What if you were told that your favorite foods - foods you'd eaten all your life - were making you sick? Zach Becker got the news this summer.

He hadn't been feeling well for about two years and had been losing weight, so he finally decided to go to the doctor.

"It was pretty scary," he said. "I wasn't quite sure what was wrong with me."

After lots of tests, even some to rule out cancer, he was told he had celiac disease. People with celiac disease can't tolerate gluten, a protein found in wheat and certain grains. Even the smallest bit can cause a reaction in the small intestine that causes pain and keeps their bodies from absorbing nutrients from food.

"Once you can stay away from it, people really do improve dramatically, sometimes in weeks," said Dr. Shankar Degala, gastroenterologist at WakeMed. "But the challenge is finding the hidden sources of gluten. It's in a lot of the foods we eat. Gluten is even in pills."

Becker is writing about his journey into the new world of restricted eating in a blog called Gluten Free Raleigh.

"From the time I wake up to the time I go to sleep, I'm gluten free," said Becker. "So it's all about my experiences, where I eat, what I do."

In a few months, Becker has become an expert on where to go and what to eat. One of his finds was a made-to-order food service in Raleigh called Rosie's Plate. Owner Rose Waring started the business after struggling to find and make allergy-free foods for her children.

"I found that when I didn't have time to cook, I had no backup. I can't go to McDonalds. I can't really go anywhere," said Waring. "My mission was to offer people a place to go when they cannot cook themselves or when they're just sick of cooking."

From tapioca flour to sweet potato flour, the pantry at Rosie's Plate is stocked with organic and gluten-free options. Chef Ann Everitt oversees the preparation of meals for a variety of restricted diets, but says most of the customers they see are gluten free. She says it is a growing trend.

"Most chefs in restaurants are having to deal with it in some way," she said. "But most aren't actually creating things for people with restrictions. I don't know of a restaurant that is trying to make food that is allergy free.

Zach Becker is on a mission to get more restaurants in Raleigh to be gluten free friendly and plans to visit as many as he can to spread the word. You can share your ideas and see his latest "picks" on his blog, Gluten Free Raleigh.

A support group for people with Celiac Disease meets regularly at Rex Hospital. For more information about the group, contact Pat Berger

Find out more about Rosie's Plate at their website.

Related Links

1. Find out more about the symptoms of and diagnostic tests for Celiac Disease.
2. Contact Pat Berger