My Weekend at the Beyond Celiac Community Summit
The celiac community is the best community.
On Saturday, I attended the Beyond Celiac Community Summit in Greenwich, Connecticut — and it was AMAZING! The team at Beyond Celiac did such a great job putting together this event.
I had the opportunity to connect with so many people in the celiac community, including top celiac specialists and some of my favorite content creators in the celiac and gluten-free space.
Dylan Dryer, meteorologist and co-host of 3rd Hour of Today, gave the closing keynote — her 6-year-old son, Calvin, was recently diagnosed with celiac disease, so she spoke about his diagnosis and how her family is navigating it. It’s inspiring to have her as an advocate for the celiac community!
Sharing my celiac journey and how I advocate for myself
In the afternoon, I spoke on a panel with two of my fellow Beyond Celiac ambassadors. I had the chance to share my celiac journey and how I’ve learned to advocate for myself over the last few years.
I chatted with quite a few people afterwards who were also diagnosed with celiac disease during the pandemic. We bonded over how challenging it was to navigate grocery shopping and this new lifestyle during lockdown. It felt validating to hear from others who had very similar experiences to mine.
I acknowledged how difficult it is to speak up for yourself — but there are small steps you can take to become more confident. For example, if you have a dinner date planned with friends or are ordering lunch with co-workers, I recommended asking your group if you can be the one to choose the restaurant or food option. I do this all the time and have never had anyone say no to my request.
And if you hate asking waiters how food is prepared at a restaurant, then you can practice by reaching out to the restaurant before you go. Start by emailing or DMing the restaurant on social media with your questions — and before you know it, you’ll have more confidence to have those conversations in-person.
I also shared the moment I was most proud of being a celiac advocate, which is the work I did as a Beyond Celiac ambassador last year to put a spotlight on the connection between celiac disease and mental health. I felt like not many people were aware of the toll celiac disease can take on someone mentally, which is why I wanted to highlight that in the series of articles I wrote for Beyond Celiac’s website. That’s also why I started this newsletter!
Finally, my biggest piece of advice that I left people with was to be kind to yourself. Navigating this condition is hard, so don’t beat yourself up if you accidentally eat gluten or aren’t where you think you should be in your celiac journey. I’ve been doing this for almost four years now, and trust me when I say I still have my ups and downs.
Celiac and gluten-free content creators to follow
I wanted to give a huge shoutout to the wonderful content creators who spoke at the summit. You should definitely give them a follow on Instagram if you haven’t already:
Lauren of eat.glutenfreewithme
Erin of glutenfreeglobetrotter
Jen of thenomadicfitz
Liz of yeet.that.wheat
Phil of philhatesgluten
Matt of glassofweinstein
Emily of emilyrayna
And if you’re craving connection with other people in the celiac community, I highly encourage you to attend a Beyond Celiac event in the future!