9 Things You Might Not Know About Celiac Disease

9 Things You Might Not Know About Celiac Disease

Good morning my beautiful friends! I hope you are all having a wonderful Thursday. As you all know or might not know, May is Celiac Awareness Month.

TRUST. When I say this if you or someone you know was recently diagnosed with celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity. BABES. No worries, we have some options.

WAY more then we did back when I was diagnosed when I was twenty. I have to admit it is amazing all the wonderful companies and brands and all the progress we have made when it comes to celiac awareness and also just support.

I am SUPER excited because I just started working for the Celiac Foundation in Denver. YAY!

Did you know that about 1 in every 133 Americans has celiac.? I know. It’s pretty insane.

SO WHAT REALLY IS CELIAC.?

Yeah. I know. It’s the question, everyone has.

Okay before I head into the 10 things you might not know about celiac disease, let’s clear the air and explain what it really is.

CELIAC DISEASE is an autoimmune disorder in where the body reacts to the gluten which is the protein found in grains like barley, and wheat. So basically what happens is that our body starts to attack against gluten by basically attacking the lining of our intestine. This will cause inflammation and makes it hard for your body to absorb nutrients.

THE EFFECT:  Some of the most common symptoms are digestive issues, like bloating, diarrhea, gas, and weight loss among others. You can also be like me and on top of that get inflammation in between the joints, a negative effect on my hormones, which then affects my mood and then on top of it all I also get a skin rash.

9 THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW ABOUT CELIAC DISEASE 

1. Gluten is not just found in wheat. Unlike most people think, as mentioned above barley, and rye also contain wheat as do spelt and durum.
2. There are over 300 symptoms. I mentioned some of the most common and the ones I have experienced, but there are so many out there and it varies from person to person.
3. Celiac can cause other health issues. Cancer, infertility, a hormonal imbalance and so much more.
4. It isn’t an allergy. It’s an autoimmune disease. Which means that having celiac and having an allergy to wheat is not the same.
5. It is hereditary. If you happen to have a first-degree relative than you have a 10% chance of also developing it.
6. It as simple as a blood test. YES. There is a blood test to screen for celiac.
7. It can develop at any age. You can get it when you are a child and also later on in life.
8. SOY SAUCE. Yeah, unless it’s tamari, soy sauce is made with wheat. TRY: tamari or coconut aminos.
9. There is no cure for celiac. The only thing you can do is eat a gluten-free diet and be careful with cross contamination.

EAT THIS NOT THAT

The most frustrating part is, you feel like you cannot eat anything and like you are gonna be miserable when you go out to eat and so on. I will be honest, I prefer to either cook at home or go to places I know I can eat, but since I do travel a lot, doing research really helps.

I LOVE no bread. she has a guide for a few cities, I do make a guide of the cities I go to for later reference on where I can eat and so on. I tend to play it safe and go for eggs, or things like that. I love sushi, and if it really comes to it, I will go to Whole Foods and just grab sushi on the go, I get he individual packets of coconut aminos and take that with me whenever I go out to eat Asian food.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO EAT OUT.

I would say that the best places to check out if you can go the paleo route, I always google paleo restaurants when I am going to a new city. Another great option is checking out raw vegan places since they are mostly gluten-free as it is. I would stay away from Italian, while most places now have gluten-free pasta options, this is not always the case. I look at seafood as an option, sushi, or even latin restaurants since I always find a good option there.

I will say that I always ask for the sauces and make sure there isn’t any flour in them and if anything I ask if it is possible to get the protein of choice without a sauce and roasted or grilled veggies is always available as is some sort of rice or potato dish, that most of the time are gluten-free.

While my friends sometimes do make fun and imitate me, it doesn’t bother me anymore, I laugh it off and even join them. I know they love me and are just teasing me.

WHAT TO BUY AT THE STORE

I have a go-to flour blend and flour that I use in my baked goods, I really love experimenting with my own creations and use Cassava Flour 95% of the time, if I am just using a recipe that isn’t gluten-free and turning it gluten free I will use Bob’s Red Mill gluten free 1-to-1. 

While I am still on the journey of mastering a homemade gluten-free bread, I stick to pretty much the same type of gluten-free bread from Canyon Gluten Free Bread. I just recently discovered a crazy good pita bread, if you are plant-based and need a good quality veggie burger I ADORE the ones from Qrunch and even though I am not plant based 100% I eat these at least twice a week.

NEED a great pancakes recipe that is gluten free? TRY my favourite superfood pancakes. Try this sweet potato casserole that is gluten free and dairy free.

Alright, my friends, I hope that you learned a little bit more about celiac and what foods are great options and how you can make your life easier. Do you or someone you know have celiac?