Slap You Silly Statistics about America's Health Woes

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I haven't been able to find a single argument that proves to me that gluten or high fructose corn syrup are good things for ANYONE, not to mention those of us with sensitivities to them. I hear from people every day who tell me they like what I have to say about gluten, corn and dairy (thank you!) but they are also quick to tell me that they are sure they do not have any food issues.

I know but apparently they don't know that there are countless people who have a problem with gluten who are asymptomatic. I also know that gluten sensitivity affects up to 144 million Americans, so if you think you are among the lucky it doesn't affect, I sure hope you have tested yourself every which way possible to try to rule out a gluten issue.

In case you are still skeptical that our food is wreaking havoc on our bodies, here are some eye-opening, slap-you-silly statistics that might make you consider your diet and how it can be improved. I am not saying bad food choices cause every single one of these ailments but I am saying that what you eat plays a major role in how you feel. I find it depressing that as a nation we are so very sick.

I've gathered this information from my library of health books, almost all of which are written by M.D.s or from websites such as the Center for Disease Control:

• Depression affects up to 18 million Americans yet 27 million Americans are taking antidepressants.

• 24 million Americans have diabetes (and that number seems to increase by the minute).

• The number of Americans with Type 2 diabetes has TRIPLED over the past 30 years.

• 75% of the world's population is lactose intolerant. 50 million Americans suffer from lactose issues.

• 50 million adult Americans suffer from heartburn at least once a month.

• 34% of Americans are obese.

• 11% of children aged 2-5 are overweight.

• 89% of Americans will develop hemorrhoids at one time or another in their lives.

• Autoimmune thyroid disease is the most common autoimmune disease in the nation.

• More than 12 million Americans have a thyroid condition and as many as 60 million are estimated to have a thyroid problem.

• By 2016, less than a decade from now, the number of American adults (those 22 and over) with autism is expected to be nearly 1.5 million.

• Autism affects as many as 1 in every 110 children in the United States.

• 80,700,000 people in the United States have one or more forms of cardiovascular disease.

• 73 million Americans have high blood pressure.

• 16 million Americans have coronary heart disease.

• 5.3 million Americans have heart failure.

• 6 million men and women of reproductive age in the USA are affected by infertility.

• 2.1 million Americans have Rheumatoid Arthritis.

• 1 out of 5 Americans suffers from Irritable Bowl Syndrome. It is one of the most frequently occurring gastrointestinal disorders.

• More than 25 million Americans will develop a peptic ulcer at some times in their lives.

• Crohn's Disease has spread like an epidemic since 1950 and it affects up to 1 million Americans.

• By the age of 55, 1 in 5 American women will have their uterus removed.

• 11 million Americans have cancer.

• 555,500 Americans will die from cancer, corresponding to 1,500 Americans a day.

• 1,284,900 new cases of cancer are diagnosed each day.

• An estimated 205,000 new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year, with an estimated number of deaths at 40,000.

• 28 million Americans have migraines.

• An estimated 26% of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year.

• Approximately 20 million American adults, or about 9.5% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year, have a mood disorder.

• Bipolar disorder affects approximately 5.7 million American adults, or about 2.6% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year

• Approximately 2.4 million American adults, or about 1.1 percent of the population age 18 and older in a given year,11 have schizophrenia.

• Gastritis accounts for more than 2 million doctor office visits each year in the U.S.

• More than 19 million Americans have chronic esophagitis.

• More than 1 million Americans have recurrent seizures.

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How Are Your Guts?

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Your guts might very well be inflamed. You might have symptoms and a suspicion that you have a gut problem caused by gluten (the protein source found in grains such as wheat and rye) or you might be REALLY unlucky and have a gut issue with no symptoms that alert you to it until it is too late.

It has been estimated that as many as 144 million Americans have a sensitivity to gluten. If you have one gut sensitivity, chances are high indeed that you probably have another sensitivity as well. Through trial and error, I have discovered that I cannot tolerate gluten, dairy or corn. Avoiding corn has been the hardest by far for me, since the food industry seemingly has never met a product it can't inject corn starch or high fructose corn syrup into. I honestly believe that high fructose corn syrup should be outlawed. It is good for nothing except causing horrible health problems.

Am I getting anyone's attention??? If 144 million of us have a gluten sensitivity, that means either YOU or someone you love has this issue. This is not just your Grandma's disease any longer.

Still don't believe me? How about this little fact: there has been a 400% increase in confirmed Celiac Disease diagnosis's. Here is an article that warns of what your future will look like if you ignore your gut: cancer, heart disease and early death.

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Ataxia

What is ataxia? It is defined as a lack of coordination while performing voluntary movements, which may appear to be clumsiness, inaccuracy, or instability.

I have had ataxia in the past and I still have it from time to time. It manifested itself in me by making me unbalanced when I walked and I would literally smack right into walls. That would make me cuss and later, bruise. I am sure that the cussing wasn't gluten-induced. I just like to cuss. I had no idea why my balance was so off . . . . until I got myself educated on some of the harmful effects gluten can have on a person sensitive to it.

I know there are worse problems that can manifest in gluten sensitive people; for example, I could have developed schizophrenia, as my maternal grandmother Mimi did. All in all, I will take falling into walls over schizophrenia, and it is my bet that you would as well.

I have been off gluten (mostly -- I still get accidentally glutened now and again) for more than 10 months and I am happy to say that I have hit nary a wall in the past few months. I still can't pull socks on my foot without falling over . . . that one may be a life long side effect. It's okay though as I find socks to be a lot softer than walls.

I read the article below and I found it to be quite alarming. I always assumed that once I got on the straight and narrow and removed the harmful gluten (and dairy and corn) from my diet, most if not all of my gluten-related health issues would slowly begin to clear up. This article, "Research: Celiac's Connection with Neurological and Psychatric Symptoms," questions that theory.

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Gluten Pootin'

A friend came up with this witty way to, ah, talk about what is the, um, end result of gluten poisoning (or dairy or corn or any food allergy you may have):

Gluten Pootin'.

There is no good way to address this issue. It stinks to have to even talk about it.

But one way we know around here if we been accidentally glutened is, um, er, if we start sounding like an all drum band over here. Really unpleasant, for all concerned.

Here is something scary to consider. Some of you may have a very serious food allergy but you never get to the gluten pootin' part of this problem. For whatever reason, some people just do not show symptoms of this problem until it is too late. That sounds alright and certainly less stinky, right?

Wrong. You are headed towards cancer and an early death if you don't find out for sure if you have a gluten sensitivity problem and you continue to ingest gluten. Or diabetes. Or rheumatoid arthritis. Or liver and kidney problems. Or, or, or and the list goes on until we reach 300 possibilities.

All in all, I will take gluten pootin' over intestinal cancer any day of the week. My apologies to those in the room who disagree.

I did find this great link of information from a writer who found a perhaps more civil way to discuss this issue; she called it a "rumbly tummy." That works, but I bet you will remember gluten pootin for a whole lot longer than you will "rumbly tummy." :)

I have not tested myself for Celiac's Disease and here's why

I have not taken any of the numerous blood tests that one can take to see if I actually have Celiac's Disease. I could have Celiac's, though I suspect I am one of the 144 million Americans who have a gluten sensitivity.

Here is the rationale behind my decision not to test.

It was my caring Ear Nose Throat (ENT) doc who suggested to me last April that I quit gluten. She knew that I was hypothyroid and that I was still suffering from fatigue and other thyroid issues. She herself stopped eating gluten and felt better than she had in years. She recommended that I read "Gluten-Free Girl," and I ordered that book the day I got home from my appointment. Then I ordered 10 more books to get up to speed on gluten and all of its evils.

One thing my ENT told me is that she wasn't getting herself tested for Celiac's because she did not have faith in the reliability of any of the current tests available. She stopped eating gluten and slowly regained her own health. I did the same.

In the Celiac community, a lot of folks consider a small intestine biopsy to be the "gold standard" test. Yet even that test can leave you wondering if you have Celiac's or not. A normal biopsy does not necessarily exclude Celiac's Disease for life.

You can see if you have genetic markers for Celiac's but many feel there are too many false positives and false negatives. You can also have "Latent Celiac's Disease" where you have a negative test that turns positive several months or years later.

So why test at all???

To me, the proof is in the gluten-free pudding (which also has no dairy, of course!). I stopped eating gluten and then dairy (and as of today no more corn) and I felt better. Day by day, I am getting stronger and wiser.

If you do stop all gluten, then you can't later take the tests.

I do have some exciting news on the testing issue. I learned just this morning from a highly reliable pharmacist that a company called Nature Source is unveiling 6 new highly sensitive tests for gluten sensitivity in June. I will wait for those and take them, even though I have quit gluten.

It is a personal decision to test or not to test. Some people want to get a definitive answer. I don't think there really is a "for sure" answer, other than that age-old answer of listening to your body. If you feel better without gluten, avoid it like the plague. Same with dairy. Same with genetically modified corn. . . .

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I Got Glutined

I don't know how it happened but I clearly have gotten some of the nasty stuff in my system.

It is a bit disheartening to have gotten thru all the holidays and not have ingested any gluten . . . only to have had some somewhere in the past day or so.

That's the hardest part of having a gluten sensitivity: not trusting the food you eat and always, always having to be a food detective.

I have wracked my brain trying to figure out what it may have been. I now suspect it could have been the bar-b-cue sauce I had with a restaurant meal yesterday. I now feel stupid for consuming it . . .

It was my fist gluten poisoning of 2010 and I hope it is the last for months and months to come.

140 Million Americans Suffer From Gluten Issues

How many people are suffering from Celiac's Disease? At least 1 in every 133 Americans. What is that tally? 2,115,954 people. That number does not include those of us believed to have a gluten insensitivity. That number has been estimated to be as high as 140 million Americans. Surely that includes someone you know, or you?

Read that number again. Say it out loud. 140 million.

Know how many Americans actually got a Celiac's Disease diagnosis last year? Only 40,000 people. The rest of you are being given flat out wrong diagnosis's from your doctors, year after year after year. Scarier still, some of you never even have a single symptom that would hint that you have a gluten issue. That is why it is vital to get tested if a family member has an issue with gluten. You could be killing your guts and not even know it.

If you have a few of the following symptoms and your doctor never thinks to test you for Celiac's, fire him. If you have some of these symptoms and you never try a month with no gluten to see if you feel better, fire yourself as director of your own health care.

I know, I know, I can be too blunt. I am blunt but I got that way after being here for 44 years and never getting medical care that would have helped me until very recently. It has made me a little crabby. That and wheat. Wheat definitely makes me crabby.

Here are some of the symptoms of Celiac's or a gluten sensitivity. Please know that since every body is different, we can all have different symptoms. For example, I had ataxia, which is a balance disturbance. I would literally run into walls (and no, I was not drinking). My husband would hear a loud BANG followed by a loud cuss word. He would ask, 'what's wrong, honey?" And I would have to reply that I ran into a wall. Again. Really it was more like falling into a wall since my balance was so awful. I had bruises all over the place. It wasn't pretty. It too made me crabby.

Symptoms:

The main signs and symptoms associated with gluten intolerance (celiac disease) are due to the inadequate absorption of nutrients from food. This condition results in:

Abdominal bloating and pain
Diarrhea
Constipation
Foul-smelling gas and stool
Steatorrhea (an increased amount of fat in the stool)

Some of the signs and symptoms associated with gluten intolerance occur as a result of the malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies often caused by the condition. These may include:

Anemia (low number of red blood cells) and fatigue. Due to a lack of absorption of vitamin B12 and iron.
Weight loss. Due to poor absorption of carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
Bone pain, bone weakness and osteoporosis. Due to a lack of absorption of vitamin D.
Swelling (often around the ankles and feet). Due to fluid retention
Tingling and numbness from nerve damage. Due to deficiencies of B12 and thiamine.

Other indicators may include behavioral changes, muscle cramps, joint pain, mouth sores, tooth discoloration, itchy rash, weight gain, seizures, missed menstrual periods, infertility or miscarriages.


Okay, all the reasons above are making me crabby just reading about the endless possibilities!!!

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