As I was growing up, I recall
episode after episode of one stomach or digestive issue after another. If you
have been gluten intolerant or diagnosed with Celiac Disease, you know the
great pain that introducing gluten whether intentionally or unintentionally
into your food can cause. I want to challenge our readers this year to focus on
making an extra effort to fully eliminate gluten from your diet. This has been
my resolution this year, as I have been known myself to “cheat” once and a
while. While I think that it is okay or I can deal with the upset system, I was
unaware until recent research that even cheating once and a while still does
damage to your digestive system. According to the US Department of Health and
Human Services, “To stay well, people with celiac disease must avoid gluten for
the rest of their lives. Eating even a small amount of gluten can damage the
small intestine. The damage will occur in anyone with the disease, including
people without noticeable symptoms. Depending on a person's age at diagnosis,
some problems will not improve, such as short stature and dental enamel
defects.” I have also found that every time that I search issues with Celiac
Disease, health professionals are now attributing new health problems to the
disease. Quite a few were possibly misdiagnosed as other issues before
discovering that it was Celiac in the first place. While I am no expert by any
means, I have been living with Celiac Disease since 2007. Looking back I can
see all the years that I suffered with all the ailments that come from
contaminating my diet with gluten.
There
are multiple things that we can do to adjust to living totally gluten free. I
have included a short list of steps that you can take to gain a healthier
outlook this year.
·
Find a locate support group and gain the
opportunity to learn from others how they are living their gluten free lives. I
think that you can never stop learning about you condition. That even after
years of living gluten free, you can still learn new things and about new
products, or coping methods. I have been living with it for almost 5 years and
I believe that I am still in infancy in understand exactly what it means to
live completely gluten free.
·
Take advantage of all the information out there.
The super information highway is jammed packed with sites, doctors, bloggers,
and others living gluten free. They have valuable information that may support
you. We at The Gluten Free Consumer utilized this avenue with every issue that
we put out.
·
I make an extra effort myself to research
products. Don’t be afraid to search out how the food is processed. Visit the
company website. I have even been known to call the company and ask questions.
You would be surprised how much information you can gain when you reach out and
take the extra steps to learn about the food you eat. As our current readers
know that is a main reason that we have developed this magazine. To give all of
my fellow members of the gluten free community information that isn’t readily
available.
·
Let your family know what it truly means to be
living a gluten free lifestyle. Help them to understand the complications that
eating gluten can do to your system. It is really important, especially for
newly diagnosed members to develop a support system. I am still even after all
these years building mine and educating my family and those I come in contact
what it truly means to my health.
·
I feel the most important step is to commit to
yourself that you are going to live a completely gluten free life.
As we have
shown you, you don’t have to do without we just need to adjust our perspective.
Without the commitment to live completely gluten free, you risk continued
damage to your health. Think about it, you owe it to your happiness to feel
well and do all that you can to gain that. It is definitely a personal
challenge of mine to keep my health under control. I plan to take on the
“resolution” to live this year making an extra effort to live completely gluten
free.
Again I would like to challenge our readers to join me in
committing to a “resolution” this year to live without any gluten in our diets.
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