Discover essential tips for starting a gluten-free lifestyle. Learn about food choices, label reading, and easy meal ideas for beginners.
Embracing a Healthier Lifestyle: Essential Tips for Starting Your Gluten-Free Journey
The first pilot episode features Claire Stuckey, a freelance dietitian who provides insight into the diagnosis process for those transitioning to a gluten-free diet. Understanding the complexities of such a diagnosis is crucial for individuals as they navigate their new dietary restrictions. Claire emphasizes the importance of working with a qualified dietitian to ensure that individuals receive the proper guidance and support throughout this journey.
In her discussion, Claire outlines the specific role that a dietitian plays when someone learns they must adopt a gluten-free lifestyle. She highlights how dietitians can help clients identify safe food options, develop meal plans, and understand nutritional needs. This professional support is vital for maintaining a balanced diet while avoiding gluten, ultimately contributing to better health and well-being.
Embrace a New Culinary Adventure: Your Guide to a Gluten-Free Lifestyle
Welcome to the gluten-free gab, the podcast where we dive into all things gluten-free. Whether you’re living with celiac disease, managing a gluten intolerance, or simply just curious about the gluten-free lifestyle, we’ve got something for you. From a fellow celiac, I’m your host, Amelia Quinn. And.
In each episode, we’ll explore the science, personal stories, and real life emotional challenges of going gluten-free. Whether you’re just starting out your journey or have been in this journey for years, there’s something here for everyone. Joining me today is Cla Stucky, who has been working as a freelance dietician for.
Over 25 years. She specializes in gastrointestinal conditions. So, it is safe to say Cla is an expert in this field when it comes to celiac disease. Welcome, Cla. Um, it’s a pleasure to have you on. Do you want to start by introducing yourself and the kind of services you provide as a dietician? Yeah, brilliant. So I um specialize in.
Anything to do with the gut. So it could be things such as celiac disease, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn’s colitis, um just anything that that affects the digestive system basically. Yes. So anything all gut related basically. All gut related. Yeah. Um so now speaking of that, do you want to talk about what actually is celiac.
Disease? So celiac disease is uh an autoimmune condition. So it’s where gluten gets into your body and it attacks your body and it attacks your digestive system. So it makes it difficult for people with cellet disease to um absorb nutrients due to the damage that gluten can cause to the bowel. So it’s basically your body attacking the.
Nutrients and backing it off basically. Yeah. Attacking itself basically. Yeah. Yeah. A bit like other autoimmune conditions. Yeah. And how does that differ from let’s say a gluten sensitivity or gluten intolerance? Because they’re two completely different things. Yeah, absolutely. And that’s a really important point to to recognize.
That they are two different things. So with celiac disease, you’re getting this damage to your to your body and that can cause some really nasty complications if you carry on eating gluten. But actually with gluten um sensitivity, you don’t get any damage to the gut. So although sufferers can have some horrible symptoms, they’re not any at any risk of.
Disease from it. Exactly. So would you say that it affects them so it doesn’t affect them internally, but let’s say would they get like a rash or what sort of symptoms would they experience from that? Not necessarily. Normally it will be kind of gut symptoms. So things like bloating, um maybe loose stools, um those kind of symptoms. So, it’s still,.
You know, a real condition and it’s still something that that people need to to maybe reduce their gluten intake, but what they need to be aware of is that it’s not going to cause any ill health if they do decide to eat gluten. Whereas in celiac disease, it it’s a little bit more serious. Some people find they can eat a bit of gluten and it, you know, it.
Doesn’t cause them um too much bother. It’s only when they start eating a lot of it. But for celiacs, you know, every crumb needs to be avoided, which is a totally different situation. Yeah. The smallest bit can Yeah. So what must a celiac person actually avoid? Okay, so it’s gluten which is a a protein um and that is found in wheat, rye and barley.
And we do advise most people to avoid um oats that can be contaminated with gluten as well. I think that’s very important to mention because I remember when I was first diagnosed I wasn’t too sure whether to avoid oats and also do you avoid oat milk because is that oats as well? Yeah. So so oat milk is okay because it doesn’t have the protein in.
There. Um, but yeah, and and on a practical level, it is really difficult to avoid gluten because it’s not just the obvious foods like bread and pasta. It’s all those hidden sources of gluten and and that makes it really hard because you spend ages shopping looking at labels. Yeah. And labels, you know, they’re not always clear. They can be.
Really confusing. Um, and you know, a lot of the patients I see, they can be diagnosed quite later on in life, so in their 60s or 70s where perhaps their eyesight isn’t the best. Um, and that makes it really hard for them to read those labels. Yeah, I think that’s another very important point you just mentioned because I’ve so when I was.
Diagnosed, I’ve had it all my life, but um, my parents only decided to look into it when I was about six or seven. Um, so I’ve always grown up thinking that you’re born with it no matter what. So would you say that you can develop it on later in life and what kind of triggers that? Yeah, so no one really knows. Um, so you’ve always got the genetic.
Susceptibility to be a celiac. And you know, it runs in families. One in in 10 people of a celiac will also be celiac. One in 10 relatives. Yeah. Um, so um, no one knows what switches on that gene. Um, and I’ve had people diagnosed in their 90s. Oh, wow. Yeah. And it’s really difficult. If you followed a normal diet for 90 years and then.
Suddenly you’re told to go on a strict gluten-free diet, it’s it’s hard. So what is the typical process for diagnosing a celiac? Yeah. So the most important thing to remember is that you do have to eat gluten to get diagnosed. As soon as you start avoiding gluten, then it’s not going to show up in any blood test or it’s not going to show up.
On any other tests. So you need to keep eating gluten. Um the first thing your doctor would do is is a blood test. It’s called a tissue transcluter blood test or we call it TTG for short or some people just call it the celiac blood test. See, that’s very interesting. So, I didn’t actually know it had a name. Ah, okay. Just a single blood test. I.
Was always just told just to have a blood test. I was never told the actual official name of it. Yeah. And, you know, it’s a bit of a long-winded um name of a blood test that no one’s going to remember anyway. But that’s the first thing. So, a really simple blood test that normally comes back within a week and that will tell you if it’s likely.
Your celiac. Now, some people, it depends on age and it depends on how high that blood test is. Some people need to go on and have something called an endoscopy. Um, so it’s a camera down the throat and then they take a bit of tissue from your bowel and look at it under a microscope and look for features of celiac disease. Not a pleasant.
Procedure, unfortunately. Um, but it’s really important that if you think you’re celiac, um, you go on and have that procedure. Um, and you know, people do get sedation for it, so it does make it that little bit easier to have. Yeah. No, definitely. Because, yeah, when I was younger, that’s So, yeah, I started off by having blood tests. Um and the.
Blood tests were also to see if there was anything else wrong with me. So like low iron as you mentioned. Um I think it was also to test um diabetes and Crohn’s because that is also linked with celiac disease. Yeah, that’s right. Um but yeah, then I was given um an endoscopy and then I went on I think years later I went on to have a colonoscopy as well.
Which is also not something very pleasant but it has got to be done um if you want that official diagnosis. Yeah, it’s got to be done. And normally staff doing those procedures, they’re really good at people putting people at ease and they know what they’re doing. Like they’re trained experts after all. So what does happen to the body when a.
Celiac consumes gluten? So it is where it’s an autoimmune condition, it is basically gluten attacking the body. So um in the small bowel, it’s the bit of bowel just underneath the stomach, you have these villi or they look like fingers basically and their job is to absorb nutrients. But what happens in a celiac when they eat gluten is it.
Damages the villi. So it fights back which yeah it does it fights and and basically you have a flat surface so you don’t have that ability to absorb food as you should do. Yeah. So it’s very important if you are a celiac to avoid. Absolutely. Yeah. So what are the common symptoms people with celiac disease experience? So this is what makes it.
Really hard because you could have a room full of a hundred celiacs and all their symptoms at diagnosis would be really different. So probably most commonly in my experience um people get diagnosed because they see their GP because they feel tired um and then the GP will go on and do investigations from that. But it can be anything. So it.
Could be bowel problems. So some people have constipation, some people have diarrhea, some people might have bloating. Um sometimes we see people with weight loss and then sometimes it’s nothing to do with the bowel at all. So um celiac disease can affect things like your skin, your hair, um it can give you mouth ulcers. Um and then I get some.
People that have this kind of um neurological picture where they get tingling in their fingers and toes or giddiness. Um I’ve had people walk into my clinic room that can’t walk in a straight line and and it’s part of the celiac disease. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. See, I remember. So, every time I’ve had a gluten attack, I’ve it’s all been.
Different. Yeah. Which I think is very interesting. Like sometimes, one time I had a really bad gluten attack. Um I had my whole mouth was full of ulcers. Or I’ve had dermatitis, hepatitis, dermatitis, hepetiform. Let’s just call it DH. Yeah, we’ll just go with that. Um but yeah, so that’s basically um spots all over your arm. Um, I was also given.
A biopsy for that as well when I was younger. Um, and they confirmed that. And that’s a nasty condition because it’s these blistering rash which is really poppable spots. They are Yeah. You pop them and it it’s painful. Yeah. And then it itches. Today’s podcast is proudly supported by Tasty Cakes by Lisa. A huge thank you to Lisa for.
Kindly giving me these delicious pastries right in front of me. Lisa is a talented baker based in the Bournemouth area. You can check out her amazing creations on Facebook at Tasty Cakes by Lisa. So, are there any long-term health complications if a celiac refuses to stick to their diet? Yeah, there are. And it’s really important that that.
People who are diagnosed with celiac disease are aware of some of these complications. So, the biggest one that I see in practice is osteoporosis. And that can be really common in celiacs that either don’t follow the diet or that are diagnosed later on in life. So osteoporosis is where your your bones are more likely to break and that can be.
Quite devastating particularly in older people when they they lose their mobility because of it. Yeah. So that’s something you need to in in younger people then we worry a little bit more about fertility issues. Um so again a lot of people don’t realize that um cellet disease untreated can affect fertility in both males and females and.
Unfortunately in females it can make miscarriage um more likely as well. Um, as well as that, really, it’s just having those nutrient deficiencies that that can make you feel ongoing tired and and more likely to pick up infections. So, particularly if you’re low in iron. Yeah. So, if you do experience any of these symptoms, it’s very important that.
You get it checked out basically to avoid any of these issues happening in the future. I’ve heard a lot of myths about celiac disease. What are the common myths you would say that you’ve heard as a dietician about celiac disease? Yeah. So, the biggest one is it doesn’t come from um people with celiac disease themselves, but more from.
Friends and family. And it’s that thought that a little bit of gluten won’t do you any harm. And I’m sure you’ve heard that yourself. Definitely. Yeah. Um and actually in a celiac, a little bit bit of gluten will do you harm. And that, you know, there’s evidence that even a a crumb here or there could cause damage to your bowel.
And cause ongoing problems. So, you know, we really do advise being strict with it. No, that is very important I think to mention because I’ve definitely been in situations before where my friends are like or like we can’t find anywhere to eat and they’re like oh surely a little bit won’t hurt you but no it is very important that you must.
Stick to your diet after being diagnosed. So as a dietician what role must you play immediately after the diagnosis in helping patients adjust to their diet? Yeah. Yeah. So, it’s it’s really important as a dietitian that you don’t purely just focus on diet, but also focus on the emotional side of it. Um, because a lot of doctors will will.
Use a throwaway comment of you’ve only got celiac disease, just go and follow a gluten-free diet. Just deal with it. Yeah. Absolutely. And they don’t realize, you know, we eat five, six times a day, maybe more than that. So, every single time you’re eating, you’re having to think about it. And it really does affect those social situations as.
Well. So, you know, going to eat out, going to eat around friends houses, it can be quite stressful. Um, and then really it’s counseling about the diet. So, things like food labeling, you know, how do you read food labels? Um, how do you cope with going on holidays? How do you cope with eating out? And just making sure that people are aware of.
Those complications so that they got the motivation to to follow the diet. Exactly. No. Yeah, I think that’s very important cuz I definitely remember I mean I was diagnosed when I was six. So I don’t really remember too much but I do remember being very anxious in like going to kids birthday parties um because obviously this is all very new.
For me as well. And I guess when I was that young I didn’t really understand why I couldn’t eat gluten. What advice would you give someone who suspects they might have celiac disease but has not yet been tested? So the key thing is keep eating gluten even if you feel unwell. it’s really important that you keep eating it. Otherwise, when you do.
Get tested, it’s not going to show up. Um, so that’s the key message. And then there’s two routes that I would go down. The first one is I’d look at um an organization called Celiac UK. Um, and they’ve got a website which is celiac.org.uk and on there they have a questionnaire that you can fill in um and it will screen you to see how likely.
It is that you are celiac. So that’s a really useful tool. But I’d always say if in doubt, go and see your GP um and have a a blood test to see if it is likely that you’re celiac. Finally, where can listeners or viewers find more of your work or connect with you online? Um so I’ve got a website which is the Dorsitian.co.uk. Um and on there there’s.
My contact details. Um so people can email me or phone me and see what kind of services I offer. Thank you very much Claire for coming on. It’s been an absolute pleasure to share the medical side of celiac disease. Um, I wish you all the best for the future and with your journey. Um, if you enjoyed today’s episode, be sure to subscribe, rate, and.
Leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Thanks for tuning in, and I will see you next time on Gluten-Free Gab.
