May is Celiac Awareness Month

Celiac Facts

Pass this on to everyone you know!  May is Celiac Awareness Month!  It is estimated that 83% of Americans who have celiac disease don’t know it! One in 133 Americans (about 1% of the population) has celiac disease. There are no pharmaceutical cures for celiac disease, a 100% gluten-free diet is the only existing treatment. Celiac disease can affect men and women across all ages and races. Unfortunately, six to ten years is the average amount of time a person waits for the correct diagnosis!

Are you checking off that list?

Today, as I was walking out of my kids’ school after my weekly volunteer, I was stopped by another parent.  The conversation lead to her not feeling good and she started listing all her symptoms.  As I’m listening I am checking off a list in my head…”yep, that’s related to gluten!”  I don’t know why but I guess I’m afraid to continuously be telling people maybe they should try going gluten-free.  More times than not I skip it and don’t say anything at all, I guess that’s why I started this website.  First I worry they’ll think I’m just crazy, and then I worry that even if they believe me, they won’t take it seriously.  I know I’ve said this before, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say “but I’m mostly gluten free.”  Those people don’t realize that it’s in EVERYTHING (unless you killed it or picked it of course!)  It’s great that you’ve cut back and you’re not snacking on a loaf of bread everyday, however, your symptoms won’t clear up until you have completely eliminated it from your diet!

Don’t be shy

But really, should I be more concerned about what people might think of me?  Or should I be happy that maybe one out of 10 people that I actually do bring it up with will take me seriously and be able to help themselves?  More people have issues with gluten than know it.  Most of those people that I don’t bring it up with, probably have at least a sensitivity to it, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to check off so many of those symptoms on the list in my head!

I didn’t realize it was Celiac Awareness Month until I got home from school and no, I didn’t say anything to the other parent today.  For the rest of this month though, every time I start checking that list off in my head when people are talking I’m going to make a conscious effort to tell them about gluten!

“The list”

Just in case you were wondering, yes, I have that list for you. Click here to read more about common symptoms and conditions associated with gluten intolerance.