Food allergies (including Celiac) may be considered a disability under the ADA.

A friend shared this with me, so I thought I would post it on the blog:

http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/December/12-crt-1538.html

Be Happy Healthy & Strong,

Lolli

Cooking for a Celiac Guest.

It can be hard to cook for company if you don't know how!

This is a dilemma facing many people with Celiac disease when visiting a friends house for dinner or going to a party.

It is not only nervewrecking for the person with Celiac disease, but the host as well!

I would like to share with you a few tips if you are the host to someone with gluten and dairy allergies. 

My gluten and dairy allergies somewhat severe & include cross contamination.

So! Here is how to cook for me if I were coming over for dinner.

Step 1:

Wash your hands, counter tops, and any utensils you will be using to cook my food.

Step 2:

Verify that all utensils are non porous. Porous materials can absorb gluten from other foods and cross contaminate someone with Celiac. 

Acceptable utensils are metal, glass (bowls & baking dishes), and plastic.

NOT acceptable materials are: wood, baking stones, stoneware baking dishes, etc.

Step 3: 

Make sure that you prepare the gluten free/ dairy free meal BEFORE any other meals. This limits the chance of cross contamination & will make the process MUCH easier on you! There will be no guessing " did I wash my hand after making sandwiches?"

Step 4:

Know what ingredients are okay to use~! Ask your guest what brands are okay, not all brands are created equal. For example: One sloppy joe sauce may contain gluten while another may not. It is always best to ask.

Make sure that the items say "gluten free" on the label, this takes the guessing out of the situation. If there are dairy allergies, make sure that there  are no milk ingredients or milk allergy warnings on the label.

Here are some general guidelines for what is safe & what is not: 

The following make me extremely sick/ are unsafe:

Wheat. Barley. Oats. Rye.flour, egg noodles, beer, MSG, sauces thickened with flour, tamari, soy sauce,teriyaki, matzo, couscous, bulgar, seitan, wheat germ, caramel coloring, "natural flavors;' bouillon cubes,chicken or soup stocks, malt, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, natural/artificial flavorings, general starches, maltodextrin, malt vinegar, packaged spices that come in bulk, and anything whose ingredients are not known.

I am also allergic to dairy so please no cheese, milk, or butter on my food.

 Anything with casein, lactose or any milk proteins are also unsafe. 

Again these are basic guidelines.

 Step 5:

Check your cooking surfaces. 

If using the oven, cover your pan with aluminum foil, this prevents cross contamination between the glutened pan & the non-gluten food. In addition DO NOT cook anything with gluten on or in the same pan. This with make the non-gluten food glutened and then you will have wasted your time.

If grilling out. Use a separate flipper for the non-gluten food than for the gluten food.

Make sure to have a dedicated area on the grill for the non-gluten food, this area must be covered in aluminum foil (again to prevent cross contamination).

Step 6:

Once the gluten free dairy free food has been cooked, please make sure that it does not come in contact with other food that may have gluten or dairy.

Taking these steps to make sure that a meal is gluten free (and/or dairy free) for an guest with Celiac is very important, and very much appreciated. A key to remember is that even the tiniest speck of gluten can make some people with Celiac very sick, so always use caution when making food for a Celiac guest.

There are different levels of gluten sensitivity in different individuals, so it is always best to be safe if in doubt. 

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about how to make gluten free food!

♥ 

Lolli

Want to learn more about Celiac?
Check out these links.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001280/
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/celiac-disease/DS00319
http://www.celiac.org/
http://www.celiaccentral.org/Celiac-Disease/21/


*Disclaimer: This is not an attempt to treat, diagnose or give advice regarding any disease. This is purely for entertainment purposes only. These are things that have worked for me personally in my own life, I am only sharing my own life experiences. As always talk to your Dr when dealing with an illness. In addition, these are not my photos they are photos gathered from around the web for illustrative purposes only.*

Celiac Disease vs. Gluten Intolerance

The other day I ran across a woman, and somehow we ended up on the topic of Celiac Disease. 

Then the conversation got frustrating and annoying to me.
She said she had a friend who had Celiac Disease who could occasionally eat a slice of pizza or whatever she wanted without getting sick.

UMMMMM NO!

That's not Celiac Disease. Her friend was going around telling people she had something that she obviously knew NOTHING about. This makes it harder for people who actually DO have Celiac Disease to be taken seriously. 

A person with Celiac Disease cannot eat gluten without getting sick or without damaging their intestines. 

As someone with severe Celiac Disease , I often get frustrated with people not understanding that I cannot have even a speck of gluten. If someone cuts my gluten free pizza with the same pizza cutter they used on a regular pizza, I get sick. It's nothing to mess with.

Now there is something called gluten intolerance which is different than Celiac Disease, which is probably (I am not a Dr.) what her friend had. 

Do you have Celiac Disease? 

What do people say or do regarding Celiac Disease, that bothers you?

Here are some links with information on Celiac Disease if you would like to know more:

http://americanceliac.org/celiac-disease/

http://www.celiaccentral.org/News/News-Feeds/View-Research-News/Celiac-Disease-Research/134/vobid--2264/

http://www.celiac.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3&Itemid=9

♥

Lolli




Disclaimer: I am not a Dr. these are all just my personal opinions from my life experiences. If you think you may have Celiac Disease, please talk to your Dr. I am not trying to diagnose or treat any diseases, only sharing my personal opinions on a topic.

Things People Say To Celiacs. (Video)

I saw this video the other day & it made me laugh!

I think I have heard most of these!

Have you?

Enjoy !

♥
Lolli

What Gluten-Free Is To Me.

My journey toward gluten-free started years ago when I was in high-school. Through most of my life, I remember being sick. Things got worse in high-school when I could barely walk up the stairs, and even fell down the stairs on occasions because I was so weak. I would fall asleep in classes that took place after lunch, not because I was lazy, but because I was sick. Needless to say, it resulted in poor grades. 

I went to several Dr.'s and no one could figure out what was wrong with me. 

Fast forward to when I was 21. I found myself in a constant state of inflammation, I always had hot flashes, weakness, tiredness, stomach upset, and the worlds worst heartburn! I ate Tums like candy. Still Dr.'s dismissed me. Things continued to get worse over the next couple of years. Even worse when I got "healthy", I started eating whole foods, among those was ....whole wheat products.

This is where everything took a turn for the worse.
I could not make it through the day on less than 14 hours of sleep, dizzyness, insomnia ( sounds weird for someone who slept so much), major stomach pain & other issues ( we'll skip the gory details), and a pesky rash that kept spreading up my back...and itched like a mosquito bite....I dealt with this and more every day.

The final breaking point was when I would go to bed at night, and feel like my ribs were breaking underneath me when I laid down. I was too weak to lift a laundry basket of clothes ( even though I worked out 5 days a week!). I kept losing weight (down to 89 lbs.) and was losing hair. Not to mention, every time I ate I thought I was going to hurl. I couldn't finish a meal, but I was constantly famished.

Thanksgiving 2009, I went gluten free. My life has changed dramatically. All the symptoms above...GONE. My body has healed itself & continues to get stronger all the time. I now have energy for my daily tasks and my workouts, 3-5 times a week!

I eat whole foods, but without the wheat, barley, rye, and oats! I have never felt better!

Only thing is, I also have to be dairy free, casein (a protein which is found in milk) reacts in my body the same way as gluten. In addition to that, I cannot touch anything with gluten or casein in it, or use any body products with it. Otherwise I get that pesky rash which takes months to go away...and I dare not use shampoo with these ingredients or my hair will fall out again.

People say they cannot believe what I go through.....to me, it's no big deal. I like my new life without allergens- I am healthy! And there are so many amazing gluten free products to choose from!

Are you gluten free? What's your story? Do you know someone who is gluten free?

♥

Lolli