MY STORY:
I don’t have Celiac disease, but in the 20 years I have been alive I have been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, anemia, chronic migraines, depression, anxiety, and an autoimmune disease. I’m not saying that all of these are connected, nor do they all affect me now, but they do all have one common trigger: gluten sensitivity. It wasn’t until last summer when my periodic migraines turned into daily, excruciatingly paralyzing visual migraines that impaired my vision that my mom decided to take me to see a neurologist. From there, it became all about trial and error. The neurologist informed us that aside from typical stress and hormonal changes, there are many triggers for migraines that have to do with diet. So after weeks of trying to pinpoint what had so severely changed about my diet since I had come home for summer, we figured out that the lunch I brought to work everyday had a lot of gluten, and a lot of preservatives. That deli meat on white bread that I’d been eating for lunch everyday was probably one of the most preservative and gluten-filled meals I could be eating regularly. I ate meals like that for lunch almost everyday throughout grade school, but we never connected any of my migraines, rheumatoid arthritis, morning lightheadedness, or other minor “diseases” to my diet. While I was in college, I wasn’t eating as much food like this, and I was getting fewer migraines. This could also attributed to the fact that moving from the northeast to the south means I was in an area with a completely different environment, weather, altitude, barometric pressure, etc., but these are some things I will never have definite answers to. I decided to completely cut out preservatives (which will be on a nutrition label as “thiamin mononitrate”) and then just be cautious about gluten. Please sit and think for a second about everything that has preservatives: most deli meats, prepackaged cookies and crackers (yes, I had to stop eating Oreos and girl scout cookies...), most pasta, most bread, most cereals, and pretty much everything that is made with enriched flour. However, fixing my diet in addition to going to the gym more and more has definitely made for a healthier lifestyle with little to no migraines, less joint inflammation, no morning lightheadedness, and overall better self-confidence.
MY RESEARCH:
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. It’s extremely common to find food labeled “gluten-free,” and you probably eat some of these products without even knowing it. When you hear about someone voluntarily eating gluten-free food products, you are likely to assume that person has Celiac disease because that is the most commonly talked about illnesses caused by gluten intake. Celiac is a serious autoimmune disease caused by ingesting gluten, which leads to damage in the small intestine. This disease affects 1 in 100 people, most of who probably don’t even know they have it and will never be diagnosed. Furthermore, a lot of people may not know this, but you don’t have to be diagnosed with Celiac to have a gluten sensitivity or intolerance. Some mild forms of gluten sensitivity include osteoporosis, anemia, bowel diseases, fatigue, canker sores, rheumatoid arthritis, anxiety, depression, migraines, and most autoimmune diseases. The reason this one protein can cause so many different illnesses is because gluten sensitivity is actually an autoimmune disease that creates inflammation throughout the body that affects all organ systems including your brain, heart, joints, digestive tract, and more. This means it can be the single cause behind many different “diseases,” so rather than treating the symptoms, you have to attack the trigger, which is gluten. Cutting gluten out of your diet isn’t an easy thing to do, considering the fact that many basic food products contain it, such as most pasta, bread, cereal, baked goods, and beer. Whether you choose to lower your gluten intake or completely remove it from your eating habits, it takes a lot to find alternatives.
THE “SO WHAT”:
College campuses don’t always have accommodations and alternatives for gluten-sensitive students. Yes, it is common for dining halls to have a “gluten free section” with some gluten free pasta and bread, but this is all very recent. According to http://beyondceliac.org, in December 2012, a lawsuit (http://bigstory.ap.org/article/food-servers-more-vulnerable-legal-threats) filed against Lesley University set a precedent for college students living gluten-free. These students had been denied accommodations for their special diets, so the case was sent to the US Department of Justice, who ruled that Lesley University must make reasonable accommodations for students. This case did not result in a law that ALL colleges and universities must follow but it definitely provided a great foundation for other schools to follow. Celiac affects more than 1 in 100 Americans and gluten sensitivity affects 1 in 15 Americans. Though the organization Beyond Celiac is a strong advocate for getting college campuses on the “gluten-free train,” just adding food alternatives in a dining hall doesn’t help students as much as administration likes to think. 42% of people who contacted a university administrator felt the official didn’t have sufficient knowledge about their gluten-free diet. In my opinion, with this sensitivity being so common, there should be as much information about gluten allergies as there is about peanut and dairy allergies. Through the “GREAT Schools, Colleges, and Camps” program, it is only $100 for training for a college foodservice manager. I’m pretty sure most universities can handle that. Yes, gluten sensitivity has been researched more recently than ever, but it is time to make this difference. These issues affect so many students but they do not use their voice to handle it, and it is worth the change. After having my first paralyzing migraine in months that resulted in missing class (more specifically, a very important exam), I decided to take action. I contacted nine different administrators at the University of Tampa, both through Campus Life and Dining Services. The Dining Services department was quick to email me back, and we immediately set up a meeting. A lot of the food has changed on our campus and I was unaware that some of the meats that were switched were now preserved. Since I was eating the same things as I used to, but this time with preservatives, the nitrates and gluten added up too much in my body that I had a terrible reaction. It was the worst migraine I’ve had in two years. In my meeting with dining services, the administrator and head chef gave me a list of the accommodations they already have for students with a gluten-free diet, and they told me they would get more information on any questions I still had. I’m very happy that they were so kind to me and have shown me more ways I can healthily eat on campus, but that’s just my medium-sized private university alone. What about the small colleges with 2,000 students? Or the public state schools with over 30,000 students? I wish I alone could contact every school in the country and force them to offer more gluten-free food options, but I can’t. It is so important to use your voice and stand up for your medical problems, no matter how big or small they may be. So please, take the time to speak with your dining services officials. No diet accommodation is too small to fix and fight for, especially when it’s affecting your schoolwork or any daily activities.