blog #35: theme dietary diseases: surviving the battle of Ciliac Disease

One of my best friends, Emily, is an inspiring, fun-loving, and humorous woman who enjoys life to the fullest. Emily has celiac disease but she doesn't let this stop her from leading a normal life. In fact, Emily makes the best of every situation by learning more about food and her restrictions/limitations. Emily was diagnosed with this autoimmune disease as a child.

People with celiac disease have to eat a gluten-free diet, which requires a completely new approach to eating, in order to avoid wheat-containing foods entirely.

Celiac disease is genetic, meaning it runs in families. Sometimes the disease is triggered—or becomes active for the first time—after surgery, pregnancy, childbirth, viral infection, or severe emotional stress.

People with celiac disease can eat a well-balanced diet with a variety of foods (but it’s not easy).

American Dietetic Association recommends these foods:

Allowed Foods
amaranth arrowroot buckwheat cassava corn flax Indian rice grass Job’s tears	legumes millet nuts potatoes quinoa rice sago	seeds sorghum soy tapioca teff wild rice yucca
Foods To Avoid
wheat including einkorn, emmer, spelt, kamut wheat starch, wheat bran, wheat germ, cracked wheat, hydrolyzed wheat protein		barley rye triticale (a cross between wheat and rye)
Other Wheat Products
bromated flour durum flour enriched flour farina	graham flour phosphated flour plain flour	self-rising flour semolina white flour
Processed Foods that May Contain Wheat, Barley, or Rye*
bouillon cubes brown rice syrup candy chips/potato chips cold cuts, hot dogs, salami, sausage communion wafers	French fries gravy imitation fish matzo rice mixes sauces	seasoned tortilla chips self-basting turkey soups soy sauce vegetables in sauce

^* Most of these foods can be found gluten-free. When in doubt, check with the food manufacturer.

In my Advanced Nutrition class, we are learning the effects of celiac disease on a cellular level, which if untreated can lead to lymphoma (a form of cancer). A gluten-free diet is essential, because gluten causes a problematic immune reaction in the small intestine. This reaction results in damage to the inner surface of the small intestine and an inability to absorb certain nutrients from food.

Emily has to follow a gluten-free diet in order to be healthy.

Not following the diet can lead to:

·         Damage to her small intestine

·         Bone loss

·         Abdominal pain

·         Diarrhea

·         Anemia

·         Vitamin deficiencies

·         Gastrointestinal cancer (especially lymphoma)

Some people with this disease refuse to follow the diet and still eat cakes and other products with gluten. The consequences of eating against what is tolerated will lead to escalation of the disease.

YOU DONT WANT THIS, SO EAT WHAT YOU CAN TOLERATE!

Emily makes the best of her situation by being extremely healthy, cooking her meals, and being extremely active. She swims religiously and cross-trains by running and lifting weights most days of the week. Emily is finishing culinary school to be a professional chef and she even works in a restaurant in Arizona. She doesn't let her disease get her down.

Emily is a truly exceptional woman; despite her autoimmune disease, she sets the bar high for how to be healthy and understand what to consume (and why). I hope that more people with this disease will understand that they, too, can lead normal lives by adjusting their dietary intake to healthy non-gluten foods just like Emily.