Found A Way To Get People To Understand

[Austin Guy]

I've read a lot about how skeptical family members can be. I finally figured out a way to explain what malabsorption can do. I simply ask what would happen if I deprived you of 90% of your needed protein. Of if I deprived you of carbs or iron or calcium or vitamin C, etc. Anyone with a clue about nutrition generally starts to understand what gluten intolerance can do.

[GFinDC]

Yep, they have names for some conditions caused by lack of nutrients, like scurvy (vit C), beriberi (vit B1), and pellagra (vit B3). And goiters develop because of a lack of iodine in the diet.

[T.H.]

Sounds very reasonable. It's so funny - all our lives, we hear from doctors and even our parents that we need to eat healthy so our bodies will work right and be strong.

And then when we find out that our bodies aren't absorbing what we need from that diet, so we aren't eating 'healthy' as far as our bodies are concerned, so many doctors and relatives seem to forget as a result, our bodies won't work right OR be strong. Just like they warned us when we were being taught what to eat as children.

[mushroom]

Well, obviously we need a new word or term to describe the state of our nutritionally deprived bodies. How about gluten-induced toxicity?? Or gluten malfunction syndrome??