beautiful inside & out

Happy Wednesday! I'm so excited the weekend is almost here! Many people aren't familiar Celiac's Disease and being Gluten-intolerant so here are some facts:

Celiac disease is: a digestive disorder where your body has a toxic reaction to gluten [gluten is a protein found in certain grains: wheat, barley, & rye]. It is hereditary & chronic auto-immune disorder. So that means, it causes your body to attack itself which doesn't allow your body to properly fight off infections and other diseases. In fact, 1/133 people have the disease.

Many people have different symptoms and don't even know they have it. [Just as in my case, I probably had it my whole life but never knew until I was tested.] Some common symptoms are: abdominal pain & bloating after eating, low energy, anemia, unexplained weight loss/weight gain, diarrhea or constipation, along with a host of other symptoms. For my case, I would have stomach pain shortly after eating bread or pasta [which I absolutely love!]. My stomach would grow and I would gain weight and keep it on for a few days. I thought this was normal. Another symptom I experienced was stomach pain, which I thought meant I was "full", when I would eat. If I would go to an Italian restaurant, I would eat a few pieces of bread then was only able to take a few bites of my penne with vodka sauce, until my stomach was telling me I was "full". I noticed and remembered growing up, when my mom would make chicken with a vegetable that my stomach felt fine, but never knew it was because it didn't contain gluten.

Some people can have a gluten sensitivity, and do not have Celiac disease. In fact, 8% of the US population has a gluten sensitivity. In order to find out if your body has a gluten issue, talk to your doctor and tell him/her your symptoms. A blood test will help you know if your gliadin anti-bodies are up [which happened in my case]. To learn more about these antibodies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-gliadin_antibodies This is your body's response to fight the gluten present your body from what you have eaten [hense, an auto-immune response]. Your test may come back negative if you have been gluten-free for a while, which will show a false-negitive*.

[*Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or in the medical profession, I am just writing what I know and have learned so far in my gf walk]

More GF info and recipes to come :)