While growing up I was so insecure about my body and how thin I was. I hated how skinny I looked in clothes but I didn’t think that I have a disease or a problem, I just thought that this is my body type, until I measured my BMI and it was super low. I knew then that I had a problem.

I told my parents and they took me to a doctor. After a couple of questions, it turned out that although celiac disease has many symptoms I’ve only suffered from weight loss; but just to make sure I underwent an endoscopy and found that I did suffer from it. Having celiac disease means that eating a type of protein called gluten which is found in many grains such as wheat, triggers the immune system and affects the function of the small intestine and that’s why I didn’t gain weight.

After finding this out I had to follow a gluten-free diet and it is actually hard because only a couple of restaurants serve gluten-free food and they are usually very expensive and even gluten-free snacks and products are expensive too.

Another problem that we sadly face is that not a lot of people are familiar with celiac disease and often mistake gluten with gelatin and a lot of products are not certified. Following a gluten-free diet has had a very good impact on my life; I now have a healthy lifestyle and I’m gaining weight.

I hope that gluten-free products cost less and we can spread awareness regarding celiac disease so that more people would be more familiar with it and would understand what gluten is.