If a Food Makes You Feel Bad...

I was diagnosed with celiac disease in what I've occasionally seen celiac bloggers refer to as "the dark ages" -- the period just after celiac disease was recognized as more than just a rare disorder but before blood testing and endoscopy was universal for diagnosis. In fact, the doctor who discovered I was a celiac didn't initially think I had it in the first place; he was trying to rule it out in the process of diagnosing irritable bowel syndrome. I was diagnosed by an older method known as a "gluten challenge," which was basically an elimination diet that eliminated only wheat, rye, oats, and barley for three weeks before I added them back to my diet (in what I dubbed "GlutenFest 2000").

I discussed all this with my gastroenterologist after an endoscopy a couple years ago. My endoscopy was "clean" and she raised the possibility of trying a gluten challenge and another endoscopy to confirm the diagnosis or to see if I simply have a more mild food intolerance and could eat a little wheat on occasion. "I think you're probably a celiac," she said. "You have the classic symptoms, you gained weight after you were diagnosed, and you react after you eat wheat. But with people who were diagnosed as you were, and who are compliant with their diets, it's difficult to be sure. So the question is, how much do you miss gluten?"

"I don't know," I said. "Not that much. I was just so sick for so long before I was diagnosed that even if I could eat wheat once in a while I don't think I would. It's not worth it to be in that much pain."

And then she said something that has stuck with me: "Well, if something makes you feel that bad, no matter what, then you're better off not eating it." After we'd discussed diet, and she felt good that I was eating a pretty balanced one, we ultimately decided against the challenge.

Based on reader e-mails and polls, many of you try avoiding foods, whether temporarily or permanently, because they just make you feel that bad. While there is a balance to be struck -- unnecessarily restricting your diet can leave you at risk of nutritional imbalances or just plain boredom, and unscientific allergy tests may lead you to restrict your diet without rhyme or reason -- in some cases foods can affect your digestive health and make you miserable. My colleague Barbara Bradley Bolen has more:

• Food Allergies and IBS