Are you living a gluten free lifestyle? Or just starting to dabble in the idea? Regardless of your diagnosis of coeliac disease or gluten sensitivity, you really do need to take care to stay up to date, balance your eating plan and be well, gluten free. And there’s now a fabulous new resource to help you do just that:
About our expert:
Sally Marchini APD is personally experienced in type 1 diabetes and coeliac disease and blogs on both these topics, also encouraging expert dietitian input across her social media platforms. Sally blogs to teach people who live with these chronic health conditions how food can be enjoyed while also improving their health management. Connect via www.marchininutrition.com
With my experience as social media dietitian for the charity Diabetes Counselling Online I’ve learned how powerful blogging combined with closed Facebook groups can be to support people with a chronic health condition to understand how food affects their health. The work this charity does helps thousands of Australians with diabetes to cope with day to day stresses associated with the condition. We have dietitians, diabetes educators, social workers, pharmacists, psychologists and counsellors that mostly have diabetes ourselves.
However, as a person who has both diabetes and coeliac disease, it made me appreciate how fortunate these people with diabetes are to have such a service, as people with coeliac disease have far less online/social media support from health care professionals. The Facebook groups that do exist are not moderated by health care professionals, and I felt a need to help put that right.
So on Father’s Day this year I started a new closed Facebook group called ‘Be Well Gluten Free’ to help people make the right decisions in their gluten free choices and encourage diagnosis/ruling out of coeliac disease, and to promote the use of Accredited Practising Dietitians for nutrition advice. As part of the support for this group I have also started blogging based on the main interests of the group on approximately a fortnightly basis. We also share posts from other dietitian Facebook pages and we have several prominent dietitians involved in the group who generously contribute ideas and advice. I also have the help of a coeliac friend, and a student dietitian (Nina Mills from What’s for Eats) in the roles of admin for the group. Anyone can request to join and we are already at over 250 members!
So far we’re only 4 blogs into this new journey. The first blog is an introduction that explains what and who inspired me to begin.
The second kicks right in to help people understand how to follow the Australian Dietary Guidelines gluten free. This blog stemmed from a question in the Be Well Gluten Free group on a post that encouraged people to count nutrients instead of calories. The post takes a more specific look at the grains and cereals food group and offer suggestions on how to meet the recommended serves gluten free.
The third and fourth blogs are a mini-series on the glycemic index. The first one Glycemic Index Gluten Free – why is it important? talks about why low-GI carbs are important for wellbeing. It explains the evidence, what it means and what the health benefits are. The second one Glycemic Index Gluten Free – Making it Real gets back to the Australian Dietary Guidelines and gives meal by meal examples of how to lower the GI in a healthy way.
The requested list of topics by members is fantastic, so there’s obviously plenty of interest out there. As this project develops I hope it will encourage greater awareness of wellbeing on a gluten free diet and raise awareness for the importance of the role that Accredited Practising Dietitians play in this specialist field. I hope you’ll join in this journey with us.
Editor’s comment:
Thanks so much Sally. It will be no surprise to hear that I love the sound of more support online – so why not share the Be Well Gluten Free Facebook group with family and friends? Remember lovely readers you can vote for Scoop and Sally as finalists in the BUPA Blog Awards Healthy Eating Category. We’d love a dietitian to win and are down to the top 5 finalists. Vote by leaving a quick email on our images in the healthy eating category by scrolling down here. Voting closes on Nov 7, and we’d love your support.
