#CeliacAwarenessDay

Since today is #CeliacAwarenessDay, I figured I'd make y'all aware of Celiac. 

When I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, I had a bunch of blood work done and they found red flags for Celiac. But in order to confirm it, I had to have a doctor send a camera down into my guts and scrape a little skin to test. Sure enough, it was bad enough they diagnosed me with Celiac on the spot and called a few days later with the test results (I was a 3 out of 4 on the Marsh Scale). This is not just a gluten allergy--Celiac Disease is much more critical. In the two months since I've been diagnosed, it's been interesting to learn what foods do and don't have gluten in them, and what other things to be aware of, like chapstick. 

Celiac Disease is an auto-immune disease, meaning that when I eat gluten, my body starts attacking itself. There are a lot of various symptoms of Celiac, because the systems of the body are so interconnected. In addition to the exterior symptoms, major trauma is happening on the inside. If I kept eating gluten, eventually the insides of my intestines would no longer be able to absorb nutrients and I would essentially starve to death. Since dying is not my first option, the only solution is to avoid all forms of gluten in my diet. 

For those of you who don't understand what gluten is, it's a protein found in some grains: namely wheat, rye, barley, and triticale (a hybrid of wheat and rye most people haven't heard of). Also, even oats manufactured on separate machines and certified Gluten-Free contain a protein similar to gluten that causes similar issues in people with Celiac. Maintaining a Gluten-Free diet consists of more than not eating bread or barley soup. It means avoiding all matter of cross-contamination.

To give to a little context, doctors around the world have decided people with Celiac Disease can ingest up to 10 milligrams of gluten per day without ill effects: a crumb of bread has 30 milligrams of gluten in it. To avoid cross-contamination, I have to extremely clean my dishes (metal and glass are easier to clean); I can't share serving utensils; and I can't high-five someone who has touched bread, then pick up an apple to eat. You can imagine this makes eating out extremely difficult. Whenever someone else prepares food for me, whether at a restaurant or a friend's house, I have to trust them with my life. 

Lucky for me, I live in an age where GF is a priority to food manufacturers. Just last month, a ruling by the FDA went into effect mandating that in order to label a food as Gluten-Free, it must contain less than 20 PPM (parts per million) of gluten. That is about 1/8th of a teaspoon in a loaf of bread. However, in my experience, even though there are a ton of packaged Gluten-Free food options, the best GF foods are things that are naturally Gluten-Free. Fruit, meat, and potatoes make up a goodly portion of my diet. Plus, anytime my family and I can eat the same foods, it makes me feel a lot less of an outsider. 

Celiac Disease is a chronic illness, and although avoiding gluten is a solution, there is no known cure. Unlike an allergy, you can't "grow out" of it. Celiac is highly genetic, so having family members with it highly raises the likelihood of you having it. Whether you have family with Celiac or not, I recommend everyone be tested. The estimations for people who have undiagnosed Celiac are astounding (83% of people with Celiac don't know it), mainly because the symptoms are so diverse and often misleading. In addition, I've heard people say our bodies weren't created to digest grains anyway, so there's no harm in modifying your diet anyway.  

Gluten-Free is the way to be! 

To read one of my favourite perspectives on the disease, go to: http://mylifewithfoodallergies.com/index/5-lies-celiacs-tell/