What is Celiac Disease?

You might be reading this blog because you have celiac disease, choose to avoid gluten, or are merely curious. Whatever the reason, I am glad you are here to join me in this journey!

The heart of this blog centers around being gluten free and the whirlwind that comes with it. But first, we must understand the basics, we must cement the foundation; what is celiac disease? What is gluten? They're good questions, and let's focus on the former first. I have met countless people who assume the wrong thing: celiac disease is when you are allergic. At first glance, it would be easy to confuse having celiac disease with an allergy; you are unable to eat food because it damages your body, you figure out alternate solutions, you bring your own food to events… I would understand many people’s confusion. 

However, celiac disease is different from an allergy because its destruction is completely different; when someone experiences an allergic reaction, their body is attacking the allergen that it perceives as an intruder. But with celiac disease, your body is attacking itself for protection; this is the key difference. Now, one thing I didn’t answer: with celiac disease, what is your body actually reacting to?

Gluten. Gluten, gluten, gluten. Another common misconception is people thinking gluten is an ingredient when actually, it is a protein that is found in wheat, barley, rye, malt, and others. Most assume that gluten = wheat, but on the contrary, gluten is something that makes up these grains. With celiac disease, gluten is the enemy.

When someone with celiac disease consumes gluten, their body attacks their small intestine, thinking that the gluten in their system will hurt their body. In the small intestine, the specific things that your body attacks are villi, and inside the villi there are the smaller cells that absorb the nutrients in your food. So, problem solved! Your body is protecting itself from gluten by making sure it can’t be absorbed while in your digestive tract. Unfortunately, our problems continue, for when your body attacks its villi, the villi remain destroyed and flattened. The consequence of such an action is that no more nutrients from safe, recognizable foods can be taken and stored in the body. This is the true problem; not the reaction – however unexpected – but the consequence, that no more healthy proteins can be taken for the health and growth of the body. 

For some people with celiac, it can be caught because of the surfacing of sickness due to lack of nutrients. For others, their suffering is silent, with no symptoms whatsoever. However, for those who show the consequences of their body’s attacks, it can manifest in numerous ways, from iron deficiency to stunted growth. It's incredibly difficult to diagnose! 

Hopefully, you were able to learn what celiac disease is, what happens, and the consequences of it. Most importantly, it is my wish for you that if or when you hear of celiac disease, you can talk about it as what it is: an autoimmune disease, and not an allergy. Many have heard it from different people, different sources, and it can be tricky to decipher what the truth is. My goal of this post is to teach you the proper way to think about celiac disease, so you won't be confused the next time you hear of it.

Until next time! Yours truly, 

Genuine GF