It turns out that I might just have celiac disease: when consulting with a health professional who was reviewing some blood tests, she said I had some results that would make her think of celiac and that I should be tested for it.

I suppose it’s no surprise. We’ve been gluten free (more or less) for most of the past 8 years. I’ve always felt better when I ate gluten-free food; but once in a while, I’d slip or otherwise convince myself that a little wheat couldn’t hurt me after being told by the doctor that I didn’t have any allergy to gluten.

Celiac is not that uncommon - and recent studies show that it is often under-diagnosed. Undiagnosed celiac is not a small thing: it actually raises your chances of dying by a significant factor. This is also not surprising: with so much wheat in so much of our processed food, how could most people ever pinpoint that gluten was causing them a problem?

Yet it would be there, causing damage to your small intestine, and compromising your ability to absorb the nutrients from whatever you put in your mouth, whether vitamin pills or last night’s dinner.

Another issue with celiac disease is that you only need trace amounts of gluten in a product to be adversely affected. In fact, some professionals believe there is no safe exposure limit. This is what is making Canadian celiac sufferers press the Roman Catholic church for a completely gluten-free host: while there is a low gluten host available, that trace amount could still be detrimental for highly sensitive individuals, whether that is due to severe gluten allergies or severe celiac disease.

If it does turn out that I’ve got celiac sprue, it won’t change my life much. We are already eating gluten free (despite the uproar from allergy professionals about people excluding food groups without a diagnosis). I’ve already learned the skills to bake differently - and I never think twice about ordering foods at a restaurant that have gluten. However, it might make me more careful. After all, eating out could be getting those trace amounts of gluten into my system, while keeping my small intestine inflamed.

Healing might take a more rigorous approach to my diet.

But I suppose the diagnosis will make one big change: it will confirm that I did know my body best, and was right all along.