Elizabeth Hasselbeck and I finally have something in common.
In her excellent book, The G Free Diet, she writes about her discovery that she has celiac disease.
Celiac disease is an autoimmune digestive condition. The finger-like villi of the small intestine become damaged as a result of eating gluten, resulting in a lack of nutrient absorption. Without absorbing vitamins and minerals, the immune system is ripe for autoimmune diseases, osteoporosis, thyroid disease, even cancer.
According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, 1 out of 133 people suffer with celiac disease and 97% of them don't know they have it!
Recently, by a series of good fortune events, I had the ultimate physiological "aha!" moment leading me to my own diagnosis of celiac, originating from something completely nonrelated.
There was a clear bell of destiny to the whole thing.
For a short, exhilarating time, I became my own intense medical investigator, on the case of a life-changing truth.
Sometimes a puzzle demands to be solved, in spite of our having other plans. Suffice it to say that, like any good mystery, this one involved intrigue, medical corruption, history, JFK, and a lifelong passion for fabulous food.
I am on the celiac diet, and in spite of many skeptics who insist this is a fad, take my word for it: it is very real, if not surreal.
