Celiac Resources For Those Newly Diagnosed


The best way to learn to follow a strict gluten-free diet is with help from a celiac-specializing dietitian.   
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Our support group is happy to connect you with celiac-specializing dietitians we have had experience with.  

CeliacNow.org, ​created with support from a grant to Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Hospital's Celiac Center was co-authored by one of the country's top celiac specializing dietitians with celiac disease herself. It's a rich, additional completely free resource to learn basic through advanced skills for following a strict gluten-free diet.

Gluten-Free Dining & Restaurant Tips

​Some Tips for Gluten-Free Dining in San Diego:
You will need to decide for yourself whether these or any restaurant is right for you, but these tips may be useful:
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  • Help yourself and your community long term.  Ask the restaurant manager if they have recently trained all of their food  staff using one of the three nationally available gluten free certification programs.   These three programs go extensively beyond the very basic ServSafe training related to celiac:   Beyond Celiac/Great Schools/Great Kitchens (this program is online and only costs ~$100 per manager). 
  • Check to make sure the restaurant's flours, grains, legumes, and seeds used to prepare menu items are labeled gluten-free, since cross-contact can be a problem with many naturally occurring gluten-free grain flours, including rice flour (over 30% of naturally occurring gluten-free grains were significantly cross-contact with gluten in a 2010 study).
  • Ask any bakery or restaurant who bakes their own gluten-free products if and how often they test their final products using the R5 ELISA Ridascreen Gliadin Competitive R7021 (R-Biopharm AG) . A competitive ELISA is used when assessing food for gluten protein fragments, which occur when gluten protein is hydrolyzed or fermented.  A "dipstick, in house test" is not adequate according to leading celiac dietitians and researchers.
  • Check to make sure any San Diego restaurant or bakery is using purity protocol oats, not just oats that are labeled GF or certified gluten-free.
  • Check to make sure any restaurant or bakery follows these necessary protocols: 
  • Wash hands thoroughly.
  •  Use  a separate gluten free work area. 
  • Use dedicated gluten free cutting boards.
  • All utensils, colanders,  stainless steel cookware, and toasters should be dedicated for gluten free food only.
  • Grills, griddles, and fryers should also be dedicated for gluten free food. 
  • Do not cook gluten free pasta in water used to cook regular pasta.   
  • Ideally, gluten free food should be served on plates shaped differently than those used for gluten containing food.  This will help to avoid confusion in the prep area and at your table..
  • You should be  be especially careful at pizza establishments serving "gluten-free" pizza - some are not as safe as others (see adjacent slide, courtesy of Melinda Dennis, MS, RDN).  ​

Some Dedicated Gluten Free Restaurants in San Diego
We do not have any testing information from these restaurants. No endorsement is necessarily implied.  
  • Gluten Free Baking Co.  (North Park ) They offer a wide variety of   breads, biscuits, and desserts.
  • Deanna's Gluten Free Baking Co ( Escondido)  This is a wholesale bakery featuring  breads,  pizza crusts, and desserts..  You may be able to order some of Deanna's products ahead of time directly from the company, or from Farm Stand West (which carries fruits, vegetables and Deanna's baked goods, but this stand is not itself dedicated GF).  
  • Healthy Creations  (Encinitas)  They offer a varied  menu of organic meal items and dessert-type baked goods. 
  • Nectarine Grove  (Leucadia)   They offer a varied  menu of organic meal items and baked  goods.  Even pizza! Extra parking is available across the street near the railroad tracks.
  •  Nectarine Grove Bakehouse (Del Mar) They offer a cafe' to dine in or take out with baked goods to buy like sour dough bread and English Muffins to name a couple of the selections. Hours are 8 am to 3 pm daily.
  • Starry Lane Bakery ( Hillcrest)   They offer products  free of all of the top food allergens, including; gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, tree nuts, and peanuts. See their website for holiday food items and recipes.​

Some questions to ask manufacturers of grains, flours, and legumes labeled gluten-free:

Travel Tips for Those with Celiac Disease or Those on a Strict Gluten-Free Diet:

In a study conducted by Tricia Thompson, Anne Lee, and Thomas Grace, 32% of the naturally gluten-free grains and flours tested contained gluten in amounts greater than 20 parts per million.
Excerpt from GlutenFreeWatchdog.org: "Unfortunately, the Food and Drug Administration under the gluten-free labeling rule is NOT requiring manufacturers to test their labeled gluten-free foods for gluten contamination.

Contamination of naturally gluten-free grains and flours with wheat, barley, and rye is a concern to many people who must eat gluten-free. In a study conducted by Tricia Thompson, Anne Lee, and Thomas Grace, 32% of the naturally gluten-free grains and flours tested contained gluten in amounts greater than 20 parts per million. Gluten contamination can occur in the fields where food is grown, in the trucks and railcars where food is transported, and in the processing and manufacturing plants where food is made ready for the consumer. It is our hope that independently testing labeled gluten-free products and making results available to subscribers will allow you to feel more confident in the products you buy. "
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GlutenFreeWatchdog.org is a not for profit service which independently tests hundreds of packaged products with top-notch ELISA tests in triplicate to see how much gluten they really contain.  
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Click here to learn more about this service and how much it costs to subscribe.

Curious about what kinds of products they test? Click here for the list of categories and number of products she's tested.

Virtual NCA San Diego Support Group Meeting with Expert Celiac Dietitian, Melinda Dennis - Watch Now!

​Virtual NCA San Diego Support Group Meeting with Expert Celiac Dietitian, Melinda Dennis - Watch Now!Melinda Dennis, MS, RDN, LD, is the Nutrition Coordinator for the Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Diagnosed with celiac disease 30 years ago, Ms. Dennis specializes in the nutritional treatment of patients with gluten-related disorders.  She lectures nationally and is Program Director of the nutrition and medical website: CeliacNow.org. Melinda served on the Executive Council of the Society for the Study of Celiac Disease (SSCD) and is currently a taskforce member of the SSCD’s Patient Resources and Literature Committee and of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetic’s practice group, Dietitians in Medical Nutrition Therapy. She is co-author of the book Real Life with Celiac Disease, published by the AGA. She is Founder, former Chair, and current Senior Nutrition Advisor to the National Celiac Association and serves on the Executive Committees of the Celiac Research Program at Harvard Medical School and of Foodicine Health. Through her consulting business, Delete the Wheat, LLC., she offers educational webinars,  gluten-free wellness retreats, and consulting assistance to food and pharmaceutical companies.