Jens Gluten Free Blog

I just read about an astounding study about the effects of gluten. Dr. Mark Hyman writes about it in the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/gluten-what-you-dont-know_b_379089.html). Dr. Hyman reports that according to a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association people with diagnosed celiac disease, undiagnosed celiac disease, and gluten sensitivities have a higher risk of death than the average person.

Remember that first week after your celiac diagnosis? Perhaps you have actively wiped it out of your memory, but I still have vivid nightmares about it. I remember leaving the doctor’s office thinking that I simply needed to take certain baked goods out of Amy’s diet. And then I got home and Googled it. Then I went to my kitchen and searched through my pantry. When it was all over I just sat down and cried.

So you were sick as a dog, found out you were a celiac, and now you feel great, right? One mistake many celiacs make is the assumption that now that their stomachs are no longer giving them problems, as long as they stick to gluten-free food they no longer need to watch what they eat. This is the attitude that leads to a lifetime of poor eating habits which nobody can afford, especially celiacs.

Pregnancy is a much talked about issue in the gluten-free community. Many are all too well aware that undiagnosed celiac disease can lead to fertility issues. Firstly, women with undiagnosed celiac disease often have delayed onset of menstruation and early onset of menopause reducing their opportunity for pregnancy. Throw in the unpredictable menstrual cycles and you have significantly reduced your chance of getting pregnant. In fact, up to 39% of women with undiagnosed celiac disease do not even get their periods.

Our foray into guest blogging was such a success that we decided to do some more. We chose a topic that all gluten-free eaters have had to deal with with at some point: starting out.

Getting an IBS diagnosis is like being told that your headache is caused by a painful pounding in your head. The doctor might even give you a Tylenol to make the pain go away. And if it doesn’t, he will probably tell you that you are under a lot of stress.

Well … the verdict is in. My endoscopy came back negative. I must admit I was a bit torn by the results. On the one hand, I was a bit relieved to find that I do not have celiac disease. A gluten-free diet is a difficult diet to maintain, and it has nutritional deficiencies as well. On the other hand, now I don’t have anything to account for my symptoms. If I don’t have celiac disease why have I developed IBS and lactose intolerance in the last six months?

Migraines affect 30 million Americans, 75% of whom are women. They usually begin between the ages of 10-40 and recede at 50, although some people have them throughout their lifetime.

With the proliferation of gluten-free blogs out there it is abundantly clear that there is a lot to say about celiac sprue disease and the gluten-free diet and lifestyle. Celiac sprue is a disease that is believed to affect 1 in 133 people and the vast majority of them have never even heard of it. Through online blogging and the creation of social networking sites, the gluten-free community has taken it upon itself to try to get the word out. But there are other hurdles to overcome: The inadequate availability of celiac screening, the price and quality of gluten-free food, and defining the parameters of celiac disease vs. gluten sensitivity are just a few things that still need to be addressed. These are all challenges that can and will be overcome, the question is what can we do about them?

I read a fascinating statistic about celiac disease the other day. Did you know that celiac disease affects twice as many women as it does men? This statistic becomes even more upsetting when you consider that according to the Association of Family History of Autoimmune Diseases and Autism Spectrum Disorders, children who are born from mothers with celiac disease are 3 times more likely to have autism.

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