What Are Villi? What Is Their job And How They Are Affected By Celiac Disease

May 4, 2018

Do you know what villus or villi are? Or for that matter, where they live and why are they important? To begin with, villus is the singular hair-like (also described as finger-like) projection. When there is more than one it is called villi and you want your small intestine to be covered with plenty of villi! Your intestine should be like a shag carpet of villi.

Your Small Intestine

Your small intestine is somewhere around 20-23 feet in length. The entire small intestinal tube is covered in villi. (pronounced: veal-I, that last I is a capital I that says it’s name.) Think 1970’s and wall to wall shag carpeting. Since your small intestine is a tube, it is a hairy tube of villi, a little more than just wall to wall. (Sorry if that image caused a shiver to run up and down your spine.)

The small intestine breaks down food by its motion of pushing it through the tube. There are muscles which help to move the food along. The official term for your food at this point is “chyme”. The contractions of these muscles roll, chop, mix and move the chyme back and forth. With each contraction, it breaks the chyme into smaller, absorbable pieces.

Villi At Work

The villi’s job is to help your already broken down food (aka bolus) absorb into your blood stream; to provide you with energy and the vitamins and nutrients your body needs to properly operate and stay healthy. The movement of the intestines turns the bolus into chyme and then the villi really get to work!

Villi- What are they and why are they important?

Villus

Each projectile is covered in a brush border, here there are enzymes that continue to break the food down, to be absorbed. “The cells of the villi and another part of the small intestine, known as the crypts, transport food from the digestive tract into the bloodstream, where they can be used by the body. The villi aid in absorption by increasing the surface area of the intestine and contain specialized cells which transport different types of nutrients into the blood.” The Importance of Villi and the Small Intestine to the Digestion of Nutrients

Villi On Strike- Story of the Year- Celiac Awareness Month

Click on image to read the story. *Just a little bit of humor.

Villi and Enzymes

The main job of your villi, is to produce enzymes that make your food absorbable and guide it to your blood stream where it can really do your body good! These enzymes primarily break down proteins and carbohydrates.

I loved the way it was described at a conference I attended, but I haven’t been able to find a source that explains it the same way. So, this is my understanding from what I heard at the conference.

*I am not a doctor. Always do your own research and consult with a trained medical professional!

The top part of the villi has the enzyme that breaks down lactose. This is the first part of the villi to become damaged with celiac disease or other conditions that can damage celiac. It also explains why so many have lactose intolerance with celiac disease. The next section of the villi has the enzyme that breaks down sugar. Finally, the last section of the villi, closest to the intestinal lining, has the enzyme that breaks down fats.

The more damage you have the less you can absorb.

Damage happens in patches which is why it is important for doctors to take many biopsies when testing. Damage is also microscopic, unless it is severe. It isn’t enough to “look”, biopsies need to be done for accurate testing. A biopsy can tell your doctor (and you) how severe the damage is.

Some people feel great, shortly after going gluten free. For others, it can take as long as 5 years! If you have been living with malabsorption for a long time, it’s going to take a while to get feeling better and catch up on lost nutrients.

You can see why so many conditions and problems happen because of the villi damage. Your body becomes unbalanced with the lack of nutrients that are able to make their way to where your body needs them. Opening up the risk for more problems due to lack of proper nutrition. This is why celiac disease is a multi-system disease and so many other conditions tend to go with it. (Diabetes and Celiac Disease, Associated Autoimmune Diseases)

This post contains affiliate links. I include these links for your convenience to be able to find similar items to what I am using. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.

Damaged Villi and The Troubles They Cause

You would think that there would be enough of these guys to handle absorption properly when some are damaged, but that isn’t the case. Damaged villi results in poor absorption, not being able to properly break down chyme to usable vitamins and nutrients, inflammation, and malnutrition. Besides all of this, you are more likely to have a wide range of symptoms as well as a host of other health issues caused by malnutrition. (Could Gluten Be Causing Your Health Problems?)

About symptoms

Only about 10% of those with celiac disease have the “typical symptoms”. Children are more likely to have “typical symptoms”: diarrhea, constipation, combination of the two, gut pain, etc. Most people have symptoms that are not necessarily related to the GI tract. I fully believe the reason there are soooo many symptoms for this disease (about 200) is because how your body reacts, depends on the damage to the villi, where in the intestines the damage is happening, and how much.

We may be family, but we are not the same

Don’t expect to see the same symptoms in families. My cousin had chronic issues with diarrhea, constipation and DH (dermatitis herpetiformis) Whereas my biggest symptom was chronic hives! All but one of my daughters had slow growth. (Which I also had as a small child, as well as, stunted growth.) Another one of my daughters has a lot of enamel defects in her teeth.

*I am not a doctor. Always do your own research and consult with a trained medical professional!

Villi isn’t short for villain

Villi and why they are important- gluten and the damage caused

For someone with celiac, gluten is the villain of the intestines. It wreaks havoc and leaves a lot of damage in its wake. Notice how our gluten villain has wheat hair.

Villi is a victim to the reaction some people have to gluten. Gluten, in case you didn’t already know, is the protein found in wheat, rye, barley and some oats (through cross-contamination). (There are a few other grains in this gluten group and you can find a full list at the link above. Or check out this post on gluten free grains.)

Of course, gluten is only a villain if your body can’t handle it. So, with that in mind, I say:

Save your villi, go gluten free!

The good news is that villi can grow back when on the gluten free diet. However, DO NOT go gluten free before all testing is done! The villi can heal quickly making it difficult to diagnosis once a person goes gluten free. Also, there need to be several biopsies since the damage happens in patches.

“The amount of time it takes the villi to heal themselves is highly variable. It can take from 1-2 weeks or several years for most. Unfortunately, complete healing never occurs for some.” — University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center

(If you have celiac it is necessary to be gluten free. There are other medical conditions that respond well to the gluten free diet and therefore, also need to be gluten free. If you are healthy without going gluten free, DO NOT go gluten free. A gluten free diet offers few benefits for those who do NOT need to be gluten free. Your villi will not suffer, unless you have celiac disease. Your gut will be gloriously healthy if you don’t have a medical condition that necessitates the removal of gluten.)

I Am Obsessed With My Air Fryer

Mar 21, 2018

Saturday, I got an air fryer and I have used it everyday (4 straight days and counting) since getting it! I am totally obsessed with my air fryer! When I see a recipe, I immediately wonder. . . can I air fry that?!!!

I thought I might have damaged my air fryer!

We did bacon, lots and lots of bacon! In fact, we fried bacon, did tater tots wrapped in bacon, French fries wrapped in bacon, and dill pickle spears wrapped in bacon. (Sounds weird, but it was really good and I WILL do it again!) I only removed some oil/grease out once. Truly, I should have done it again, but I couldn’t find anything to put it in, so I kept going.

I think I did too much for too long. It needed a break and I pushed it. Plus the grease really splattered all over it.

It’s Okay!

It’s taking me a while to write this. So, no I don’t think it is damaged. I needed to give it a good cleaning. Now, I also know that it needs to cool down and not to be pushed so long and hard.

I need a bigger air fryer!

The one I have, I got for $15 with the purchase of my new washer and dryer. It isn’t very big. The basket is 7 inches in diameter and is a 2.75 quart air fryer. Go Wise USA is the brand I currently have.

It is fantastic if you only plan on feeding one or two people, but a bigger one is needed for doing larger quantities! Trying to feed more than a couple of people takes a lot of time! Not quite as bad as cooking with an Easy Bake Oven, but it does take more time than other methods. Not because the air fryer takes a lot of time (It doesn’t), but because of the small quantities done at one time. However, if you are only making food for a couple of people or have the right sized basket for your crew, then it is a quick and fantastic way of making many dishes!

What I want!

Bacon tends to travel in the air fryer unless it is held in place, there are accessories for that

Makes my mouth water! Air fried bacon is very tasty!!!

I want a larger air fryer! On my wish list is one that comes with accessories! You see, when I fry bacon, (Which by the way, tastes amazing air fried!), it curls and doesn’t stay put very well. For larger basket air fryer’s there is a tool for holding the bacon in place.

There are air fryers that come with accessories and so far all the accessories I have seen are for the larger ones. Accessories can also be purchased separately.

We have tried air frying a lot of things!

We have tried air frying so many things! Here’s a list of some of the things we have been air frying:

cheesecake – I made a makeshift tinfoil pan
fries
bacon
French toast (My absolute favorite way to have French toast!!!)
eggs
gf chicken nuggets

Bacon wrapped dill pickle spears air fried

Bacon wrapped dill pickles. They tasted so good! I will be making more of these!

I LOVE how good French Toast made in the air fryer tastes!!!

Not the prettiest cheesecake, but it tasted really good. This is one I would like to perfect. I had to press down the sides of my make-shift tin foil pan, in order to get a decent photo.

I used the same idea as putting your mug in the microwave to cook things (since I don’t have accessories). The mug fit perfectly! It is egg, broken up, cooked sausage, vegetables and cooked in the air fryer.

I LOVE my air fryer!!! Everything tastes so good!

Wish List

I just saw that there is an air fryer oven! It can cook more food at one time, can do rotisserie, and dehydrate food!

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I love these options for healthier “fried” foods!!!

Gluten Free Shampoo- Do You Really Need It?

Feb 2, 2018

Whether or not someone with celiac needs to use gluten free body products, such as shampoo is a huge controversy. Many doctors and scientists say it is unnecessary to use gluten free body products. The general consensus is that there is something else in the product people are reacting to or they have an allergy to the gluten ingredients; such as a wheat allergy.

Many with celiac, especially those who have experienced DH either before or after diagnosis say no gluten in their body products is important, because they do react to those products..

Personal experiences tells me other wise!

I have been to many allergists since I was a teenager and NEVER has any allergy shown up in any of their testing! Check out my post about Urticaria. I had chronic hives from the time I was 17 years old, until I was 34 and finally diagnosed with celiac disease! I had a DH rash from my shampoo, conditioner, and other body products 3 years after going gluten free. (No pictures of the rash because I wasn’t blogging back then. I was just trying to survive another medical problem!)

I have worked with many people who have celiac who have similar experiences to mine. Most will tell you that doctors and scientists are wrong about body products and their recommendations! While there are many with celiac that don’t seem to react to gluten on the skin, there are many that do!

Another example:

My good friend, who has celiac, used a hand soap that contained oatmeal (they aren’t using purity protocol oats in their body products) and broke out in a DH rash for 4 months!!! I have heard so many stories like this and had members of my family and myself experience similar issues. We won’t use gluten filled body products.

It’s a big pet peeve and for good reason!!!

One of my pet peeves is when a company tells me their products are gluten free and then they turn out not to be! One of the biggest problems is with hydrolyzed gluten ingredients (usually wheat). In fact, it was hydrolyzed vegetable protein (from wheat) that caused my first horrible outbreak with DH! (Dermatitis Herpetiformis) It was in my shampoo, conditioner, body wash and hairspray, from a company that claimed their products were gluten free!

In fact, I had used these products for more than 10 years! When I called and told them what was happening and why I was upset I got a shpill about how gluten can’t harm me through my skin because the protein is too big and would have to be ingested.

Then, why do I get DH from gluten ingredients?!!!!

Hmmm! Here I am living this experience and being told I am wrong about my own experience! Plus, I am very vigilant about being gluten free! After I quit using their products, went through some scary medications (almost killed me!), and had a steroid shot; finally my skin quit itching and blistering, but it took many months for this to happen! (6-7 from start to finish)

The only thing that changed were the body products! I was eating the same. I removed a few things from my diet when I started breaking out, but their removal didn’t help. (flax seed and coconut flour) I was able to eat these things, without a problem, when the DH finally went away! It’s been years and I haven’t had another incident because I am diligent about checking all products: food, vitamins and body products for gluten sources. (Also, I’m NOT allergic to wheat! I have been tested for wheat allergies many, many, many times!)

What Does Hydrolyzed Mean?

It means it has gone through a process that breaks the protein down into smaller pieces. Does this mean the protein is now gone and demolished? I don’t think so, it is just altered. In my opinion, (remember, I am neither a scientist nor a doctor) it is no more gone than an egg that has been whipped and put into a recipe with other ingredients! It still contains egg and all of it’s properties.

If the gluten protein is too big to be absorbed through the skin, doesn’t that mean breaking it into pieces, allows it to now be absorbed?! Just thinking out loud here.

Other names for hydrolyzed wheat

Hydrolyzed wheat may also go by this name wheat oligosaccharides or phyto peptides. It is used to improve moisture in the skin and strengthen the hair. It is used in a lot of cosmetics and unfortunately is not considered to have side-effects (an allergen), even though they know there are people who react to it!

How does that make sense?! They claim there are no side effects and then make a note that some people do have reactions to it! (Same source as wheat oligosaccharides.)

Interesting. . .

So, this blogger wrote about the difference between penetrating the skin and absorbing through the skin. Penetrating the skin layer means it gets through the top layer/s of skin, but doesn’t get into the body. Absorption is where, what is put on your skin absorbs through the layers of skin and makes it’s way into the body’s system; the blood stream.

My scary medication incident, that went along with my DH, was because they tried to treat it orally (and because I have a liver disease that didn’t handle the medication well, but the medication made no difference in calming things down or making me feel better), however, I didn’t ingest the gluten, it was on my skin. Perhaps, another reason for the medication not working, as expected, has to do with the difference between penetration and absorption and that the gluten ingredients made it deep enough to cause a reaction, but not deep enough to be in the blood stream. (My best guess)

I still don’t think I’m allergic, per se.

The Shampoo I Use

After my DH experience, I called Herbal Essence from the grocery store to check on their ingredients. Because body products are not food, they don’t have the same labeling rules. They do not have to say the source of their ingredients (derived from wheat), unless they want to. In fact, they can call it anything they want!

*Caution: if you ask if products are gluten free, they will probably say yes if they are using hydrolyzed ingredients. Remember that broken protein? Tests have only been made to find the whole protein, not it’s fragments and they are unable to tell us if the broken protein is safe or not. Many people still get sick with hydrolyzed gluten and it isn’t considered safe for those that need to be gluten free! (In food products)

I felt comfortable with the answers I got from Herbal Essence and began using their products. I love that they are inexpensive and I love what they do for my hair!

What made me love them even more!

(I am not being paid or compensated in any way by Herbal Essence for this endorsement! I am, however, an Amazon Affiliate and make a small profit, through Amazon, but your price remains the same.)

I was on a page where people were talking about Herbal Essence. Someone was asking the group if it was gluten free. I went out to the Herbal Essence website and found the following: they have an amazing glossary of ALL their ingredients! They explain why they use these ingredients and which products they are in.

I do, however, wish they included more info about where those ingredients are derived from, but this is far better than most companies give! Not to mention that some of the names they use are ridiculous!!! I have googled some of the ingredients just to find more info on them, because they don’t make sense.

Knowledge is power!!!

With the help of Herbal Essences’ glossary I know which products to avoid! There are only two, that I can find, that are problematic: Smooth Collection Conditioner and Shine Collection Conditioner. Both products contain Hydrolyzed wheat protein and Hydrolyzed wheat starch.

My favorite Herbal Essence products

I use the Color Me collection which makes my hair feel so good! The others, below, are ones my girls frequently use.

*Talk to your stylist about gluten ingredients when you get your hair colored. Some dyes do contain gluten.

For Me It Is A Definite Yes!

When I broke out in a DH rash I was scratching until I bled and still wanted to scratch more! I had chronic hives (urticarial) for 17-18 years and the DH rash was more miserable than the hives had been! It was next to impossible to not scratch! DH has blisters and they itch uncontrollably! I was even scratching in my sleep!!!

I have anxiety over using soap and other body products because I NEVER want to experience this again! So, for me, it is a definite yes to gluten free body products!!!

Have you had a similar experience?

Please let us know about your experience. What have you found works best for you?

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Top 10 Blog Posts From Shannon’s Grotto- 2017

10.

What is the Connection To Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Celiac

There are many conditions related to celiac disease. While those with celiac seem to be at a higher risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, 3X higher, it is yet unknown why this is the case. If you have celiac disease it is important to know and understand conditions and potential problems. The good thing about NAFLD is that it can be managed. Read about the risks and treatment.

9.

20 Myths About Celiac and the Gluten Free Diet

There are so many myths about celiac and the gluten free diet. This post talks about 20 of those myths and what the truth is with celiac disease, its issues and the gluten free diet.

8.

72 Hour Kit For A Gluten Free College Student

This kit works well, whether you are a college student or not. I did this one for my daughter who is away at college. Last year was the snowiest it has been in many years, where she attends. They had some power outages and later flooding and had days they were asked to not shower or flush toilets. We didn’t know how bad it was going to get and wanted to make sure she had some things together in case they had to evacuate.

7.

Understanding Labeling Laws For Gluten Free Foods

You would think the law would be simple and cut and dry, but it isn’t! Foods can be cross contaminated and the source is important. Do you understand how gluten is measured and what PPM stands for?

6.

2017 Sunscreen List: Gluten Free and Hormone Disrupter Free

Many people with celiac react to gluten topically. I am one of those people and have had a DH rash from gluten being in my body products. Another issues to be aware of are the chemicals in sunscreen that are hormone disrupters. This list has sunscreens that are both gluten free and hormone disrupter free.

5.

Parenting Your Oldest Child- DOs and Don’ts

This is part 1 of a 2 part post. Many oldest children are thought to: be bossy, tattle tellers, and they fight and argue. This post discusses those issues and how to handle these issues as well as: back talking, thinks they are overworked, knows everything, wishes they were an only child and thinking you are harder on them than anyone else.

4.

Exploding Watermelon and the Science Behind It

This was a fun homeschool activity we did with our whole family! Watch our video, we slowed it down so you could see just how far it exploded. Not only is this fun and interesting but there is a lot to learn about potential and kinetic energy.

3.

Celiac Symptoms & Their Severity- How Bad Do You Have It?

Many people think that the severity of your symptoms is a sign of “how bad you have it”. This is one of my pet peeves because you don’t have to have severe symptoms to have serious damage occurring to your intestines, when you have celiac disease. Everyone with celiac disease has it really bad!

2.

Wisdom Teeth Removal Recovery

This is how we used essential oils to help in the recovery of having my daughter’s wisdom teeth removed. My older two had some difficulties and so we did things a little different with our third. This post includes a list of soft, gluten free foods to have around during recovery.

The #1. Top Post for 2017!

2017 Gifts For Piano Students And Teachers

Fun ideas for gifts to give to your favorite pianist or piano teacher! My daughter is a pianist and piano teacher and so we are always on the lookout for fun music gifts.

Thank you for joining me on this incredible journey!

I Have Celiac, But It Doesn’t Have Me!- Bone Health

Jan 6, 2018

Bone Concerns with Celiac

One of the concerns with celiac disease is osteopenia and osteoporosis. The deterioration of bones is one of the most common problems seen with celiac disease. Bone density is often the worst at the time of diagnosis and improves with the gluten free diet as the body is able to absorb important vitamins and nutrients. Some may need to supplement with calcium and Vitamin D supplements.

Did you know?

“The American Gastroenterological Association recommends that all patients with celiac disease undergo bone density tests to determine whether they have osteoporosis or osteopenia.” (From an article on Verywell)

From Gluten Free Living:

“Experts say that adult celiac disease patients should consider being tested for osteoporosis because there’s such a strong link between the two diseases and because adults are less likely to improve their bone density with a gluten-free diet alone and may need supplements and medication.

In adults, bone mineral density after treatment with a gluten-free diet only increases about 5 percent a year, according to Katz.”

My First Dexa Scan

I was very lucky with my bone health! I had my first Dexa scan shortly after being diagnosed with celiac disease. It looked good. It was nice to have something good going for me!

3 years later I had a follow up Dexa scan and it showed improvement. In fact, the technician said that my first looked good but the second looked even better. This is often the case for patients with celiac disease.

I fell down the stairs

The day before Christmas Eve, I fell down the stairs when I misjudged how many there were and how far I had gone down them. I very nearly broke my foot and several of my toes. Just call me Grace!

via GIPHY

Falling and injuring my foot meant I had to stay off of my foot for the next several days! This put me in a very bad mood! I had so much planned and left to finish for Christmas!

I have been struggling with my daughter and her husband unexpectedly and suddenly moving to another state and they were coming for Christmas. Having an injury, really put my plans out of whack as well as my mood! I had planned to stay very busy, but instead I was hostage to my foot and all of it’s limitations!

Hurt but not broken

So, while I have had a lot of aches and injuries from falling, nothing is broken! This would not be the case if I had osteoporosis. I surely would have broken: my hip, knee, elbow, foot and toes (just to name a few). Why am I so convinced of this? Because of all the places that hurt from falling and the experience of a friend.

My friend has celiac disease and was diagnosed with osteoporosis. Her case was pretty severe and she was having a hard time increasing her bone density. Like the doctor above stated “In adults, bone mineral density after treatment with a gluten-free diet only increases about 5 percent a year, according to Katz.” (Gluten Free Living)

So, while bone density can be recovered, it is slow in coming!

One of the good things she was doing for her bones was exercising. She chose to ride her bike, but to store her bike, she had to carry it up and down stairs. This worked really well, until she fell down the stairs. My friend broke so many bones: ribs, legs, wrist, etc.! From her experience I know how damaging and hard a fall can be with osteoporosis.

Gratitude

While falling and dealing with my injuries has been a pain, I have felt some gratitude. I am so grateful that I don’t have osteoporosis and my bones are strong enough to withstand a nasty fall.

It’s another reminder that I have celiac, but celiac doesn’t have me!

Bone Health

Whether you have celiac or not, everyone should be mindful of their bone health! Osteoporosis is considered a preventable disease.

Here are things you can do to improve your bone health:

If you have celiac be strict with your gluten free diet! Cheating isn’t worth the risks that come with it!
Work with your doctor about vitamins and minerals your body needs. This Gluten Free Nutrition Guide is an excellent resource! *Remember if you don’t have enough vitamin D you can’t absorb calcium!
Make sure your supplements are gluten free. Supplements don’t follow the same rules as food and so they don’t have to put gluten on the label. It is a good idea to contact vitamin companies and ask about the ingredients (fillers) used in their products.
Weight bearing exercise *walking and going up and down stairs (as long as you don’t fall) are great forms of this kind of exercise check out more weight bearing exercises here. If you know you have osteoporosis discuss with your doctor which forms of exercise are right for you.
Live a healthy lifestyle: smoking and drinking affect your bone health
If you have celiac disease have follow up dexa scans every 3-5 years
Discuss other options with your doctor
Know the other risk factors

Resources

https://www.bones.nih.gov/health-info/bone/osteoporosis/conditions-behaviors/celiac

https://www.verywell.com/osteoporosis-and-celiac-disease-563002

https://www.gluten.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/The-Gluten-Free-Nutrition-Guide-3-2016.pdf

http://www.osteopenia3.com/bone-density-exercises.html

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Cold Defense With Diffusing Essential Oils-Proshield, Cypress, and Nutmeg

Dec 2, 2017

Cold Defense

It is so much better if you can keep from getting sick rather than trying to get better and stay on top of your health. This time of year there are many things that weaken our defense: germs, stress, not eating well, not getting enough sleep, and being too busy to exercise and properly take care of ourselves.

Many of these things can’t be helped, this time of year and so we strengthen our defenses and prepare our offense.

Strengthen Your Immune System

Get enough sleep when possible
Park a little farther away from the door and take stairs (get a little exercise in, where you can).
Limit the sweets and eat at least one to two good meals a day
Take vitamins
Wash your hands
Diffusing essential oils can help you to feel grounded and calm. Some, like Proshield, also clean the air.
Try taking a bath with some Cypress oil and Epsom salts to relax

The Cold Has Hit Our House

My family is fighting colds. In an effort to minimize the cold and keep myself and others from passing the cold around, our house, I have been diffusing Proshield, Cypress, and Nutmeg essential oils.

Améo Proshield- 7 drops
Améo Cypress- 6 drops
Améo Nutmeg- 3-4 drops

Our Offensive Essential Oils Plan

Once to twice a day I have been diffusing this combination. My daughter’s cold has improved and only one other person (so far), in the house has gotten her cold. The other person who has gotten the cold, doesn’t spend a lot of time where the diffuser is.

My sick daughter, also applies some of the Améo Proshield to her neck (throat and lymph node areas). She also likes to use some Améo Frankincense on her neck (throat, lymph node, back of neck and on her temples). *While many people do fine using these oils topically, without using a carrier, not everyone does. One of my daughters has very sensitive skin and always needs a carrier oil to accompany the essential oils she uses. (Proshield is one that she always needs a carrier oil with.)

Why I Chose These Oils

I chose this combination of oils because they clean the air, promote calmness and a grounded feeling.

Diffuser and Essential Oils

Proshield is Améo’s unique blend for helping to support the immune system. This blend includes: Clove, Cinnamon, Lemongrass, Orange, Lemon, Rosemary, and Eucalyptus Radiata. This blend has cleansing properties and diffusing helps to cleanse the air.

Cypress essential oil promotes normal respiratory function. It is also helpful in calming feelings of fear, stress, doubt and panic. Helpful in promoting the feeling of being grounded.

Nutmeg has a calming and grounding effect when diffused.

Celiac Symptoms And Their Severity- How Bad Do You Have It?

Oct 31, 2017

So, how bad do you have it?

This question as well as being told “I have a friend who has it really bad!”, are on my top pet peeves list, in dealing with celiac disease! People don’t really want to hear an explanation about how your symptoms or their severity don’t really tell how bad it is and do they seriously want a run down of your bowel movements?! I don’t think so, but that is one of the things they are asking for.

Often the friends woes and severity of what they go through is followed up with, “so, they have to be super careful”. Hmmmm! Everyone with celiac disease has to be careful! Cross-contamination hurts anyone who has celiac disease.

EVERYONE who has celiac has to be really careful of cross-contact and steering clear of gluten ingredients

Now, to go on telling me about your friend who has it really bad. . . I’m not sure what that is about. Is this a way to connect with me, that you know and understand celiac disease? Are you looking for sympathy for your friend? Are you trying to make me feel better, because I probably don’t have it as bad as someone you know?

I may be a little sensitive

Okay, so I may be a little sensitive on this one! You telling me about your friend, who has it really bad, makes me feel like you are assuming that I couldn’t possibly have it worse than your friend!

If you have read my health story you know it has been a long and hard journey for me! So many years being told my symptoms were stress related and if I would just settle down I wouldn’t break out in hives. Even now, having many medical professionals who will blow off that Urticarial was my major celiac disease symptom, because they believe that having hives related to celiac is rare!

It wasn’t all in my head!

I cannot put into words, accurately enough, to describe the pain and frustration I felt for soooooo many years, as I wanted to rip my skin off! I cannot tell you how many nights and days I have cried because here comes another wave of itchy, horrible bumps and not knowing how long this bout will last and worrying about all I needed to do. I can’t tell you how hard it was to function like a normal person while wanting to tear my skin from my body, trying not to itch and being medicated to try and control the itch.

Very few people even knew what I was going through, since most of the time the hives were hidden under my clothes.

My symptom has never been taken seriously.

I don’t have any pictures of my hives because I never imagined I would want to show them to anyone! I do wish I had some, especially when they would make my lips would swell like I had a really bad Botox injection. Or when hives would be on one of my eyelids. At the time, I was really embarrassed by what was happening to me.

More symptoms

After I was diagnosed and completely gluten free, I realized that there were so many other symptoms that had been brushed off as part of something else:

Chronic sinus infections (I hardly ever have sinus problems, now)
Frequent gas
Smelly gas
Brain fog (Seriously, it does feel like your brain is trying to think through a thick fog that just will NOT lift)
Bloating (I didn’t understand what bloating was because I was always bloated! It was a normal feeling for me.)
Headaches/migraines

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.

Severity of Symptoms

Many people, even those who have diagnosed celiac disease, do NOT understand celiac disease symptoms.

With more than 200 symptoms, everyone is different.
Symptoms or even lack of symptoms does NOT indicate how “bad” you have celiac disease. You may have really severe symptoms while having very little intestinal damage and vice versa.
The true indication of how celiac is affecting a person is done through a biopsy and “how bad it is”, is based on the damage in the small intestine.
Symptoms or lack of symptoms are a poor indicator to how accidental gluten or cheating on a gluten free diet are affecting you.
Symptoms as well as their severity can change over time.
It doesn’t mean that your body isn’t being harmed if your symptoms aren’t severe.

I can eat a little, it doesn’t bother me

This statement makes me cringe! I see people stating this on gluten free and celiac Facebook pages all the time!

It drives me crazy when I try to warn people about a product or risky gluten behaviors, and I have sources to back it up; someone will immediately follow the warnings with: “I eat it all the time and I have no problems from it.”

Another one that gets me is those who say they can eat Cheerios or any oats regardless of whether they are certified (or follow a purity protocol) to be gluten free. As well as those that encourage a little cheating, like they do, and how it does them no harm.

They like eating what they want and don’t want to hear or understand the harm they may be causing themselves and others.

Lack of symptoms and/or symptom severity isn’t an indication that you are doing fine and that risky behavior isn’t having an affect on you.

Not only are these people putting their villi and intestinal lining in danger by challenging it on a regular basis, but they are putting themselves at greater risk for the following:

Whether you realize it or not, every time you eat gluten a reaction is triggered.
Intestinal damage
(early) osteoperosis
raising the risk of certain cancers (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, just to name one)
Increasing risk of associated diseases and conditions
Increased risk of death-from complications due to celiac disease
harming others

Symptoms can change over time

Just because you may have had some really severe symptoms when you were diagnosed, doesn’t mean it is going to be that way every time you get gluten.

Once your body isn’t being saturated with gluten, it isn’t sending out huge warning lights saying “there’s a problem here!!!!”

After being gluten free, the body often reacts differently, sending the message: “Whoa! This is not good! Be more careful with your diet!” Your body is crying, “Be nice to me! Why are you putting me through the again?!” Likely, the messages from your body will get louder and stronger, if you are lucky. Otherwise, the first indication that this hasn’t been good for you could be cancer.

Remember my chronic hives? I was worried that any cross contamination would bring on a wave of hives. That’s not what has happened, not even close! I haven’t had a single hive since going gluten free even though it took time and accidents happen, especially when eating out.

My symptoms now range from hardly noticeable to really sick.

severe/migraine headache
sudden sinus issues
feeling off
irritable (mild to severely)
bowel issues
flu like feelings without having any type of flu
symptoms go on for 3-5 days

Lack of symptoms doesn’t mean you are now okay with gluten

Celiac disease is a lifetime disease. You have no way of knowing when it is actively harming your intestines. Once you are diagnosed with celiac, it is imperative that you follow a strict gluten free diet for the rest of your life. This is your prescription to long term health! You decide how healthy you are going to be, by choosing to strictly to comply with the gf diet. In a lot of ways, your health is in your hands!

The best part about the gluten free diet being the prescription to better health, if you have celiac, is there are NO side effects like you get with pharmaceuticals!

So, while your friend may have really severe symptoms, that doesn’t mean they have celiac disease worse than anyone else. Symptoms do NOT tell you how much damage has been done or is being done, by eating gluten.

EVERYONE who has celiac disease has it really bad!

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Symptoms Of Celiac Disease And How They May Be Affecting You

Oct 28, 2017

“Celiac disease can be difficult to diagnose because it affects people differently. There are more than 200 known celiac disease symptoms which may occur in the digestive system or other parts of the body. Some people develop celiac disease as a child, others as an adult. The reason for this is still unknown.”
This is from the Celiac Disease Foundation

I am not a doctor please do your own research and consult qualified medical professionals regarding your health.

Understanding Celiac Disease

Everyone is affected differently by this disease. Few people have the same experience. My experience is far different than that of my cousin who has celiac disease. In fact, my experience is very different than most people who have celiac disease! (To read my very long health story go here.)

Celiac affects the way you absorb vitamins and nutrients. Inside your intestines the surface is covered with villi: little hair-like parts. Celiac causes inflammation in the intestines which blunts the villi.

Villi

The top is what normal villi look like and the bottom are blunted

As tiny and thin as the villi are, they are super important in the process of absorption. They aide in the absorption of vitamins and minerals The villi are damaged when a person with active celiac (you can have the gene and it may not be active for your entire life) eats gluten. Damage done to the villi makes it so you can’t produce the enzymes to break down food the way your body needs it.

If you aren’t absorbing proper vitamins and nutrients that your body needs, it starts to have problems. The reason why everyone is different in their symptoms is because we are all different in what our bodies can and can’t absorb!

http://livehealthy.chron.com/importance-villi-small-intestine-digestion-nutrients-3923.html

The Villi’s Job

The job of the villi is to absorb the vitamins and nutrients putting those essential things our bodies need into our blood stream to be used. Inflammation in the intestine causes the villi to be blunted and unable to absorb vital vitamins and nutrients properly.

The first part of the small intestine is called the duodenum. It is in this first section that most of the fats, carbohydrates and proteins are absorbed.

My understanding of villi

Years ago, at a conference I went to, the speaker explained the villi this way: the extent to which the villi is damaged affects it’s ability to perform it’s job. The top part of the villi aids in absorption of lactose. The more damage to the villi, the more likely you are to be lactose intolerant with celiac disease. The next section of the villi aids to absorb sugars and the last section (bottom section by the mucosal lining of the intestines) aids in absorbing proteins.

Now, when we talk about parts of the villi we are talking about one little hair-like thread! The more villi that is damaged the less you are going to be able to absorb. The deeper, meaning the more blunted the villi, the less you will be able to absorb. So, we are talking about intestinal damage laterally throughout the intestines as well as how deep into the individual villis. (Not sure what the plural for villi is, perhaps villus?)

Same family, different experience

My cousin had the classic symptoms that children have. He frequently had diarrhea and constipation. Growing up, he frequently had stomachaches and gastro intestinal problems. When he was around 21 he developed a skin rash that was severe. In fact, the same problems on his skin were down his throat and affecting his stomach. He was hospitalized with many people thinking he wasn’t going to make it through this and that he had something that was terminal. When all was said and done, he was diagnosed with celiac disease. His rash was dermatitis herpetiformis also known as DH. He was the first in our family to be diagnosed.

Everyone was amazed at his improved health once he was gluten free.

My experience

Some people expect that family members will experience similar symptoms and have similar experiences, but that isn’t the case with celiac disease! I didn’t have a lot of gastrointestinal issues. I remember having “mystery” diarrhea. There seemed to be no reason for it and my mom would tell me to wash my hands better after using the bathroom. My doctor said it couldn’t be classified as diarrhea if it wasn’t all day, running to the bathroom. (I disagreed then and I disagree now!)

I thought I had more than normal gas and was told I just take after my grandpa who has a lot of gas. Oh yea! Just what every adolescent girl wants to hear!

My biggest and most troublesome symptom for way too many years was Urticaria! Urticaria is chronic hives. I wanted to tear my skin off! Who needs skin when it is going to cause you so much pain?! FYI, not a single hive since being diagnosed with celiac and going gluten free. It was an ordeal to finally getting the answers I needed. My Health Story.

Symptoms

The quote at the top as well as the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center says that there are more than 200 (known) symptoms for celiac! There may be more, but they haven’t been able to verify them. At conferences I have attended, I have had many professionals tell me hives aren’t a symptom for celiac, although I am living proof that hives are a symptom!

Celiac is a multisystem disease because it can affect every part of your body! It may begin with the inflammation in the gut, but because it affects absorption, it then affects every system of the body! When your body can’t get what it needs, it suffers.

Lets go from head to toe

Hair loss
Depression
Anxiety
Hyperactivity (can include ADD or ADHD symptoms)
Fatigue
Night blindness
Headaches
Sinus problems
Mouth sores
Enamel defects and tooth discoloring
Bad breath
Acid Reflux and heartburn
Thyroid disorders/disease
Heart Palpitations
Heart Disease
COPD (Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease)
Bloating
Liver disorders
Anemia
hyposplenism
Diabetes
Infertility
Delayed puberty
low bone density
Joint pain
Cancer
Weight loss
Foul Smelling Bowel Movements
Gas
Tingling numbness in legs
Dermatitis Herpetiformis (DH)
Hives
Peripheral neuropathy-usually starts with numbness, tingling, or pain in fingers and toes can’t feel temperature or pain correctly and can affect muscle strength.
In children: failure to thrive– low weight gain and growth

Associated diseases and problems

Alopecia Areata (https://www.verywell.com/alopecia-areata-and-celiac-disease-563106)
Cancer http://www.naturaleyecare.com/health-conditions/celiac-disease/
Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
Heart Disease
Thyroid Disease
Addison’s Disease
Liver diseases- including Auto-immune hepatitis
Myasthenia Gravis
Raynaud’s Phenomenon
Scleroderma
Sjogren’s Disease
Lupus

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.

Testing

See your doctor and request a celiac panel blood test be done to check for antibodies related to celiac disease:

Anti-tissue transglutaminase (tTG)
Anti-endomysium (EMA)
Anti-deamidated gliadin peptides (DGP)

You may want to consider finding a gastroenterologist who is knowledgeable and up to date with his information on celiac disease. Beware of doctors who are using old data and may give you misinformation. After the blood work is done it is common to have a biopsy to access and confirm the diagnosis of celiac disease. The biopsy is the gold standard for diagnosis.

Always do your own research! You will probably know more about the current and accurate information than your doctor does.

I am not a doctor please do your own research and consult qualified medical professionals regarding your health.

Do I need a biopsy?

Not everyone diagnosed with celiac gets a biopsy and not everyone gets a blood test. (I went straight to the biopsy without any blood work. My cousin had blood work done and it came back negative, even though he had full blown DH! Everyone with DH has celiac disease!) If you have DH a biopsy of the skin may be done to diagnose celiac and to confirm that it is dermatitis herpetiformis.

However, a biopsy of the small intestine tells more about where you are, what is and has happened to you, gives an idea on how long it will take to recover, and gives you a more solid diagnosis.

Recovery

Again, everyone is different! I was discouraged when I didn’t bounce to incredible health in just a couple of months! I had read a lot and everything said how great I should be feeling after just 2 or 3 months of going gluten free, but I wasn’t!

Give yourself time!-celiac didn’t wreak havoc on your body in a short time- it’s most likely been going on for longer than you have been aware of it.
Evaluate your journey- are you being as careful as you should, are you missing anything, is there more you need to learn?
Join a support group
Educate yourself
Find credible sources
Follow gluten free/celiac bloggers who are knowledgeable

Diagnosis when you aren’t a classic case of celiac

So, how do people without the classic symptoms of diarrhea, constipation and other GI problems get diagnosed?

It can be hard to get a doctor to listen and take you seriously! I know! I have gone the rounds!

If a doctor isn’t listening to you, change doctors! Find one who will listen and take you seriously. If necessary, educate your doctor. The Gluten Intolerance Group has all kinds of printable, well written, well sourced information that can be printed out and given to your doctor.

If you suspect something is wrong with you, don’t give up the answer is out there! I was told many times to learn to live with my hives. I listened far too much to professionals who didn’t listen to me!

For years, I thought there was a connection to wheat, but I didn’t have enough information to get to the heart of the problem. The information available through the internet is so much better than it was 13, 20 or 25 years ago when I was struggling with all of my symptoms.

Sources

http://www.biology-online.org/articles/digestive_enzymes.html

https://www.verywell.com/small-intestine-1942443

http://www.newsmax.com/FastFeatures/what-does-small-intestine-do/2016/04/25/id/725675/

http://www.naturaleyecare.com/health-conditions/celiac-disease/

Associated Autoimmune Diseases

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My NAFLD Journey- Part 3- Weight Loss Issues

Oct 14, 2017

Weight Loss

So, weight loss is one of the to dos. This causes me frustration because weight loss is always one of my to dos, but now I have to make it a serious focus. Not necessarily a bad thing. I’m wiser than when I was in college and tried some very unhealthy ways of loosing weight.

Keto

I have seen a lot of my friends posting about weight loss success, but most of them are using programs or doing Keto. So, I started looking into Keto.

Most weight loss programs require you to eat their products. You can do Keto without buying products, I think. Anyway, most of those products contain a lot of gluten and or soy. I think it is wise to have less soy since it appears soy plays a part in thyroid problems. Celiac and thyroid problems tend to go together.

My chiropractor has a weight loss plan very similar to Keto but it has a high fat beginning to get you to ketosis and then is high protein. I don’t feel good about this because I don’t think my body can handle the high fat window. I don’t have a gall bladder and I worry about the strain on my liver. I understand that the Keto diet would help my pancreas and liver to rest but the high fat window to get you to that point feels like a deal breaker. (I plan on talking to my doctor more about these issues.)

Slow weight loss goals

Stressed over and over in everything I read was to loose weight slowly. One to 2 pounds a week. No problem, I’ve always had a hard time losing weight and it has never come off very fast. I’m just hoping to not slide backwards! So far, I am consistently down 5 pounds from when I started. (It’s taken me so long to write this, that I am now, 7 pounds down!)

Recently, I talked to a friend who, years ago, did the keto diet. She said it was great and she loved how she felt and the way her body looked, but she couldn’t keep it up and the weight came back. She also commented about the quick weight loss, which is something that has concerned me with Keto.

Small, Frequent Meals

I think this small, frequent meals people always talk about is a misnomer! It’s not really “meals”.

Making lots of meals all day long is really overwhelming! Not to mention, everyday! Who wants to cook and make things all day long? Doesn’t a meal mean you won’t be hungry for hours?! I don’t know about you but, I grew up being told to NOT snack between meals and that you had to eat 3 times a day.

Now, I am relearning that healthy snacks throughout the day is a better way for me. I’m also finding that I eat less at dinner time because of this way of eating. I don’t do well with the small meals throughout the day when I am busy. I think it is just going to take time and working at it before I find my stride.

Planning things to eat and have available has been helpful, too.

What I am eating

yogurt
fruit
2 fried eggs or scrambled
breakfast meats- sausage, ham, etc.
Cottage Cheese and Pineapple Salad

Seriously, I feel like a hobbit!

My husband will ask what I am having for breakfast and often I tell him second breakfast is . . .

cheese sticks
meat rolled with cheese slices
green salad with lots of vegetables
carrots and dip
cucumber slices
pickles
leftovers (usually as my main lunch, but I don’t eat a lot)
We are still doing a lot of chicken for dinner
occasionally pork
some beef dishes
popcorn

Dinner is pretty much a normal dinner but I opt for water over juice or any other beverage.

Cheat Days

I think days that you have a nice dessert or something you really love or crave is a nice “reward” for being “good”.

So, we had specialty cup cakes that were like one of the layers of our daughter’s wedding cake, to celebrate her 1st wedding anniversary. Then, the other night I really wanted an ice cream sundae. On another night, I had a small piece of Applesauce Spice Cake.

These treats have been spread out and I am currently looking forward to a gluten free brownie cheese cake next week!

Cottage Cheese and Pineapple Salad

Shannon LeMmon

Light and can substitute other fruits in place of the pineapple. Some of our other favorites are: peaches and pears.

Print Recipe

Prep Time 10

Total Time 10

Course Breakfast

Ingredients

Small curd cottage cheese
1 can crushed pineapple drained

Instructions

Mix cottage cheese and drained, crushed pineapple together. Keep leftovers refrigerated.

Exercise

Trying to keep up the exercise! My daughter and I did great throughout August and most of September. Then, my daughter got sick and it threw things off.

I started walking on the treadmill, because it has also been pretty chilly! However, this week my daughter and I made it out 3 times to walk on our local trail.

It’s always a challenge to fit exercising into the schedule, but we are doing it!

Drink More Water

Stupid dehydration! I got really busy and didn’t keep up on my water and small meals. I had been doing really well and was feeling good, but after having 3-4 days of running like crazy and forgetting to carry my water around etc., etc., etc. I crashed and felt horrible. I hadn’t been treating my body right and paid for it!

In some ways, this is a bigger challenge than the small, frequent meals. Trying to come up with a plan to do better: goal of how many bottles to drink a day and/or marking down somewhere, how many I drink. This might help me to make a better, more measureable goal.

Do you have any tips for eating small, frequent, healthy throughout the day? How do you stay hydrated and how do you remember to drink plenty of water? Please let me know in the comments.

My NAFLD Journey: Part 1 and Part 2

20 Myths about Celiac and the Gluten Free Diet

Oct 5, 2017

Myths of celiac disease

1. Celiac is a “rich white person disease”

Of all the myths out there, this one is the newest. I have no doubt it comes from the gluten free diet being made into a fad and so many celebrities jumping on the bad wagon. That isn’t to say that some celebrities don’t need the gf diet. Some do have celiac disease and gluten intolerance and this diet is a must for them. Leave it to the celebrities to turn something needed on it’s ear!

Personally, I hadn’t heard much about this, but I don’t pay a lot of attention to this kind of thing, usually. But, when I asked on a Facebook page about what myths people had heard this was one of the responses: “I was once told that I had “rich white person disease”. That my celiac was just a product of me not being in contact with enough germs as a child”

First of all

Celiac is a genetic disease! People with celiac have a gene that turns on when they eat gluten and it damages their intestines. This has nothing to do with germs or good and bad gut bacteria! Learn more about celiac.

Secondly,

Celiac does not pick and choose according to a persons bank account or life style. Having to eat gluten free makes anyone’s wallet much, much tighter. It has been rough having a family of 6 that eats gluten free! Anyone with the gene can develop celiac disease!

Thirdly,

People all over the world are diagnosed with celiac disease. “Celiac disease (CD) has emerged as a major public health problem worldwide.” (https://www.gluten.org/international-celiac-disease-symposium/) From the same article: “This review and analysis indicates that CD is a global disease and the global sero-prevalence and prevalence of CD are 1.4% and 0.7%, respectively. The prevalence of CD was found to vary with gender, age and geographic location. The prevalence of CD is increasing over time. There is a need for population based prevalence studies in many countries.”

Some areas of the world seem more prone to it than others, but they also tend to be the places that use large amounts of gluten in their foods. Many studies have shown that all races of people can have celiac disease. So, no it is NOT a “white” person disease. It has a lot to do with the amount of gluten consumed. The more gluten, the more likely you are to find celiac.

I can’t believe how many articles I found calling celiac a “rich white person disease“!!!!

2. Young children can’t get celiac disease and breast feeding helps protect against it

One mother was told that her “daughter can’t have celiac because she didn’t have gluten before she was 6 months old.”

I know from experience how frustrating it is to know that there is something wrong with your child and not be able to get a medical professional to listen to you! The symptoms in babies and kids typically have a lot to do with their rate of growth and development and GI symptoms.

Babies absolutely can have celiac disease. However, testing isn’t always as accurate for children under 3 years old.

First

Milk from mothers with celiac disease was significantly lower in the concentrations of sIgA, IL-12 and TGF-ß1. Moreover, their milk had less DNA from gut-derived probiotic bacteria, including Bifidobacterium species and Bacteroides fragilis, although these differences were not as pronounced as those for sIgA and cytokines. (from the above article)

This means that the mother isn’t passing on as much of the good stuff that helps an infants immune system and gut as mothers without celiac disease. This is because of the damage done to the mothers gut from celiac. She just doesn’t have it to pass on to her baby.

https://www.celiac.com/articles/22092/1/Celiac-Disease-and-Breastfeeding—The-Missing-Link/Page1.html

Second

Many studies also say that gliadin can be found in breast milk. Gliadin comes from gluten and is the toxic factor that causes celiac disease.

*I have met many people with the support group I am a part of as well as gluten free Facebook pages and have heard many mothers talk about issues with breast feeding and gluten. One mother I know doesn’t have celiac but her husband does. With all of her babies (she had 7), she found that if she ate gluten her babies had more colic, spitting up and other issues. When she ate gluten free, her babies were much happier with fewer issues than when she had gluten.

Another mother I know had a baby whose hair wasn’t growing in and had some other concerning issues. After going gluten free, (because celiac runs in her family) the issues cleared up, baby was happier and her hair grew in.

I have wondered if my babies would have been more pleasant if I had been gluten free when I was nursing them. I had two that cried an awful lot, had reflux and were unhappy most of the time.

(****These are my own experiences in working with people, raising my children and are my own opinions and not connected in anyway to a support group.)

Lastly

There are a few studies that suggest the age in which gluten is introduced is important to those at risk of developing celiac disease. 4-6 months appears to be the window that offers the most hope in celiac not developing. Gluten before 4 months resulted in a 5X greater risk of it developing and later than 6 months also had a higher instance of developing celiac compared to the 4-6 month group.

3. You can out grow celiac

This comes from old information! Occasionally, I will run into someone who will tell me they “used” to have celiac, but they out grew it. This is so dangerous! I have also come across people who tell me their doctor said their child will out grow it. This outdated information puts people at risk for further complications with celiac disease.

No! You can’t out grow celiac disease!

All autoimmune diseases have periods of remission. This is a time when you have reduced symptoms or they are non-existent. This doesn’t mean the disease is gone, but it may or may not be active. Once the gene is turned on and is reacting to gluten, it continues to react and can cause a lot of damage and complications if a strict gluten free diet is not followed!

You see, celiac disease symptoms can change. Someone with severe symptoms may change to having none to speak of or vice versa. However, when biopsies of the small intestine are done, the person with no symptoms to speak of may have worse damage than the person with severe symptoms. Symptoms are not an accurate barometer to celiac disease and its severity!!!

4. People with celiac feel better and continue to improve in a short amount of time after going gluten free

This was one of the most frustrating things to me! Everything I read said I should be feeling better and improving, but I wasn’t. Part of this was because I was still getting gluten and didn’t know it and I was continuing to take the Sacrament once a week. (At least for a few months.) However, even after all of that was sorted out, I still wasn’t doing great! Read more about Not Feeling Fabulous After Going Gluten Free and what to do to improve your health.

Also, it takes time for your body to recover from possibly years and years of not being able to absorb vitamins and minerals. Celiac gets your whole body out of balance. The amount of damage to the gut, also plays a part in how quickly a person feels better.

Research ways to strengthen your gut. Take a good Gluten free multi-vitamin. I like Bio-35 Gluten-Free. With vitamins, don’t assume that it is safe just because you don’t see any gluten ingredients on the label. Vitamins and supplements don’t have to list their filler ingredients; they aren’t required to list the allergens. For most vitamins, you need to contact the company and ask if they use gluten in their products.

Check for gluten in your toothpaste, sunscreen, lotion, and other make-up and body products. All these things can cause problems. Vitamins and body products do NOT fall under the labeling laws. They can call gluten ingredients by other names and so companies need to be called and you may have to ask what an ingredient is derived from.

5. If you have enough faith you will be cured or the Sacrament won’t hurt you, it is blessed

Someone from our Facebook group said: “I had a family member tell me that if I PRAYED harder and had more faith, I would be healed.”

This is ignorance veiled in religion. It is dismissive, hurtful and is a religious attack on the person suffering.

I strongly believe in faith and miracles, but I also believe that we do all we can with the knowledge we have. This is wisdom. It is wise to not take a glutinous piece of Sacrament. Even that small bit of Sacrament host, cracker or bread can be enough to challenge your system and cause a reaction. It can keep the gut inflamed and cause all kinds of problems! Making arrangements for a gluten free Sacrament is part of what helped me gain better, stable health.

Many churches will allow Low Gluten Church Ceremony Communion Host, gluten free crackers, or gluten free bread to be used instead.

6. Gluten can’t hurt you, if it is just on your skin

I would consider this topic one of the controversial areas in dealing with celiac.

This doesn’t make sense to me at all! Nor does it fit with my experience and the experience of many people with celiac, that I know. Most “experts” believe you can’t be reacting to the gluten because the protein is too big to be absorbed through the skin. The general thinking is that you must be allergic to something else in the product.

My experience

Well, I took my doctors and all the experts advice and didn’t worry about gluten in any of my body products. I did just fine. . . until I didn’t! It was 3 years after being strictly gluten free. I had just added some coconut flour and flax seed to my flour mixture to give it more fiber and make it a little healthier. Then I started to break out in a horrible rash! I quit using my new flour mixture thinking I was allergic to either coconut or flax. 2 months later I was itching worse than ever and the rash was spreading and I was scratching my legs until they bled!

I finally looked at the ingredients in my body products. There was gluten in my: shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and hairspray!

I realized my rash was very symmetrical, happening on both sides of my body in the same places. I went to my GI who said it was definitely a DH Rash! The medication didn’t help and I think it was because it wasn’t ingested but caused by topical exposure to gluten. The thing that helped me the most was a steroid shot.

I make sure I don’t use body products that contain gluten and I haven’t had a problem like this since!

Other experiences

My daughter also breaks out when using body products that contain gluten. By the way don’t use DoTerra hair care products! They claim they are gluten free but they definitely are NOT! This is what caused my daughter’s reaction.

Also, my daughter broke out in a rash on her hands because her husband would hold her hand after eating a gluten hamburger. He now realizes that he has to wash his hands before touching her, if he has handled gluten.

I know several people who have commented about rashes after accidently using soap that contains gluten. It takes a long time for these rashes to go away! (Months!)

I believe in my experiences and the experiences of people living with celiac more than I believe experts; at least on this one!

7. It’s all in your head

It’s all in your head– Comments to people with celiac like “you wouldn’t have any symptoms if you didn’t know it was there”, “You are just jumping on the bandwagon because you are a hypochondriac.”, “You always think you have something!” and the list could go on and on!

I had one doctor tell me I was causing my own pain and it was emotional issues manifesting in a physical way. ?????? Seriously! I did yell at him! You can read more about my health story here.

Celiac isn’t “just” in your head, it is 100% in the gut and can affect every system of the body! People who have gone undiagnosed or misdiagnosed may have had lots of different medical issues and been led down the wrong path. This is very common for many who have celiac. Celiac has been severely underdiagnosed and doctors are doing a better job, but there’s a long way to go!

The doctor who said I was causing my own pain, also told me that if I went on anti-depressants and took up swimming all of my problems would be solved! Ugh! Is it any wonder why I hate going to the doctor?!

8. Celiac is cureable

As soon as someone finds out you have celiac disease they immediately have a remedy or know someone who has been cured!

NO! There is NO cure for celiac disease!

There are a lot of people who make claims about what a certain food, product or chiropractor can do. This is dangerous! As I said before, symptoms can change and the question begs: are you masking symptoms while damage is on going? The only way to know if something actually worked is to have regular, on-going testing done. Not just the blood test, but also the biopsies. Results are most typically based on symptoms, which are unreliable.

Scientific advances

Many people with celiac, especially those who have suffered for many years with it undiagnosed are leery of “cures”. Even something that may be medically advanced. I know I won’t be one of the first to see how it works and what the side effects are from any new remedy! I like my gluten free diet that comes without crazy side effects! Many remedies come with side effects that are as bad or worse than the problem it is supposed to solve.

9. Celiac is NOT a real disease

This is a highly uninformed and ignorant statement! Celiac is a very real disease that has genetic factors as well as specific tests that test for celiac disease! There are real symptoms, real problems and real complications that patients can die from! It is actually a very serious disease with a simple prescription: Eat Gluten Free.

Some of the things that have added to this myth:

Fad dieters
The uneducated and uninformed who think they understand celiac and gluten intolerance, but really don’t
Doctors who are using old information about celiac disease
People who think those who eat gluten free are just high maintenance
People who think everyone eating gluten free is a fad dieter
Gluten free being made into a joke (Would anyone make fun of diabetes?!)

Celiac is the first and possibly only auto-immune disease that we know of that has a known cause: a gene that has been turned on to react to gluten. We also know that not eating gluten stops the body from reacting and attacking itself. Because of this knowledge scientist are learning more about other auto-immune diseases. I would much rather have celiac than many of the other auto-immune diseases that are harder and more complicated and debilitating to control.

10. You can burn off the gluten

There is NO amount of heat that can burn off the gluten! We had a place near us that was telling people they had a special oven that could burn out the gluten. There were a lot of sick people who believed this garbage; until they got horribly sick! There are NO magic ovens!

The gluten isn’t burned out in oil vats either! A person with celiac CANNOT eat fries or any other fried foods that are fried in the same oil as products that contain gluten. It does NOT burn the gluten out of the food! It does NOT change it or make it neutral!

Eating fried foods safely:

Ask if the fryer is dedicated to fries only (If they also offer breaded fries make sure those don’t go in the dedicated fryer)
Ask if they combine the oil at night. Do they put new, fresh oil in the dedicated fryer?

11. Sourdough is gluten free

NO, sourdough made from any gluten ingredients is NOT gluten free! The process of fermentation does NOT make sourdough safe to eat!

The only exception to this is if gluten free ingredients (flours) were used in the creation of the sourdough.

12. If you eat the right kind of wheat, it is safe

The Misconceptions:

Organic wheat is okay (NO)
Ancient wheat is safe (NO)
Raw wheat is safe to eat (NO)
Soaking your gain makes it safe (NO)
White flour is different than wheat flour (NO)

There is NO safe wheat no matter how it is processed, grown or its strain. The only exception is wheat starch which does NOT have any protein in it. (Still important to make sure it is labeled gluten free to have the least risk of cross contamination. More about this on #19.)

13. Gluten free foods are tasteless and yucky

First, there are some really yucky gluten free foods on the market. I will never again subject my body to Potasta and while EnerG has some good products, I wouldn’t count their bread as one of them. If a company doesn’t make good gluten free foods, don’t buy them!

With that being said, there are many, many wonderful and good gluten free products. Here are some of my favorites

Gluten Free Heaven (Not an affiliate)
Rudis Gluten Free Original Sandwich Bread.
KIND Bars
Tinkyada
Glutino
Udi’s Gluten Free White Sandwich Bread (Udi’s gets a bad rap, but we really like it.)
Van’s Simply Delicious Gluten-Free Crackers, Say Cheese!
Ian’s Gluten Free Chicken Nugget
Goodie Girl Mint Slims Chocolate Cookies (Tastes a lot like Girl Scout Cookies)
Gluten Free Cream of Chicken Soup and Gravy Mix, Dairy Free, by Vivian’s Live Again
Better Than Bouillon, Organic Chicken Base
Foster Farms Gluten Free Corn Dogs (Not an affiliate link)
San-J Tamari Gluten Free Soy Sauce

There are so many! I could go on and on!

Also, when you cook from scratch everything tastes so much better! My husband had co-workers tell him that if all gluten free foods smelled, looked and tasted like the left overs he brought in. . . they all wanted to be gluten free. (He often gave bites to people to try.)

If you think gluten free foods are tasteless and yucky then you are doing it wrong!

14. Gluten free is healthy

Gluten free is healthy, if you are eating more fruits and vegetables and less processed food! Gluten free processed foods aren’t very healthy at all! They often have more fat, sugar, and calories.

All diets the incorporate more fruits, vegetables and whole grains are healthier. There are a lot of gluten free whole grains that can be incorporated into the gluten free diet: brown rice, sorghum, buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth, millet and oats that have been through a purity protocol.

15. Gluten Free is a weight loss diet

Gluten free will help you lose weight if you are cutting out carbs and eating more fruits and vegetables. However, if your gluten free diet contains a lot of gluten free processed foods then plan on putting on the pounds, even if you have celiac!

People with celiac tend to find they have more energy, feel better and lose weight because their bodies can’t tolerate gluten. The gluten caused reactions that kept the body from being able to absorb essential vitamins and minerals.

Gluten free doesn’t automatically mean healthy! You can be gluten free and still make poor food choices.

16. Gluten Free is a fad diet

This one gets those of us with celiac and gluten intolerance really steamed up! Our prescription for health has been hi-jacked by a fad diet craze!

Gluten free is NOT a fad, it is my life, health and prescription!

17. You can have a little, once in a while

You can overcome gluten intolerance (and celiac) if you eat a little bit everyday. Then your body will get used to it and accept it (NO! It’s NOT and allergy!)

There is NO having a little gluten once in a while! Cheating opens yourself up to all kinds of medical complications when you have celiac! This is another reason why it is so important to get tested BEFORE going gluten free! It is important to know if you have non-celiac gluten intolerance or celiac disease!

While a little bit of gluten won’t cause as big of symptoms in a lot of people; you have no idea how much havoc it is wreaking throughout your body! Seriously, it is NOT worth it!

18. Spelt is gluten free

This is one I just don’t get! Spelt is a grain that is derived from wheat! It contains the gluten protein like the other gluten grains. It is NOT safe and NOT gluten free, NO matter who tries to convince you otherwise. People with celiac or gluten intolerance WILL get sick from spelt and it will cause damage in those with celiac!

Learn more about gluten free and gluten grains.

19. There are processes that can remove the gluten making it safe

This is actually a tricky area and very controversial.

Considered safe from the way they are processed:

Distilled vinegar
Wheat Starch (Personally, I avoid gf foods that contain wheat starch. For me, it isn’t worth the risk.)
Blue Cheese (When I was diagnosed 13 years ago, this was on the NO list. However, GIG who has excellent standards and testing for gluten free foods through their GFCO division, has done a lot of testing on Blue Cheese and found it to be safe.)

Other than these 3 instances, I know of no other process that is considered safe or gluten free.

NOT safe or gluten free but often misinformed:

Anything that is hydrolyzed is not gluten free: yeast, soy sauce, beer and other alcohol products that start out with gluten containing grains.

Fermentation does NOT destroy the gluten protein and make it safe.

20. Everyone Should be gluten free

The truth is that gluten is not all bad. It is only bad for those who can’t digest or tolerate the gluten protein. There are a lot of benefits to eating gluten containing grains, if your body doesn’t react to them.

Just a little FYI, most gluten containing foods are fortified, while gluten free products are not. It is another way that people who are gluten free are missing out on nutrition they didn’t know was being added. Of course, if you have celiac, you probably weren’t absorbing it, anyway.

(****All opinions expressed are my own and not connected with any group. Please do your own research with reliable sources.)

My NAFLD Journey- Part 2- The Struggle Is Real

Sep 12, 2017

I wasn’t going to do part 2 so soon! However, it has been a rough week and let me tell you, the struggle is very real!!!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend, started off good, but rough with getting enough water and eating small meals throughout the day. I have come to realize how much harder it is to drink the water my body needs and eat small, more frequent meals when there is a lot going on. I get busy and I either forget or don’t want to find something to eat!

I picked my daughter up from college, for the long weekend. She needed another book for one of her classes and she needed to get a book she had at home that one of her professors just required. Over the weekend, we went to the drag races, Swiss Days, and we tried to go to a park that has a zoo, but by the time we got there it was closed.

No More Fasting. . . for a while

But what really did me in and made this week hard is fasting. I am a Latter-Day Saint aka Mormon and we believe in fasting at least once a month. With everything going on with my health, I should have skipped fasting this month.

On Monday, I was so dehydrated that I almost had to go to the hospital. Thankfully drinking Gator Aide helped my symptoms and I started to recover. I never want to feel that way again and yet it is still so hard for me to drink all the water and Gator Aid that I should!

By the end of the week, I did much better with drinking my water. Still, it was a rough week with a lot of fatigue and low energy.

We only made it out once to bike ride, because of the smoke from all the fires in the west. I’ve got to do better at finding exercise indoors when I can’t get out.

Off Balance

Well, that was last weekend. This past weekend went well. . . until I lost my balance in the shower!

Okay, who doesn’t have a nightmare about falling in the shower?!

Yikes!

Who wants people to come running to find you naked, on the floor and in pain?!

Absolutely humiliating to admit that this happened! This is the kind of thing that happens to old people. . . really old people.

So, here’s what happened: I keep compensating for the pain I get in my side when I bend over. The liver is large and my ribs push on it causing pain. In Part 1 of my journey I mentioned that shaving my legs was difficult because it hurts to bend over. Well, washing the bottoms of my feet is no joy either and yesterday the foot I was standing on slipped out from under me.

Sigh. Another betrayal by this body of mine.

It was all kinds of crazy in the shower and the door popped open and one of my biggest concerns was to not hit my head and need stitches! Thankfully, that humiliation was averted!

Unlike my nightmares, only my sweet husband came running and helped me off the shower floor. (Still having crazy imaginings of random people in my bathroom. Because that would be so much worse! Too close to the nightmare, for me!) For a few seconds, I wasn’t sure if I could stand, my hip hurt so badly!

Gravity works!

This is the back of my arm. My poor backside looks even more colorful with more reds and purples in the bruising.

I accomplished a couple of things with this fall:

Gravity is in working order! Just in case you were wondering.
What goes up must come down; even if it means hitting as many body parts on the way down as possible!
I don’t have osteoporosis! Nothing broke! (Many people with celiac have osteoporosis.)
I was able to get up and walk away from the shower, without too much help!
My chiropractor will get a work out today!

So, yes the struggle is real!

Do you eat small frequent meals throughout the day? What do you eat? What helps you to remember to eat more frequently?

Understanding Labeling Laws For Gluten Free Foods

Sep 7, 2017

The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) went into effect in 2006. This law mandated that if a product contained any of the top 8 allergens: milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat and soy, then it had to be listed in the ingredients or in a contains statement.

It also mandated that these ingredients be listed plainly. So, in other words they couldn’t rename the ingredient so that it was hard to identify. They could call it by something else, but then need to put in parenthesis and explain what it is. Also, if any ingredient in the product contains a top 8 allergen it must be listed as well. For example: soy sauce (wheat). This rule only applies to the top 8 allergens and doesn’t include rye, barley or oats.

Watch out for barley, rye and oats

Did you know that the ingredient list on a label doesn’t have to be a complete ingredient list?! They can leave things out of the ingredients if they want! With this law they are required to at least list the top 8 allergens, no matter how small the amount of that ingredient might be, but only those 8 are required!

The culprit we run into the most, that isn’t listed on the label, with the ingredients is malt (barley). Barley is used as a flavoring, most frequently listed as malt, but they don’t even have to put that on the label. We don’t see rye as often and most oats are NOT safe in most products if you are gluten free!

Interesting information about barley from the Gluten Free Watchdog, Llc. https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/news/barley-at-one-time-a-controversial-grain-for-folks-with-celiac-disease/

Important note on oats

As long as oats meet the 20ppm or less rule they can be called gluten free. There is no “standard” test, or protocols to testing for gluten free safety. In fact, they don’t have to test if they don’t want to. However, if they label “gluten free” and the FDA tests, then they are supposed to get in trouble, but this isn’t happening.

There are no requirements for testing. This is one of the reasons there are so many problems with Cheerios! The best oats are those that follow a purity protocol.

Gluten Free Labeling Law

In 2014 the rules guiding what constituted an item as “gluten free” went into effect. Many say they would like to have 0 ppm for gluten free products. Keep in mind that this would mean very, very few products would qualify and accurate testing can only be done to 10 ppm.

20 ppm is the standard set by the FDA. This level was chosen because that is the level that has been adopted in Europe and Canada. Before the FDA set the 20 ppm there were NO rules as to what could be labeled gluten free! So, anything could be labeled gluten free!

*The labeling laws do NOT apply to supplements (vitamins, etc.)

FDA Rule

From the Food and Drug Administration they define “gluten free” as follows:

“In general, foods may be labeled “gluten-free” if they meet the definition and otherwise comply with the final rule’s requirements. More specifically, the final rule defines “gluten-free” as meaning that the food either is inherently gluten free; or does not contain an ingredient that is: 1) a gluten-containing grain (e.g., spelt wheat); 2) derived from a gluten-containing grain that has not been processed to remove gluten (e.g., wheat flour); or 3) derived from a gluten-containing grain that has been processed to remove gluten (e.g., wheat starch), if the use of that ingredient results in the presence of 20 parts per million (ppm) or more gluten in the food. Also, any unavoidable presence of gluten in the food must be less than 20 ppm.”

What does ppm mean?

Yes, a little will hurt! Even a crumb can cause a reaction.

For someone with celiac disease, it can take as little as 20 ppm to cause a reaction. That means, if this cookie were broken into a million pieces and if 20 or more of those pieces were gluten, it would cause a reaction! (Or if 2 or more of those cookies were eaten.)

“ppm” is the acronym for “parts per million”. This is a way of measuring a “pollutant” (or concentration) in a substance. So, in a gluten free labeled food product, out of one million parts, 20 of those parts can be gluten. Does that blow your mind?! One million is an enormous number and 20 is so small in comparison!

Now, you need to understand many people with celiac still get sick at 20 ppm! So, “a little bit won’t hurt you”, is far from the truth! What would happen if you are eating several products that contain 20 ppm or eating more than the suggested serving size? If one cookie contains 20 ppm then 2 would definitely make you sick!

(How much is 20 ppm?)

The way I see it: if you don’t eat the suggested serving size or you eat several products at that 20 ppm, you are saturating your body with more gluten than it can handle. You risk having more than 20ppm in your body and having your body react to it! 20 ppm here and 20 ppm there adds up!

Labeled Gluten Free

Foods made with even, small amounts of gluten ingredients cannot be labeled gluten free! This includes hybrids like triticale, spelt, kamut, etc.

They can use the words “gluten free”, “without gluten”, or “no gluten” if their products meet the rules.

Hydrolyzed and Fermented

The rules regarding fermentation and hydrolyzed products are confusing. In one place, they say it doesn’t fit the rules if they start out with grains and ingredients that are already 20 ppm or less. Then, in another place they say, if it can be processed to be less than 20 ppm then it is okay. They also state that the testing of gluten once it is broken down isn’t developed to detect gluten in the smaller pieces and so the testing is highly unreliable! Their rules seem to contradict itself and leave the door open for interpretation, in an effort to include products that would meet these guidelines as well as many that don’t.

The recommendation and what is recognized by most gluten free and celiac groups is that fermented or hydrolyzed products are not safe for those who medically need to be gluten free! So, if the product started out with a gluten containing ingredient these two processes don’t make it safe! They should NOT be labeled gluten free!

Here’s what the Gluten Intolerance Group has to say about fermented and hydrolyzed foods. https://www.gluten.org/comment-on-the-fda-proposed-rule-for-gluten-free-labeling-of-fermented-or-hydrolyzed-foods/

Foods to avoid:

Gluten removed beer
Sour dough breads made with gluten containing ingredients
Hydrolyzed soy sauces
Oats that don’t follow a purity protocol
Sourdough breads made from gluten containing grains

*not a complete list

Problems with the labeling rules

The labeling rules/laws are all voluntary, including the testing of products.
They can use whatever means they wish to measure the gluten. There isn’t a standard test they have to use and some may be less reliable than others.
Not required to test for gluten in ingredients that go into the product, nor for the finished product.
Not required to do ongoing tests for quality.
FDA isn’t taking action against companies that break the rules and mislabel!

Mislabeled Products

Have you ever run across a product that says it is gluten free, but then in the ingredients or contains statement it says something about a gluten containing ingredient? These are not properly labeled and should NOT be labeled gluten free. If you find a product like this contact the FDA through MedWatch or the Consumer Complaint Coordinator in your area.

Even worse, is a product that contains gluten and doesn’t list all the ingredients on the label, making it a hidden gluten. If you suspect that a product may actually contain gluten call and ask for a complete list of ingredients in the product.

(Not every reaction is from gluten. Many people find other sensitivities and allergies after going gluten free.)

Comments Needed-Action

This petition done by Tricia Thompson of the Gluten Free Watchdog, Llc is petitioning the government to take action against companies who break the rules and don’t follow the FDA guidelines for gluten free food product labeling. The FDA needs to enforce the standards and requirements they have put in place! What good is a rule or requirement if there are no consequences when those rules are broken and requirements not followed?!

More you can do

If you ever have a question about a products ingredients call or e-mail the company and ask for a full list of ingredients. Ask if the product contains any gluten ingredients in any form. You may need to list them, because the person you contact may not know what all of the gluten ingredients are. Especially, when it comes to the derivatives of gluten grains (kamut, triticale, spelt, etc.) and malt, malt extract, and malt flavoring which all come from barley.

Certified Gluten Free Products

I love that there are groups like the Gluten Intolerance Group who certify and regularly test products! Their products are 10 ppm or less! You can find a list of certified gluten free products at https://www.gluten.org/resources/find-products/

Another, thing I love about the Gluten Intolerance Group’s certification is that they require on-going testing to assure compliance and quality control!

I feel confident knowing I can safely consume products with their certification!

This is the symbol you want to look for from the GFCO! I know I can trust products with this symbol!

Disclosure:

I am a branch manager of a local support group through the Gluten Intolerance Group. However, the things that I have written in this post are my own opinions and not those of the Gluten Intolerance Group. My blog is in no way compensated or related to the Gluten Intolerance Group and is completely my own.

health

Your Small Intestine

Villi At Work

Villi and Enzymes

I loved the way it was described at a conference I attended, but I haven’t been able to find a source that explains it the same way. So, this is my understanding from what I heard at the conference.

*I am not a doctor. Always do your own research and consult with a trained medical professional!

The more damage you have the less you can absorb.

Damaged Villi and The Troubles They Cause

About symptoms

We may be family, but we are not the same

*I am not a doctor. Always do your own research and consult with a trained medical professional!

Villi isn’t short for villain

Save your villi, go gluten free!

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I thought I might have damaged my air fryer!

It’s Okay!

I need a bigger air fryer!

What I want!

We have tried air frying a lot of things!

I LOVE my air fryer!!! Everything tastes so good!

Wish List

I love these options for healthier “fried” foods!!!

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Personal experiences tells me other wise!

Another example:

It’s a big pet peeve and for good reason!!!

Then, why do I get DH from gluten ingredients?!!!!

What Does Hydrolyzed Mean?

Other names for hydrolyzed wheat

Interesting. . .

I still don’t think I’m allergic, per se.

The Shampoo I Use

What made me love them even more!

(I am not being paid or compensated in any way by Herbal Essence for this endorsement! I am, however, an Amazon Affiliate and make a small profit, through Amazon, but your price remains the same.)

Knowledge is power!!!

My favorite Herbal Essence products

*Talk to your stylist about gluten ingredients when you get your hair colored. Some dyes do contain gluten.

For Me It Is A Definite Yes!

Have you had a similar experience?

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The #1. Top Post for 2017!

Thank you for joining me on this incredible journey!

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Bone Concerns with Celiac

Did you know?

My First Dexa Scan

I fell down the stairs

Hurt but not broken

Gratitude

It’s another reminder that I have celiac, but celiac doesn’t have me!

Bone Health

Resources

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Cold Defense

Strengthen Your Immune System

The Cold Has Hit Our House

Our Offensive Essential Oils Plan

Why I Chose These Oils

Diffuser and Essential Oils

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So, how bad do you have it?

EVERYONE who has celiac has to be really careful of cross-contact and steering clear of gluten ingredients

I may be a little sensitive

It wasn’t all in my head!

My symptom has never been taken seriously.

More symptoms

Severity of Symptoms

Many people, even those who have diagnosed celiac disease, do NOT understand celiac disease symptoms.

I can eat a little, it doesn’t bother me