I learned so much from some fantastic articles about celiac disease and gluten sensitivity this week! Take a look below to learn the truth behind gluten digestion medicines, tips on healthy gluten free living, great options to satisfy your carbohydrate cravings, and finally research regarding pregnancy health with undiagnosed celiac!
Can Glutenase Pills Help Digest Gluten?: Similar to Lactaid, which assists with lactose digestion for those that are lactose intolerant, there exists products such as Glutenase, Gluten Cutter, and Digest Gluten Plus which, I’m sure you could deduce from the names, are marketed to assist with gluten digestion. Ever since my gluten intolerance began I had always said that there should be something similar to Lactaid that could allow individuals to continue eating gluten containing products without the risk of reaction. Little did I know that products such as those listed above actually exist for that exact purpose. Now, the question popping up in all of our gluten free minds….do these supplements actually work? This is the exact question posed to Dr. Stefano Guandalini of the Celiac Disease Center at the University of Chicago. According to Dr. Guandalini, the likelihood of these supplements to efficiently digest gluten in those whose bodies cannot, is not as simple as we’d like to hope. Research has been done on commercial products which are marketed as gluten detoxifiers and unfortunately they are completely ineffective at reducing the amount of gluten that is toxic for celiac patients and those which are gluten sensitive. Follow University of Chicago’s Science Life here to read this segment in its entirety and learn where current research stands in this area.
The Hidden Risk in Going Gluten Free: In today’s world there seems to have been an explosion of drastic dietary changes, one of which being the “gluten free diet”. While this diet is certainly beneficial for many to follow I personally would never label it as a “diet” per se. Going gluten free out of medical necessity is a drastic lifestyle change that can unfortunately elicit the opposite result if you’re using the diet for weight loss. In the Celiac Handbook here, the pitfalls of the gluten free diet are highlighted along with tips on how to live a healthier gluten free life. When going gluten free, the number of items that you potentially have to cut out from your diet can be overwhelmingly large depending on your current diet. When cutting out or removing so many items from your daily eating regimen many tend to replace them with gluten free packaged products. Unfortunately if you examine the labels of some of these products a bit closer, you’ll notice ingredients such as rice flour and potato starch along with loads of unhealthy fats. While these items are free of gluten and good for you to eat in that area, they sadly usually contain lots of sugar and carbohydrates that can affect weight gain along with a number of other health aspects. What do you do then when you’re gluten free, and nearly half of your diet is eliminated just because of gluten? Well, according to the Celiac Handbook just stick to the goal of obtaining a truly healthy diet (just without the gluten). Meaning, keep everything as fresh and unprocessed as possible, focus on cooking from scratch whenever possible, and read labels and you’ll be on the right track. Learn more about living a healthy gluten free lifestyle here!
29 Gluten Free Ways to Satisfy a Carb Craving: Seeing as there is a section on my blog that is focused on satisfying your pregnancy cravings, I thought it was perfect to introduce you to this list of perfect carbohydrate substitutes. Some of my go to carb options while I was pregnant definitely made the list, including one of my favorites, the bagel. Pictured on this list specifically though is a divine looking bagel option, the super fluffy asiago bagel. A few other amazing suggestions fall into the breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert/snack categories. Some of the best breakfast options include the bagel of course, waffles, and nutella bread. Lunch and dinner highlights can be kind of interchangeable, as I personally eat leftover dinner for lunch the next day on many occasions; some of these include one of my personal favorites macaroni and cheese, chicken and jack cheese sandwiches, pizza, and biscuits and cheese filled breadsticks. Dessert highlights include the blueberry coffee cake (which could of course be an option at anytime of the day), pretzel bites, and chocolate brownie peanut butter cheesecake. Beside the fantastic craving ideas and pictures here on this list, included are the amazing recipes that go along with them so you can make these at home! Take a look and I’m sure you’ll have plenty of ideas next time you’re craving a gluten filled carbohydrate!
Reproductive Life Disorders in Italian Celiac Women: Several years ago an informative study was done examining women’s health with respect to undiagnosed celiac and reproductive disorders. While we know that celiac and non-celiac gluten sensitivity can cause excessive damage to the intestinal tract we are also thankfully aware that the damage caused by the disease can be fully reversed and healed if a diet free of gluten is put into place. For women though, the repercussions living without a diagnosis of gluten sensitivity early on and not following a gluten free diet can cause innumerable challenges in a woman’s reproductive life. Without diagnosis, women can go on to have delayed puberty, infertility, higher risks of miscarriage and low birth weight, and early menopause. This study stresses the correlation between celiac disease and reproductive disorders especially those associated with pregnancy. If you suspect any type of gluten sensitivity than it is imperative to be tested for celiac as soon as possible so you can improve your health prior to pregnancy. If your body cannot digest gluten, avoiding it is optimal when you’re pregnant as to avoid many complications that can potentially occur. Just remember, if your test results do come back negative for celiac you still can have a gluten sensitivity which similarly requires following a gluten free diet. You can find the results of this case study here and read further to understand the importance of celiac disease screening in women with these reproductive challenges.