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Can we "cure" Celiac Disease and go back to eating whatever our heart
desires?

 I wish!  However, we all know that the latest research indicates there is
no cure for Celiac Disease.  I believe any of us would be foolish to believe
otherwise, based on current information.

Some believe that Elaine Gottshall, in Breaking The Vicious Cycle, is saying
we can be "cured". I've read this book 4 times and interpret it this way:
If you are intolerent to gluten, and you avoid it, you can be cured . . . as
long as you stay away from it.  She makes the statement that if you go back
to your old eating habits, you will end up with the same problems again.
Even if we begin to feel wonderful, eat gluten, and don't get sick
immediately, we are asking for trouble.  The damage to the villi will be
occuring again, even though we might feel fine, and digestion of nutrients
will again become impared.  This will eventually put us back to"square one",
increasing our risk of all those autoimmune diseases.

Breaking The Vicious Cycle is about achieving "Intestinal Health Through
Diet".  How do we know if we have good intestinal health?  Those with good
intestinal health have both good digestion and good elimination.  Some of us
know when we have heartburn or acid reflux.  However, I'm finding that many
don't.  I, for one, didn't know I was having acid reflux that was burning my
esophagus and causing all kinds of allergy and asthma symptoms.  Thank
goodness my allergist recognized it.  I thought the thick mucus in my throat
was coming from sinus drainage, when in actuality, most of it was coming
from acid and food backing up into my esophagus.  I've found that half the
people I know are having it and don't recognize it . . . and they're are not
even Celiacs!  That tells me that a lot of folks are having problems with
their digestive system because their diet is faulty.  They need to do some
research and make some changes or they run the risk of permanant damage and
esophageal cancer.

Now, I'll go to the subject of "elimination".  Never in my life did I think
I'd be talking on this subject (I used to be very shy :-), but I find that
Celiacs (and everyone else) need to know how much they should be
eliminating, and what it should look like, or they won't really know if
they're eating the right things or not.  I hadn't really thought about it,
and didn't want to think about it, until I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease
and my husband with Crohn's.  I did a lot of research and since my husband
would not do the research, or talk about his "elimination", I had to
tactfully teach him . . . not a subject any of us likes . . . but a wife or
a mother's gotta do what a wife or mother's gotta do, right?  (Now I need to
teach my sons.)  The best "ice breaker" we found to open up the conversation
when he was so sick was an article called, "Dr. Fart Speaks".  I wish I
could find the address but can't seem to locate it.  We both laughed until
we cried at his "tongue in cheek" humor and play on words as he educated us
on the human digestive system.  From then on, we were able to talk more
about our "bodily functions".  You know, the cook and the patient have to
get their heads together to make this work.  Well, here's what I've learned
. . . are you ready for this????

***A normal healthy digestive system easily produces 2-3 formed stools per
day that fall apart when flushed.  The stools should not contain undigested
particals of food and there should not be an oily film floating on the
water.*** (Please, read this again . . . every single word here is
important.)

There, that wasn't so bad, was it???  That is our goal.  And only when we
reach that goal have we fine-tuned our diet to be healthy.  Now isn't it a
relief to KNOW what to look for???  I'll bet a lot of you need to do some
research and make some changes.

Breaking The Vicious Cycle helps you get from where you are now, to
where you need to be, one step at a time.  Other food plans are similar
in nature, but this one is easy to understand and follow . . . and best
of all it works for most of us.  There's also on-line help at SCD-list-
[log in to unmask] and [log in to unmask] to fine-tune the
diet to your individual needs.

Eat healthy,
    Kay