Guidelines for Living with Celiac Disease/Gluten Sensitivity

Celiac Dsease is a sensitivity to proteins found in wheat, barley, and rye. When you eat these grains. they damage the lining of the small intestine. This damage may keep you from properly absorbing nutrients (malabsorption). Malabsorption can cause diarrhea, weight loss, fatigue, excess gas, and vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

A gluten-free diet will allow your intestine to heal. It will also help prevent complications like bone disease, like osteoporosis, which can happen is celiac disease is left untreated. Symptoms cause by malabsorption should begin to decrease after a few weeks on a gluten free nutrition plan.

Recommended Foods

These foods are safe to eat and often used in gluten-free foods:

• Amaranth
• Arrowroot
• Buckwheat
• Cassava (manioc)
• Corn
• Flax
• Indian rice grass (Montina)
• Job's tears
• Legumes
• Millet
• Nuts
• Potatoes
• Quinoa
• Rice
• Sago
• Seeds
• Sorghum
• Soy
• Tapioca
• Tef
• Wild Rice
• Yucca

Foods Not Recommended which are usually found in flours, breads, pasta, and breakfast cereals, among other products:

• Wheat: all varieties and forms including: einkorn, emmer, spelt, kamut, wheat starch, wheat, wheat bran, wheat germ, cracked wheat, and hydrolyzed wheat protein.
• Barley
• Rye
• Triticale (a cross between wheat and rye)
•  
• Oats
• In the past, oats were believed to be harmful to persons with celiac disease. Based on recent research, moderate amounts of uncontaminated oats are now considered safe to include in a gluten free diet for most persons. However, there is limited scientific evidence that some persons with celiac disease may be sensitive to proteins found in oats. In addition, brands of oats sold in the United States may  be contaminated with small amounts of wheat, barley, or rye. If you would like to eat gluten-free oats, you should discuss their your physician and dietitian.