Hi Ella and community, my name is Krissi and I was diagnosed in the summer of 2025. I found this resource that Ella so generously built via social media. My current state is a result of exposure to extreme stress. Can anyone else relate to this? Since then, I've been trying to understand my health from the beginning and obviously things shared here are not shared by doctors. Surprised!? Greetings from southeast Asia (where gluten-awareness almost does not exist). Looking forward to all that this resourceful app has to bring, and how I could potentially contribute.

@Emilie Woodford thank you for the comforting words. I have also brought my own stock of GF food like pasta and flour. Luckily I have a super market that imports GF food from Australia so I can buy some supplies. Basically living in Asia makes you dedicate more time to cooking and learning new recipes because outdoor eating is unreliable, unsafe or simply you might miss out on some few options because it's difficult to trust. I am currently based in Brunei where I'd say it's manageable. But I also visited S. Korea and there I had to rotate 5 places with GF food as there were not much other options... I'd say the west is progressing a lot faster in that sense. At the same time, you do learn to be more self-sustaining 😅

Hi Shannon, hope you are slowly finding your way to accepting this new lifestyle since the diagnosis. From my personal experience, dried food such as lentils and beans should be safe to buy and eat, and I'm specifically referring to those that are unprocessed and you need to cook before consuming. Sometimes you might think of buying the canned beans. Then you should be really cautious because wheat might have been added for the lifetime preservation of the canned food. Either way, the best advice we can remind ourselves to follow is "read the labels". And then you can guarantee yourself the legumes are safe to eat. When legumes are unprocessed, they are supposed to be gluten-free. At least, for me if anything, this is one of the safest food types I like to eat, also due to the fiber they carry. No reactions experienced. And you can even use them to make your own bread. Regarding oats, that is a different story. In general it is difficult to find gluten-free oats in stores. You might want to look and order them online. Just be mindful that your body might still not tolerate gluten-free oats. So, you will have to find out if that works for you.

@Shannon Hunter you are doing great! I'm sure you will start getting more accustomed to reading labels with practice.

You can also use the findmeGF app to check additional reviews on places to eat out, such as the one you are going out to. And if there are no reviews, you can contribute to share your experience.

Thanks for sharing positive thoughts! 😃