Celiac disease/celiac sprue/gluten intolerance

Celiac disease is an immune system that thinks the protein found in wheat and other grains (gluten/gliadin) is really, really bad. The body attacks itself, and the small intestine becomes badly damaged, to the point of a person being unable to digest much of anything.

Celiac disease is extremely under-diagnosed, with maybe a tenth of the people who have it being diagnosed with it. It does have a genetic/hereditary component, and I have family with it as well. It also takes a long time to get diagnosed for most people: up to ten years is average! I think it took me about ten years to figure out I was gluten-intolerant. It was thanks to a great doctor and hematologist that I did get the diagnosis.

I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2002, and have been faithful to the only cure currently available: a gluten-free diet. A GF diet means nothing with wheat, rye, barley, or other similar grains. That means no traditional breads, pizza crusts, or pasta. Sound hard? It does take some getting used to! I do have my favorite substitute foods listed below. There's a lot of GF food coming out now, as celiac disease is getting more commonly diagnosed. I can eat potatoes, corn, rice, amaranth, quinoa, and oats. (Not all celiacs eat oats, but the latest research suggests the only issue is cross-contamination.)

For me, going gluten-free made an amazing difference in my life. I gained twenty pounds (or so) which meant for the first time you couldn't count my ribs from across the room. I got more energy, I gained color in my face, and I just felt great! It's no hardship to eat gluten-free when the change was so drastic.

My favorite foods:

Pizza crust: Nature's Hilites rice and potato crusts
Pasta: bionaturae's GF selections
Cookies: Glutino's chocolate-covered vanilla wafers (oh, wow; kind of like a Kit-Kat!)
Breakfast bars: Glutino blueberry bars
All-purpose flour: Sylvan Border Farms GF flour

A good book: Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic by Peter Green and Rory Jones. This is a technical book about the disease and the latest research on celiac sprue. Not a how-to book, a here's-what-to-know book.

Some links:
Celiac.com
Celiac Sprue Research Foundation
Celiac Sprue Association