‘What would you think if was diagnosed with coeliac disease? Would you stand up and walk out on me?’

If they would then sack these people out of your life immediately.

Ok that might not be quite the spirit of the original song, but I’m sticking with it. Having coeliac disease is hard enough without having negative Nancies in your life, bin them off!

Despite coeliac disease being a complete and utter pain in the arse, thankfully you don’t have to fight this thing alone.

With an estimated 1 in 100 people in the UK being diagnosed, chances are you already know a fellow coeliac. And if you don’t, there’s plenty of people out there so you can totally go and make yourselves some new gluten free buddies!

There’s an amazing gluten free community on Instagram. If you’re not on there already I highly recommend getting yourself an account and getting involved. You’ll no doubt find some local gluten free folk, we get everywhere.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet some great people through my Instagram account and today saw the second meet up of the Midlands Gluten Dodgers (guess which idiot came up with the name) at The Fish & The Chip in Leicester. This is a fish and chip restaurant (I know, who saw that one coming?) and they only use gluten free batter, meaning it was a perfect location for us.

It’s so good to not feel like the awkward one at the table, seeing as we’re all awkward. It’s also great to have likeminded people who you can just chat to honestly knowing you’re not going to be judged.

As much as most people are understanding, only fellow coeliacs truly know what we go through and some of the nonsense we put up with. It also gives you a great excuse to try lots of local restaurants who do great gluten free grub and share recommendations. Honestly, it’s ace.

If you can’t be bothered getting on the whole Instagram game then you could always rock up to a Coeliac UK local group meeting. There’s over 70 dotted around the country.

Whichever way you go about it, I can’t recommend getting yourself some gluten free buddies highly enough!