Information

Final Blog.

When I started this Blog, my aim was just to promote awareness in Ireland of the disease.

But why was this the case?  It was because There i still a lack of understanding in the disease. Some people think it is a food allergy which is not true-coeliac disease is an intolerance of gluten. Also because Ireland has one of the highest rates of coeliac disease in the world with 1/100 being affected

Ireland has gotten better over the years in providing for coeliacs such as in restaurants and items but there are still little problems.

For example, there are talks regarding cuts to the gluten-free products allowance in the future by the Irish Pharmacy Union.  It states that gluten-free products will no longer be covered under the state schemes such as medical cards removing gluten free products on the list. I do not think this is right because in some aspects gluten-free product are a coeliacs medicin and the government is looking at coelaics as a way to save money as in doing this they are saving 3.6 million euro on an annual basis. Hopefully this will not occur as it would lead coelaic to spending more money on accommodating their diet. But a part from this Ireland are creating more awareness of the disease.

Heres just a short video just to summaries the aim aspects of the disease:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmZczwtsbVc

For any coelaics who were reading this blog Here’s a few useful websites or for people who are curious.

http://coeliacpages.ie/category/gluten-free-restaurants-ireland/– This websites shows every restaurant in Ireland that accommodating for coelaics. Very useful if travailing around Ireland and wanting to know were you can at.

These are websites you can find all sorts of gluten-free recipes on if trying to add variety to your diets.

http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.ie/

http://glutenfreegirl.com/about/

http://www.celiac.com/categories/Gluten%252dFree-Recipes/

http://www.delicious.ie/

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Healthy-Recipes/Special-Diets/Gluten-Free/Top.aspx

Hope they help.

Once again here’s the website for the coleiac society of Ireland if anyone needs information on the disease if newly diagnosed.

http://www.coeliac.ie/

An important aspect to note that if you are newly diagnosed they can provide a book to you which has every item in Ireland and states whether it is gluten free or not. Very helpful for clarity in the early stages. and another important aspect i that it changes every year with up to date i information. very important because organizations may change how they produce food which result in it no longer being gluten free e.g. Walkers crisps were gluten-free for years but change in this aspect an are now no longer gluten free. Disappointing too as they were the only brand of crisps that were.

http://www.ecodirect.ie/catalog/ – you can shop online on this website and they deliver gluten-free foods right to your door. This saves the stress of going to stores and not finding what you want. Very handy too if you were travailing on holiday and needed to stock up just to be sure that the country you are traveling to did not accomdate your diet.

Hope this information helps.

Finally here’s an App I created for college regarding this topic as well.

http://webapp.theappbuilder.com/apps/782b296a-7745-47e3-9872-e89ef70d39a2

Thank you for reading my blog for the last eight weeks and I hope It helped in trying to understand the important key aspects of the disease and what would it would be like in being a coeliac.

Q & A

• I am into my seventh blog now.

  up until now what have I been able to demonstrate to everyone about being a coelaic?

  Through the examples I hopefully have demonstrated that being a coelaic is a lot more expensive, tiresome and time consuming when planning diets and in some peoples mind they do not know that the disease exist’s. I hope that I have surprised you in some of the results I have given especially how the disease is on the rise in Ireland.

  When doing this blog People have asked a few questions and through this blog I am going  to answer them.

  Someone asked me can can coeliac disease be prevented?

  The answer is unfortunately no- this is because it is not clear what causes the disease and who is susceptible to it.

  One view is that the disease runs in the family- that is not the case for me though as I am unfortunately the very first coelaic ever in the daly family so their has to be another cause.

  Another question directed at me was  “is diet really the only treatment?, what happens if the person had been undiagnosed for so long, that to an extent that it had extremely damaged his/her gut?”

  Their are occasions when this unfortunately does occurs in people  and in such rare cases  a short course of corticosteroids is required. This is to reduce the inflammation caused by the gluten in the person and bring it down to normal size. What is important is these kind of scenarios changes from person to person and doctors first have to asset how much damage has been done to the small intestine and they always look for can the small intestine still absorb nutrients.  As I said in an earlier blog because of the damage that was done to my gut I had to go on Iron Tablets for two years straight.

  Another person asked me “are symptoms the exact same from person to person?“: The answer is no in my view. When I accidently disgust gluten I get sleepy and sluggish, while another person I know will be violently ill for two to three days. It depends on how sensitive your gut is to gluten. The more sensitive it is the worse the symptoms are. However in my case as in others who are not as sensitive the longer I am on gluten the more the symptoms get worse. The longest since I was diagnosed I have had to digest gluten was when i was in Andorra in 2008- I had digested gluten for four days and by the end of the holiday I felt terribly ill and sluggish and when I returned to Ireland It took around two and a half weeks for my symptoms to disappear again when I returned to my diet.

  Another person asked me “how do coelaics  cope in restaurants when eating out?” – the answer is restaurants have got a lot better in providing coelaic friendly foods compared to in 2006. A memory I have was when I was in Waterford and I had to actually see ten restaurants until I found one that accomadated for my diet. This would not be the case now as nearly every restaurants has a coeliac friendly food. When eating out you just ask and since their is better knowledge now chiefs can easily make up something.

  A surprising aspect to me was in 2006 it was actually intercontinental restaurants that coped better with providing  coelaic friendly foods tot he people in Ireland. When eating in a thi, Indian or Mexican restaurant they always showed in their menus what foods were and were not gluten-free by such things as stars. I think this was because the disease had been noticed in their countries already and they already had accomdated for it, compared to Ireland were it was just beginning to get noticed in 2005.

Will their ever be a Cure?

Is their every going to be a cure for Coeliac Disease in the future?

I think their will be, but not for the foreseeable future. In the world  all the things that need to be cured coeliac disease is not the most urgent as following the coeliac diet will suffice at keeping the symptoms such as tiredness and  sickness at bay.

Research is taking place by companies to help create a vaccine that will allow coeliacs to eat a normal diet. What happens when a coeliac eats gluten is that gluten is seen as an intruder and is attack in the small intestine by antibodies-the reason why the body does this is not known yet.

This vaccine is occurring because  scientists have  identified which of the 3,000 protein fragments that make up gluten were causing damage in the body.They have narrowed it down to three that appeared to account for almost all cases of coeliac disease. These three have been  used to produce a vaccine and Laboratory tests have shown the vaccine can help the immune system become tolerant to gluten.

A vaccine is being create  by ImmusanT and is in the trial stage at the  moment. The drug is called Nexvax2 and like I have said above it prevents antibodies from attacking the small intestine. $20 million has been raised to bring this product to market. They hope by the end of this year to start testing coeliacs themselves and by 2017 to have the product available.

How the vaccine works is that the vaccine contains tiny fragments of the proteins that are responsible for triggering the immune system’s overreaction during the digestive process and because the proteins are so small, the immune system does not launch an attack and gradually learns to accept the proteins as harmless.During a series of subsequent vaccines, the amount of protein introduced into the body is gradually increased which allows the immune system to slowly get used to higher levels of gluten entering the body so that, when it is reintroduced into the diet, it does not launch a potentially devastating attack.

Trials have also started in New Zealand, China and America.

If your interested heres an article of the drug is progressing: http://www.biospectrumasia.com/biospectrum/news/3670/immusant-starts-trials-celiac-disease-vaccine-nexvax2#.UOWhieG4TSj

This is the only real experiments that are taking place that to cure coeliac disease and in my view I hope this drug works but only time will tell if it can be successful or not.

 

 

 

Deficencies

Hope ye had a nice Christmas

For this Week I am going to go into greater detail what effects a Coeliac diet has on the body cause unfortunately they are other things that need to be considered when balancing a diet than just excluding gluten.

Without proper planning these are the list of deficiencies that are more common in a coeliac’s diet.

Calcium Deficiency-A big problem for newly diagnosed coeliacs because there is a lower level of calcium in gluten free food and studies have shown that 30% of daily calcium intake is taken in by these foods. The reason or this is because gluten-free foods are not fortified properly and because the small intestine is just beginning to repair itself. In the long term this would lead to reduction in bone mineral density.

Osteoporosis-studies have shown that 70% of adults are prevalent with osteoporosis when they have not been diagnosed with coeliac disease. This is because 30-45 is the mean age group when the disease is thought to be more common. Adult coeliac patients with a lower BMD have been found to have a lower intake of calcium (860mg) than those with a normal BMD (1054mg)

Vitamin D Deficiency-Again more common in newly diagnosed coeliacs because the small intestine is just beginning to repair itself. Vitamin D is crucial for the adsorption of calcium in the diet. In Ireland Vitamin D intake is already low because of our northern hemisphere and lack of sunshine. If insufficient intake is achieved it leads to a greater chance of developing Osteoporosis. See how everything is interconnecting

Vitamin B Deficiency– Studies have shown that 50% of Coeliacs suffer from a lack of Vitmain B in the last 10 years. This is because Gluten-free foods already lack this vitamin and such others as such as Folate, B12, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin and B6. This is especially a concern for coeliac women as Folate is needed for the protection of the foetus against neural tube deficiency in the womb. One study found that over half of all women with coeliac disease consumed less than the recommended amount of folate. As coeliacs are at an increased risk of folic acid deficiency they are at an increased risk of having a child with a neural tube defect.

Iron Deficiency– Once again this is more common in newly diagnosed coeliacs when the gut has been damaged and it cannot be adsorbed into the body. This particularly affected me and once I was diagnosed in 2006 I had to go on Iron supplement tablets for 2 years to try and bring my iron account back up to where it should be-the tablets brought it up close enough that my could do the rest.

There are more  but these are the main ones. The only way for coeliacs to keep these balanced is to get blood tests done. A blood test will come back within ten days specify what the body is high and low in. I got blood tests done three months ago and showed that I had high cholesterol as a result of my diet which I am now taking notice when planning my weekly diets of avoiding high cholesterol foods.

Once the blood test is done a dietitian is necessary to give guidelines on how to fix these deficiencies. from march 2006 to September 2008  I had to see a dietitian in Tralee once every three months to see was adequate iron being taken in and was other requirements being watched.

Shopping For Coeliacs

Halfway there now guys…

This week I am just going to go through the cost of shopping for  a Coelaic and how do costs differing from gluten-free products to Normal ones. I did not include meat as most meats are gluten-free apart from breaded meats and mince.

 

In the gluten-free section in shops you can buy all the listed products and here is what they cost compared to goods for people on normal diets.

Gluten-free                                     Normal

Cereal-€3.20                                      Cereal- €2.85

Rice Cakes-€3.09                               Rice Cakes-€1.69

Biscuits-€2.49                                     Biscuits-€2.09

Pizza Base-€5.00                                Pizza Bases-€1.79

Pasta-€2.59                                          Pasta-€2.89

Pasta Sauce-€2.59                               Pasta Sauces-€1.69

Gluten-Free Flour-€2.10                    Flour-€2.85

Brown Bread-€3.29                              Brown Bread-€1.99

White Bread-€2.99                               White Bread-€1.23

Soups-€3.79                                           Soups-€.89c

Chocolate Bar-€.90c                             Chocolate Bar(Average)-€1.50

Custard Creams-€2.69                         Custard Creams-€.79c

Porridge-€4.29                                      Porridge-€2.59

Total

€41.11                                                      €24.84

Difference-€16.27

These are just simple items but these figures do show how expensive it is to be a Coeliac as these cost do add up during the year. Coelaic’s on weekly shopping could be spending  as much as €800 more on shopping for their diets. In some cases though medical cards can pay for some but not all of the shopping but these would only include cereals, pastas and breads.

For newly Diagnosed Coelaics-The Coelaic Society of Ireland is the place to go for advice. Their number is +353-1-872 1471

The Coeliac Society provide:

• Information on coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis,
• Information on gluten-free food,
• Information on the gluten-free lifestyle,
• Opportunities for members to meet and to share experiences,
• A campaigning voice for Coeliacs to the government, health professionals, the food and hospitality industry and the general public.
• A better quality of life for Coeliacs

There are other societies but the Coelaic Society of Ireland is the most known and biggest one.

I hope by now ye are getting a better sense of what the experience is of being a Coeliac

Experiment

I decided to write this Blog a bit later than usually so my house mate Anthony could stay on a Gluten-free diet for longer to gain better results.

Anthony went on the diet on the 1st of December and ended it 1oth of December. After the diet was completed for the ten days I interviewed Anthony to see what he thought of the gluten-free diet. In general he said that it was hard because a lot of his foods were immediately cut out of his diet, some of these foods included chicken kievs, mince,  wedges, coco pops, toasted sandwiches and ham.He had to cut out all process foods as sometimes when he is lazy he buys microwave dinners however he could not use them this week. During the day Anthony usually eats  in the DCU canteen but had to consume foods he usually never does in order to stick to the regime such as one day he ate Salmon  because it was the only gluten-free food offered on the menu, and he usually stays away form fish. He said he found that the food is a bit repetitive as a lot of choice is taken away and a lot of planning has to take place to include variety in the diet. He also said that gluten-free food was expensive when he did his weekly shopping as part of the experiment and he was especially shocked when gluten-free chocolate biscuits cost over  €3. He bought gluten-free bread, pasta and cereal which cost well over €10. He honestly stated that the food was not as nice as normal food because some of the bread fell apart easily, the pasta clung together when cooked and that the cereal was not good because it did not fell him up when leaving the house. His dinners for the week included a lot of steak, pork chops, oven chips, gluten-free pasta and gluten-free uncle Bens curries. When asked what was his overall feeling after the experience, he concluded that he had to think harder about what he ate everyday even in the littlest of details such as chocolates and planning foods for the week. He stated that he took his diet for granted and was glad he did not have the disorder. Health wise Anthony said that it had no real effect on him apart from that he taught the foods never really gave him a full feeling after meals, that he did felt less bloated at times and that he felt more tired as a result of not being able to just pick foods up easily form shops and had to put effort into preparing them.

Anthony honestly gave the opinion that even thought it was a new experience,  he could not wait to get off the diet.

That was the experiment and I think it did showcase to Anthony how hard at times it is to be a coeliac in that a lot of preparation and time that needs to go into it. I achieved my aim with this experiment and hope that anyone reading this blog  could see this as well.

Next week I am going to look at pricing in stores, how regular food compares to that of gluten-free food and look at how accommodate coeliacs in the country.

Foods to Avoid

For this Week, I am just going to go through what foods a coeliac in general should avoid. Wheat is the big thing that coeliacs  should avoid which means foods such as bread, buns, muffins, cakes, biscuits are not. But by using naturally Gluten-free flours this can be nurtured  these include

Rice Flour	Brown Rice Flour	Polenta	Maize/Cornmeal
Buckwheat	Corn Starch	Potato Starch	Tapioca Starch
Soya Flour	Potato Flour	Chickpea/Gram Flour	Lentil Flour
Cassava	Quinoa	Millet	Chestnut Flour
Sorghum	Teff

Local bakers can make gluten-free buns and cakes if they are asked or they can be bought in the gluten free section in big supermarkets such as Tesco, Cereals can be bought their aswell.

Mostly all meats are ok such as steak, pork chops but the ones that should be avoided are breaded chicken, chicken kievs, meat balls, ribs, chicken wings, sausages. Sausages can be bought Gluten-free if you ask your local butcher.

For Chocolates everything is nearly gone I am afraid ranging from Dairy Milk, Mars Bars, Snickers, Lion Bars, Galaxies, Malteasers. The ones that are ok are Dairy Milk, Crunches and Aeros.

Tattoes are gone as well but some can be bought gluten free if Coeliacs contact the Coeliac Society of Ireland.

For Alcohol all beers are gone, so is Guinness. shots such as baby Guinness are gone, whiskies too. All ciders are ok, so is vodka, alcopops.

Frozen foods should be watched out for unless they have the gluten free symbol on the back of the bag. Frozen Foods to avoid are some chips, burgers, wedges and chicken nuggets.

Fish is ok but some that breaded should be avoided like breaded cod, fish fingers or some fish where flour is used to cook it. Ask in Restaurants on how the fish is cooked before ordering.

Sauces should be closely looked at. check each packet. Most pack or tinned soups are not ok, gravies are out as flour is used to thicken it but gluten free ones are available if ask at shopping outlets. Pasta sauces are mostly ok such as Dolmio.

New Coeliacs that have been just diagnosed , Should contact the Coeliac Society of Ireland for queries or to become a member where they will send you out a book with everything you need to know on what is or what is not gluten-free.

Their were many recipes I could have put up but I only gave a few to give a guideline-more will come up over the next few weeks.

Lemonade Scones – Gluten Free

3 cups gluten free self-raising flour
1 cup thickened cream (do not use light cream)
1 cup lemonade (like 7 Up or Schweppes)
Directions:

1
Preheat oven to 230°C (or 210°C if using a fan-forced oven). A hot oven is called for in this recipe.
2
Mix all ingredients together until just combined.
3
Place on a lightly floured surface and lightly roll or press the dough out to about 1 inch( 2.5cm) high.
4
Cut with a scone cutter and place on a lightly greased baking tray (or you can use a good quality baking paper). Place the scones close together. Lightly brush the top of scones with a little milk.
5
Bake 10 -15 minutes on the top shelf of the oven.
6
Serve warm with jam and cream or butter and honey.

Mince Pies

Preparation:

Before you start, pre-heat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.

Ingredients:

200g (8oz) Juvela Gluten-Free mix/fibre mix
50g (2oz) margarine
50g (2oz) lard
1 orange
2 medium egg (1 for glaze)
mincemeat* (for filling)
icing sugar (for glaze)

Method:

• To make the pastry, place the Mix in a bowl and rub in the fats to resemble breadcrumbs.
• Stir in orange rind, beaten egg and sufficient orange juice to form a soft dough.
• Knead pastry well on a surface lightly dusted with Mix, then roll out 2/3 and cut out rounds to line tartlet tins.
• Place a spoonful of mincemeat in each. Roll out remainder of pastry and cut out desired shapes to complete pies.
• Brush with beaten egg and bake in a pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
• Serve warm dusted with icing sugar.

Once again more will come over the next few weeks.

These are all the foods that a Coeliac can and cannot eat. It is a lot of rules that have to be followed. I have been a Coeliac for nearly seven years but what about the new coeliacs that have now just been diagnosed and have to get used to their new regime. To help put practice into perspective my house mate Anthony has agreed to go on a coeliac diet for a week. I will help him and give him guidelines. In week three I will give the results of  what he taught of the experience and how did his general health feel when he excluded Gluten from his diet.

Coeliac

So it starts-From my own personal experience I have decided to blog on an eating disorder called Coeliac Disease, as I suffer from the condition myself since being diagnosed in February 2006.

Firstly I begin with a definition, Coeliac disease is a disorder of the small intestine where it cannot digest Gluten, Gluten in its own terms is a protein that is found in wheat, barley and rye. When a Coeliac eats foods which contains gluten it is the equivalent of a cheese grater going through the small intestine as it destroys the small villa which absorb nutrients, which results in such symptoms as insufficient weight gain, abdominal bloating and pain, vomiting, fatigue, Irritability and growth problems. Long term problems could include Malnutrition, Liver diseases and in extremely rare cases cancer of the small intestine. The only treatment is sticking to a life-long Gluten-free diet. It is not known yet what causes Coeliac disease but the condition is taught to be heredity and that it runs in the family. Another hypothesis is that gluten is introduced too early in the weaning process.

I have decided to blog on Coeliac disease to promote awareness as it is becoming more predominant in Ireland where stats show that 1 in 300 suffer from the disorder, which is 1% of the population of Ireland. From my own personal experience, I find being a Coeliac is sometimes a nuisance as it makes me look like a fussy eater as I find it hard to eat out in restaurants which accommodate gluten-free food and that all gluten-free food in shopping stores is overpriced. In one particular experience was when I went to Andorra in 2008 where they didn’t accommodate Coeliac friendly food and I found  that during the week I was feeling tired and unwell as having to break my diet which spoiled the experience.

Over the next eight weeks I hope to show what it is like being a Coeliac by showcasing on my blog numerous Gluten-free foods and recipes, getting my friends to engage with a gluten free diet for a period of time and discussing their thoughts about it, contrasting how gluten-free food compares with that of normal food in terms of quality and price and how does Ireland accommodate Coeliacs through restaurants and societies such as the Coeliac society of Ireland.

Hope you enjoy the blog.