I can't wait for five years from now. Why? Because hopefully so much more will be known and understood why about 6% of the U.S. population is gluten-sensitive  and another 1% has celiac disease (CD).

These numbers might not sound huge or astounding unless you are one of us who is either gluten-sensitive or has CD. The Wall Street Journal had an interesting article in the March 15, 2011 issue titled, Clues to Gluten Sensitivity (see it here: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704893604576200393522456636.html)

In this article, Dr. Alessio Fasano, the medical director of the University of Maryland's Center for Celiac Research, told reporter Melinda Beck that "for the first time, we have scientific evidence that indeed, gluten sensitivity not only exists, but is very different from celiac disease."

To me, this is big news. If you're a regular reader of my Shareposts, then you know that I have been gluten-sensitive for the past two years. I got tested for celiac, was told I didn't have it, and was then offered an anti-depressant by my doctor. He felt that the gluten-free diet was difficult and thought the medication would be helpful. I read this as him not wanting to deal with me because it was all in my head.

Having Inflammatory Bowel Disease I've changed my diet a lot. And, while removing gluten from my diet wasn't easy it has been worth it because gone is the constant bloated, gassy, painful feeling. I was fully 100% gluten-free for nearly two years. Then we went to Spain to three weeks this past October. Having lived in Italy and spent a good amount of time in Spain over the past 15 years the one thing I cannot resist is their bread. It is handmade daily and it is delicious. I told myself before we left I wasn't going to eat it, and for the first 4 days I resisted. Then we settled into a villa in a small town and met the baker and just the smell of his bread found me tearing a piece from the loaf and savoring every bite. I ate a quarter of a baguette. I waited for 30 minutes for the tell-tale bloating, gas, and pain to kick in. Then I waited 60 minutes. Then two hours. And, nothing. No bloat, no gas, no pain.

Now, I didn't go hog wild and start eating every gluten-filled piece of food I could find after this experiment, but I will admit to eating a slice or two of Spanish pan (bread) for the rest of our trip. And when I got home to the States I contacted a friend of mine who was buying locally grown and ground wheat flour (in 50 lb. bags) and asked if I could by 5 pounds to experiment with making my own bread. And so, since October I've been eating a few slices of fresh, handmade bread every week but keeping everything else fully gluten-free.

It was in the second week in our Spain travels that my wooziness hit. It that feeling you get on a boat where the world just won't quite sit still. I wasn't too alarmed because I have some damage to my vestibular nerve, which controls balance, and I've had bouts of vertigo and wooziness on-and-off for some seven years.