Reprinted from the “Just the Facts” Q&A with me in the January 2012 issue of Better Nutrition magazine.

We’re a few years into the “gluten-free” diet revolution in this country, yet many people still don’t understand the basics about celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and the ins and outs of going gluten free. To give us the answers, we posed commonly asked gluten-related questions to Melissa Diane Smith, our Go Gluten Free columnist – a leading nutritionist and author of Going Against the Grain and Gluten Free Throughout the Year – who has been counseling people on the gluten-free diet for more than ten years.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

(Opinion) – On August 2, the same day the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reopened a public comment period on “gluten-free” labeling, ABC ran a segment on its Nightline program on the gluten-free diet. With the title “Gluten-Free Nation,” you would think the piece would cover the real reasons why the gluten-free diet has become such a phenomenon: that many people, not just those with celiac disease, are gluten intolerant and that removing gluten from their diet relieves symptoms and ailments far better than any type of medical treatment. That’s because many people’s conditions are, in fact, diet-induced from eating gluten that makes them sick.

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by Melissa Diane Smith

I am a strong believer in the benefits of lifelong learning and so is Catalina Foothills Community Schools in Tucson. That’s why I have signed on with them to teach two different gluten-free classes in September and a beginning class on GMOs in October, which is Non-GMO Education Month all around the country.

The classes I will be teaching are:

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Need a quick rundown on the difference between celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, and how to test for the two conditions? Check out my less than ten-minute radio interview on April 13, 2011, on the Buckmaster Show, hosted by long-time Tucson news and information host Bill Buckmaster. In advance of the Gluten-Free Food Faire on April 30, the interview also covers some of the main highlights of the upcoming faire, including my book signing featuring my new book Gluten Free Throughout the Year. To hear the interview, go to this link, listen to or download the MP3 audio file, and advance the podcast to 16 min, 35 seconds, to start the section with my and Bill’s conversation.

A reader from Canada wrote me to let me know about a post she wrote today on the Sjogren’s World Community Forum. She told me that my Going Against the Grain book helped her and that eating completely against the grain proved to be the answer to greatly improve many symptoms she was experiencing.

Sjogren’s disease is an autoimmune disorder characterized by dry eyes and a dry mouth. It also can be a more systemic disease, affecting many organs and involving connective tissue disease, such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erthematosus or scleroderma.

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