You Know You Are a Celiac When . . .

Condensed from [Celiacbrain.com]

Dr. Bob on January 20th, 2009

Your nickname is “Olde Fart”

Because the small intestine of a person with celiac disease is damaged, undigested food enters the large intestines where bacteria convert it into gases (methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen). These gases cause the bloating, abdominal pain and passing of gas that is often associated with celiac disease.

Your friends are a lot smarter than you

Some people with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity suffer cognitive impairment. Forgetfulness (amnesia) and confusion can increase. If so, stay away from multitasking!

You can’t dance or you dance like a white person

Celiac disease is associated with gluten ataxia which causess a loss of balance and coordination. Learning new dance steps can help regain your balance, so don’t give up.

You can’t use chopsticks either

Gluten ataxia can cause your hands to tremble. Use heavy utensils instead.

Your headaches are on one side of your head

Some people with celiac disease experience migraine headaches. For some, strict adherence to a gluten free diet reduces the incidence of migraines.

You tend to drop your drink into your lap on airplane trips

There is that gluten ataxia again.

To learn more about celiac disease, check out these websites:

Mayo Clinic: Celiac disease

National Foundation for Celiac Awareness: What is celiac disease?

Wikipedia: Coelica disease

Try a Substitute Grain without Celiac Disease Symptoms

By now you should know that all wheat is out. As well, most grains are also glutinous or risky because of cross-contamination, and will cause many to get those celiac disease symptoms. But what CAN you eat? Below is a partial list and guidelines.

Rice: While rice becomes a staple for many celiac disease sufferers, overdoing it can have it's consequences. Eating too much rice, or all of the same type of rice may in fact cause a similar allergy to arise. So along with the rice, vary your grains. Also be careful of white rice. Because white rice is less nutritious then a brown or red rice, much of the white rice is 'fortified' with vitamins and minerals. The problem with this is that it is common to apply the additives by first mixing them in to a filler, such as corn starch, which is very likely to have cross-contamination issues.

Quinoa: (This one is tricky to pronounce. It goes "keen-wah") Nutty in flavor, quinoa is gluten-free and has a fine texture and can be used as a flour and whole, as a substitute when any small pasta is called for in a recipe.

Millet: No, it's not just for the birds :) Millet can be used both ground as a flour or whole as a grain.

Buckwheat: Not wheat at all, this is a gluten-free grain.

Amaranth: My personal favorite. (makes awesome pancakes) Amaranth is one of those "Egyptian grains" along with teff, which is another of the gluten-free grains, although it is not so commonly found.

Like I mentioned, this is only a partial list of gluten-free grains available. Some will take some looking/asking around to find, but once you find a source and get used to using them for your regular cooking and baking, you will find it is not so bad. (remember the alternative!)

Avoiding Celiac Disease Symptoms when Eating Out - Part 1

Yes, there comes the inevitable time when you have no choice but to eat out. You are on vacation perhaps, or out to a club dinner, and you have no choice in choosing where to go, and so you must play along. But times like that can be alot easier on everyone involved if you know ahead of time what to expect and what options you may have.

First, the type of restaurant you are eating at makes a huge difference in your chances of getting something edible. Fast food is completely out. There is no way you are going to find something at a fast food restaurant without having celiac disease symptoms. On the other hand, if the restaurant is a high-class establishment, the way out may be as simple as asking "May I see your gluten-free menu please?"; in which case you can order with ease. If you remember, lactose intolerance is another of the celiac disease symptoms, in which case you would need to ask which items also contain dairy (if it is not clear on the menu) and avoid those also.

If the restaurant does not happen to have a gluten-free menu or suggested items, don't lose hope yet. Many times the chef can still accommodate by creating a 'custom' dish just for you, and would be delighted to do it, since it offers a chance for creativity and a break from the monotony of preparing the same dishes over and over again. In my next article, I will cover avoiding celiac disease symptoms when eating out at middle-class restaurants and buffets.

Tips on Dealing with Celiac Disease Symptoms

The next step in battling celiac disease is to know how to eat. "Cut out all wheat and gluten" is easy enough to say, but can be very difficult to live out, depending on many factors. Your job, who you live with, and even where you live can greatly affect the ease or difficulty you will have in eating gluten-free. Eating gluten-free to eliminate celiac disease symptoms could mean no longer or very seldom eating out, making most of your meals at home, and being strict about how others use the kitchen.

You may find hiring someone to cook for you a good option. If you decide to go this route, be sure to find someone who specializes in gluten-free cooking. When cooking for someone with celiac disease symptoms, kosher-like standards must be adopted in relation to cleanliness and ingredients. Since flour is the main area that needs to be substituted, I will focus on that.

Your local natural foods market should have many certified gluten-free flours and baking mixes. Some flours to look for include rice, bean, tapioca, potato, and teff , all certified gluten-free. Let me mention something about why to choose certified gluten-free. Many companies will mill different grains on the same machinery without sanitizing. So just because the grain itself is gluten-free, cross-contamination in milling is extremely common and thus it may not be free of gluten. Certified gluten-free on the package assures you that the flour is 100% pure, milled on dedicated equipment never used for any other grains.

If you cook at home with others who also cook but do not have celiac disease symptoms, even though you may keep the highest standards of cleanliness and keeping everything separate from gluten-flours and items that were used for non-gluten-free food preparation or serving, keep this story in mind. Someone told me a story of how her sister, who is not gluten-free, forgot and used the same measuring cup in the sugar bin, after measuring out some flour for a cake she was making. 3 weeks later, unknowing that this was done, she used the sugar in a drink, and started reacting to the gluten! Even that minute amount of gluten that was left in the sugar from the measuring cup being used in the flour 3 weeks ago still affected her and her celiac disease symptoms returned.

I thought that story was a good example of how vigilant one must be when dealing with cross-contamination in the kitchen. The best bet is to have a separate, gluten-free only kitchen, but of course that can be extremely expensive. Keeping all utensils separate and educating everyone who uses the kitchen on gluten-free cooking can help make your journey to feeling better and healthier easier on you, and everyone concerned.

Celiac Disease Symptoms - What Are They?

Celiac disease can be confusing and hard to understand for alot of people. Before I go into what the symptoms are, let me explain exactly what celiac disease is.
Celiac disease is basically gluten intolerance. More specifically, it is when the body is unable to tolerate the protein in wheat, called giladin, and the giladin begins to damage the lining of the intestine. The solution for those with celiac disease symptoms is to cut out all, ALL wheat from their diet. I will discuss this in a later article.

Some of the more common celiac disease symptoms include:

• Lactose intolerance
• Excessive flatulence
• Abdominal pain
• Diarrhea

In more extreme cases, malnutrition may set in, since the lining of the intestine is so damaged it cannot digest most of the food eaten. In these cases, celiac disease symptoms could include:

• Anemia
• Easy bruising (due to lack of vitamin K)
• Nerve damage
• Muscle weakness

There are many ways to combat celiac disease and it's symptoms, if caught before it is too late.
A number of products are available to help those with celiac disease with the battle back to health. The best defense is to educate yourself, be willing to make big changes in diet, take action, and you will soon be on the way to feeling better and healthier! ^_^