Adapting To Coeliac Disease

I haven't talked much about coeliac disease on the blog lately. But a recent post on the facebook group Coeliac Experiences prompted me to do it today. Someone new to the group had just found out they were coeliac and was looking for advice on adapting to a gluten free diet. So I commented my advice which I'll give here also, but in a bit more detail.
First of all, when you receive a positive blood test, you need to keep eating as you normally would as much as possible until your biopsy so that you don't receive a false negative and end up being diagnosed with a gluten allergy or gluten intolerance rather than full on coeliac disease. Once the diagnosis is confirmed you'll get medical advice and should get an appointment with a dietitian. You need to avoid cross contamination and become a very picky eater, especially if you're living with non-coeliacs. Make sure you have utensils and food prep space separate from others. Clean utensils and prep area before and after preparing food if you're around non-coeliacs. In my experience, the best thing you can do is try to eat unprocessed fruit, vegetables and meat and avoid processed food as much as possible. It's not always easy to do that but nowadays there are plenty of gluten free alternatives to what would be classed as "normal" foods (bread, cereal etc.) but the portions are smaller and the prices are higher. Stay away from anything that has oats in it even if it's labelled gluten free. A coeliac gut cannot handle oats until it is fully healed and then only gradually introduce so-called "gluten free" oats to see if you can tolerate them. Most coeliacs cannot handle oats at all, I'm told. I'm one of them. I don't eat oats. Gut healing can take from six months to a year even without accidental ingestion or cross contamination.
I would advise trying to avoid all grains including corn (maize), sorghum, millet and even rice to help the gut heal and then a gradual reintroduction to see what can and can't be tolerated. Grains have cross reactive proteins similar to the gluten proteins in the grains we coeliacs have to avoid. One of the biggest helps to me from Coeliac Experiences facebook group was when I felt like I'd been glutened but couldn't figure out how and someone suggested that it sounded like a sugar overload to them. That was a revelation and started me using the group as my coeliac support group. Basically too much sugary foods inflame the gut to the point where you think you got glutened even if you didn't.
That's another thing you should do. Get yourself a into support group, whether it be an online one or physically meeting up with other coeliacs. You can build up experience dealing with it and all help each other out with advice from shared experiences. Then you'll cope almost as if you haven't got the disease at all when you get used to it. A support group will make that process easier and quicker.
Another big help for me was giving up dairy. Coeliacs are lactose intolerant in the early stages and the proteins in dairy are sticky like gluten producing a slight inflammatory reaction as well - known as cross reactivity, which I mentioned with grains earlier. Dietitians in Ireland, in my experience, will tell you that you need dairy for calcium but we are actually biologically evolved to live without dairy after we've been weaned. Cruciferous, leafy green vegetables are a good source of calcium. There is a little bit of dairy in my diet because certain foods might have a minor dairy ingredient but I don't drink milk or eat things like ice cream or cheese. I have a low dairy tolerance as long as I'm not eating specifically dairy products. I use ghee alright in cooking sometimes but that's mainly the fat from butter with the protein and sugar mostly eliminated. The fat is ok as part of a healthy diet. It's the protein and sugar (lactose) that are tough on the gut. Anyway, like other stuff, eliminate it early and when you start to feel better reintroduce it gradually. If, as with other reintroductions, you find you can't tolerate it even after a healed gut just leave it out and look for a healthy alternative if you can.
I should stress that when you are shopping for food you need to read the ingredients and labels of EVERY packaged food you get BEFORE purchasing them. A "free from" aisle in a shop or supermarket doesn't necessarily mean gluten free. It can also have food that is dairy free or sugar free yet still be harmful to coeliacs because of containing grains or being cross contaminated at the place it's produced. I bought a product one time, read the ingredients and allergens before purchase and there was nothing unsafe listed. I got home and read the rest of the label and noticed something on the opposite end of the label to the ingredients and allergens. It said it was produced in an area that handles grains containing gluten. Luckily I didn't open the product so I was able to take it back and get a refund. If it doesn't say gluten free on the packet it's best not to buy it. If in doubt, leave it out!
Don't eat out until you've got used to a gluten free diet. Then research places and ask for advice from other coeliacs before you eat out. Eventually you'll have a few trustworthy places that you can go to with friends. A smart establishment knows that if a group of people contains a coeliac and went to their place, it's most likely the coeliac that chose their place because it's safe. It's good business for them to attract as many customers as possible, so they do well to cater for coeliacs.
It's a lot to take in but if you stick with it you'll be a lot healthier and living a normal life in a relatively short time. You'll get used to it and get into a routine of knowing what you can and can't eat. Eventually the only times you'll be conscious of it is when you're grocery shopping, around other people with food, eating out and discussing your health with a medical professional. You'll be doing everything as normal apart from that. Coeliac disease is controlled by diet and lifestyle. You don't have to take any medication for it. So, as autoimmune diseases go, it's not the worst one to get. One more piece of advice before I go. Try to focus on what you can eat as much as possible to try and avoid getting overwhelmed by what can't eat.