Stress and the Celiac: How to Fuel Research and Solve Challenges

We all know about stress. If we have a pulse, we have it. Scientific research supports the theory that it shortens our lives: "Chronic psychological stress appears to accelerate biological aging." As a person dedicated to leading a healthy, active life, this worries me. Why? Because I live with celiac disease and there is a bit of stress whenever I need to think about my treatment. Daily. Several times each day, in fact. Celiac disease is a serious, genetic autoimmune condition that is triggered by gluten, the protein in wheat, rye and barley. When your disease is managed by excluding these grains from your diet completely, you're bound to get a little stressed out about what you're eating. These grains, especially wheat, are in just about everything, from soy sauce to lip gloss. When just a crumb is enough for your body to launch a violent attack against itself, you'll stress even more about the collateral damage. Walk in the shoes of a person with celiac disease for a day. Picture waking up, mapping your day based on where, when and what you'll eat. It doesn't sound that hard, right? Now, imagine you can't eat 75 percent of the food that are currently in your diet. Things just got a little harder. There's no spontaneous stop at Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast or picking up a slice of pizza for lunch. You have to ask a million questions about ingredients and food preparation before you can even consider navigating the food at the company party, the family get-together or o...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news