Me but better – before and after my diagnosis of Celiac Disease

What I Was Eating Was Killing Me

What you eat could change your health. It truly changed mine.

It makes logical sense. If we stop to think about it. When we become hurt or sick we often evaluate external factors for the causes and make changes to external factors to heal and prevent the same from happening again.

We tend to be very focused on these external factors. Taking control of them. What about internal factors?

Our food choices are just as important as the medications and supplements we take for overall health since foods can protect against and prevent disease.

What’s Our Health Care Plan?

Do you ever stop to think about how the foods you eat could also be included in your health care plan?

Struggling with my own health, moods and energy levels, chronic skin issues, brittle hair and finger nails that wouldn’t grow, I was diagnosed with an auto immune condition and sent on my way with steroid medications.

I don’t like not having control of my body. The steroids and other meds left me feeling numb and completely disconnected from my once energetic, athletic and lean self.

I wasn’t feeling some of the aches, mood issues and chronic fatigue symptoms as much. but to be honest, I wasn’t really feeling much of anything anymore. I was taking all of these meds and going through additional tests but I still wasn’t really ever feeling better. I was terrified and overwhelmed. I did not want the rest of my life to look and feel like this!

What We Eat Could Change Our Health

I felt there had to be another option. I couldn’t just sit back and feel like this. I began reading everything that I could about auto-immune conditions and alternative, integrative treatments. I soaked up books, research and enrolled in classes.

Along the way I learned about preventative medicine. The concept that lifestyle and our choices can help us to heal and to prevent disease. The idea that we can PREVENT disease, be proactive, rather than simply treat disease once it’s already settled in.

I began cooking and preparing wholesome meals. I began to learn about the connections between how we treat our bodies and our health. I began to explore how my body responded to different foods.

Perhaps it was intuition or instinct. Do you ever have that gut feeling, that something BIG is about to happen?

I’ll never know exactly what drew me to nutrition and certainly what brought me to that day when years ago I remember waking up and just feeling different. Different good. Different, I can’t remember the last time I felt this good…and Christmas morning as a kid, or the first sunny days in a long, long, long time.

I had been eating clean for over a month. Cooking from scratch. Increasing my fresh vegetables and fruits. Staying away from the processed stuff. My own variation of the elimination diet. And you know what, it was working…and then,

The Alarm Bells Went Off

I was feeling so good, I started to re-introduce a few of the foods I’d removed. When I got to wheat and gluten…there it was. Clear as day. All of my feeling good feelings evaporated and once again I felt lethargic, exhausted, weak, but far worse than before and now my stomach was in knots and then my skin started to break out again.

No! Not again, I thought. After feeling so good I couldn’t possibly go back to feeling miserable again. But this time I listened when the bells and whistles went off. I read about wheat and gluten. I read about inflammation and its role in our health. And finally I read about another auto-immune condition, Celiac Disease, that is triggered by gluten.

I read the common symptoms for Celiac Disease. Again I got that feeling that I was on to something important.

At first, I struggled to get my doctors to listen to my new findings. But I was persistent. I reintroduced gluten consistently for 4 weeks and I went in for testing and a little more testing.

I have Celiac Disease. And this was a very good thing to know. Because all of that cereal I’d been eating, bagels, sourdough bread, soy sauce – had been slowly killing me.

I was nearing 30 and just figuring this out? Yes, in fact later diagnosis is common. It seems that hormones (such as during pregnancy) and stress often trigger an onset of Celiac Disease.

Celiac Disease is genetic! How could no one else in my family be aware of this? Well, we’re not alone in not knowing.

Current stats (National Foundation for Celiac Awareness) tell us that 1 in 133 people in the U.S. have Celiac Disease, however 83% of people with Celiac Disease remain undiagnosed or misdiagnosed with other conditions. More facts from the NFCA:

• Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive disease that damages the villi of the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food.

• Celiac disease can affect men and women across all ages and races.

• 5-22% of celiac patients have an immediate family member (1st degree relative) who also has celiac.

For me, the diagnosis was a positive step forward. No more steroid medicines. No more uncertainty. A clear definitive diagnosis. And the blessing that each day I was feeling a little bit better, a little more myself. I just had to eat and live gluten-free…(another story)

And the rest is history. I’ve been eating, living and thriving gluten-free for almost 10 years now.

We Are What We Eat

Our food choices are just as important as the medications and supplements we take for overall health since foods can protect against and prevent disease.

Most of us eat between 3 and 5 meals a day. That adds up to a lot of food. Just as we consider what types of fuels we put into our car at the gas pump, it’s important to be mindful about what foods we’re eating to fuel our energy levels and keep our minds and bodies functioning at their best.

Food is just as important to health as other lifestyle factors – smoking, lack of exercise, stress – all contribute to how our body looks, feels and functions. When we understand how the food we eat can affect our body and relearn how to listen to the signals our body is sending us, we can use this as a guide  to making better food choices.

Every May is Celiac Disease Awareness month. Here’s to a month of celebration, awareness and spreading the word about Celiac Disease!

Do you have a health story or Celiac Disease story? Everyone’s story is unique! I invite you to please share with us in the comments below.

In Health,

P.S. Still trying to understand what gluten IS, exactly?

Read our quick and easy definition in this post - what is gluten?

© Copyright Clea Shannon 2013

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