What is Celiac Disease Anyhow??

Okay so my daughter has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease and I've been told that it is an autoimmune disorder caused by the gluten protein in some grains but what the heck does that mean? Let me tell you its hard to find but I finally have a technical answer about what happens in her body when she eats gluten!

Here is the technical mumbo-jumbo:

When anyone (even people without Celiac disease) eats gluten containing products it causes our bodies to produce an excess amount of zonulin. (A protein found in our small intestine that basically works as a doorman allowing the nutrients of our food to pass into the bloodstream) You heard me right.. EVERY person on earth produces too much zonulin when they eat gluten! Having too much zonulin opens so many ..doors.. that toxins (gluten fragments) get into our blood stream that normally wouldn't have been allowed in.

This is where my daughter's body acts differently than ours does. Her body sees these gluten fragments as invaders and it launches and attack against them.. the problem is her body also attacks itself (the autoimmune part of this Celiac) She produces antibodies ant react against normal, healthy tissue rather than the bad stuff.

Her body attacks the villi (the little finger things on our intestines that help absorb nutrients) on the lining of the small intestine causing them to flatten (really they are chopped down like a tree). If they have been chopped they are no longer able to absorb nutrients from her food. The damage always happens at the top of the intestine first.

Remember that her small intestine is about 3.5 times longer than she is (so about 10+ feet) So by the time she was showing symptoms and losing weight, her entire intestine had been damaged.

Anyhow the villi do repair themselves once you have switched to a gluten free diet. It takes 1-12 months for adults and with kids it..s a much faster recovery.

Now you all know what Celiac disease is!

*special thanks to the book Gluten Free Living for Dummies it has been a GREAT resource.