<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Jerry D. Walter wrote:
 The real point is that when you cheat you are doing damage to
> your intestine. This damage is accumulative and if you live long enough,
> you will have to pay the piper. As a 65 year old who has had a poor GF
> record for 35 years, I can assure you that I am now paying the piper.

Adding to Jerry's comments, I ate gluten for 32 years not feeling well
but not knowing what was causing my problems; then did my best to avoid
it for another 20+ years.  However, with little guidance from physicians
(no guidance, to be truthful) and before this list was begun, it was
very difficult to know the finer points of avoiding gluten.  Maybe I was
95% gluten-free.  What happens in these cases is that your gut gets
further destroyed and it is close to impossible for it to heal
completely.  However, I'm working like crazy to get mine to.

Additionally, the difference in how I feel (about myself and other
people) and act between eating a small amount of gluten and being
gluten-free is the difference between just making it through life and
really feeling lovingly connected to the world and its inhabitants.  If
I had remained only 90% gluten free, I would have not known it was
possible for me to feel this way.

Jerry's comment that there is more than enough accidental
ingestion....one should never purposefully eat gluten....is very, very
true.  I'm sure Anita's doctor doesn't understand celiac disease.  Then,
again, he's certainly in the majority of physicians.

Keep working at it, Jerry; and thanks for the provocative posting,
Anita.  And best wishes to all of you dealing with the variety of
problems this condition deals us. It's really nice to have the
information we share and the support we can give each other.

Sue in Maryland