Go Gluten free & Sugar free & Dairy free w Dr. Lisa & Annika!
Update: This post was publisheshed 9 years ago and Annika and I are still going strong! Read below for the full story.
Tomorrow is the day my daughter Annika and I are going gluten free and sugar free and dairy free – I am doing it too in support of Annika with her Type 1 diabetes and Celiac disease and food allergies. Please let anyone with Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes know to follow here and on Twitter. I will be tweeting about it daily and blogging about our experience including recipes. I hope to show and inspire everyone to eat better and Excell for life! I also am giving my Annika a chance to dramatically improve her Type 1 diabetes before she has stopped growing. My loftiest prayer is that with God’s great power and wisdom to be able to get her off insulin and thereby give hope and help to so many others… Phil. 4:13 and Romans 8:28
“I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me!” … “God works ALL things for the good of those who love Him.”
I diagnosed Annika with Type 1 diabetes a little over a year ago and is on an insulin pump. Type 1 is an autoimmune disease (body immune system fighting against itself) and totally different than Type 2 diabetes. See my blog article April 2011 in the differences. I asked her pediatric endocrinologist last year at the time of diagnosis if there was anything that could have led to Annika getting Type 1, and something that we could help to treat. Sadly he said there was nothing to look into, and I didn’t know enough about it at the time.
Thankfully with God’s great help I keep learning about traditional and functional/holistic medicine. This past year I have learned how tremendously our bodies can be healed by what we eat and how to so much better care for our vital GI system (gastrointestinal system). I decided to have Annika get a large panel food & outside allergy panel done by Genova labs that included a Celiac disease panel. I found she has severe celiac disease, multiple food allergies, and severe nutritional deficiencies because of her Celiac. It was her Celiac disease that most likely caused her severe R forearm fracture in 1st grade and that caused her Type 1 diabetes.
Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease to gluten (a protein found in wheat, rye, barely, and triticale). In response to gluten in their diet, people with Celiac disease make antibodies which destroy their intestinal lining cells. This results in great body inflammation, malnutrition/nutritional deficiencies, and risks for many diseases and complications. It causes GI symptoms in over 50% of children and adults with this disease, but my Annika and Christina have no GI symptoms. Celiac was previously thought to be a rare disorder, but in a recent study was found to occur in nearly 1% of the population – so 1 out of a 100 people may have the disease. The exact reason for Celiac development in a person is unknown, but does result from genetic susceptibility, immune processes, and environmental triggers.
I then tested my 3 other children, and found that my daughter Christina also has Celiac, and my 2 sons have significant wheat and gluten allergy and other food allergies. Eliminating gluten should be able to keep them from developing Type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune problems. (Once you have 1 autoimmune disease you are much more likely to develop another.)
Since the time of Annika’s Celiac diagnosis, I have put her on a strict gluten free diet (which I have followed much of the time myself, though I don’t have a gluten allergy). This means no normal bread, pasta, soups, fast food, and much more. This has been very difficult for her, but has helped to decrease already her total daily insulin dose by about 20%. After consulting an expert experienced nutritionist, Jodi Smith (nutritionquickandsimple.com), she advised that we must now go on a total sugar free diet also to give Annika the best chance to decrease her body inflammation and heal.
Sugar causes great body inflammation and harm to everyone – look up Jodi’s 59 reasons sugar ruins your health, and watch the “60 Minutes” program on Palm Sunday 2012 about the great hazards of sugar. Follow along and join Annika and I in our adventure and path to health!
Hugs & prayers,
Dr. Lisa
