Diabetes And Celiac Disease

For those who eat out, fortunately many restaurants today cater to gluten-free diets. It’s best to plan ahead and ask about menu options before heading out to a restaurant. Sometimes it may be necessary to prepare your own meals and snacks in case appropriate options are not available when eating away from home.

Even though these challenges can be overwhelming at times, there are still a lot of tasty healthy gluten free foods to choose from.  As long as no gluten-containing ingredients are added, low-fat milk products, vegetables, fruits, and protein foods like eggs, nuts, lean meats, chicken, turkey and fish are healthy and naturally gluten-free choices.  Gluten-free grains and starchy foods like quinoa, sweet potatoes and brown rice are other excellent choices that also offer a good source of fibre. Whole grains and fibre have an important role in diabetes management. It is still possible to eat whole grains on a gluten-free diet. Some examples of whole grains that are safe for people with celiac disease include amaranth, buckwheat, whole grain cornmeal and millet. These nutritious grains are full of goodness that you may not have had a reason to try if not for celiac disease.

If you take insulin to match your food intake, it will be extra important to know the amount of carbohydrates in gluten-free products. Some gluten-free foods will have a different amount of carbohydrate, fibre and glycemic index than what you would find in the regular version of that food.  These differences have to be accounted for when planning insulin and meal options. It may even be helpful to monitor your blood sugar more often, especially before eating and again 2 hours after eating to see how the gluten-free carbohydrate foods affect the blood sugar levels. For more information on gluten-free diets, visit www.celiac.ca.