Carol's kitchen has a cupboard full of ingredients that many people have never even heard of.
Things like quinoa, millet, xanthum gum, teff flour, tapioca starch and many more.
Is she on a weird fad diet? A vegetarian? No she suffers from a condition called Coeliac (spelt celiac in the USA) and has to follow a gluten free diet.
What is gluten? It is the protein found in wheat, rye and barley.
It gives the flour its elasticity which enables bread to rise and mixtures to hold together.
But it is not only found in baked goods.
If only following a gluten free diet was that easy! Gluten can be hidden in many different ways.
If you follow a gluten free diet like Carol, you must beware of all processed foods.
Ingredients like modified starch, malt flavoring, thickeners, natural flavoring, rusk and bran are all a danger.
Shopping for gluten free foods can be a nightmare if you don't know of the many ways gluten can be disguised.
So what is safe for Carol to eat? Fresh vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese, and fruit.
Oh and of course those strange sounding grains and seeds in her cupboard.
Because wheat flour is taboo, Carol has learned to cook with alternative ingredients, creating breads and cakes that are not only tasty but healthy.
She has to avoid coating her meat with breadcrumbs or batter.
She has to thicken her soups and sauces with arrowroot and cornstarch instead of regular wheat flour.
Great care has to be taken in the kitchen not to contaminate her food.
Eating out has to be attacked like a military offensive.
When can she come off the diet? Never.
Coeliac is a life long condition.
Once diagnosed a sufferer needs to stick to the diet for the rest of their life.
Eating a normal diet could eventually prove fatal for Carol and others who have coeliac.
The symptoms vary, but inside the body gluten causes damage to the small intestine via an auto-immune reaction.
Damaged villi in the intestines prevent proper absorption of the nutrients in food causing the sufferer to lose weight and condition.
Unfortunately coeliac is not always considered by doctors when a patient presents herself.
She may decide to visit her doctor due to chronic diarrhea or even constipation.
She may have terrible stomach pains, or feel tired all the time.
Her joints may ache or she could even have an itchy rash behind her knees.
Some people may have all these symptoms! Back when Carol was diagnosed as a baby, the only way to diagnose the condition was by an intestinal biopsy.
Nowadays blood tests can be used in the diagnosis.
Many people are living their lives not even knowing that they suffer from the condition, leading to possible problems in later years.
Things like quinoa, millet, xanthum gum, teff flour, tapioca starch and many more.
Is she on a weird fad diet? A vegetarian? No she suffers from a condition called Coeliac (spelt celiac in the USA) and has to follow a gluten free diet.
What is gluten? It is the protein found in wheat, rye and barley.
It gives the flour its elasticity which enables bread to rise and mixtures to hold together.
But it is not only found in baked goods.
If only following a gluten free diet was that easy! Gluten can be hidden in many different ways.
If you follow a gluten free diet like Carol, you must beware of all processed foods.
Ingredients like modified starch, malt flavoring, thickeners, natural flavoring, rusk and bran are all a danger.
Shopping for gluten free foods can be a nightmare if you don't know of the many ways gluten can be disguised.
So what is safe for Carol to eat? Fresh vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese, and fruit.
Oh and of course those strange sounding grains and seeds in her cupboard.
Because wheat flour is taboo, Carol has learned to cook with alternative ingredients, creating breads and cakes that are not only tasty but healthy.
She has to avoid coating her meat with breadcrumbs or batter.
She has to thicken her soups and sauces with arrowroot and cornstarch instead of regular wheat flour.
Great care has to be taken in the kitchen not to contaminate her food.
Eating out has to be attacked like a military offensive.
When can she come off the diet? Never.
Coeliac is a life long condition.
Once diagnosed a sufferer needs to stick to the diet for the rest of their life.
Eating a normal diet could eventually prove fatal for Carol and others who have coeliac.
The symptoms vary, but inside the body gluten causes damage to the small intestine via an auto-immune reaction.
Damaged villi in the intestines prevent proper absorption of the nutrients in food causing the sufferer to lose weight and condition.
Unfortunately coeliac is not always considered by doctors when a patient presents herself.
She may decide to visit her doctor due to chronic diarrhea or even constipation.
She may have terrible stomach pains, or feel tired all the time.
Her joints may ache or she could even have an itchy rash behind her knees.
Some people may have all these symptoms! Back when Carol was diagnosed as a baby, the only way to diagnose the condition was by an intestinal biopsy.
Nowadays blood tests can be used in the diagnosis.
Many people are living their lives not even knowing that they suffer from the condition, leading to possible problems in later years.
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