Many of you may have stumbled across this blog and are wondering, 'What in the world is Celiac Disease and what do I need to know about it?' Or you may have just been diagnosed with it and no one has explained to you what you need to avoid, or how you need to eat now. I would love to take you down this journey to make you more knowledgeable about it so you can get your body healed and stay healthy!
After I was diagnosed, my wonderful GI doctor and dietician explained a lot to me, however I still had questions! I simply did a google search and found this image (I'm a visual learner) which proved very helpful to me to see what damage gluten was doing to me and why I was in so much pain!Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disease where in ingestion (also airborne, but that's for another day) of gluten causes damage to the small intestine. Because it damages the villi, your body isn't able to get the nutrients that it needs so weight loss from malnutrition is common at first. If you are diagnosed with Celiac disease and you continue to eat gluten, you can die. There's also a high risk of getting lymphoma, a type of cancer. This is a very serious disease and it's to be taken seriously.
Now for the second question (I get this question a lot). What is gluten?
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. There is a lot of things I didn't realize that was made from barley, for example malts. This saddened me greatly when I found that out. So yes, no more malts or malted milk balls if you have Celiac. Also there is a great debate among the Celiac community about if oats are truly gluten free. The reason for this debate is the oats are planted on the same field as wheat. And living in Wisconsin, growing up with a family who are farmers, they most likely share a harvester as well. I always get a Celiac reaction to oats even if they claim to be gluten free. So if you're still having a reaction and can't figure out where it's coming from, check the ingredients of your favorite cereal or snack. I also have made energy bites for my kids with gluten free oats and they get reactions from it as well. So we avoid oats altogether. It isn't worth feeling crummy and doing damage to our bodies! One drink I recommend to help you heal your gut is aloe vera drinks. Those helped me immensely when I was first diagnosed to feel better faster. Just don't drink too many or it'll give you diarrhea. That's not really the desired result!
The last point I want to make is this; I have found a wonderful support group of friends who help me in the practical things of life, and I recommend you finding this as well. If you have a Facebook there are lots of support groups on there or find one in your community! You will be surprised to find how refreshing it is to have others who understand you and to be able to talk candidly and honestly with one another.
There is more to life than being miserable. God has given us these bodies and we need to treat them the right way! I feel so strongly about this, and it's one of the reasons I wanted to start this blog. I want to share what I've gone through and what I have found that actually works. It upsets me when I see Celiacs who still eat gluten and complain when they keep getting sick. I think of this scripture verse, and I think this is a great mission statement for this blog;
