Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disorder that affects the function of small intestine. When any amount of the gluten protein from grains such as wheat, barley and rye is consumed it causes your immune system to produce anti-bodies that create an inflammatory reaction.

One of the primary symptoms of this disease is chronic diarrhea. Over time diarrhea reduces the beneficial bacteria of the gut that helps digest food and changes the intestinal villi's ability to absorb nutrients. This leads to chronic malabsorption of many nutrients including carbohydrates, iron, calcium and the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E K and EFAs. When you are chronically depleted of these vital nutrients, other medical conditions such as candida, anemia, bone loss, hormonal imbalance and cognitive dysfunction will eventually develop.

Here is the list of glutinous foods to avoid…

Barley (including malt, malt extract, malt vinegar, malt syrup, malt flavouring), graham flour, rye, bulgar, triticale, oats, oat Bran, oat syrup, semolina, wheat (including: wheat germ, wheat bran, wheat "filler", cereal binding, couscous, wheat starch or 'starch', hydrolysed wheat protein, hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) or hydrolyzed plant protein (HPP), spelt (Dinkel), durum, farro, kamut, einkorn and emmer.

These foods can show up in many processed foods without even knowing about it so it is important to minimize your risk of exposure by cooking from scratch and simplifying your diet. There are many gluten free products on the market today.

Be sure to see a Naturopathic Doctor or Holistic Medical Doctor to review your condition. You will most likely require a complete bowel cleanse and a rebuilding.

Here is a testimonial from a lady who has changed her life by addressing her celiac disease and allergies. This letter has been reprinted with permission…

"I don't know if you remember me, but we met at The Big Carrot, I was on crutches, and you were so gracious to let me go on about how to prepare tahini. I was reading a bit of the information on your website, and I wanted to share with you part of my story. I'm one of those people who substantiates that food can have a profound effect on health.

I've had celiac disease all my life but was not diagnosed up until three years ago. Feeling sick all my life was normal for me and I didn't understand why I was getting all those serious and sometimes life threatening diseases. It's not until I've changed my diet and witnessed my body go through a transformation that I realized in retrospect how sick I was feeling most of my life.

Along with nutrition, exercise is also a huge component of my recovery. I'm 51 years old and I dragon boated for seven years, I use to run and I taught a "learn to run" course at the Running Room. I do yoga and go to the gym. I recently had to give up running and dragon boating due to back issues, so I moved on to competitive swimming and I'm now a Master swimmer.

With regard to my health, to make things easier for me I always keep a list of my medical history, and a lists of all the supplements that I take. I'm going to attach a copy for you so you can see for yourself the tangible results of a clean diet. In my medical history I mentioned that I use to be on a wide array of medications, but I didn't give details. I want you to know that at one point I was taking up to 25 prescribed pills a day for a wide variety of illnesses. Pills for cancer, graves disease, osteoporosis, nausea from chemo, PCOS, arthritis, and the list goes on. I even had to inject myself with medication to boost my white blood count.

I'm not discrediting western medicine and the importance of their prescribed medications, but in a lot of cases they over medicate and they misdiagnose; if I had been diagnosed with Celiac when I was young, it would have saved me decades of physical and emotional pain.

I'm now medication free and disease free. I'm a true testament to teachings such as yours. My diet is completely organic and I have eliminated gluten, dairy, refined sugar, processed foods, and canned foods, and a few other things. I prepare all my meals from fresh organic ingredients, gluten free grains, dried legumes, and organic gluten free rice. I also apply the same standards to beauty products and cleaning products.

I'm happy I met you and I look forward to your show and to widening the scope of my culinary experience. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me and to share your information. I wish you luck and continued success on your journey."