Celiac disease treatment is different from most other diseases. It does not involve medication or expensive therapy. Diet does not cause celiac disease, but it is the key to treatment. Even the most mercenary of the medical establishment agrees that a gluten free diet is the answer.
Celiac disease is caused by genetics, according to current thinking. It is unlikely that the genetic factor will go away, even if other contributing factors are discovered.
Although celiac disease is different from a gluten allergy or gluten sensitivity, the primary treatment is exactly the same.
Celiac Disease Treatment Good News
The good news about treating celiac disease is that it does not involve expensive prescriptions or harmful pharmaceuticals.
Prescription drugs certainly have their place in mediciine. I feel they are over-used and relied on too much as an easy short-term fix.
Since medication is not used to treat celiac disease, you are spared the downside of drugs.
Celiac Disease Treatment Good Bad News
The treatment for celiac disease is a life-long commitment to a gluten free diet.
If you rely on convenience foods to get by, going gluten free is more expensive.
But it doesn’t have to be more expensive. You can learn new food preparation strategies to supply your body with healthy gluten-free food, without spending all of your time cooking.
Maintaining a strict gluten free diet is very challenging. Your body will know if you cheat, even if you cheat just a little tiny bit.
Your body will know that you’ve cheated even if you don’t know yourself that you’ve cheated.
Good News Again
There is a silver to this is that you will be forced to eat more healthy food. It also develops discipline in what you eat. It teaches you to say ‘no’ to anyone and everyone who might feed you the wrong kind of food.
Setting boundaries within your own mind and with others can be a fantastic growth experience that can carry over to many other areas of your life.
Celiac Disease Treatment: Gluten Free Diet
Since gluten triggers the symptoms of celiac disease, the treatment for celiac disease is a gluten free diet.
There is a lot of information on this site, and on the internet, about following a gluten free diet. You’ll also find plenty of books in the bookstore about following a gluten free diet.
There are two aspects to successfully following a gluten free diet:
- Avoid gluten-containing foods
- Seek healthy, gluten-free foods and eat them exclusively.
You need to follow both of the above approaches. The first one keeps you safe. The second one is positive and leads to what you really need.
See the links at the bottom of this page for more about the gluten free diet.
Celiac Disease Treatment: Promising Alternative
Earlier in this article, I told you that there is no pharmaceutical treatment for celiac disease.
There is a new drug in the works that will help with treating celiac disease. It is not a replacement for a gluten free diet. But it will help in cases where you can not guarantee that your food is 100% gluten free.
The drug is called Larazotide.