When people discover they’ve got Coeliac Disease, they’re usually filled with upset and despair. I know I did and I cried buckets when I was diagnosed!

When I tell people I have Coeliac Disease I’m usually met with a sympathetic look, a hug or silly questions like “can you eat potatoes”, “will you get over it” and my personal favourite; “is it contagious?”

 So for Coeliac UK  Awareness Week 2015, I thought I’d try something different. Instead of listing all the sad and frustrating things about being coeliac and sticking to a strict gluten free diet, I thought I’d add a little positive spin and list 5 things about being a sassy coeliac and a gorgeous gluten free!

1. TRYING NEW FOODS

Before my diagnosis I was a right fussy bugger! I wouldn’t try anything new and stuck to stuff I liked! I was every parents nightmare but now I’m more inspired to try things that are gluten free which has really broadened by culinary tastes!

2. LEARNING TO COOK AND BAKE

In the past, I could not cook to save my life, it was a running joke within my family. I could just about pour the correct quantity of water into a pot noodle let along cook a dinner for myself! However, having coeliac disease has meant that in order for me to enjoy the foods I loved, I would have to cook or bake them myself… from scratch! I’m no chef and have made some terrible disasters in the past but it’s because of this that I was inspired to start blogging on The Gluten Free Student Cookbook! The more I cook and bake the more my confidence grows!

3. THE ONLINE GLUTEN FREE COMMUNITY

First off, you guys are simply and truly amazing. We are so lucky to have such an incredible, caring and kind online gluten free community. The amount of support I have been given has helped me get through some very tough times and for that I’ll be forever greatful. They’re there to lift your spirits, spread awareness, inform you of new gluten free products on the market and alert you of restaurants that cater for us gluten free peeps!

If you’ve just been diagnosed with coeliac disease or you could do with some support, I recommend joining Twitter and getting in touch with these amazing people. I would list all those incredible people but I’m afraid I’d be here forever listing name after name. If you do want to know who those fabulous people are, take a look at those who I follow.

4. DISCOVERING THE GLUTEN FREE BLOGS

Just like the gluten free online community, the blogosphere is an amazing hive full of recipes, reviews, advice and guidance. I can spend hours upon hours reading all the fantastic blogs out there and they’ve inspired me and taught me so much. If I hadn’t got coeliac disease I wouldn’t have come across these amazing blogs and been inspired to try receipes that I normally wouldn’t have been bothered with! My favourite blogs that I believe you should look at are:

• Little Missed Gluten
• Wuthering Bites
• SpamellaB
• The Intolerant Gourmet
• Foods You Can
• The Awkward Eater
• Gluten Free By The Sea
• Gluten Free Traveller 
• Gluten Free Mrs D
• The Gluten Free Blogger
• Food Allergy and Intolerance Ink

(If you know of any other amazing gluten free blogs that I don’t know about, please send me a tweet or an email! I’m always on the look out to find more blogs that will inspire me!)

5.BEING CONFIDENT AND STRONG

We know it’s not easy having coeliac disease and sticking to a very strict gluten free diet. The transition is bordering on torturous but getting through it and coming out of the other side is proof how strong and confidant you truly are. Not only do you have to overcome barriers such as; eating out, dining at friends houses, spending a small fortune on gluten free foods you also have to overcome that overbearing desire not to grab that Krispy Kreme doughnut and shove it in your mouth!

Coeliacs are the strongest people I know and you all should give yourself the biggest pat on your back! As cheesy as it sounds, if you can stick to a gluten free diet you can pretty much overcome a lot of things!