Celiac Disease affects nearly 3 million people in the United States alone – that’s 1 out of every 133 people. Take this Gluten Sensitive condition worldwide and the number grows tremendously. The interesting thing about Celiac Disease is that many more people have it and don’t even know it. That is because Gluten Intolerance affects people in different ways.
But for those that have already discovered that they have Celiac Disease there is great news – you CAN treat Celiac Disease. In fact, with the proper information and steps in your diet, you have the ability to reverse and eliminate Celiac Disease completely, for most people.
What is Celiac Disease?
Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disorder. It is not the exact same thing as Gluten Intolerance, although you will often see the terms used interchangeably. You can have a Gluten Intolerance without having Celiac Disease; however, you cannot have Celiac Disease without having a Gluten Intolerance.
Celiac Disease is just one type of Gluten Intolerance.
Gluten Intolerance falls into two categories: 1) Celiac Gluten Intolerance and 2) Non-Celiac Gluten Intolerance.
What is Different about Celiac Disease or Celiac Gluten Intolerance?
For people with Celiac Disease, eating gluten damages the villi in the small intestine. These are those finger-like things that we all learned about in high school. The villi get worn down and damaged, a condition known as villous atrophy. Once this occurs your body is not able to absorb nutrients as well as they do in a healthy stomach.
When a person with this condition eats gluten the body triggers the immune system to attack the gluten and the body’s own intestinal tract. For this reason, Celiac Disease is referred to as an autoimmune disorder.
How Do I know if I have Celiac Disease?
You can have Celiac Disease and still have no obvious symptoms, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), headaches, or skin problems, for several years.
The only way to find out if you have Celiac Disease is to find out if your villi are damaged. You must have villous atrophy to be diagnosed with Celiac Disease. There are currently two tests that can be done to determine this condition:
- An Intestinal Biopsy
- Specific Blood Tests
The goal of each of these series of tests is to determine villous atrophy. However, a word of warning here is that both of these tests have been called inconclusive. You could end up with a “false negative” result. There seems to still be some question as to the accuracy of the tests.
What Can I do if I have Celiac Disease?
The good news for those that suffer the symptoms of Gluten Sensitivity is that Celiac Disease can be effectively treated: STOP EATING GLUTEN with a GLUTEN FREE DIET.
Depending on several factors such as your age, your overall health, and the extent of the damage to your villi, it is possible for your villi to become healthy once again after you switch your food choices to a Gluten Free Diet.
In other words: Your body had the ability to repair itself if you just give it the tools it needs (the right kinds of foods) and quit sabotaging its healthy efforts with the kinds of food that your body is not equipped to process.
It’s similar to a car’s engine. If you were to put diesel fuel into a car that is made to run on gasoline you are going to screw up the engine, right? Same thing with the body of those that cannot properly digest gluten.
OK, Where Do I Go from Here?
Take a look at these additional sources and continue your discovery of a healthy, Gluten-free LIFEstyle:
- Where to Buy Gluten Free Food
- How to Prepare a Healthy and Delicious Gluten-Free Menu
- Gluten Free Cookbooks
- Gluten Free Diet Tips
- Related Articles about Gluten Sensitivity, Gluten Intolerance, and Gluten Allergies
- How to Lose Belly Fat with Gluten Free Abs trainer Jennifer Finley
