One of the things that I have had people ask me is which is worse, allergies or intolerance (Celiac Disease is an intolerance to glutens.) But it is very individual. Either one can be mild or severe. And with an intolerance like Celiac Disease, you may not realize that you have it, may not have any recognizable symptoms, but it can still cause damage that can result in serious illness such as colon cancer or the inability to absorb nutrients.
Some CD sufferers have very severe symptoms from just a crumb of gluten or cross-contamination. Others don’t have any obvious symptoms but still have silent systemic damage. So don’t assume that your acquaintance is not actually gluten intolerant because they didn’t know that you snuck some gluten into their food (yes, people do this…) People may also be suffering for it hours later and not tell you because they are nice and trying to spare your feelings. Or they don’t know how they got contaminated. Just don’t be that guy.
May is Celiac Disease Awareness month. You may have heard of Celiac Disease and not know what it means. It has also been called Celiac Sprue and a couple of other names. While those with Celiac Disease react to the glutens (proteins) in grains, it is not an allergy like a peanut allergy.
Definition
Celiac disease (CD) is a common disorder that is estimated to affect about one percent of the population. It is a condition in which the absorptive surface of the small intestine is damaged by a substance called gluten. Gluten is a group of proteins present in wheat, rye and barley and their cross bred grains. The damage to the intestine can lead to a variety of symptoms and result in an inability of the body to absorb nutrients such as protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, which are necessary for good health.
Canadian Celiac Association
Sufferers of CD may also not be able to tolerate other grains (members of the grass family, such as corn, sorghum, millet, rice, etc.) They may also have other intolerances, such as for dairy products. They may have other autoimmune diseases such as Sjrogen’s, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, Hashimoto’s, and others. Because of increased gut permeability, they may develop multiple food allergies and intolerances.
While Celiac Disease may seem like something new, it has been around for a long time, but is exacerbated by our modern western diet which includes lots of gluten in a wide variety of sources. It wasn’t until the late 1800s and the first half of the twentieth century that doctors began to find success in treating this wasting disease with a diet that substituted rice or bananas for glutenous grains.
Gluten-Free Diet
The basic gluten-free diet avoids any sources of wheat, rye, and barley. There are many places gluten can lurk in your diet, it isn’t all bread, cereal, and pasta. It may be used as fillers in a myriad of food, is in your soy sauce, and many other places you might not expect. Cross contamination from equipment, pots, and deep-fryers is also an issue.
Oats are a problem for many celiacs, even when it is certified gluten-free. And as I mentioned above, other grains may be a problem, and some may find themselves saddled with a number of other intolerances and allergies. Finding and sticking to a diet that will keep you healthy and feeling well can be a lot more difficult than just buying commercial gluten-free bread.
Personal Experience of CT Grusendorf
For me, Celiac Disease causes 3-day migraines, brain fog, weight loss when the villi in your small intestine are damaged, so you don’t absorb nutrients, low platelet count, low iron, tooth decay due to not absorbing calcium. Also causes a lot of intestinal / stomach distress for some. People diagnosed with IBS are often misdiagnosed when it is really celiac disease.
When it hit me with a vengeance, I went from overweight at 184 down to 124 lbs. and zero energy to do anything. After figuring out what the problem was, I’m at 150 lbs and holding, platelets, iron, calcium are in the normal range when they never had been for my whole life. I get lots of regular exercise, eat moderately, and no longer need BP meds.
Parents need to watch their children for abnormal amounts of tooth decay. It maybe celiac related, and many dentists will not be aware or recognize it.
If you think you have CD, don’t go gluten free until you have been tested. There is a blood test available, and the gold standard is a biopsy looking for damaged villi. There can be false negatives for the biopsy if they didn’t sample the right place. Blood test is less reliable. When you are diagnosed as CD by a doctor, there are helps available on your Income Taxes for having to buy special foods that are more expensive. So get tested before you change your diet because you won’t want to go back on gluten just so you can prove it.
A few resources you may want to explore further:
Recipes
Gluten-free recipes about on the internet and in recipe books. In most cases, just googling “gluten-free” with the food you are looking for will give you plenty of options. If you are cooking for a friend, be sure to find out all of their dietary requirements.
Recipes from Auntie Clem’s Bakery
A number of readers have asked for recipes for the Auntie Clem’s Bakery series.
Now, Erin can make a lot of awesome baking that I cannot, both because she can use ingredients that I can’t eat (I am one of those people with multiple intolerances and allergies) and because she has time to experiment and bake when I am spending my time writing new books for you! I don’t want to give you recipes that I haven’t tested myself, so that limits the number of recipes I can share.
The good news is, during the Christmas holiday last year, I pulled together a few of my tried, tested, and true recipes and made them available to you for a free download. These are recipes that I spent years adapting and creating. I will continue to add recipes to it in the future.
So if you are interested, here are Recipes from Auntie Clem’s Bakery!
More Books
The library and book stores are full of books about gluten-free diets, cooking, and baking. I’ll list a few farther down that helped me at the beginning of my gluten-free journey or look particularly good. [Edited to add — okay, it looks like so much time has passed since I first went gluten-free that none of the ones I used are around anymore. but I’ve added a few that are consistently recommended and look good or are by authors I recognize from blogs and newsletters.] But first, let’s escape to a free fiction books that deal with gluten-free diets or cooking!
Gluten-Free Murder
Erin Price moves to Bald Eagle Falls, a place where everyone knows everyone as well as everyone else’s business, taking over the store left to her by her aunt to start up a gluten-free bakery. The grand opening is marred by just one thing, the death of her business rival, Angela Plaint. It appears that Angela was poisoned by one of Erin’s cupcakes, making her a prime suspect.
Equipped with cupcakes, her desire for the truth, and new bakery assistant Vicky’s help, Erin goes head-to-head against Detective Terry Piper to solve the murder. Rumors of treasure hunting, drug dealing, and a missing boy swirl around Bald Eagle Falls as Erin tries to sort the clues from the red herrings and find the killer before the killer can take care of her.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ P.D. Workman has done it again! This introduction to a new series involves a fresh start, sympathetic characters, and a murder. I spent the last ten minutes of the book standing up to read because I was off to do something but just couldn’t put it down until I got to the end. I haven’t been that invested in a book in a while.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Couldn’t put it down !! From a cute kitten to a police dog to a bakery for people with allergies ! Highly recommend!
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Mito
Gabriel has dealt with mysterious medical issues his whole life. Just when he finally thought that they had all of the answers and he was on the road to good health, he is apprehended by DFS on the grounds of medical neglect.
At first, he thought that he would be back home in a few days, once the misunderstanding was cleared up. But when Renata tells Gabriel her crazy conspiracy theories, Gabriel feels the first pangs of doubt. Is there really a conspiracy?
Will he ever be able to get well and go back to his mother, or is he doomed to be another guinea pig for Doctor De Klerk?
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️The plot was FANTASTIC. I’ve read a lot of stories about foster children, but never anything quite like what happens in Mito. I never even realized that medical kidnap could very well be a thing happening “behind the scenes” in foster care, but after reading this book my mind is blown. I just. Wow. I don’t want to go into a whole lot of detail so I think I might stop this review here, but, gah. I can’t even form words I’m so freaking mind blown.
This book was amazing!!
—Britt, Goodreads reader
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Toxo
Caleb, an autistic teen is mistakenly arrested.
Bad turns to worse when he is then apprehended from his family by DFS.
His mother could never have predicted the chain of events in a million years.
In trying to protect him, DFS has actually put Caleb in harm’s way.
Once again, Gabriel and Renata have teamed up to right injustice and to get Caleb to safety. But Andrew Searle is on the case, and it’s his job to see that they don’t succeed and that Caleb remains in foster care.
Ripped from the headlines, you won’t want to miss this intriguing plot!
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Gluten for Punishment
[This is not one of mine, so I can’t speak for an accurate portrayal of celiac disease. However, at least one reviewer has said that the information given is accurate]
Even though Toni is used to going against the grain by preparing allergy-safe, gluten-free products for her online bakery, Baker’s Treat, opening a storefront in the middle of wheat country Kansas might be biting off more than she can chew. The town is already skeptical of her flour-free ways, but when a local wheat farmer is murdered outside her patisserie, skepticism turns into outright suspicion.
With the help of her eccentric grandmother, her handsome lawyer, and the sexy new widower in town, Toni is determined to find the real criminal before bad publicity and increasingly personal acts of vandalism shut her down. But when another suspect winds up dead, Toni realizes that this half-baked killer isn’t just trying to get her to close shop—he’s trying to make sure that she’s made her last gluten-free cookie…forever.
Resources
Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic
From Dr. Peter H.R. Green, internationally renowned expert on celiac disease and director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University, and medical writer Rory Jones, the definitive book on celiac disease, one of the most underdiagnosed autoimmune diseases in the U.S.
Do you suffer from gastrointestinal complaints, fatigue, headaches, joint pain, anemia, and/or itchy skin conditions? Have you consulted numerous doctors, and been prescribed drugs and diets that have only temporarily alleviated some symptoms? If so, you may have celiac disease, a hereditary autoimmune condition that affects nearly one in every hundred people—97 percent of whom remain undiagnosed and untreated.
The real answer to your medical problems may lie in this book. Dr. Green, together with Rory Jones, an accomplished medical writer who was diagnosed with the disease in 1998 and has been researching it ever since, have written this authoritative guide on how celiac disease is properly diagnosed, treated, and managed. The disease is triggered by gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley, which damages the lining of the small intestine so that it cannot properly absorb food. Without essential nutrients, the entire body begins to suffer. Complications from celiac disease can include infertility, depression, liver disease, other autoimmune diseases (such as type 1 diabetes and thyroid disease), and even cancer. This is a disease that you do not outgrow. At present, the only way to treat it is to follow a lifelong gluten-free diet.
Celiac and the Beast
This is a real-life, no-holds-barred account of being diagnosed and living life with celiac disease. This is told through a humorous perspective from an average gluten-free girl who hates to cook and has an obsession with baking chocolate chip cookies to combat stress.
This details the struggle through misdiagnosis after misdiagnosis, additional medical issues along with celiac disease, and a connection between her past life of disordered eating to her new medically restricted diet. However, this book also showcases the triumphs of living a gluten-free life – from meeting new friends, to living life with a purpose, and meeting the wheat-free man of her dreams.
The First Year: Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance
If you’ve just been diagnosed with celiac disease, you’re not alone: as many as 1 in 133 Americans have this autoimmune disorder characterized by an inability to digest gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains. For ten years, Jules Shepard’s gastrointestinal symptoms went misdiagnosed. Finally diagnosed, she experienced a rollercoaster of emotions and illness the year following, as she discovered what she could and could not eat through trial and error.
Now, in The First Year” Celiac Disease and Living Gluten-Free, Shepard explains everything you need to learn and do upon your or a family member’s diagnosis.
How celiac disease affects your entire body
Eating gluten-free (and avoiding hidden glutens)
Keeping your kitchen safe from cross-contamination
Can I drink alcohol?
Celiac and fertility
Finding support groups
Parenting a child with celiac disease
Dining out, traveling, and entertaining
This unique guide prioritizes all the most important information on diet and lifestyle changes for you. Day-by-day, week-by-week, month-by-month, learn how to safely alter your diet, manage your symptoms, and adjust to living gluten-free. Complete with easy and delicious recipes for gluten-free baking, The First Year: Celiac Disease and Living Gluten-Free is your essential guide to a healthy life.
