Today is September 13th, 2011. Celiac awareness day! Why is it so important to have such a day? Because without awareness we have no voice, we will never have a cure, we will constantly suffer from mislabeled foods, accidental gluten intake, and cross contamination. I have compiled some great links for everyone to read over, that are chock full of statistics. The saddest one is that 1 in every 22 people have this disease if someone in their family has it, and 1 in 133 people without a family
I just found out that Open Original Shared Link will be coming to stores soon! AAARG! Usually I keep a cool head about things (BWAH!) But this is just unfair! Who among us hasn't laughed hysterically at that skit? It is the best! A true classic! And we don't get any. We all know about my love of Ice cream. I adore ice cream, I would marry ice cream, I devour ice cream, and lately all I can tolerate is stupid dumb vanilla soy ice cream. Pffft, that's not ice cream! And this one has malted milk ba
Our lives revolve around food. The selection of ingredients, the preparation, the clean up, these activities take up a large portion of our everyday lives. Our very survival depends on our food intake. For those of us with food allergies, thoughts of food become almost compulsive. We can't eat this, can't eat that, can't eat there! See this, want that, can't have it. So we obsess and plan and hoard our gluten free products with rabid looks in our eyes. Luckily, we live in a world where, for m
Being positive in a negative situation is difficult. It's hard to find the glass half full, the silver lining, or the clown that isn't scary! However, it is necessary when dealing with gluten allergies. We all have those days where we feel down and wonder "why me?", but we can't let those days beat us down. In order to be healthy all we have to do is not eat foods with gluten. Too simple? Maybe, because it IS hard to do. Especially when we are accidently glutened. We can however pull oursel
Nestled in the rolling hills and mountains of Vermont lies literally the sweetest little factory imaginable. It is the Ben & Jerry's Factory, and my family and I were lucky enough to be able to go there this weekend. Never one to pass up an opportunity to eat ice cream, especially Ben & Jerry's, I was ecstatic. After a short tour of the facility, and an education on how their delicacies are made, patrons are then given a sample of their glorious ice cream. The best part? There was a lis
Did you know that Gluten can affect the receptors in the brain the same way Opium does? I didn't. It makes sense however, who of us hasn't sat down to a fabulously crafted pizza, or a bowl of pasta and felt that lethargy come on? It also explains why gluten / wheat products can be addictive in their own right, making it difficult for those of us who absolutely know, we KNOW we can't eat them, and yet we just can't help ourselves sometimes. After the last time I made the mistake of thinking one
I see a lot of stories about Gluten allergies, but none tell the real story. What it's really like on a daily basis to have a gluten allergy. Most people think, Oh well, if you don't eat it you must feel fine. Not so! We may feel better, but it's a constant battle. We have to be ever vigilant against the threat of cross contamination, of wheat being in our cosmetics, (cosmetics! How insane is that?) of slipping up and having "just a little", of bloating, diarrhea, constipation, or nausea, of sk
I am astounded by the amount of foods and products that either have gluten, or wheat flour added to them. Even the delicious salads from restaurants, you know the ones, with the adorable little bags of nuts they give you to sprinkle on top gleefully? Those nuts are coated in wheat flour. Why? What could they possibly add to make nuts better? The answer is that they sweeten the nuts with a nasty little mixture of honey, and sugar and other chemicals designed to "enhance the flavor' and the flour
