“I love supporting our gluten free community.”
Lorna Gardner is a Helpline Dietitian at Coeliac UK. She explains how her work supports our gluten free community, and introduces our exciting new diet and health workshops.
“I always wanted to have a career helping people and I’m passionate about food and cooking. Becoming a dietitian has allowed me to combine both of these interests whilst learning more about the benefits of the foods we eat.
“After qualifying in 2003, I worked as a dietitian in the NHS for five years, then I worked in the food industry, before joining Coeliac UK in 2009. I haven’t looked back since!
“I love supporting our gluten free community, either through the Helpline, over email or via our live social media chat every Friday. And I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone at our events again once lockdown restrictions are lifted.
“Coeliac UK always encourage and support staff training and development. In 2018 I completed an education and training course which explained how people see and learn about things in different ways.
“The course made me think about the recommendations for people with coeliac disease and how we can help everyone to meet them.
“We all need to eat but why we eat and what we eat can be so different. We may choose foods for nutritional, health, environmental or economic reasons, or simply depending on the time we have to prepare a meal or what we like the taste of.
“Your food habits may have been set from what you enjoyed as a child, or have changed over the years. We all know fruit and vegetables are good for us, but in 2018 only 29% of adults* were getting the recommended five fruit and vegetables a day. So it’s important to realise that healthy eating can be difficult - even dietitians aren’t immune to the temptation of chocolate!
“To help people navigate how to live well gluten free and what it means to have coeliac disease, we are developing a series of virtual Diet and health workshops. Our first centred on calcium and iron, as low bone mineral density and iron deficiency anaemia can affect many people when they’re newly diagnosed.
“The second workshop in the series begins this month, and focuses on answering common questions for the newly diagnosed. Anyone can take part in from the comfort of their home - plus, Coeliac UK members receive 20% off!”
“I really enjoy running these workshops, and we want to make you get the best from them. We ‘d love to hear from you so please get in touch if you have any feedback or suggestions via email at dietitian@coeliac.org.uk.”
Sign up
Newly diagnosed workshops: Friday 23rd April and Friday 30th April, 1.30 – 2.30pm.
If you’ve recently been diagnosed with coeliac disease, you can find out more about our workshop and book your place via our Diet and health workshops page.
What’s trending on our Helpline?
We receive hundreds of enquiries to the Helpline every month, and this year some of our most popular topics have been:
- Covid-19 vaccinations – you can find up to date guidance on covid-19 vaccines for people with coeliac disease in our Coronavirus Hub.
- Barley malt vinegar and barley malt extract – this handy blog post will help you understand what’s suitable for a gluten free diet
- Vitamins and supplements – you can find advice for healthy eating here, or why not join one of our diet and health workshops?
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