On the right sidebar, we have a link section for people that are new to being gluten free. Some of these sites helped us during our transition to being gluten free. Others have been added later. All are good and give great tips on dealing with such topics as “Are you kidding me, that has wheat in it, too?”, “Cross-Contamination? That doesn’t sound good.” and, of course, “OMG, please give me some food that doesn’t taste like crap.”

Seriously, please check out these sites and/or add them to your blogroll. These are in alphabetical order.

• 10 important facts about celiac disease and a gluten free diet — Gluten Free Optimist lays out the simple facts you need to know, including explaining cross contamination.
• Eating Gluten Free on a Budget — Jessica of wtf!Celiac has put together a great list of tips for eating well (and gluten free) without breaking the bank. Her point about eating gluten free for all meals if you have celiac/gluten sensitivity cannot be stressed enough.
• Are You New To Gluten Free? — GlutenFreeGirl.com is one of the places you need to be reading as often as you can. This page links many really great articles. I actually have not read all of them (there are around 50!), but I am working my way through them.
• Do I have Celiac Disease? — The University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research is an institution engaged in clinical care, diagnostic support, education, and clinical and basic science research in Celiac Disease. The paramount goal of the Center for Celiac Research is to increase the awareness of Celiac Disease in order to provide better care, better quality of life, and more adequate support for the Celiac Disease community. Basically, this is all of the facts and they are doctors who understand celiac disease.
• Getting Started Gluten Free — Amy Leger shares some great tips, including how to get through the first few days and dealing with office lunches.
• Gluten Free – Getting Started — by Anya at Another Gluten Free Blog. She points out that “The first few weeks of being gluten free can be devastating, overwhelming, and just plain terrible.” and offers helpful ways to get through it. Most of the foods recommended have links to her reviews.
• Gluten Free Guide – Sure Foods Living — This is a new site for me, and I still have to read the archives. I will say that I have printed this very thorough list of food ingredients and whether they could contain gluten.
• Gluten Free Lifestyle (Celiac Corner) — Paula’s site was one of the first I read when I went GF and I am thankful for it. This page has links to many articles that will help your transition.
• Gluten Free Tip Sheets – GFE — Over at Gluten Free Easily, Shirley has assembled several neat PDFs for you to download. The “Top 20 things you should know about gluten” is full of science and a must read. This was where I first heard about Zonulin.
• Going Gluten Free Guide — A very thorough multi-phase approach to getting your kitchen ready for being gluten free. “Gluten Free Bumble Bee” speaks from her own experience and covers a lot of ground. I had not considered all of the possible sources of kitchen cross contamination outlined in Phase 4.
• How to get started – GFL Magazine — Gluten Free Living magazine is a specialty publication just for us. The ads are just as interesting as the articles. This link goes to a summary of foods you can eat and what you should avoid.
• How to go Gluten Free — Excellent and thorough rundown of beginning (and continuing) to eat Gluten Free. You can seriously get lost in this site. The posts are wonderfully written and beautifully photographed. I do not know how Karina has the time to contribute so much to the GF community, but I am glad she does.
• NFCA Printable Guides — The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness has a ton of guides to help you navigate being gluten free. As someone who used to work in the non-profit space, I am glad to see an awareness group advocating for us. We plan on checking out how we can help them spread the word.

As you can see, there are resources from all sorts of people; bloggers sharing their stories, accomplished chefs showing you how to cook delicious meals, community sites and some medical professionals. I hope to keep expanding on this list. If you have a resource that you used when you were starting GF or come across a new one, please leave a comment here or let us know on Twitter (@glutenfreecity).

Update (12/21/11): New entries will be bolded for a while after they are added.