of peanut butter, shared butter dishes, and everything else that gets contaminated by double-dipping.
Cruise Ship Survival Guide
How to navigate all-you-can-eat buffets, specialty restaurants, and room service when you're stuck on a ship.
Body Image After Diagnosis
Weight changes, healing bodies, and making peace with how celiac has changed you physically.
Explaining Celiac to Young Children
How to help kids understand why you (or they) can't eat what everyone else eats.
The Ultimate GF Travel Snack Guide
What to pack, what travels well, and how to never be caught hungry and without safe food.
The Microbiome Connection
How celiac disease affects your gut bacteria, and what (if anything) you can do about it.
How to Track Your Symptoms
A practical guide to food journaling, symptom tracking, and figuring out what's still making you sick.
Dining Safely at Friends' Homes
How to handle dinner invitations without offending your hosts or making yourself sick.
Going on Retreat with Celiac Disease
How to navigate silent retreats, Catholic conference meals, and parish weekends when you have dietary restrictions.
Gluten-Free Baking Basics
How GF baking is different, which flours to use, and how to make things that actually taste good.
Latest Research: Potential Future Treatments
What's in the pipeline for celiac disease treatment, beyond the gluten-free diet.
International Travel with Celiac Disease
Navigating language barriers, unfamiliar cuisines, and finding safe food abroad.
Celiac Disease and Depression
The connection between celiac and mental health, why it happens and what to do about it.
When Your Spouse Doesn't Get It
What to do when your partner doesn't fully understand, or support, your celiac needs.
Your First Holidays with Celiac
Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, how to navigate family food traditions when everything has changed.
Restaurant Red Flags
Warning signs that a restaurant doesn't really understand gluten-free, and when to walk out.
Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity: What We Know
It's not celiac disease, but it might be real. The science on NCGS and what it means.
Confession and the Celiac Experience
The intersection of scrupulosity, food anxiety, and the sacrament of reconciliation.
Road Trip Essentials for Celiacs
What to pack, where to stop, and how to road trip without starving or getting sick.
When People Don't Believe You
How to handle skeptics, eye-rollers, and people who think celiac is "just a trend."
Eating Gluten-Free on a Budget
GF specialty products are expensive. Here's how to eat well without breaking the bank.
Navigating School with a Celiac Child
Lunch room, class parties, field trips, and the constant vigilance, a guide for parents.
Celiac and Other Autoimmune Diseases
Why having celiac increases your risk for other autoimmune conditions, and what to watch for.
Reading Labels: A Masterclass
Everything you need to know about food labels, allergen statements, and what's actually hiding in your food.
Vacation Rentals: Kitchen Decontamination Guide
How to make an Airbnb or VRBO kitchen safe enough to use, and what to bring with you.
The Shared Toaster Problem
Why your toaster might be making you sick, and what to do about it in your kitchen or someone else's.
The Minutes Before Communion
When your heart races during the Eucharistic prayer, not from devotion, but from anxiety about what comes next.
Meal Prep Strategies That Actually Work
How to set yourself up for a week of safe, easy eating without spending your whole Sunday cooking.
Intestinal Damage and Healing: What's Actually Happening
The science of what gluten does to celiac intestines, and how long healing really takes.
The Angry Phase
It's normal to be furious about celiac disease. Here's what to do with that anger.
Grandparents Who Keep Forgetting
When the people who love your kids can't seem to remember they can't eat bread. How to handle it without damaging relationships.
Explaining Celiac to Coworkers
How much to share at work, handling office food culture, and what to do about the well-meaning colleague who keeps offering you cake.
Airline Meals: What Actually Works
The reality of flying gluten-free, which airlines try, which don't, and why I always pack my own food.
Certified GF vs Naturally GF: Making Choices
When to trust a plain ingredient vs when to look for certification, and what the labels really mean.
The Genetics of Celiac Disease
Why celiac runs in families, what HLA-DQ2 and DQ8 mean, and whether your kids will have it.
Finding Meaning in Restriction
When you can't eat what everyone else eats, can limitation become something more than loss?
Invisible Gluten: Hidden Sources You're Missing
The surprising places gluten hides, beyond the obvious bread and pasta.
Dating with Celiac Disease
When to tell them, how to handle restaurant dates, and what it means if they don't take it seriously.
When Your Spouse Doesn't Get It
Navigating celiac disease when your partner doesn't fully understand, or doesn't seem to care.
Road Trip Snacks and Rest Stop Survival
How to eat safely on long drives when your options are gas stations and fast food chains.
Cruises and Celiac: Complete Planning Guide
How to have a safe and enjoyable cruise with celiac disease, from booking to disembarkation.
Building Your Go-Bag: Always Be Prepared
The snacks, supplies, and backup food that should travel with you everywhere.
Meal Prep for the Celiac Kitchen
How batch cooking can save your sanity, less daily cooking, more safe food ready when you need it.
Associated Conditions: What Else to Watch For
Celiac disease doesn't travel alone. Here are the conditions it's linked to and what to monitor.
Refractory Celiac Disease: When Healing Stalls
What happens when the diet isn't working, understanding refractory celiac and what to do about it.
The Spirituality of Suffering with Chronic Illness
Making meaning from celiac disease, not by pretending it's good, but by finding what can be redeemed.
Holiday Hosting: Making Everyone Safe and Happy
How to host gatherings where the celiac can actually eat, without making everyone else feel like they're at a hospital cafeteria.
Gluten-Free in Spain: Tapas and Beyond
How to navigate Spanish cuisine with celiac disease, from safe tapas to regional specialties.
Restaurant Cross-Contact: Questions to Ask
Exactly what to ask servers and chefs to determine if a restaurant can actually keep your food safe.
Toasters, Colanders, and Cutting Boards: What to Replace
A practical guide to which kitchen equipment can be cleaned and which needs to go after a celiac diagnosis.
Reading Labels: The Complete Guide
How to decode food labels like a pro, what to look for, what to avoid, and what the fine print really means.
Budget Gluten-Free Living: Strategies That Work
Gluten-free doesn't have to mean broke. Real strategies for eating well without overspending.
Celiac vs Gluten Sensitivity: The Real Differences
They're often confused, but they're not the same. Here's what distinguishes celiac disease from non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
How Celiac Disease Works: An Accessible Explanation
The immune system, the intestine, the genes, a clear explanation of what's actually happening in your body.
Anxiety Around Eating: When It Becomes a Problem
Vigilance is necessary. But when does careful become anxious? And what do you do when food feels scary?
The Grief of Gluten: Processing Food Loss
Why losing bread can feel like losing a friend, and how to mourn what you've lost so you can move forward.
The Teenage Celiac: Navigating Peer Pressure
When fitting in matters more than anything, helping teens manage celiac disease without losing themselves.
Raising a Celiac Child: Ages and Stages
How the challenges evolve as your celiac kid grows, from toddler tantrums over food to teen independence.
Airline Food: Requesting Safe Meals
How to navigate the confusing world of airline special meals, what to request, what to expect, and what to bring anyway.
Celiac Travel: Italy Without the Anxiety
Yes, the land of pasta and bread is actually one of the best places in the world for celiacs. Here's how to do it right.
The Shared Kitchen Survival Guide
Living with gluten-eaters without constantly getting sick, practical systems that actually work.
Cross-Contact vs Cross-Contamination: Why Words Matter
The terminology debate isn't just pedantic, it affects how people understand and take your needs seriously.
The Healing Timeline: What to Expect Month by Month
A realistic look at physical and emotional healing after diagnosis, when to expect improvement and when to worry.
Understanding Your Blood Tests and Biopsy
What the numbers mean, what a positive diagnosis looks like, and what follow-up testing to expect.
Finding a Celiac-Literate Doctor
What to look for in a doctor who actually understands celiac disease, and when to find a new one.
The Pantry Rebuild: Essential GF Staples
A practical shopping list for restocking your kitchen after the purge, what to buy first and what to skip.
Telling Your Family: Scripts and Strategies
How to explain celiac disease to parents, siblings, spouses, and kids, and what to do when they don't get it.
The Emotional Stages of Celiac Diagnosis
Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance, and the strange loop of going through them all again.
Week One: The Kitchen Purge Checklist
A room-by-room, item-by-item guide to making your kitchen safe after a celiac diagnosis.
Your First 24 Hours After Diagnosis
What to do, and what not to do, in the immediate aftermath of a celiac diagnosis.
Wedding Planning: Communion at Your Catholic Wedding
How to handle Eucharistic logistics when the bride or groom has celiac disease, without letting it overshadow your day.
Confirmation and Celiac: What Everyone Should Know
Preparing a teen for Confirmation when they have celiac disease, plus guidance for sponsors and catechists.
Grief and Grace: When You Can't Receive Anymore
For those who can't receive either species safely, finding meaning when Communion becomes impossible.
The Anxiety That Starts Before Communion
When the peace and rhythm of Mass gets interrupted by a knot in your stomach, and how to find your way back to peace.
The Look You Get Going to the Cup Alone
On being the person who skips the host line and walks straight to the Precious Blood, and learning not to care.
When They Don't Have Any Today
What to do when you ask for a low-gluten host and the parish says they're out, and how to handle the moment gracefully.
EMHC Training: Handling Low-Gluten Hosts Properly
A guide for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion on safely handling low-gluten hosts and serving parishioners with celiac disease.
First Communion with Celiac Disease: A Parent's Guide
Everything parents need to know about preparing a child with celiac disease for First Holy Communion, from talking to the parish to the big day.
Low-Gluten Hosts: Complete Guide to Approved Options
Everything you need to know about low-gluten Communion hosts, what they are, where to get them, and how to use them safely at Mass.
Setting Up a Pyx System at Your Parish
A practical guide for parish staff on establishing a reliable system for low-gluten host storage, handling, and distribution.
Talking to Your Priest: A Script That Works
Exactly what to say when approaching your parish about celiac Communion accommodations, with scripts, tips, and what to expect.
Traveling Catholic: Finding Celiac-Friendly Parishes
How to receive Communion safely when you're away from your home parish, tips for vacation, business travel, and pilgrimage.
The Theology of Receiving Under One Species
Why receiving Communion under bread alone or wine alone is theologically complete, you're not getting less of Christ.
Understanding Mustum: When Wine Isn't an Option
What mustum is, when it's permitted, and how to request it if you can't receive regular Communion wine.
What the Vatican Actually Says About Celiac and Communion
A clear guide to official Church documents on celiac disease accommodations, what's permitted, what's required, and what the documents actually say.