Celiac disease, or gluten intolerance, is a widely promoted myth. The truth of the matter is that this is a relatively rare condition. Wheat allergies are very rare. All this talk about “gluten intolerance” and “gluten free foods” is ridiculous. This is very difficult to diagnose, and cannot be diagnosed with certainty. The media has pushed this for some reason, as if it is some kind of epidemic. Only about 1 in 133 people possibly have this.  The figure may be much lower. Many studies have confirmed this, especially the Uni-versity of Maryland in Baltimore (Archives of Internal Medicine v 163, 2003) That figure may be far too high, as you just cannot definitely diagnose this conclusively. It is true that celiac disease has increased dramatically in the last fifty years, but so have all digestive illnesses. Celiac affects your 22 feet of small intestine. The diagnosis is basically guess-work, and really only verifies you have a digestive problem. Do not get a biopsy, as it is expensive, painful, invasive, unnecessary, and harmful. Yes, there is a genetic factor here, but it really is for weak digestion and not necessarily gluten intolerance. Levels of serum antigliadin antibodies and antiendomysial antibodies are not specific predictors. No food allergy test on earth works. That’s a fact. None of them are accurate.

For god’s sake, we eat twice the calories we need, we eat twice the protein we need, and we eat eight times the fat we need. Most all those fats are saturated, artery-clogging ani-mal fats. We eat 160 pounds of various sugars we don’t need at all. We are overfed and undernourished. Our food is refined, preserved, and chemical laden. We eat a mere 1% whole grains, when we should be eating 50% whole grains.

Have you noticed most all the “gluten-free” products are overpriced junk food? Gluten-free cakes, gluten-free cookies, gluten-free pies, gluten-free donuts, gluten-free cupcakes, gluten-free muffins, gluten-free pizza, and just more crap. Do people think they are going to get well eating that kind of stuff?

What is the big deal here? If you think you are gluten intolerant just stop eating wheat, barley and rye. How many people do you know that eat barley and rye with any regularity? That means you just avoid wheat for, say, three months and see if you get better. You can find many healthy, whole grain baked goods that do not use wheat including bread, rolls, tortillas, and pastas.

The real issue here is that people who think they are gluten intolerant certainly do have a digestive issue. This is rather easy to cure naturally. Read the article Good Health Begins With Your Digestion. Read my book Zen Macrobiotics for Americans. Eat only macrobiotic foods. Eat lots of brown rice, oats, corn, buckwheat, and millet. Eat lots of beans and legumes. Eat lots of cooked green and yellow vegetables. Limit fruit to 10% of your diet. Eat 10% seafood if you want. Limit any raw foods to 10% of your diet, as they are harder to digest than cooked foods. Eat two meals a day. Fast one day a week on water. It is very important you fast every week to give your digestive system a chance to rest and heal. Join our two day monthly Young Again International Fast if you like. If you are under 40 take the Supplements for Younger People (read the article with the same name) and add glutamine. If you are over 40 take all the supplements recommended in the Zen Macrobiotics book. Buy bulk glutamine and take 1 tablespoon a day for a year. You can take ½ tablespoon AM and PM. Take two capsules of (200:1) aloe vera for a year. Take FOS and acidophilus twice a day AM and PM. Our acidophilus is refrigerated, has 6 billion units per capsule with 8 different strains. Only use refrigerated acidophilus.

Do not concentrate on healing your digestive system; concentrate on healing your whole body. Holistic medicine is whole body medicine. Treat your whole body and your digest-ion will improve dramatically very shortly. The celiac epidemic is a myth, but digestive disorders generally are an epidemic. Cure yours naturally.