celiac disease

I have celiac disease. Of all the ailments in the world, I think this is the best one to have (unless the choice was "none of the above"). Having celiac disease is a pain in the neck, I'll admit, but life could be so much worse. I don't have to go to the doctor about this, I don't have to take any medication for it, I don't feel sick or uncomfortable in any way, and I shouldn't die any sooner than anyone else -- IF I stay on a gluten-free diet. My body cannot digest gluten, one component of wheat, rye, and barley. Therefore, I'd better not eat anything with wheat, rye, or barley (or oats because they are usually grown in the same general area as wheat, so there's a cross-contamination issue) in it because my body will try to digest it and fail. This failure can result in any one or combination of consequences: rashes on my elbows, knees, fingers, eyes, or tops of feet; nausea; vomiting; diarrhea; stomach cramping or upset; gas; or sluggishness. Those are just the effects that I might feel. What I don't feel is the damage being done in my small intestine. If I understand what I've read correctly, while trying to digest what my body considers to be "poison," the little finger-like things (no, science is not my forte) get squished (not the medical term, but the general idea). That damage can take up to a year to heal. If I were to ingest gluten all the time, all of the finger-like things could be squished. This would cause all food to go undigested, leaving me malnourished; and I would starve to death no matter how much I ate. I am also at a higher risk of developing intestinal cancer. The "starve to death" problem and the cancer would require my eating a WHOLE lot of gluten, though. I'm not going to experiment how much is required for those results, though. I play it safe 99% of the time. Today was one of the 1% of the time that I DON'T play it safe. A little boy in Luke's class brought in food for lunch because it's his birthday. His family is either Korean or Chinese, I believe, so I could NOT fight the temptation to just try that food even though it almost definitely contained gluten. It was DELICIOUS, of course! I'm pretty sure that I ate a small enough amount to avoid all of the uncomfortable effects, but I always feel a little guilty when I eat things that I know I shouldn't. Sometimes people feel sorry for me because of this disease, and I hear all the time things like "how can you stand to live without this or that?" No one should feel sorry for me! I'm obviously NOT going hungry. In fact I'm having to really work to LOSE weight because there are so many yummy things that I CAN eat. The list of what I CAN have is much longer than the list of what I CAN'T. Praise God! It could be so much worse and having this disease has made me much more open-minded about other people's physical problems, so I'm thankful for this disease.