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Tips for Helping Your Parent Change Their Diet After a Celiac Disease Diagnosis

October 27, 2016

Home Care in Jupiter FL

Home Care in Jupiter FLIf you have walked into a grocery store recently you have likely seen aisles full of gluten-free food. These products may seem mysterious, but if your parent has recently received a diagnosis of celiac disease, you will need to become very familiar with them. Now is the perfect time for you to learn more about this autoimmune disease and work with your parent to find delicious and satisfying ways that they can change their diet to protect their health. Use these tips to help your parent change their diet after a celiac disease diagnosis:
• Clean out the home. As soon as your parent receives their diagnosis, it is time for a major clean-out of their kitchen. Remove all foods that contain gluten or that may contain gluten. Remember that cross contamination can still result in slight exposure that can cause serious reactions. Once the food is removed, clean the kitchen thoroughly and then restock it.
• Go for whole foods. While the market for gluten-free convenience foods has grown remarkably, your parent should not rely on these foods entirely. As with any other dietary approach, it is always better to choose whole foods and build meals around them as opposed to focusing on convenience products and packaged meals.
• Read labels. Just because a food is not labeled “gluten-free” does not necessarily mean that it contains gluten, but it also does not mean that it does not. Learn to read labels carefully to detect the ingredients that might actually add gluten to the food. While ones like wheat and barley are obvious, but you might not immediately notice “malt” or “semolina”, both of which refer to gluten-containing grains. If your aging parent has recently been diagnosed with celiac disease, now may be the perfect time for you to consider starting elder care for them. An elderly home care services provider can be with your aging parent on a regular basis to give them the personalized support, guidance, care, and assistance that they need to help them understand and cope with their condition. This can include providing reliable transportation to the grocery store when they need to go so that they can maintain independence through handling their own shopping. Once there, the care provider can help your parent to evaluate different food options and make the choices that are right for them. They can also do research with them to find recipes that fit in with your parent’s tastes and other dietary needs and restrictions, then assist with meal and snack preparation. This helps to show your parent that complying with their dietary guidelines can still be delicious and satisfying without always requiring them to resort to “strange” options or convenience foods. If your aging parent has been withdrawing from social activities or giving up experiences and events because of their fear of changing their diet or their reaction if they are exposed to gluten, the support and guidance of a care provider can help them to not only see how they can manage this need, but give them the confidence to keep enjoying a life that is as active and engaged as possible. Source http://www.beyondceliac.org/60forceliac/ https://celiac.org/
If you or an aging loved one are considering home care in Jupiter, FL, contact the caring staff at BrightStar Care of Jupiter. Call today (561) 741-1200.