Coeliac Awareness Week 2014

Coeliac Awareness Week - 12th - 18th May 2014

Can you believe it's been a whole year since the last Coeliac Awareness Week?

You may recall my post this time last year for Coeliac Awareness Week -  'My Diagnosis Story'. Coeliac Awareness Week is a fantastic opportunity Coeliac UK have created each year to discuss Coeliac Disease, bringing it to the attention of the media - I love how social media is a hype of activity at the moment and I'm thrilled that my Twitter feed is jam packed full of tweets raising awareness of Coeliac Disease. It's a great chance to educate people and encourage them to seek medical advice should they believe they have any of the symptoms of Coeliac Disease - thereby helping to increase the number of people getting diagnosed and getting the help they need to manage the condition.

There's been some high profile media coverage of the condition this week too - for example, the Olympic Cyclist Craig MacLean appeared on BBC Breakfast on Monday morning alongside Sarah Sleet, Chief Executive of Coeliac UK, talking about his diagnosis of Coeliac Disease and how this affects him day-to-day as an Olympic cyclist. Most of the major supermarkets have been providing offers on their 'free from' range in honour of Coeliac Awareness Week and newspapers such as the Daily Mail and the Daily Express have featured articles about Coeliac Disease.

Possibly the most important statistic to be released this week in the media by BBC News is that the number of people diagnosed with Coeliac Disease in the UK in the past 20 years has increased fourfold. And it's not because Coeliac Disease is becoming more common, rather it's down to better diagnosis of the condition. Despite the increase in diagnosis,  Coeliac UK have stated that although around 1% of the population have Coeliac Disease they still believe a massive 75% of people with Coeliac Disease have not even been diagnosed which means they are living with the condition and don't even know it! It's really important that people with Coeliac Disease get diagnosed as early as possible, as if left untreated Coeliac Disease can cause osteoporosis, infertility and even bowel cancer.

As more and more people are diagnosed as Coeliac this increases the demand for gluten-free products in our shops, supermarkets and restaurants.

This year Coeliac UK are focusing on the availability of gluten-free products in supermarkets. They know how frustrating it can be for Coeliacs having to shop in various different supermarkets just to do a weekly shop and get everything you need. There will be more about this in a future blog post of mine coming soon.

This year to help raise awareness I decided to target my team of 13 gluten-eating work colleagues. For me it can be quite difficult at times having a communal kitchen at work and I do usually tend to avoid using it and bring my own pre-made sandwiches to eat at work through fear of cross-contamination, particularly crumbs. For most Coeliacs, the risk of cross-contamination is a big concern.

In the past I've had a lot of questions asked by my colleagues which is really positive but I do think a lot of the people I work with still don't really understand what Coeliac Disease is. This is why I want to help raise more awareness of the condition so that people become more tolerant and understanding.

I decided to bake some gluten-free treats and take these in to work with me for my colleagues to enjoy. I baked gluten-free banana bread and gluten-free chocolate brownies...

Now, my office tends to have a constant supply of gluten-containing cakes and biscuits, whether it's somebody's birthday, it's 'Treat Friday' or someone has brought biscuits in 'just for the sake of it' - and usually these are off limits to me. Only very recently have some of my colleagues also bought in something gluten-free for me to eat. Sometimes I have felt a bit left out, this is why it was great that my treats were completely gluten-free which meant I was included and everybody could enjoy them.

I had a very positive response from my cakes - everybody seemed to enjoy them and I got asked lots and lots of questions about Coeliac Disease which was great. One of my colleagues hadn't even heard of it and I really was able to educate her. Everyone was really understanding and seemed interested in what I had to say and I'm hoping that now everybody is aware I'm Coeliac they will be able to help avoid the risk of cross-contamination for me in our works kitchen.

So, it may seem just a small gesture from me to my work colleagues but it has helped raise awareness of Coeliac Disease in my workplace and it's the little things like this we can all do individually that will all make a big difference.

Now it's over to you! What have you done this week for Coeliac Awareness Week? I'd love to hear about it.