Emily L BPS

All the foods that coeliac’s can’t eat are wheat, rye, barley and oats. The food that replaces these foods are corn, rice and nuts. My favourite gluten free meal would probably be my mum’s roast lamb, zucchini slice and spaghetti with meat! My favourite dessert is probably banana splits with ice cream and gluten free topping and sprinkles. 

Other yummy things I like are foods such as the muffins and cakes that I make, plus slices that we make from cook books. I used to find the diet really hard to follow, but now after being on the diet for four years, it seems really simple. All that you have to worry about is making sure you know what ingredients you can and can’t have as well as trying to stop cross-contamination as much as possible. It is really simple once you know how to do it.

Some interesting facts about coeliac disease are:

• a symptom of coeliac disease, is that you can gain or loose weight easily
• a symptom of coeliac disease is being really tired and not wanting to do anything except rest
• the only cure for coeliac disease, is going on a gluten free diet
• you are born with coeliac disease
•  you don’t know that you have coeliac disease until the symptoms start
• coeliac disease is a genetic condition
• you must live on a gluten free diet for your whole life

After all the troubles that we had with my brother and I, my mum decided to write a children’s picture book on my brother’s and my journey to better to health and happiness, showing the ups and downs of being a coeliac, plus with a little bit of humor along the way. The book has reached many pharmacies in Australia as well as many primary schools and libraries. My mum decided to make a website called ‘Gluten Free Loot.’ You can visit it by clicking on this link : www.glutenfreeloot.com.     

                                               

Some symptoms of coeliac disease are:

• diarrhoea
• stomach pains
• mouth ulcers
• weakness
• constipation
• vomiting
• bloating
• weight loss

           plus many more.

Sally Learey is my mum and she is a brilliant person on the inside and the out.  The first thing that makes her an outstanding person is the fact that she saved my sad, lonely life. When I didn’t know that I was a coeliac (someone who can’t eat wheat, rye barley and oats), I spent my life living in a shell. I didn’t want to play, run or do anything and I just wanted to lie down everyday. No-one knew what the matter was with me - even specialists. 

My mum spent hours at a time on the internet, searching for some kind of answer but could find nothing. One day, when she was doing her usual research, she came across something called ‘coeliac disease’. She had never heard of coeliac disease but when she read all of the symptoms, she knew that was what I had. We soon had my brother, my dad and I tested for coeliac disease because we thought that the other two might have it as well as me. Our tests were positive so we went to a gluten free diet straight away. Ever since, I have been a happy, healthy person and I am sure that I will be until the rest of my life. 

 I am a coeliac (seel-i-ac) which means that I can’t eat any food containing wheat, rye, barley and oats. This means, that I must eat gluten free food.  It is a medical, long-life condition. It is difficult for me - especially at parties. I have to bring my own food at functions and is hard work. It is frustrating worrying about cross-contamination. Cross-contamination is when people accidentally put gluten  on or in a  product.

For example, if you were cooking chips for a coeliac and for a non-coeliac, you can’t put them in the same batch. If you do, the gluten chips which may have been touched by gluten-containing foods will touch the gluten free chips and make them cross-contaminated. Or, if you were making a gluten free sandwich and a gluten-containing sandwich,  if you were touching the gluten bread, you would need to wash your hands before touching the gluten free bread to stop cross-contamination. As I have lived four years of my life being a coeliac, I have a pretty good idea of how to read ingredients, what’s gluten free and what’s not, plus, how to stop cross-contamination.