| Carol's kitchen has a cupboard full of ingredients | | | | wheat flour. Great care has to be taken in the |
| that many people have never even heard of. | | | | kitchen not to contaminate her food. Eating out |
| Things like quinoa, millet, xanthum gum, teff flour, | | | | has to be attacked like a military offensive. |
| tapioca starch and many more. Is she on a weird | | | | When can she come off the diet? Never. Coeliac |
| fad diet? A vegetarian? No she suffers from a | | | | is a life long condition. Once diagnosed a sufferer |
| condition called Coeliac (spelt celiac in the USA) | | | | needs to stick to the diet for the rest of their life. |
| and has to follow a gluten free diet. | | | | Eating a normal diet could eventually prove fatal |
| What is gluten? It is the protein found in wheat, | | | | for Carol and others who have coeliac. The |
| rye and barley. It gives the flour its elasticity | | | | symptoms vary, but inside the body gluten |
| which enables bread to rise and mixtures to hold | | | | causes damage to the small intestine via an |
| together. But it is not only found in baked goods. | | | | auto-immune reaction. Damaged villi in the |
| If only following a gluten free diet was that easy! | | | | intestines prevent proper absorption of the |
| Gluten can be hidden in many different ways. If | | | | nutrients in food causing the sufferer to lose |
| you follow a gluten free diet like Carol, you must | | | | weight and condition. |
| beware of all processed foods. Ingredients like | | | | Unfortunately coeliac is not always considered by |
| modified starch, malt flavoring, thickeners, natural | | | | doctors when a patient presents herself. She may |
| flavoring, rusk and bran are all a danger. Shopping | | | | decide to visit her doctor due to chronic diarrhea |
| for gluten free foods can be a nightmare if you | | | | or even constipation. She may have terrible |
| don't know of the many ways gluten can be | | | | stomach pains, or feel tired all the time. Her joints |
| disguised. | | | | may ache or she could even have an itchy rash |
| So what is safe for Carol to eat? Fresh | | | | behind her knees. Some people may have all |
| vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese, and fruit. Oh and | | | | these symptoms! |
| of course those strange sounding grains and | | | | Back when Carol was diagnosed as a baby, the |
| seeds in her cupboard. Because wheat flour is | | | | only way to diagnose the condition was by an |
| taboo, Carol has learned to cook with alternative | | | | intestinal biopsy. Nowadays blood tests can be |
| ingredients, creating breads and cakes that are | | | | used in the diagnosis. Many people are living their |
| not only tasty but healthy. She has to avoid | | | | lives not even knowing that they suffer from the |
| coating her meat with breadcrumbs or batter. She | | | | condition, leading to possible problems in later |
| has to thicken her soups and sauces with | | | | years. |
| arrowroot and cornstarch instead of regular | | | | |