I recently read a fantastic article by Danna Korn on Celiac.com titled, Diagnosed with celiac disease? How lucky you are! I am in total agreement with this line of thought and have been preaching this for many years to people. Danna hit just about every point that I like to make and really makes a great case for the benefits of a celiac disease diagnosis.

As she states, people complain about the high cost of gluten-free food — yes, it can be expensive, but compare it to the skyrocketing cost of pharmaceutical medicine and there really is no comparison. Think about how many times you were misdiagnosed with something else. I know I was tested for everything from AIDS to Hepatitis to Chron’s disease. Remember how bad you felt and how much better you started to feel after a relatively short time on the gluten-free diet. As she says, you’ve been given the key to better health — all with a diet modification. This is as lucky as lucky gets. I know many people with horrible illnesses that require a stockpile of medication every month, all of which have horrible side effects and issues with toxicity. I will go with a diet alteration any day.

If this is the type of food that I’m limited to eating — I think I’ll be OK :)

So the next time you find yourself excessively worrying about the cost of gluten-free food, just remind yourself of how much worse it could be. There are some incredible options available to us now, options that were unheard of as recently as just a few years ago. To be a celiac in 2010 is really a wonderful thing. You’re aware of what you are eating and you’re very aware of what food can do to your body. This really does make us lucky.

About Chris Armstrong

I created the Celiac Handbook website in 2004. It has evolved into a portal for new (and old) ideas related to healthy and sustainable gluten-free living and avoiding the usual pitfalls of the gluten-free junk food market.

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