So, now that you know what to look for, grocery shopping should be a whole lot easier, right? Not necessarily....The first time you go gluten-free grocery shopping, I recommend setting aside a lot of time and bringing a notepad and pen with you. After spending so much time reading through tons of ingredients lists, you're going to want to write down what is gluten-free so you can get it next time. Keep in mind that there are TONS of foods that are naturally gluten-free. Here are some of them:
-Beans
-Buckwheat
-Butter and cheese: Watch for additives in these items. Usually if they're all natural or "real", they will be gluten-free
- Corn
-Flax
-Fruits and vegetables
-Juice: Only real fruit juice is guaranteed to be gluten free. Watch for additives.
-Plain meats and fish
-Milk and eggs
-Vegetable and olive oils
-Plain nuts
-Potatoes
-Quinoa
-Rice
-Seeds, sesame
-Sorghum
-Soy
-Tamari
-Tapioca
Some foods that you might think are gluten-free and aren't are:
-Bran
-Couscous
-Durum
-Farina
-Matzah and matzo
-Ramen noodles
-Spelt or Kamut
-Semolina
-Soy or teriyaki sauce
Here are some other foods that I've found that are gluten-free and not necessarily in the gluten-free aisle:
-Almost all varieties of Chex are gluten-free (yes, you can still have Puppy Chow!)
-Bugles
-Pringles and most other potato chips
-Rice crispies (You can have Rice Crispie bars, too!)
-Many frozen dinners/TV dinners that don't contain breaded meat, bread, or a desert are gluten-free
-Ice cream, as long as it doesn't contain brownie pieces or the like
As the gluten-free lifestyle becomes more prevalent, more and more companies are coming up with lists of their gluten-free foods online and more and more restaurants are coming out with allergen information sheets or gluten free menus. Here are some restaurants that have gluten-free options so you can dine out gluten-free, too:
-Boston Market
-Chili's
-The Old Spaghetti Factory
-Outback Steakhouse
-P.F. Chang's
-Ruby Tuesday
-Carlos O'Kelley's
-Boston's Gourmet Pizza
-Chipotle Mexican Grill
-Godfather's Pizza (you have to call a day ahead to order gluten free pizza)
-HuHot
-Joe's Crab Shack
-Olive Garden
-Red Robin
-Romano's Macaroni Grill
-T.G.I. Friday's
-California Pizza Kitchen:
-Hell's Kitchen
-Timber Lodge Steakhouse
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
So....What CAN you eat? (Part One)
Whenever I tell people I have Celiac Disease and can't eat anything with wheat, barley, or rye in it, their first question is usually, "So, what can you eat?" It's a great question, seeing as a large percentage of today's mainstream foods contain wheat, barley, or rye in one form or another. I felt pretty hopeless about food when I first found out I had to go on a gluten-free diet. I didn't even know foods existed that didn't have wheat, barley, or rye in them. At first I thought I would forever be confined to the tiny gluten-free aisle at the grocery store, forced to spend three dollars on a can of soup and five dollars on a bag of gluten-free chips. It wasn't until I started reading the book "Living Gluten-Free for Dummies" by Danna Korn that I realized there were so many more things out there that I could eat.
The best thing I've done for myself since going gluten-free is learning to read the ingredients on the food label. Once I knew what to look for on them I realized there was so much more out there that I could eat that wasn't just in the gluten-free aisle. And there are an increasing number of food companies that are labeling their foods as gluten-free, (like Post Cereals labeling Cocoa Pebbles gluten-free right on the box!). Once you know what to look for in the ingredients list, gluten-free life gets a lot easier.
Here are a list of some of the common ingredients in foods and whether or not they are gluten-free: (from http://www.clanthompson.com/res_info_lists_show_items.php3?category=Food%20Ingredients&category_id=4 and from my own experience/research ):
-Artificial flavor: Yes
-Benzoic Acid: Yes
-BHA (Butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) (added to foods to prevent fat spoilage): Yes
-Brewer's Yeast: No
-Bulgur: No
-Caramel Color: Sometimes....It is usually made from corn, but there are times when it isn't
-Citric Acid: Yes
-Dextran: Yes
-Dextrin: Sometimes...This is rarely made from wheat and is usually made from corn, potato, arrowroot, or rice
-Glycerin: Yes
-Hydrolyzed Meat Protein: Yes
-Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein: Yes
-Isomalt: Yes
-Lactic Acid: Yes
-Malt or Malt Flavoring: No
-Maltodextrin: Yes
-Modified Starch or Modified Food Starch: Sometimes.....It can be made from wheat
-Mono- and Diglycerides: Yes
-Monosodium Glutamate: Yes
-Niacin: Yes
-Nitrates: Yes
-Polyethelene Glycol: Yes
-Riboflavin: Yes
-Sodium Ascorbate or Ascorbic Acid: Yes
-Sodium: Benzoate, Citrate, and Nitrate: Yes
-Stearic Acid: Yes
-Sucrose: Yes
-Textured Vegetable Protein: Yes
-Triticale: No
-Vanillan: Yes
-Whey: Yes
-Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum: Yes
As you can see most common ingredients in foods are okay to eat. Once you know what to look for, grocery shopping won't seem like such a daunting task anymore.
The best thing I've done for myself since going gluten-free is learning to read the ingredients on the food label. Once I knew what to look for on them I realized there was so much more out there that I could eat that wasn't just in the gluten-free aisle. And there are an increasing number of food companies that are labeling their foods as gluten-free, (like Post Cereals labeling Cocoa Pebbles gluten-free right on the box!). Once you know what to look for in the ingredients list, gluten-free life gets a lot easier.
Here are a list of some of the common ingredients in foods and whether or not they are gluten-free: (from http://www.clanthompson.com/res_info_lists_show_items.php3?category=Food%20Ingredients&category_id=4 and from my own experience/research ):
-Artificial flavor: Yes
-Benzoic Acid: Yes
-BHA (Butylated hydroxyanisole) and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) (added to foods to prevent fat spoilage): Yes
-Brewer's Yeast: No
-Bulgur: No
-Caramel Color: Sometimes....It is usually made from corn, but there are times when it isn't
-Citric Acid: Yes
-Dextran: Yes
-Dextrin: Sometimes...This is rarely made from wheat and is usually made from corn, potato, arrowroot, or rice
-Glycerin: Yes
-Hydrolyzed Meat Protein: Yes
-Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein: Yes
-Isomalt: Yes
-Lactic Acid: Yes
-Malt or Malt Flavoring: No
-Maltodextrin: Yes
-Modified Starch or Modified Food Starch: Sometimes.....It can be made from wheat
-Mono- and Diglycerides: Yes
-Monosodium Glutamate: Yes
-Niacin: Yes
-Nitrates: Yes
-Polyethelene Glycol: Yes
-Riboflavin: Yes
-Sodium Ascorbate or Ascorbic Acid: Yes
-Sodium: Benzoate, Citrate, and Nitrate: Yes
-Stearic Acid: Yes
-Sucrose: Yes
-Textured Vegetable Protein: Yes
-Triticale: No
-Vanillan: Yes
-Whey: Yes
-Xanthan Gum or Guar Gum: Yes
As you can see most common ingredients in foods are okay to eat. Once you know what to look for, grocery shopping won't seem like such a daunting task anymore.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Diagnosis
Diagnosis may be the most difficult part of the entire Gluten-Free process. Unless you know to specifically ask the doctor to do the test for it, you can go through years of misdiagnoses and mistreatment. I suffered all my life (20 years) before I was finally correctly diagnosed in June 2010, a year ago. And even then it was only by my own research that I figured out what the problem was....It wasn't the doctor figuring it out, it was me.
All my life, even when I was a little kid, I suffered from horrible digestion problems that eventually led to malnourishment and other problems that I eventually came to find out were symptoms of Celiac Disease. My symptoms included Lactose Intolerance; belly distention, cramps, and pain; loss of appetite; nausea; weight gain; chronic fatigue; depression and anxiety; frequent respiratory infections; and a few other symptoms. All of these things and constantly feeling sick had become a part of my day-to-day life. I always wondered what was wrong with me, but I never dreamed there would be an answer.
And there wasn't an answer until I started working at a small cafe in my hometown in May 2010 that catered to special diets including the Gluten-Free one. Up until this point in my life I had never even heard of gluten or that you could be gluten-free. I didn't start looking into it more until a man who is strictly gluten-free started coming into the cafe very frequently and also wrote a few paragraphs on Celiac Disease in my church's newsletter. It was then that I realized this could be the answer to the reason I've been suffering for the last 20 years. I went home and the first thing I did was get on WebMd and looked up Celiac Disease. The more I read about it, the more I realized this was what I had...There was no way it could be anything else. I had so many of the signs and symptoms that if Celiac Disease wasn't what was ailing me, I was sure I would go on the rest of my life feeling awful. Luckily, I learned, there was a test for the disease.
So, I made a doctor appointment. I wrote down on a piece of paper everything I had learned about Celiac Disease from the page on WebMd including my symptoms and walked into the doctor's office prepared. The thing about Celiac Disease is that, unless you live in a bigger city, a lot of small-town doctors have never even heard of it. And if they have, it hasn't been much. I sat down with my doctor and told her exactly what had been going on all my life, and told her I wanted to get tested. She admitted right away that she didn't know a whole lot about Celiac Disease, but told me that she had had a patient not too long ago who had been misdiagnosed at the clinic with IBS but was later diagnosed at a larger hospital to have Celiac Disease so she'd at least heard of it.
We went to her computer, (yay, technology!), and she opened up a medical database and went straight to Celiac Disease to read and learn more about it and to figure out what test I needed to have done in order to get diagnosed. We discovered that the initial test is called an IgA TTG (IgA tissue transglutinamase antibody) Test. This test checks levels of antibodies in your bloodstream and if they are raised, and if the test comes back positive the next step is to have a Small Intestinal Mucosal Biopsy to confirm the diagnosis and see the extent of the damage to your small intestine. Once it has been confirmed and the biopsy has a positive result, the next step is to go on a Gluten-Free diet.
At the time, I wasn't aware that it is best to have both of these tests done to get a totally positive test result, so I have only had the IgA TTG test done which came back positive. Once I knew the results of that test I went on a Gluten-Free diet and started feeling better, so I knew Celiac Disease was the culprit. If you are getting tested, however, I recommend getting both of the tests done and also if you are going to have the tests done you need to be eating a gluten-rich diet in order for them to be accurate. Once you go off of the gluten your body begins to heal itself and once it's healed, the test results will be wrong.
If you even so much as think you might have this disease, get yourself tested. It's easy and it can be life changing and life saving once you have it done. I recommend educating yourself on Celiac Disease if you think you have it before you see your doctor, though, in case they don't know much about it. Write down your symptoms (all of them!) and be open about talking with them with your doctor. If you leave something out, it could mean the difference between correct and misdiagnosis. Once you're diagnosed you can get on the path to not only better health, but a better life as well.
All my life, even when I was a little kid, I suffered from horrible digestion problems that eventually led to malnourishment and other problems that I eventually came to find out were symptoms of Celiac Disease. My symptoms included Lactose Intolerance; belly distention, cramps, and pain; loss of appetite; nausea; weight gain; chronic fatigue; depression and anxiety; frequent respiratory infections; and a few other symptoms. All of these things and constantly feeling sick had become a part of my day-to-day life. I always wondered what was wrong with me, but I never dreamed there would be an answer.
And there wasn't an answer until I started working at a small cafe in my hometown in May 2010 that catered to special diets including the Gluten-Free one. Up until this point in my life I had never even heard of gluten or that you could be gluten-free. I didn't start looking into it more until a man who is strictly gluten-free started coming into the cafe very frequently and also wrote a few paragraphs on Celiac Disease in my church's newsletter. It was then that I realized this could be the answer to the reason I've been suffering for the last 20 years. I went home and the first thing I did was get on WebMd and looked up Celiac Disease. The more I read about it, the more I realized this was what I had...There was no way it could be anything else. I had so many of the signs and symptoms that if Celiac Disease wasn't what was ailing me, I was sure I would go on the rest of my life feeling awful. Luckily, I learned, there was a test for the disease.
So, I made a doctor appointment. I wrote down on a piece of paper everything I had learned about Celiac Disease from the page on WebMd including my symptoms and walked into the doctor's office prepared. The thing about Celiac Disease is that, unless you live in a bigger city, a lot of small-town doctors have never even heard of it. And if they have, it hasn't been much. I sat down with my doctor and told her exactly what had been going on all my life, and told her I wanted to get tested. She admitted right away that she didn't know a whole lot about Celiac Disease, but told me that she had had a patient not too long ago who had been misdiagnosed at the clinic with IBS but was later diagnosed at a larger hospital to have Celiac Disease so she'd at least heard of it.
We went to her computer, (yay, technology!), and she opened up a medical database and went straight to Celiac Disease to read and learn more about it and to figure out what test I needed to have done in order to get diagnosed. We discovered that the initial test is called an IgA TTG (IgA tissue transglutinamase antibody) Test. This test checks levels of antibodies in your bloodstream and if they are raised, and if the test comes back positive the next step is to have a Small Intestinal Mucosal Biopsy to confirm the diagnosis and see the extent of the damage to your small intestine. Once it has been confirmed and the biopsy has a positive result, the next step is to go on a Gluten-Free diet.
At the time, I wasn't aware that it is best to have both of these tests done to get a totally positive test result, so I have only had the IgA TTG test done which came back positive. Once I knew the results of that test I went on a Gluten-Free diet and started feeling better, so I knew Celiac Disease was the culprit. If you are getting tested, however, I recommend getting both of the tests done and also if you are going to have the tests done you need to be eating a gluten-rich diet in order for them to be accurate. Once you go off of the gluten your body begins to heal itself and once it's healed, the test results will be wrong.
If you even so much as think you might have this disease, get yourself tested. It's easy and it can be life changing and life saving once you have it done. I recommend educating yourself on Celiac Disease if you think you have it before you see your doctor, though, in case they don't know much about it. Write down your symptoms (all of them!) and be open about talking with them with your doctor. If you leave something out, it could mean the difference between correct and misdiagnosis. Once you're diagnosed you can get on the path to not only better health, but a better life as well.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Signs and Symptoms
As I said before, there are over 250 different symptoms associated with Celiac Disease. "Symptoms of Celiac Disease occur after eating foods containing gluten. These foods trigger an abnormal immune system response that damages the intestine. Symptoms vary widely: they may be very mild and go completely unnoticed, or they may be severe and impact daily life...Symptoms of celiac disease also occur with a variety of other conditions, which can delay the initial diagnosis." (http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/celiac-disease/celiac-disease--symptoms)
There are two different categories of symptoms that I'm going to talk about. The first are "classic" symptoms that effect the G.I. Tract. The second are "atypical" symptoms that are extra-intestinal, or occur outside of the G.I. Tract. I'll also talk about some of the more severe, long-term effects that Celiac Disease can have on the body.
Some of the more common, "classic" symptoms include:
-Chronic diarrhea
-Bulky, pale, foul stools
-Belly distention (bloating), cramps, and pain
-Weight loss or weight gain
-Loss of or voracious appetite
-Vomiting
-Constipation
-Recurring mouth ulcers
-Dental enamel effects
-Lactose Intolerance
Some of the "atypical" symptoms include:
-Tired or no energy (chronic fatigue), iron deficiency, anemia
-Irritable, depressed (mental illness)
-Dermatitis Herpetiformis ("...a rare, chronic, skin disorder characterized by the presence of groups of severely itchy...blisters and raised skin lesions...These are more common on the knees, elbows, buttocks and shoulder blades." (http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/dermatitis-herpetiformis))
-Osteopenia/Osteoporosis (premature bone loss)
-Infertility, miscarriage
-Neurological findings (neuropathy)
-Abnormal liver tests
-Muscle, joint pain
-Delayed growth in children (failure to thrive)
-Delayed puberty and other developmental delays
-ADD/ADHD, other mental manifestations
-Frequent respiratory infections
-Problems with memory and concentration
-Muscle weakness
The signs and symptoms of Celiac Disease vary from individual to individual, with some people showing many symptoms that affect their day to day life and others showing no symptoms at all. Celiac Disease is more common in people with the following diseases:
-Dermatitis herpetiformis
-Type 1 Diabetes
-IgA deficiency
-Down syndrome
-Autoimmune thyroid disease
-Sjogren's Syndrome
-Turner Syndrome
-Microscopic Colitis
-Primary Billary Cirrhosis
As you can see there are many symptoms of Celiac Disease so it is difficult to diagnose. Most symptoms that people go to the doctor for are classified as "atypical", so it often gets misdiagnosed as something else such as Lactose intolerance or IBS. That's why it's important to do your research and ask lots of questions if you go into the doctor to make sure you get the right diagnosis.
There are two different categories of symptoms that I'm going to talk about. The first are "classic" symptoms that effect the G.I. Tract. The second are "atypical" symptoms that are extra-intestinal, or occur outside of the G.I. Tract. I'll also talk about some of the more severe, long-term effects that Celiac Disease can have on the body.
Some of the more common, "classic" symptoms include:
-Chronic diarrhea
-Bulky, pale, foul stools
-Belly distention (bloating), cramps, and pain
-Weight loss or weight gain
-Loss of or voracious appetite
-Vomiting
-Constipation
-Recurring mouth ulcers
-Dental enamel effects
-Lactose Intolerance
Some of the "atypical" symptoms include:
-Tired or no energy (chronic fatigue), iron deficiency, anemia
-Irritable, depressed (mental illness)
-Dermatitis Herpetiformis ("...a rare, chronic, skin disorder characterized by the presence of groups of severely itchy...blisters and raised skin lesions...These are more common on the knees, elbows, buttocks and shoulder blades." (http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/dermatitis-herpetiformis))
-Osteopenia/Osteoporosis (premature bone loss)
-Infertility, miscarriage
-Neurological findings (neuropathy)
-Abnormal liver tests
-Muscle, joint pain
-Delayed growth in children (failure to thrive)
-Delayed puberty and other developmental delays
-ADD/ADHD, other mental manifestations
-Frequent respiratory infections
-Problems with memory and concentration
-Muscle weakness
The signs and symptoms of Celiac Disease vary from individual to individual, with some people showing many symptoms that affect their day to day life and others showing no symptoms at all. Celiac Disease is more common in people with the following diseases:
-Dermatitis herpetiformis
-Type 1 Diabetes
-IgA deficiency
-Down syndrome
-Autoimmune thyroid disease
-Sjogren's Syndrome
-Turner Syndrome
-Microscopic Colitis
-Primary Billary Cirrhosis
As you can see there are many symptoms of Celiac Disease so it is difficult to diagnose. Most symptoms that people go to the doctor for are classified as "atypical", so it often gets misdiagnosed as something else such as Lactose intolerance or IBS. That's why it's important to do your research and ask lots of questions if you go into the doctor to make sure you get the right diagnosis.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
So, what the heck is Celiac Disease? (Part 2)
Now that we know what gluten is, let's talk about what it does to someone with C.D. when they eat it.
Gluten causes an immune reaction in genetically susceptible people and causes damage to the small intestine when it is ingested into the body. This causes the abnormal absorption of nutrients into the body. In your small intestine there are these little, finger-like appendages sticking up that help in the absorption of nutrients. When someone with C.D. eats gluten your immune system attacks the gluten and harms your small intestine, causing "blunting" of the villi.
Gluten causes an immune reaction in genetically susceptible people and causes damage to the small intestine when it is ingested into the body. This causes the abnormal absorption of nutrients into the body. In your small intestine there are these little, finger-like appendages sticking up that help in the absorption of nutrients. When someone with C.D. eats gluten your immune system attacks the gluten and harms your small intestine, causing "blunting" of the villi.
On the left is a picture of healthy villi. On the right is a picture of blunted villi. (I have seen pictures of blunted villi where the small intestine is completely smooth, which can happen in severe cases of C.D.)
I want to clear up that Celiac Disease is NOT another name for a wheat allergy or gluten intolerance. Here are the differences:
1) Celiac Disease is an immune mediated disease that effects approximately 1% of the U.S. population, which is 2-3 million people or 1 out of every 133 people. Out of these people, 85% of them have yet to be diagnosed.
2) Wheat allergy affects about 10% of food allergy sufferers. A wheat allergy is rarely an allergy to gluten and is more often an allergy to other proteins found in wheat.
3) Gluten sensitivity/intolerance is not a gluten allergy. People with gluten sensitivity/intolerance only develop symptoms after ingesting gluten.
Celiac Disease can occur at all ages but is most commonly diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 60. One of the myths related to C.D. is that it only occurs in people of European origin. This is not true. C.D. has been found to occur in people of all races, but is very rare in people of Japanese origin due to their diet. Genetics play a key role in who gets C.D. This means that if one person in a family has it, at least one other person does, too.
Celiac Disease is a lot more common than people think, but because the symptoms of C.D. are so vast it is often mistaken for other illnesses such as IBS. Because of better education and more research, more people are being diagnosed every day.
So, what the heck is Celiac Disease? (Part 1)
If you've never heard of Celiac Disease (abbreviated C.D.) you're probably wondering what the heck it is. Since it's not a very well-known disease like Diabetes or Crohn's, I'm not surprised you may not have heard of it. This post is aimed towards explaining what C.D. is and why it's so important that we raise awareness about it.
In order to explain C.D., I have to explain what Gluten is.
So, basically, Gluten is the protein found in wheat, barley, and rye and their derivatives. If Gluten were just found strictly in wheat, barley, and rye it would be much easier to find them, but the fact that Gluten is found in derivatives of these grains (such as malt flavoring, dextrin, brewer's yeast, and hydrolyzed plant protein) it makes it much more difficult to choose foods that are Gluten Free (abbreviated GF).
So, what can people with C.D. eat?
Typically, oats are considered GF if they are pure oats. This means that the oats have not been processed on the same machinery or even in the same plant as wheat, barely, and rye products, which they often are. Pure oats contain very little gluten protein so eating them won't activate C.D. unless they are consumed in very, very large amounts. Pure oats will be labeled as such on the packaging. If they have been processed in the same plant as wheat, somewhere on the package it will say "May contain wheat ingredients", or something like that.
Rice (white and brown), corn, sorghum, millet, and teff are all okay to eat. Other nutritious foods and grains that don't contain Gluten are:
-Amaranth
-Arrowroot
-Beans
-Buckwheat
-Flax
-Montina
-Potatoes
-Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah)
-Soy
-Tapioca
-Nuts and seeds
Even though it may seem like there are lots of foods that people with C.D. can't eat because they contain gluten, there are tons of other options that they can have...And often they're better for you or taste better!
Now I bet you're wondering, "So, then why is gluten so bad? What does it to do you when you eat it?" This will be covered in part 2.
In order to explain C.D., I have to explain what Gluten is.
"Gluten (from Latin gluten "glue") is a protein composite that appears in foods processed from wheat and related species, including barley and rye...Gluten is the composite of a prolamin and a glutelin, which exist, conjoined with starch, in the endosperm of various grass-related grains. Gliadin, a water-soluble, and glutenin, a water-insoluble, (the prolamin and glutelin from wheat) compose about 80% of the protein contained in wheat seed...Worldwide, gluten is a source of protein, both in foods prepared directly from sources containing it, and as an additive to foods otherwise low in protein." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten)
So, basically, Gluten is the protein found in wheat, barley, and rye and their derivatives. If Gluten were just found strictly in wheat, barley, and rye it would be much easier to find them, but the fact that Gluten is found in derivatives of these grains (such as malt flavoring, dextrin, brewer's yeast, and hydrolyzed plant protein) it makes it much more difficult to choose foods that are Gluten Free (abbreviated GF).
So, what can people with C.D. eat?
Typically, oats are considered GF if they are pure oats. This means that the oats have not been processed on the same machinery or even in the same plant as wheat, barely, and rye products, which they often are. Pure oats contain very little gluten protein so eating them won't activate C.D. unless they are consumed in very, very large amounts. Pure oats will be labeled as such on the packaging. If they have been processed in the same plant as wheat, somewhere on the package it will say "May contain wheat ingredients", or something like that.
Rice (white and brown), corn, sorghum, millet, and teff are all okay to eat. Other nutritious foods and grains that don't contain Gluten are:
-Amaranth
-Arrowroot
-Beans
-Buckwheat
-Flax
-Montina
-Potatoes
-Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah)
-Soy
-Tapioca
-Nuts and seeds
Even though it may seem like there are lots of foods that people with C.D. can't eat because they contain gluten, there are tons of other options that they can have...And often they're better for you or taste better!
Now I bet you're wondering, "So, then why is gluten so bad? What does it to do you when you eat it?" This will be covered in part 2.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Introductions
Hi! I'm Bri, and this is a blog about Celiac Disease. What is Celiac Disease? We'll get into that later, but first I want to give you some background about myself. I want to point out that I am by no means a medical professional . The information that I will talk about in this blog is based on things I have learned through research and personal experience with Celiac Disease through books, websites, doctors visits, and seminars I have listened to or watched on T.V. or the internet. If you have any questions about Celiac Disease feel free to ask me and I'll do my best to answer them, but I also recommend and strongly encourage you to talk to your doctor if you have serious concerns about your health and well-being. I also encourage you to do your own research and ask lots of questions!
All of my life I've struggled with dietary and digestive problems, some of which include malnutrition, belly cramps/pain, chronic fatigue, and depression and anxiety. I never felt well and often had trouble sleeping, and when I would wake up in the morning I would feel extremely nauseous. I would even miss school sometimes because of how awful I felt. On the outside, I appeared just fine but on the inside my body was raging a war against itself because of what I was eating. I just didn't know it yet.
About a year ago I got hired at a local cafe that makes foods for special diets such as vegans, vegetarians, and people with Celiac Disease and others who can't eat Gluten. Until then I had no knowledge of Celiac Disease or gluten Intolerance/Sensitivity. A man with severe Celiac Disease often came in to the cafe to eat, since not many places in my hometown carry Gluten Free foods, and after various conversations with him I started learning more about the disease. Curious, I did more research. After reading about Celiac Disease on webmd.com (http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/celiac-disease/celiac-disease-topic-overview) I realized that I needed to make an appointment with my doctor.
So many of the symptoms listed were what I had been struggling with for the last twenty years of my life. If Celiac Disease wasn't the answer to my health problems, I wasn't sure if I'd ever find the answer. When I went to the doctor, I explained my situation to her and told her that I thought I might have Celiac Disease. Now, Celiac Disease is difficult to diagnose, mostly because there are over 250 symptoms attributed to it. For this reason it is often mistaken for other health problems like IBS, Lactose Intolerance, or Acid Reflux. Celiac Disease can also occur as a result of some other illnesses such as Diabetes. For this reason, my doctor was pretty impressed that I had taken this step toward diagnosis.
My doctor readily admitted that she didn't know much about Celiac Disease. I wasn't surprised, seeing as it isn't one of the most widely known illnesses in the medical community, but was grateful that she was willing to do the research to get me diagnosed and on the road to better health. After doing some research, she decided that the first step was for me to take a blood test. The test came back positive. With that result and the fact that I had so many of the symptoms, it was clear: I had Celiac Disease. My life would never be the same again. Little did I know, adjusting to this new lifestyle would be one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do in my life.
This blog is intended to educate people on Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance/Sensitivity, and hopefully raise awareness about this disease that affects approximately 1% of the U.S. population. (That's 2-3 million people, or 1 in every 133 people.) Like I said before, I am NOT a medical professional. I can neither diagnose nor treat you, but what I can do and intend to do is give you information about the disease and diagnosis, and give you resources and support to help you get diagnosed and cope with this life-changing disease.
All of my life I've struggled with dietary and digestive problems, some of which include malnutrition, belly cramps/pain, chronic fatigue, and depression and anxiety. I never felt well and often had trouble sleeping, and when I would wake up in the morning I would feel extremely nauseous. I would even miss school sometimes because of how awful I felt. On the outside, I appeared just fine but on the inside my body was raging a war against itself because of what I was eating. I just didn't know it yet.
About a year ago I got hired at a local cafe that makes foods for special diets such as vegans, vegetarians, and people with Celiac Disease and others who can't eat Gluten. Until then I had no knowledge of Celiac Disease or gluten Intolerance/Sensitivity. A man with severe Celiac Disease often came in to the cafe to eat, since not many places in my hometown carry Gluten Free foods, and after various conversations with him I started learning more about the disease. Curious, I did more research. After reading about Celiac Disease on webmd.com (http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/celiac-disease/celiac-disease-topic-overview) I realized that I needed to make an appointment with my doctor.
So many of the symptoms listed were what I had been struggling with for the last twenty years of my life. If Celiac Disease wasn't the answer to my health problems, I wasn't sure if I'd ever find the answer. When I went to the doctor, I explained my situation to her and told her that I thought I might have Celiac Disease. Now, Celiac Disease is difficult to diagnose, mostly because there are over 250 symptoms attributed to it. For this reason it is often mistaken for other health problems like IBS, Lactose Intolerance, or Acid Reflux. Celiac Disease can also occur as a result of some other illnesses such as Diabetes. For this reason, my doctor was pretty impressed that I had taken this step toward diagnosis.
My doctor readily admitted that she didn't know much about Celiac Disease. I wasn't surprised, seeing as it isn't one of the most widely known illnesses in the medical community, but was grateful that she was willing to do the research to get me diagnosed and on the road to better health. After doing some research, she decided that the first step was for me to take a blood test. The test came back positive. With that result and the fact that I had so many of the symptoms, it was clear: I had Celiac Disease. My life would never be the same again. Little did I know, adjusting to this new lifestyle would be one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do in my life.
This blog is intended to educate people on Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance/Sensitivity, and hopefully raise awareness about this disease that affects approximately 1% of the U.S. population. (That's 2-3 million people, or 1 in every 133 people.) Like I said before, I am NOT a medical professional. I can neither diagnose nor treat you, but what I can do and intend to do is give you information about the disease and diagnosis, and give you resources and support to help you get diagnosed and cope with this life-changing disease.
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