Health & Fitness
Celiac/Gluten Allergy Health Topics: The Stuff You Might be Embarassed to Ask About
I discuss that weird acne you get from gluten and cheating!
Celiac/Gluten Allergy Health Topics
Is gluten causing your acne?
Growing up I was lucky. I never had an issue with acne. I always had really nice skin. The kind of skin, that people went out of their way to compliment. However, once I hit my 30’s, I started having skin issues.
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My face would break out, mostly around my chin and neck area. Places that I touched a lot. It also broke out in “other” areas. It seemed that once I was diagnosed with Celiac, I started noticing the acne much more. I finally asked my doctor about it and he stated that your skin reacts just like any other allergy. If you touch something that has gluten in it and then touch your skin, it could cause a reaction. Once I went on a gluten-free diet I did notice that my once clear, smooth skin came back.
Another skin condition that people with Celiac can get is dermatitis herpetiformis. According to emedicine.com:
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Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) is an autoimmune blistering disorder associated with a gluten sensitive enteropath (GSE). The classic location for this disorder is on the extensor surfaces of the elbows, knees, buttocks and back.
So if you feel that the “acne” you’ve been experiencing is something more atypical, contact your doctor to be tested. Typically, sticking to a strict gluten-free diet should clear it up, however there are medications that can help if the diet has not.
Cheating on your gluten-free diet
I must admit. I have cheated. I guarantee that there isn’t one person on a gluten-free diet that hasn’t cheated at least once. When I first started the diet, I hated that I couldn’t have the foods that I loved. It drove me nuts! I’ve always loved very specific food and of course that wasn’t a part of my new boring diet.
I was really strict with the diet for the first month or so. Mostly so that the horrible symptoms I had been experiencing over the past year would go away. Once the major symptoms subsided, I started getting a little stubborn. I assumed that a little bite of this or that wouldn’t hurt me. I was wrong. As soon as I ate a little gluten, I felt like crap. Sure, the old symptoms didn’t automatically come back, but I felt as if I had food poisoning. Even just a little taste of the forbidden food sent me to bed for the rest of the day and sometimes the next. Do you think I learned my lesson? Nope.
I’d let myself heal more and then I’d cheat again. I couldn’t help it. I’m like a 10-year-old trapped in the body of a 30-something-year-old sometimes. I want! I want! I want! Here’s the problem with not sticking to your gluten-free diet. If you have celiac you know that it didn’t just happen overnight. The illness and symptoms took time to build up. In people with celiac, gluten causes a truncating of the villi lining the small intestine. This interferes with the absorption of nutrients thus causing various medical issues. When you go on a gluten-free diet, the villi do heal and you get healthier. However you can start slowing destroying it again by constantly cheating.
Lately I have been really strict. I don’t want to go back to feeling the way I did. It was horrible. I had seizures, sleep apnea, such severe arthritis pain in my arms and hands that I couldn’t hold a fork. I had to use my hands to eat and even that was challenging. I was so sick that I’d have to stay in bed for days at a time. I know that I never want to go back to that again. So now instead of cheating, I have started creating gluten-free recipes that make you forget that you’re eating gluten-free. My cookbook, “Comfort food for the gluten-free diet” comes out first part of next year.
As hard as it might be, try not to cheat. If you are new to the gluten-free lifestyle just know that it’s worth it. You will get healthier and you will lead a normal life. Changing your diet is much better than having to take a million pills everyday just to get out of bed. I’m thankful that out of all the diagnosis’ I could have received, celiac is the disease that I have.
My next article will discuss my favorite subject. FOOD!