With less than a week to go, don’t miss the Chicago-area gluten-free event of the year. The event is going to take place this coming weekend, April 17-18 at the Wyndham Hotel in Lisle. Tickets…
(Editor’s Note: Click here to see Part One)
OUR BIOLOGICALLY INAPPROPRIATE DIET
In a previous article, I discussed the role that wheat plays as an industrial adhesive (e.g. paints, paper mache’, and book binding-glue) in order to illustrate the point that it may not be such a good thing for us to eat. The problem is implicit in the word gluten, which literally means “glue” in Latin and in words like pastry and pasta, which derives from wheatpaste, the original concoction of wheat flour and water which made such good plaster in ancient times. What gives gluten its adhesive and difficult-to-digest qualities are the high levels of disulfide bonds it contains. These same sulfur-to-sulfur bonds are found in hair and vulcanized rubber products, which we all know are difficult to decompose and are responsible for the sulfurous odor they give off when burned.
There will be 676 million metric tons of wheat produced this year alone, making it the primary cereal of temperate regions and third most prolific cereal grass on the planet.
Below is an important letter by Cleo Libonati, celiac disease author and speaker. She explains why you must be your own health advocate if you wish to be healthy and receive optimal care.
Dear Friend,
For the past three years, I have met with HMOs, pharmaceutical companies, politicians, doctors, dietitians, celiac support groups, and patients across the United States. One thing is abundantly clear. Doctors are not recognizing celiac disease and do not realize how little they know about the disorder.
In 2004, the National Institutes of Health called for education of physicians and other healthcare providers about celiac disease. To date, few efforts have been undertaken and none has succeeded.
The result is missed diagnoses, inadequate follow-up, unnecessary surgeries, improperly prescribed medications and needless pain. During my presentations, I meet many people who think they are receiving good treatment and cannot understand why no one has told them their persisting symptoms are due to simple nutrient deficiencies.
Have you ever wondered how reliable the news you see on the television really is?
Now I know first hand that the media does not always get it right and can even leave out the most important news of all.
Let me tell you how …
For the last five years, I have worked to educate people about celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. I developed a website called Glutenfreeworks.com, which has helped tens of thousands get well and stay healthy living the gluten-free lifestyle.
I also edited and published the groundbreaking work, Recognizing Celiac Disease. This medical reference, authored by Cleo Libonati, RN, BSN has set the standard for identifying symptoms and their causes.
People use Glutenfreeworks.com every day to find new gluten-free recipes, how to get diagnosed for celiac disease, which restaurants serve gluten free food in their area and where to find information on local support groups. Our symptom guide, first published in Recognizing Celiac Disease, contains over 300 signs, symptoms, associated disorders and complications. From nutritional information to in-depth reviews of gluten disorders and the gluten-free diet, Glutenfreeworks.com provides medically accurate information to help patients and health professionals alike.
Last week I was given the opportunity to talk to ABC News in Philadelphia about gluten sensitivity, the gluten-free diet and how people’s lives are being affected by gluten.
When I sat down with ABC for a 20 minute interview on gluten sensitivity we discussed the following:
As common at they are, gluten allergies and elimination diets are still, many times, viewed as fringe alternative health practices and often don’t receive the mainstream validation they deserve. When some estimates show that nearly 1 in 30 people suffer at the hands of gluten, one would think the intolerance to this protein would finally gain more acceptance in mainstream medicine and media. One man, doctor and author Mark Hyman, is working to do just that.
Hyman, an M.D. in the field of functional medicine, pioneers techniques that aide the chronically-ill in improving their health and quality of life by determining the underlying causes of illness and treating according to those causes, as opposed to much mainstream medicine that focuses on treatments that champion subsistence and reliance on a medication. Doctor Hyman is a blogger for The Huffington Post and in a recent article, cites gluten allergies and Celiac Disease (even latent Celiac) as the cause for many ailments and conditions never previously associated with the grain protein.
This article focuses on the two main antibody blood tests for celiac disease. It will tell you what each test looks for and what the results mean. The two blood tests recommended when testing for…
“I only cheat once in awhile. You know, like twice a week…”
If you have celiac disease, you damage your body EVERY TIME you ingest gluten. That may sound bad, but it gets worse.
You can DIE from celiac disease in a variety of ways. None of them are fun. Some take longer than others. Some may not kill you per se, but rather they may stop you from enjoying life, make you suffer from chronic pain or limit your potential.
Celiac disease is a deadly serious condition caused by eating what is essentially a poison to susceptible people – gluten proteins in wheat, barley, rye and oats.
Here are just 6 examples how celiac disease from gluten ingestion can kill you:
Saving a life means more than just keeping a person from dying. It means helping them get well.
While practicing medicine as a registered nurse, Cleo Libonati regularly saved people’s lives. Now her book “Recognizing Celiac Disease” is doing the same for people across the country and around the world.
Here is a letter telling how one family credits the book with saving their lives…
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Dear Cleo,
I have been “sick” most of my life (I turn 40 in July) with random things, too many to list here. I have been really sick the last 10 years, but started feeling as though I was “dying by the inch” in 2004. I finally broke down and went to my primary when premature ventricular contractions were occurring every 5-10 seconds that felt as though my heart was going to jump right out of my throat. I had many other random multiple sclerosis type symptoms, but the severity of the PVC’s were what scared me the most, that is until 2006. I began to have many gastro symptoms that kept me in the bathroom several times a day with alternating elimination problems, I couldn’t keep food down, and pain in the left side of my swollen, hard, tender abdomen every time I ate. I had an EGD and colonoscopy on 2/15/07. The three days before the test were the best I had felt in 4 years. Since I worked in Oncology and was used to seeing patients doing prep for them, I put myself on clear liquids 2 days before the Go-Lytely. So, I was gluten-free without knowing it for 3 days prior to testing.
The Greater Philadelphia Celiac Support Group is meeting at Abington Hospital this Friday, October 16 at 5:45 pm.
Ann Whelan, publisher of the popular magazine Gluten Free Living will be speaking to the group.
Location: Abington Memorial Hospital
1200 Old York Road
Abington PA 19001 in the Lenfest Auditorium
Time: Doors open at 5:45 for visiting vendors and interacting with friends. Meeting officially begins at 7:30 pm.
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VENDORS THAT WILL BE ATTENDING THE MEETING
The Celiac Sprue Association 32nd Annual CSA Conference will be held at Erie, PA from Oct. 30th through Nov. 1, 2009 at the Sheraton Erie Bayfront Hotel and the Bayfront Convention Center. Serving as local…