Celiac Hurricane Preparedness—Don’t Wait Too Late

If you are Celiac, are you ready for this?

Getting prepared for a hurricane takes on a whole new dimension when someone in your family has special dietary needs, such as Celiac Disease or is gluten intolerance. In contrast to the customary advice issued over and over every time there is the threat of a hurricane, I don’t think I have heard anything related to planning for how to deal with special dietary restrictions if you lose power or if you have to evacuate.

While it is all well and good to go to sites such as FEMA at http://www.ready.gov/hurricanes, the National Hurricane Center at http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/prepare/ready.php or the Center for Disease Control at http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/hurricanes/ for advice what to do to stay safe when in or near the path of hurricane, I could not find any mention special diets. Well, actually that is not the whole truth. FEMA has one sentence that stated—and I quote—“Remember any special dietary needs.” As if you could forget. These sites recommend crackers, whole grains and canned foods.