Today is celiac disease awareness day. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease, meaning that ingesting it causes your body to attack itself because it thinks there is something in there that is harming it. The body damages the small intestine whenever someone with celiac disease eats gluten. This means that the nutrients cannot be properly absorbed by the body. So, how is celiac disease and keto related?
Some information on Celiac Disease
This is a genetic disease that affects 1 in 100 people. According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, only about 30% of people with the disease are properly diagnosed. It stems from a reaction to gluten that is eaten – a protein that gives foods like wheat, rye, and barley a starchy quality.
Celiac disease is a big deal. You have immediate symptoms, such as abdominal pain, bloating and gas, constipation, diarrhea, migraine, and fatigue. There are also serious long-term effects, such as infertility, depression or anxiety, and heart disease. It can lead to other autoimmune disorders, such as Type 1 Diabetes and Multiple Sclerosis. It has also been linked to epilepsy, anemia and osteoporosis.
Treatment of Celiac Disease
There is only one current treatment for celiac disease, and that is to not eat gluten. The Celiac Disease Foundation says that any amount of gluten can trigger small intestine damage, so it’s important to strictly avoid it. That sounds simple enough, but do you know how many of our foods contain wheat? Any purchased baked goods use wheat flour, unless they are specifically marked as gluten-free. Muffins, bread, pizza crusts, crackers – all contain gluten. You have to do a lot of research when you go gluten-free and you have to learn how to read nutritional labels. Well, this sounds familiar for us keto folks!
Is Keto Gluten Free?
Well, yes it is! Why? Because gluten equals carbs, and we are a low-carb lifestyle. One cup of wheat flour has 95 grams of carbs in it. One cup of almond flour has about 10 net grams of carbs in it. As almond flour is made from, well, almonds, it does not contain gluten and is a great alternative for folks with celiac disease.
So, yes, eating keto will keep you gluten-free. Be aware though, being gluten-free does not make you keto. Wait, what? Things that are labeled gluten-free often still have a lot of carbs in them. If you look at a gluten-free pizza crust at Boston Pizza, an 8” crust has 94 net grams of carbs.
My Take on Gluten
If celiac disease affects 1 in 100 people, why do we hear so much about it? Well, many more people have symptoms of gluten intolerance. I am one of those people. Gluten intolerance shows many of the same symptoms as celiac disease, but the body doesn’t attack itself, so there aren’t the long-term effects. The symptoms, however, are very similar.
Gluten intolerance is hard to identify or diagnose because it affects people differently. For me, after eating pasta, pizza, or bread, I would experience bloating and gas. I would often have abdominal pain, which I attributed to eating too much (which could honestly have been some of the issue). I had migraines, about 3 a month that each lasted about 3-4 days. Constipation and fatigue were my constant companions. I didn’t realize these things might be connected to gluten until I started eating keto, and then it suddenly hit me how much better I felt without eating the wheat flour.
Why is this more common now than ever? Some keto experts I’ve read talk about the fact that we have modified our wheat so the crops are larger and take up less space. What happens when you modify a food? Well, it affects our bodies differently. There are consequences to our actions, people!
Some nutritional experts tell us we shouldn’t give up gluten unless we are diagnosed with celiac disease or an intolerance to gluten because it offers nutrients our bodies need. I don’t have the education to disagree, but I can tell you that since giving up gluten, Bill and I feel better and we have no regrets. If you’re interested in this, do some research, give it a try, and see how your body reacts. Your body is the expert!
Wendy
