I’m Sarah, a Politics student and a coeliac blogger. I got diagnosed with coeliac disease around February last year and since then I have been gloriously gluten free!
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disorder. Gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye, triggers an immune reaction in people suffering with coeliac disease. When I was diagnosed I became incredibly interested in coeliac food, particularly baking and healthy meals. As a foodie, this seemed like an incredible opportunity to experiment with new ingredients that I would never have thought of and an opportunity to eat healthier!
In order get some inspiration about how to go about baking with out the key ingredient – flour – I went to the world of blogging. It turns out that there were hundreds of blogs about gluten free cooking! The community was buzzing, and I wanted to cook everything, eat everything and go to every single restaurant that was written about (very over excited, but I love my food!). I noticed that although the food looked delicious, the recipes were more often than not laden with sugar, fat and carbs. Now, I am the first to admit that I could never make my meals look as beautiful, delicate and artistic s the photos you see on Pintrest or Instagram, but I did know I could make them a lot healthier!
My aim, once I graduate university, is to pursue a career in PR. I had already done some online communication and website design, so I thought it was only logical to try blogging for myself. I have started by using blogger…free and simple… a good place to start! Before I started blogging I knew what I had to do first – find an area that hadn’t been completely covered my a thousand bloggers already!
So, I present to you: The Ginger Coeliac (I’m a red head…hence the name!). A gluten-free blog about healthy eating and occasionally mentioning a few cheeky treats (including breakfast at Buckingham Palace!). Since doing work experience here at Prohibition PR I have developed skills in blogging, online communication and learned a huge amount about online community management. I am applying these skills to my blog to hopefully improve it and grow it into a key player in the online community, helping those just diagnosed, giving out ideas and showing that being a coeliac is not all doom and gloom!
I have read many coeliac blogs for inspiration, and some are absolutely amazing. The tips, reviews and information helped me no end with ideas when I was first diagnosed. The community isn’t just about discussing an interest, but a way of life: what restaurants you can eat in, what food you can eat, if there are supplements you can take and how to clean up gluten properly to stop you from getting ill. Although it sounds like a bit of a negative community, that is far from the truth. The bloggers help those who need the disease explained to them, but always in a positive light. We create recipes, food replacements (such as gluten free cupcakes) and tell people where we have been that serves the most delicious gluten free food.
After all of my research, here are my top 5 gluten free bloggers:
- https://positivelycoeliac.wordpress.com/ – This is my all time favorite, fantastic writer and always a positive outlook on life!
- https://thehappycoeliac.com/ – The most informative blog I have found and uses social media more than any other coeliac blog I have seen, great Facebook updates, competitions and tweets!
- https://www.wheatsurrender.co.uk/ – Pretty local to me, living just down the road in York and visiting Leeds often, and the blog makes me laugh! So many puns!
- https://glutenfreegirl.com/ – This blog always puts a smile on my face. With the best ideas and a love story intertwined too. What more could you ask for?
- https://www.celiactravel.com/ – Before being diagnosed I went inter railing and ate purely bread and pasta as I was living off €2 a day. So I automatically thought I wouldn’t be able to do this anymore. I thought traveling would become impossible, but this blog has shown me all the tips and tricks I could possibly want!
These blogs helped me so much when I was in need of some inspiration, ides and advice. I love reading all the articles and seeing how these people have turned something so life changing into something positive. It is truly inspiring.
