you you've probably noticed a lot of gluten-free foods in the store or labels that now say gluten free today on being well we'll learn more about celiac disease and gluten intolerance including the difference between the two our guest is dietitian Christina Adams who has a lot of great information to share so don't go away production of being well is made possible in part by Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System supporting healthy lifestyles eating a heart healthy diet staying active managing stress and regular check-ups are ways of reducing your health risks proper health is important to all at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System information available at sarahbush.org additional funding by Jazzercise of Charleston thanks for joining us for being well i'm your host Lori Casey and as I said before today we're talking about celiac disease and gluten free and our guest is dietitian Christina Adams who is the director of weight management and wellness at sarah bush hello thanks so this is a big topic and I you see it everywhere gluten-free foods foods without gluten we're going to kind of dispel some myths and kind of get some good information today tell me first what's gluten and where can we find it in food that's a great question gluten is actually found in wheat products and it's a protein in it it's found in wheat barley and rye it tends to be the the elasticity or the binder in those products so if you think of that kind of is very similar with bread products okay so i think or we'll start with a big question there's a difference between celiac disease and gluten intolerance let's talk taught tackle silly active source what is that what are the symptoms of it and how do we go about figuring out if we have it or not right we'll see the ACT disease is actually an autoimmune response to what happens when your body eats something that has gluten in it so basically your intestines have this inflammation this reaction to that gluten in the foods so it's kind of where it I want to want to say tax itself but that's essentially as what's happening if there's a gluten intolerance a sensitivity or allergy those are separate where there may just be an uncomfortable feeling from something you ate not really this full force autoimmune reaction going on so people have celiac disease is it silly acts or celiac clarify that silly ACK ok so if you have that what are the symptoms of it there are quite a few that's the challenge with celiac disease is that it can mimic a lot of other problems or other issues that may be happening so nausea vomiting constipation diarrhea there could be weight gain there could be weight loss there's a lot of malabsorption issues too there's iron-deficient anemia there's possible vitamin K vitamin D calcium deficiencies which lead into maybe other long-term issues if not really if not untie or left untouched also lactose intolerance can be a precursor to this too so there's a lot of underlying you know symptoms that you know without telling a lot of no gastrointestinal exactly and that's where it's miss the misnomer is it's not a gastrointestinal disease it is an autoimmune response so there's a very fine line there where it's you know going in and being tested to make sure it's not a table bowel syndrome or chronic fatigue or diverticulitis or you know many other symptomatic problems that are very comments and sound st. the same it's a relatively I mean people have probably always had it but it seems like we're starting to hear more and more about it and I think it's because of diagnosis we're being much more aware of the disease with all the GI symptoms and then also the autoimmune response part of it so there's a lot more testing being done and a lot more awareness for that testing so what can happen to your intestines in your system if you have it and you don't do anything about it there's a lot of underlying problems that can can peak and many of them once again are you know might be unaware till it's til it's been diagnosed as another issue but osteoporosis because of the malabsorption property of calcium also dental enamel erosion from the malabsorptive process of vitamin D and calcium long-term effects of the intestine is you know leading to more malabsorptive properties with iron iron deficiency anemia vitamin b12 deficiencies which is really turn nervous system so a lot of muscle spasms and issues possibly even down the road infertility and miscarriages with it comes to childbirth so it it's a serious than it is it's not just and I get a little intestinal rice dress from eating gluten you can lead to other things down the road so if someone thinks they have it Oh what's the process what's the how does it diagnose it's a very actually simple diagnosis through a blood test so it's not too terrible invasive for that part but if you do come back as a positive with a blood test then we do want to go and check for a biopsy of the small intestine to confirm that diagnosis and what were you were telling me some very important information if you think you have celiacs disease what is the thing you should wear as a candidate do not stop eating gluten okay and why is that cause it seems contrary that's the thing that bothers you you should keep eating gluten right and and it's because you want to go in with the symptoms um all too often we're self-diagnose scenes so we want to feel better so we're going to rule out the foods that are causing problems and quit eating those foods and then we feel better but we're like oh maybe I still still get checked now and we go in and we get a false negative okay so it is important to see your doctor first before you self diagnose and start making changes with your time you actually need to go in unfortunately symptom of course with it okay so is it hereditary mother has it might you get it as well it is it is very genetic related so you really want to pay attention to any food intolerances that family members have specifically immediate but also extended family and kind of knowing what you know if there's even IBS in the family or if there's lactose intolerance you know any kind of issues related to whether it be a GI disease or not so are you seeing more women have it than men or does it not not necessarily so you've gone in you get the diagnosis what what's the treatment for it gluten and gluten free foods i should say for the rest of your life there's a diet there's no medication or there's no cure there's no medication label readings probably the biggest concern you want to be aware of once you do find out the diagnosis so that you're aware of where these foods where this ingredient in these foods is found because it is very hidden in a lot of foods especially medications we may be taking not aware that gluten could be in those also in a lot of flavor enhancers in our foods where it might be financed like imitation crab meat or self based on Turkey's bouillon cubes you know things you might not really think of as a wheat products okay so we want to talk about gluten free and gluten intolerance but I do want to talk about where you find gluten and food obviously in bread and pasta but they're hidden places as well such as what well some of the ones I just mentioned you have the medications flavor enhancers a lot of your baked goods so a lot of the processed foods that we may be eating too can be found in those pastas it's going to be found in as well also communion wafers who knew so you have to be careful even at church so there are lots of places to look for it oats is on the fence whether it's gluten okay or not some are gluten intolerant when it comes to oats but if it says it's gluten-free it has to be labeled on the product okay to be a gluten-free food so when you're when you're looking at a label does it always say gluten or does it go by other names what's the time it will say gluten or it'll have the word wheat or barley or rye okay so those are the things you write or if it's those ingredients are in their chances are pretty well incorrect medications surprise me like prescription medications over-the-counter could be both okay so that's silly axe disease let's talk what it probably is more common or people who have that gluten intolerance what what is the difference between that and celiac disease gluten intolerance or even a gluten sensitivity just main kind of you mentioned earlier you may just have an upset stomach when you eat something but you don't have all the other pronounced symptoms or other deficiencies possibly that go with it you just may notice that your tummy's a little upset sometimes when you have a wheat bread versus a rub barley or you know we could be one or the other doesn't happen mean that you would have intolerance to all three could just be weed it could just be riya barley but you might not notice that you're okay if you have rice but if you had we or pasta then it's you know you might have that tummy upset so this intolerance it's not an allergic reaction no and that's a good point because an allergy is actually more of a pronounced i went with external bit more of like you would break out into hives or you might have a lips well or you know something that's going to be more pronounced i would say where it's there's actually an allergic reaction happening versus just a you know an intolerance or sensitivity to where your stomach may be upset so the intolerance if you have that or you think you have that you what are some of the symptoms again kind of an upset stomach and people say blow they feel bloated yeah there's bloated cramping a little bit of that maybe some nausea not probably not vomiting if it's a sensitivity or an intolerance but mostly just an uncomfortable maybe some diarrhea or constipation could follow that too but you know usually it's can be related to a food that you've eaten recently the symptoms are fairly unsightly oh come on pretty quick so is it something that you can maybe as a kid you could have a doll the noodles and bread and then as an adult you kind of develop that sensitive could be or it could go the other way too okay it could have been that you you know you've developed it as an adult where it was fine as a kid or you had it as a kid and now you're okay as an adult it can go either way within the intolerance so do you find that people who maybe have gluten intolerance may also have lactose intolerant are there any correlation between the two it could be what they're finding more is with it look lactose intolerance or actually is more pronounced if your your celiac so you're seeing that with and there's more research with type 1 diabetics or finding more celiac disease there's a lot of other autoimmune disorders that could possibly also be celiac and positive so if you think you're gluten intolerant do you need to go to the doctor or can is that a unlike celiac which you probably shouldn't self diagnose what about if you are gluten intolerant or you think you are it was the same thing as celiac though you do want to go and be tested and make sure you rule out other issues like I mentioned there could be IBS going on there could be diverticulitis there could be Crohn's there could be chronic fatigue so there could be other issues that are underlying you know that it may not just be as simple intolerance it could be something else maybe leading to that so you probably your dietitian so you go to the grocery store it is like a lot of us go to the store you notice there's now whole sections of gluten-free food and you know things are labeled without gluten what is your opinion on that now people who just choose to not eat gluten well what's probably not the best route to go for depends on what reason they're looking for if it's looking for weight loss it's probably not going to be the rest route to go a lot of the gluten-free foods may actually contain more calories because they are replacing the gluten that's missing so there may be added sugars for flavor there may be added fat for flavor so there may be extra things there that we're really not aware of that we're comparing to other ingredients or other foods that we're eating and a lot of times you know we do need to eat less of some of these foods that contain wheat such as white breads and pastas and baked goods but a lot of times weed isn't the culprit it's the amount of quantity that we're eating I have those pieces of bread or doughnuts or because I think we've come up with this a scene popular media and everywhere white sugar white flour bad bed wood which you know in moderation anything is okay did the white flour and the gluten thing all kind of come together and possibly because there's a lot of thought out there with clean eating and some of that is to rule out the white flour the white sugar anything white and color generally to eat but a lot of it just goes back to more of the portion sizes are the quantities that we're getting in some of these foods and where they're coming from so can you actually feel if you say I'm going to be gluten-free for health reasons can you actually be missing out on some important nutrients could be depends on what food you're choosing because if you think about it french fries are both gluten free and vegetarian good and not much else added in there that's beneficial so you know gluten-free foods depending on what the base of them is whether it's possibly corn or rice or quinoa you know they themselves have great benefits but there could be other nutrients that are missing because a lot of wheat foods are fortified so there's a lot of beneficial vitamins and minerals in our wheat foods but once again it goes back to over consumption of some of these foods so what do you think are some of the biggest misconceptions about gluten free out there that you'd like to clear up right here well the biggest one I think we've already mentioned is that it's not a fad diet this is a true you know a diet to treat an autoimmune disorder so we really need to treat it as you know medicine if you will of a way to you know treat someone and not as a diet to help lose weight if there's an intolerance or sensitivity maybe I've had patients say you know I feel better if I quit eating this then ok you know maybe there is an insensitivity going on there to the gluten not necessarily full-blown celiac you know autoimmune disorder but you know there may be some some valid you know credentials to why you are feeling better to that is it dumb I don't want to say because we have more of these gluten-free foods is it a little bit easier for people who suffer with celiac disease to live a little easier healthier life it's much easier now than even two years ago I mean there's so much more available I had a friend that was you know recently diagnosed and she was ordering everything online because she just couldn't find the stores locally so we're seeing a lot more of it available locally we're also seeing a little bit of the marketing gimmicks out there too labeling foods gluten-free that would never had gluten to begin with so it's kind of misleading to our public to say oh look waters gluten-free well there was never gluten into beginning it's like the fat free they had entirely aids in irrya why do you think what is it about carbs carbs seem to get a bad rap you know we had for a while everyone on you know eating high protein and why is it that we automatically think carbs are the problem for way for why we're gaining weight they're in everything I mean they are in everything we eat are dominantly wonderful they are ok and we're finding it i mean because it ranges every wedding from wheat products to fruits and vegetables to you know our candy sweet treats ice cream dessert so I mean it's an everything that that we eat a lot of times those are the foods that tend to drive our cravings when it comes to the sweets and that is a carbohydrate you have to go then it's further to the simple cars versus complex carbs and looking at that and looking ones that are higher in fiber versus you know that the lower fiber choices which tend to be the ones that don't stay with us very long and hence we're hungry again but what let me ask what are the carbohydrates and Neil thin things like with gluten it what do they do for the body energy it's our prime energy source so if we're not active or burning off those calories at reading that's what's going to get converted in stored as fat so we really need to monitor not only our energy levels but also how we're eating to respond to that so someone who is exercising regularly can you know more validate those extra carbohydrates for that reason versus someone who maybe has a sedentary job that doesn't get as much tivity unless they are doing it before work or after work to get in their exercise so if you're avoiding gluten for various reasons celiac disease gluten intolerance you can still get your carbohydrates from sources like corn corn the quinoa it's a grain also and also rice okay wild rice long grain brown rice all of those a lot of those I've noticed like that now they make pasta rice flour and bread out of rice if I haven't tried any of it but unfortunately I'm not gluten and dawn yes it's come a long way because there's many pastas out of quinoa too so there's a lot of what you would think of as bread replacers out there being made with corn and rice flour in air mamp is another one that's a flower replacer that you'll see a lot of breads made of so there are there are options out there and and more probably down the line yes very much so so gluten free gluten seems to be a hot topic right now it seems to me that now sugar and added sugar seems to be a new thing i've heard some that they may be changing food label to reflect added sugar yes and the biggest change on there is it's going to be more readily seen bigger print boulder prints on there when it comes to the sugar content and also more reflective serving sizes or portion sizes of what we're eating sometimes when you get a 20 ounce bottle of pop to drink it says two and a half servings on it and most likely meant sometime exactly well those we're going to consume that bottle ourselves and not share that with two and a half people so chances are that will be the biggest change will notice on the food labeling is be more reflective of how we eat okay so it's probably obvious question but what is the why is the added sugar thing such a big deal mostly with the extra calories okay as I mentioned earlier you know carbohydrates are energy source so if we're not you know equaling out that intake versus output then we're going to see at extra calories being packed on and carrying around extra weight so with the extra calories coming in from sugar from the foods we're eating we want to be careful with that balance okay well while I have a dietician here I want to ask her a few questions just about nutrition in general because that's always a good topic to end with if you had to add a couple of I'll just call them superfoods to someone's diet what what are some things you'd really recommend that you think give you great nutritional punch one that comes to mind is fairly hot in the news is the chia seeds at first when I heard about it I kind of just poo poo did and didn't really think too much about it but the more it's been around the more I researched it there's actually some fairly decent nutritional benefit to it willingly in fiber and omega-3 fatty acids in very small amounts I mean and a half ounce you're getting the same amount of fiber that you would get three slices of bread so since we're talking about gluten here silly question are these chia seeds the same thing that they are thank you ever realize that they don't get a chia pet if you go exactly so what is it I mean what what benefits do these little tiny seeds um they give us the benefit of the fiber in much smaller quantity and also as I mentioned if we are gluten intolerant or sensitive or celiac then these would be a way that you could get that additional fiber source in in a very small amount also mega three fatty acids which you know have heart protective properties so once again you can get as that benefit from these foods too and then it's it's a very small amount so you can sprinkle them in cereals and yogurt and smoothies before exactly little crunchy but not it almost tastes like poppy seeds yeah they're very small too and a lot of times they're more tolerable because you don't have to grind them or refrigerate them you can just sprinkle them in as is so there's no worried about the rain so do you want if you don't like that and you don't like that feeling of those seeds can you grind them you can't okay it doesn't do anything to the food value okay what about in the front vegetable land it seemed for a while that kale which was this garnish on our plate for years seemed to suddenly become the new green kale is still popular it's a little bit challenging because of the texture if you've had it raw in salads it does have a little bit harder your texture as a green in your salad so many have gone to processing it is a smoothie so it's a little bit more palatable throwing it in with stir fries or maybe skies in a soup that would be a little bit better to ingest but kale still has wonderful benefits okay the other my other one is we see a lot of Greek yogurt on the market is Greek yogurt better for you than just regular yogurt it depends on what you're looking for it does have a higher amount of protein in the Greek yogurt to have a little bit more calcium but it does make a difference on what you're looking for because calorie wise it might have a little bit more so you do have to be careful the packaging of the containers you can find hundred calorie or less Greek yogurts so you just have to look at your labels for that and it had me just it had I had it this morning as a matter of fact it has that thicker texture to it and it is good and smooth it's nothing right it's not really good plain it kind of tastes this a little sour by itself yes it is a good replaced or a plane though as a sour cream and you get much more nutritional benefit all right so any other nutritional things advice you'd like to give for people out there watching for just general health and wellness I think it just goes back to being a cautious consumer and label reading is very important to just make sure that you're truly know what you're getting and turned that box around yes Christina thanks so much for stopping by being well today appreciated in our 24-7 world many of us have become obsessed with our high-tech devices be it a smartphone ereader computer or other gadgets but when we don't use them correctly or just plain overdo it we may get some aches and pains Holly firfer has more in today's health minute Pat newbie has traveled to 87 countries and seven continents but a recent trip left her with a nagging neck pain I thought the worst because the pain was that severe the culprit her ereader we're dubbing it smartphone finger some other problems our mouse tendonitis or sometimes just a tablet neck and that's what newbie had she strained her neck and shoulder muscles from hours of looking down at an e-reader in her lap the remedy getting her body back into proper alignment starting with sitting up straight you want the top of your screen to be roughly at or just below eye level okay you want your shoulders relaxed okay elbows close to your body that's wonderful and you're already protecting your lower body because you want your thighs parallel to the floor you want your hips knees and ankles at 90-degree ankle angles and you want your feet flat on the floor taking frequent breaks can also help reduce injury for today's health minute I'm Holly firfer production of being well is made possible in part by Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System supporting healthy lifestyles eating a heart healthy diet staying active managing stress and regular check-ups are ways of reducing your health risks proper health is important to all at Sarah Bush Lincoln Health System information available at sarahbush.org additional funding by Jazzercise of Charleston being well is also available online at our youtube channel youtube.com / w EIU TV just look for the being well playlist here you can view current as well as past episodes you