Dean McDermott: A Celiac "Reality" Check

dean-mcdermott-celiac

Who is Dean McDermott you say?

If you don’t know who is he, then you don’t watch reality TV.

And if you don’t watch reality TV, then you don’t watch “Tori & Dean”.

And if you don’t watch “Tori & Dean”, you are missing some of the best unscripted entertainment the industry has to offer.

Ok…I’m being totally sarcastic. I am not a fan of Reality TV but to each his own.

Alright Gluten Dude…get to the point. What does this have to do with celiac disease?

Well…it seems that our friend Dean McDermott has celiac disease. Which in and of itself is not necessarily newsworthy. But whenever a public personality has celiac disease and opens up about it, it can go one of two ways.

  1. Either he/she can become an advocate for the disease and educate people about its implications.
  2. Or he/she can can mislead the public, making it more difficult for us celiacs to be taken seriously.

Since you can tell I’m in a ranting mood, you can guess which route Mr. McDermott decided to take.

Recently, Allergic Living, a print magazine dedicated to the celiac community, did an interview with Mr. McDermott about his disease and it was posted on the Celiac Central website.

Here are some lowlights of the interview:

Q: Was it hard to cut gluten out of your diet?
A: I did it slowly. At first, I was eating gluten-free about 50% of the time. So that was easy.

Dude Note: Of course it was easy Dean. You didn’t make a sacrifice. You didn’t do what all celiacs MUST do, which is give up gluten entirely. At this point, the interview should have stopped. It’s obvious he doesn’t take the disease seriously and a well-known publication should have known he would not be a good advocate. But alas, it proceeded.

Q: Yikes! What does your doctor say about eating gluten occasionally?
A: Since I’m on the low-end of the spectrum, she’s not terribly concerned. But I definitely feel better when I’m gluten-free.

Dude Note: Kudos to AL for calling him out. But seriously, what the hell?? Celiac disease is not like having the flu. It’s an autoimmune disease. This is precisely why celiac disease has become an effing joke in the public eye. And Dean, please do yourself and your intestines a favor and find another doctor. One that won’t simply tell you what you want to hear.

Q: How do you avoid eating gluten when you’re filming or at press events?
A: People know that I have celiac disease, so they provide gluten-free stuff for me. It can be hard, though. Gluten is used as a thickening agent in sauces and spreads. Unfortunately, I’ve been gluten-bombed many times.

Dude Note: Of course you’ve been gluten-bombed, Dean. You eat gluten. But hey…it’s no big deal. It’s not like eating gluten if you have celiac disease can lead to other serious health issues, like cancer. Oh wait…it can lead to cancer? My bad.

To read the rest of the interview, I needed to subscribe to the magazine. Seriously?? After this interview, you expect me to subscribe?

But if I subscribe, I get to read about Dean’s plans to open a gluten-free restaurant.

Oh boy…

I’m assuming only half of the items on the menu will be gluten-free. But you won’t know which half.

Table for zero please.

Ok…that’s enough sarcasm for one post.

I’m just so sick of it all. Sick of the gluten-free celebrities. Sick of the media that covers them. Sick of our plight related to a fad diet.

Addisons. Chrohns. Graves. Lupus. Multiple sclerosis. Rheumatoid arthritis.

These are all very serious autoimmune diseases. And they are treated as such, as they should.

Just because our disease is food related does not make it any less serious.

But maybe that makes for a boring interview.

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24 thoughts on “Dean McDermott: A Celiac "Reality" Check”

  1. what an idiot. But his doctor sounds like an even bigger idiot. Unfortunately, I have found that even GI doctors are incredibly ignorant when it comes to CD. The GI doctor who diagnosed me with CD said that i could cheat every once and awhile. He also told another woman that she was “too old and not sick enough” to be given an endoscopy to check for CD. Turns out, she has a severe case of it. Needless to say, I dropped him really fast and found a much better GI doctor in Chicago, Dr. Kupher.

  2. Stunning. Just stunning.

    And I agree that his doctor is also to blame. But there is this thing called the internet that has lots of information on it and if Dean really wanted to find out more about celiac disease, he could have.

    And again, I wouldn’t care if he just kept it to himself.

    1. You know it just irritates me to no end when celebrities endorse anything or in this case, which is ridiculous, do more damage than good. Why does society and the media think celebrities are experts on anything? Most of them are pampered and highly paid for their endorsements and in this case for their interview. Maybe they should interview normal people who struggle to pay for the high cost of having autoimmunes, who suffer their effects everyday, who have to cook for themselves and give up going out, who absolutely refuse to intentionally eat gluten because of how ill we get or who struggle with weight loss -like me -because my doctors took my gaining 5 pounds a week for laziness and overeating instead of hashimotos disease (which by the way my sister diagnosed and she only did research, is not a doctor, but when I demanded blood work it came back positive and she was right! God bless her.) Oh yeah I could really stay on the soap box all day on this issue. Ugh.

      1. Love the passion Patty. Keep on fightin’.

        I often wonder who started the “celebrities must have important things to say” thing. It’s a bizarre world in which we live in sometimes.

  3. Wow what an idiot that person is . Thanks to p****s like him CD is not treated seriously . Oh well if he carries on eating gluten and thinking he is cool for saying it he will pay big time !

    50 % gluten free are not gluten free they should not even call themselves celiac’s a better name for them would be stupid ……s lol.

    Today I was reading on yahoo I think about someone who was apparently gluten free slipped up and ate a pizza how the hell can you accidentally eat a non gluten pizza :S

  4. Lol most probaly , I imagine they were also at a pizza restaurnat at the time and had just explained how they can’t have gluten …

    Some think needs to change about the seriousness of the disease.

  5. And this is why celiacs have to defend how sick they are–even to primary care physicians, like I did last week. This is SO frustrating! It seems like the only doctors who understand are those who specialize in the disease. I’ve even had to explain to an MD the difference between gluten intolerance and celiac disease because the MD didn’t know that one of the two is a serious auto-immune disorder that can be debilitating! He thought it was the same as his child’s gluten intolerance, and that celiacs could cheat if they felt like tolerating a little indigestion. I would miss DAYS of work if I had a BITE of bread due to joint/muscle pain, neuro symptoms, gut symptoms and exhaustion. I have BAD dreams where I forget I have celiac disease until after I’ve eaten almost all of a glutenous meal. Up until this disease, I wasn’t a picky eater and rarely missed work–even with serious bouts of flu, sinus infections, etc. Now I’m mislabeled a hypochondriac.

    This cause needs more PR and educational programs and less GF cookie recipes, in my opinion!

    1. Amen to that Jen.

      And I’ve had the same dreams. I take a bit bite of a pizza and while it’s in my mouth, I realize I have celiac disease. I usually wake up mad at myself for not eating the pizza since it was only a dream.

      1. I backtracked here from your more recent piece on this guy, and HOLY CRAP! I did not know that those gluten-I-forget-I’m-Celiac dreams were a thing! I have had a few of them, and I feel such intense guilt when I wake because of what I’ve “done” to my body. In the last one, I ate a sub sandwich at a kid’s birthday party, and it was only with my last bite that I remembered I was Celiac. Talk about a nightmare! It shows you how intensely we have to focus on our food if we’re dreaming about it at night.

  6. In mine, I’m eating something I don’t like that much (like a Taco Bell bean burrito while driving). I finish the whole thing, remember about the celiac disease, freak out, and then wake up panicked. 🙂 I think I’ve had good food in a few of them, though.

  7. He’s disgusting. I can’t say anything more than what has already been said above. Now, pardon me while I go eat my gluten free breakfast free from CC and enjoy my awesome gluten free life!!!!!!

    *kicks Dean*

  8. I had to come back and read this one because I am new to your blog.

    This guy is totally unaware of how this disease works and will get very ill someday with lymphoma or kidney disease or lupus perhaps….and wonder why.

    I D I O T S among us.

    1. The Gluten Dude

      Annie…your story brought tears to my eyes. I’m so sorry for your loss.

      It just makes Mr. McDermott seem like even more of a dumbass.

  9. I have to go with blame on the Dr. here as I was sort of told the same thing. I was told I was borderline??? I really think we need to focus on Dr. Education here I had negative blood test but positive biopsy. Most all of my symptoms plus some other strange stuff have gone away or has greatly improved going gluten free. I researched like crazy and asked for the genetic test and have later found out that I did not get the correct test after confronting him I was told I was a tough case and could not tell me if I had Celiacs or just a sensitivity and that I needed to go to a specialist which is hours away… I do not live in a small town and the gastro office here has a little over a dozen doctors on staff and no one here specializes on this???. hmm maybe something for them to look into. I just thought your kidding me I am not spending more $$$ on these tests and taking time off work. So I left and am just trying my best to continue on gluten free. Just had to rant and wanted to put a little blame on the medical field. We are to trust doctors with our lives and they signed up for this so I think they need to step up to the plate or get out of the game. I hope someday they will start to look at this seriously and not just brush it off.

  10. Oh chill… I guess by now you know there is something called gluten intolerance? Not everyone is celiac, some are just sensitive and yes there are levels of sensitivity. Now just relax and delete this post, it’s useless to everybody.

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Who I am. And who I'm not.

Who I am. And who I'm not.

I AM someone who's been gluten-free since 2007 due to a diagnosis of severe celiac disease. I'm someone who can steer you in the right direction when it comes to going gluten-free. And I'm someone who will always give you the naked truth about going gluten free.

I AM NOT someone who embraces this gluten-free craziness. I didn’t find freedom, a better life or any of that other crap when I got diagnosed. With all due respect to Hunter S. Thompson, I found fear and loathing of an unknown world. But if I can share my wisdom, tell my stories and make the transition easier on you, I’ve done my job.

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