Guest Post: Gluten Intolerance-It's Not The End Of The World

Gluten Intolerance – It’s Not the End of the World

Being diagnosed with any sort of food intolerance is rough, but being diagnosed with gluten intolerance can seem almost unbearable when you first get the news. Gluten lurks around in an unimaginable amount of foods. Cutting so much out of your diet can be overwhelming at first, but the side effects of ingesting gluten can be even worse. Luckily, companies all over are becoming more sensitive to food intolerances such as gluten intolerance every day, making it easier to overcome this hurdle.

For starters, being diagnosed with this food sensitivity (or any food sensitivities really) is just one small obstacle that life throws at you and needs to be dealt with as such. No matter which version of gluten intolerance you have, be it Celiac’s Disease or wheat sensitivity, it is going to be a major adjustment.

"You're going to be on this diet for life, and it has to be extremely strict. Even crumbs can turn on the autoimmune process typical of celiac disease. If you make a mistake with celiac disease, you pay the price on the spot, but there can be a cumulative price, too," explains AlessioFasano, M.D., medical director of the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research, in Baltimore

After going through the initial phase of being upset over the diagnosis, use this as an opportunity to branch out. This is the perfect time to spend some time in the kitchen getting acquainted with new recipes and testing out your culinary skills. There are hundreds of food blogs and websites out there dedicated to a gluten free lifestyle that showcase recipes to rival old standby favorites.

You have to realize though, that while you may be able to recreate classic lasagna into a gluten free one, the tastes will be different. Different doesn’t necessarily mean bad though – and it’s important to recognize that or tell your family that if it is a family member or child battling the intolerance. Any contact that someone dealing with gluten intolerance has can be painful.

However, finding gluten free products at the grocery store is becoming easier by the day, and a lot of grocery stores have full aisles dedicated to products bearing a “gluten free” label. Regular products that are naturally gluten free are starting to boast “gluten free” labels as well.

While being diagnosed with gluten sensitivity is never an ideal situation, it can be used as a time to readjust in life. Instead of viewing it as something that is hindering you or a loved one, use it as a time to grow together and discover new ways of life.

Author Bio

This Guest post is by Christine Kane from internet service providers, she is a graduate of Communication and Journalism. She enjoys writing about a wide-variety of subjects for different blogs. She can be reached via email at: Christi.Kane00 @ gmail.com

Guest Post: The Adaptive First Eucharist Preparation Kit

Guest Post by 

Mercedes and David Rizzo

One Saturday evening 5 years ago, we were sitting in the pew with our four children at Mass. During the consecration, the priest held up the host and repeated the words of Jesus: “Take this all of you and eat.” The word “all” resonated in the spacious church and we realized that our 7-year-old daughter Danielle, who has autism, was certainly part of that “all.” But as we fixed our eyes on the consecrated bread and wine, we were both praying God in heaven; don’t let her spit it out.

Fortunately, when the time came a few minutes later for Danielle to receive her First Holy Communion, our prayers were answered. Danielle received the precious Body of Christ reverently. Kneeling together in silence, our family shared this very special moment in our daughter’s life, a moment we thought might never happen.

But our story didn’t begin that August evening. When Danielle was 4, she was diagnosed with autism, a neurological condition that affects language, social interaction, and behavior. Danielle is non-verbal and we realized early on that for her to receive the gifts of the sacraments she would require a different approach than what’s used for most children, including her two older brothers.

Like many children with autism, Danielle is a visual learner and uses a picture-based language to communicate. Therefore, she needed a visual, picture-based approach to learn what was needed in order to be ready to receive her sacraments. She prepared for her First Holy Communion using a variety of homemade teaching tools. With this approach, she was able to satisfy the bishops’ requirements of distinguishing the consecrated host from ordinary food and receiving communion reverently. We were so proud of her!

Some time after this, our son Brendan, a Boy Scout, was nearing the rank of Eagle. As part of this process, he had to organize and implement a special project. He remembered how we had prepared Danielle for her First Communion and told us that other parents “should not have to reinvent the wheel.”

Therefore, for his Eagle Scout Project, he developed a special needs resource library in our parish to be used by children who might require special approaches to prepare for their sacraments. Out of this we put together additional materials that ultimately became The Adaptive First Eucharist Preparation Kit, now available through Loyola Press.

This brings us back to the words of Jesus quoted at the beginning of our story: “Take this all of you and eat.” We believe that Jesus was reaching out to all people everywhere, including people with cognitive and developmental disabilities. We believe strongly that Jesus meant to include all God’s children and that is why we are so excited to see the Adaptive First Eucharist Kit available as a resource to help this all become a reality.

For more information on The Adaptive First Eucharist Preparation Kit, click here.