The third menu price survey said nine percent of surveyed restaurants are already offering organic products, 36 percent use local products, 53 percent offer light- and low-calorie options, and 55 percent have gluten-free items.

The report echoes earlier reports that the strong and steady uptick in the demand for gluten-free foods, and is reinforced by SpenDifference president and chief executive officer Maryanne Rose, who says that the growing demand for low-calorie and gluten-free menu items will “be with us for a long time.

Many specialty restaurants, now offers gluten-free menus. To get an idea of your gluten-free options, Open Original Shared Link from a number of major food purveyors that runs the gamut from fast food and casual to more upscale.

Celiac.com 10/29/2014 - At the age of eighteen I started to see a naturopath in order to find ways to combat my anxiety without switching to a bunch of shady medications. In my experience, people had rarely ever talked about food intolerances in relation to neurochemistry. Despite my skepticism or the skepticism of the people around me, what choice did I have but to try whatever it took? My anxiety levels were unmanageable, and I found myself ruining a lot of my relationships because I was too afraid of all the possible outcomes to make decisive choices in the majority of social situations, which led to me letting a lot of people down when they were counting on me. I had to find a way to gain some self-control, and I had reached a place in life where counseling wasn’t enough anymore.

This naturopath, actually recommended by my counselor, suggested I take a blood test, which upon receiving the results showed that I had several chemical imbalances that were made worse by different kinds of food I was eating. This was a completely new concept to me. Of course as crazy as the concept was, it scientifically held up with the blood test. My parents and I were willing to do what it took to fix my chemical levels and make my anxiety more manageable without getting me too doped up. That said, two of the things I completely cut out of my diet from then on were gluten and dairy, as eating them negatively affected my chemical balances more so than most other foods did. Now, going gluten-free is hard. But taking dairy away with it felt extremely limiting at first as it required almost a complete 180 in my diet. After all, gluten and dairy were a part of just about every meal I had eaten up to that point, and I’m sure most of you readers can relate. Regardless, doing it made me feel better physically - I was no longer exhausted all of the time, I was having healthier bowel movements, and my anxiety levels decreased greatly. People commonly ask me, “what do you even eat?” and you may be wondering the same thing. So here are five awesome food brands that offer great gluten- and dairy-free options that I have thoroughly enjoyed over the years!

1. Open Original Shared Link - Namaste is a fairly small brand that has been growing over the past fourteen years that makes great-tasting food without wheat, gluten, corn, soy, potato, dairy, peanuts, or tree nuts. That’s right, they have your allergies basically covered. If I had to recommend anything from them, it would be their taco pasta dinner, made of brown rice pasta, which is probably my favorite gluten-free, dairy free food ever. Of course, they have a lot of other great products such as brownies, waffles & pancakes, and pizza crust. It’s a bit more expensive, as most foods with specialized purposes like this are, but if you can afford, you can’t go wrong with Namaste.

2. So Delicious Dairy Free - “If you’re trying to keep dairy and gluten-free, are you ever in the right place” boasts So Delicious on their website. Most of the So Delicious products are made with alternate kinds of milk, such as almond milk, coconut milk, soy, cashew, etc. If you love ice cream and yogurt like I do, So Delicious is one of the best-tasting options you could try. They have a great Open Original Shared Link, with a description of each one that you can find here.

3. Open Original Shared Link - This one you have to carefully navigate around, because some of their products do have milk and wheat ingredients. But if you do your research, Annie’s is one of the best sources for gluten/dairy free snacks available right now. For instance, go to their website and look for their vegan and gluten-free combination snacks! I’m a fan of their assortment of Bunny Grahams myself.

4. Open Original Shared Link - Not only are they gluten-free, but, like Namaste, Lucy’s have no peanuts or tree nuts. They are also all vegan, contain 0g of Trans Fat and 0mg of Cholesterol, are all natural and non-GMO. My mom would surprise me when I would visit her at home in my college years, and they would typically be gone within a couple of hours. I would recommend any of their products - they’re all very tasty!

5. Open Original Shared Link - Oh man, this one’s a goodie. Primarily known for their popular Multigrain Chips, FSTG is a non-GMO committed chip company that specializes in no wheat and completely vegan products. Their multi-grain chips are delicious - I had a lot of friends eating mine who weren’t gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, or caring about GMOs. They are just that good. The best part about this is the different types of chips they have, not just the Multi-Grain. They’ve expanded to all different kinds of types and flavors. Some of these are tortilla made blue corn and sweet potato chips (which I’ve been known to partake in upon multiple occasions), kettle cooked barbeque flavored chips, a variety of brown rice crackers, and pesto flavored pita puffs.

Despite what people say, going gluten- and dairy- free has a lot of great benefits in my opinion, and it’s great that people work hard to give us products like these that fit the diet but still taste delicious! I think that at least cutting back on gluten will have some great health benefits for most people, and some have argued that it can even Open Original Shared Link. If you’re interested, it’s something I would highly recommend looking into as I attribute part of who I am today - a college graduate working a full-time job and managing stress comparatively well - to these dietary changes I made four years ago.

Celiac.com 10/24/2014 - Here are ten recipes for make-at-home Halloween treats that are guaranteed to put smiles on the faces of your young ones, and help you to breath a sigh of gluten-free relief.

The recipes are gluten-free, or easily modified to be gluten-free. Remember to double-check ingredients, such as caramel (I use Kraft caramels without any issues).

Also, many of these recipes list ingredients that acre fat-free, sugar-free, low-fat, and/or low sugar. I always ignore such instructions and include full-fat, full-sugar alternatives, but prepare according to your own tastes.

Top Ten Gluten-free Halloween Treats:

1. Caramel Apples - Open Original Shared Link
2. Caramel Corn - Open Original Shared Link
3. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds - Open Original Shared Link
4. Garlic Pumpkin Seeds - Open Original Shared Link
5. Strawberry Chocolate Ghosts - Open Original Shared Link
6. Butterscotch Pumpkin Mousse - Open Original Shared Link
7. Scary Halloween Apple Teeth Treats - Open Original Shared Link
8. Spooky Halloween Brain Dip - Open Original Shared Link
9. Two-Layer Halloween Fudge - Open Original Shared Link
10. Ghoulish Deviled Eyeballs - Open Original Shared Link

After back-to-back problems with “rude customers,” employees of the eatery staged a walkout. The next morning, the management posted a sign that not only made their feelings clear about the situation, but let no doubt about they position on MSG, organic food, and gluten-free food.

The sign read:

The walkout allegedly occurred after one party refused to pay for food they said was ‘too spicy,’ and another cursed at the owner.

Granted, the dustup likely has more to do with rude patrons than with difficult gluten-free diners, but the management is making it clear that this is one place you will not be getting gluten-free food.

It’s too early to tell whether the SO will suffer any blowback from their actions, but stay tuned for further updates.

Here is the Yelp! page for Open Original Shared Link.

In the meantime, what do you think? Are you offended at the owner’s attitude? Or maybe happy they have made their position so clear? Or confused to see gluten-free lumped in with MSG and organic food?

Doctors examining a 24-year-old Brazilian man with a history of recurrent headaches revealed a rare condition known as the CEC syndrome, a combination of celiac disease, epilepsy, and cerebral calcification, commonly referred to as ‘brain stones.’

The man had been treated for migraine headaches over a period of 10 years, with little response. Standard blood tests showed a mildly decreased folate level (2.2 ng per milliliter [5.0 nmol per liter]; compared to a reference range of 3.1 to 17.5 ng per milliliter [7.0 to 39.0 nmol per liter]). A computed tomographic scan of his brain showed bilateral occipital calcification, or ‘brain stones.’ Laboratory testing showed normal cerebrospinal fluid and elevated levels of serum IgA antitransglutaminase antibodies (45 U per milliliter).

The man received an endoscopy, and his jejunal-biopsy specimen showed crypt hyperplasia, villous atrophy of the jejunal mucosa, and an increased number of intraepithelial lymphocytes; all classic indications of celiac disease. Doctors started treatment with a gluten-free diet, folic acid supplementation, and carbamazepine, and the patient's symptoms disappeared and his condition improved.

In this case, there was no indication that the man suffered from epilepsy. The likely culprit is folate malabsorption, because cerebral calcification has been seen in other conditions related to folate deficiency, such as treatment with methotrexate, congenital folate malabsorption, and the Sturge–Weber syndrome.

So, physicians treating celiac patients with low folate levels may want to keep an eye out for any indications of cerebral calcification, and to make sure that patients receive appropriate supplemental folate.

Source:

• Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 10/01/2014 - News that snack foods, like cookies, crackers, salty snacks and snack bars now account for more than half of new gluten-free product sales has some leading analysts and industry representatives sounding the alarm.

Speaking at a webinar hosted by the Institute of Food Technologists, Ardent Mills’ director of commercial insights, David Sheluga PhD, announced that the market is starting to get a bit saturated with gluten-free snack products, and that he’d like to see "a little bit more distribution of other types of product categories."

The top-selling gluten-free categories break down as follows: Crackers ($156m), salty snacks ($125m), bread and rolls ($120m), pasta ($78m), cookies ($60m), baking mixes ($55m), RTE cereal ($49m), ancient grains ($47m), snack bars ($45m), flour ($43m), and frozen pizza ($35m).

Currently, market research company Mintel reckons the US gluten-free retail market topped $10 billion in 2013. This figure includes anything with a gluten-free label, including naturally-gluten-free products.

When the category is limited to products specifically formulated to replace wheat and where gluten-free is "not just a minor claim among a bundle of others," Dr. Sheluga says the market is likely closer to $1.2 billion. 70% of these sales were driven by heavy buyers, who account for just 3.8% of US households.

Still, he says that Ardent Mills remains 'pretty bullish' about gluten-free category growth overall. Sheluga points out that almost three-quarters of gluten-free products on the market in 2009 are still available today, whereas 85% of new products disappear from grocery market shelves after just two years.

Still, Sheluga notes that the market for actual celiac disease patients is limited, and that we may be reaching a point where we can’t push consumers to eat more gluten-free snack.

So, while he notes that there’s likely still plenty of room for the gluten-free food market to grow, he is among a growing chorus to wonder out loud if we reaching a breaking point where we can’t eat any more snacks?

The entire webinar may be accessed for a fee at: Open Original Shared Link

Originally named Ug99, but now known as wheat stem rust, the fungus affects wheat, barley and rye stems, leaves and grains, and causes plants to rot and die just a few weeks after infection. Infections can lead up to 20% yield loss exacerbated by dying leaves which fertilize the fungus. The fungus regularly causes serious epidemics in North America, Mexico and South America and is a devastating seasonal disease in India, and a widespread outbreak could destroy flour supplies as we know them.

Previous solutions to the problem of wheat stem rust relied on simple crossbreeding. Beginning in the 1940s, breeders began combining rust-sensitive commercial wheat with hardier rust-resistant strains. However, those solutions were only temporary at best, as the rust always managed to find a way around rust-resistant genes after just three or four years.

Scientists now use what they say is a more effective method of thwarting rust, wheat breeding, called “pyramiding,” in which multiple rust resistant genes are loaded onto a single wheat strain, potentially keeping rust at bay for decades to come, but pyramiding takes up to 15 years to produce a rust-resistant wheat strain. This means that the vast majority of wheat strains under cultivation could be subject to rust in the mean time.

Obviously, not all of the wheat strains susceptible to rust will be affected in any given year, but major outbreaks can and do happen. The possibility that large percentages of the world’s wheat crops could be destroyed by rust are very real, hence the intensity of the efforts to develop rust-resistant strains as quickly as possible.

However, if these efforts fail, or lose traction, look for non-wheat crops to fill the gap. That will mean large numbers of people going gluten-free for reasons having nothing to do with celiac disease or dietary fads.

Talk show host Chelsea Handler asked Theron about her thoughts on the gluten-free cupcakes Handler sent her last Christmas.

That prompt was enough for Theron to share her true feelings about both the cupcakes, and the whole (we assume she means ‘fad’) “gluten free” issue in general.

“I just think that if you are gonna send a gift, let it be enjoyable. Why send me a very cupcake with no sugar in it? What’s the use? There’s no use. It tastes like cardboard! And this was the ultimate test,

Not only did the cupcakes taste “like cardboard,” but Theron found few takers when she tried to pawn them off; even to a bunch of ‘fashion people,’ who ‘love skinny stuff…even they couldn’t eat it.”

Nor would her cleaning ladies. Nor, according to Theron, would her dogs. “My dogs wouldn’t even eat it. I couldn’t get rid of the goddamned cupcakes in my kitchen.”

Theron went on to say that she thinks “the gluten-free thing is b$#@@#$$. I’m sorry, that’s just me. I don’t believe it and I think studies now recently just proved that it is b$#@@#$$. But I actually do think it’s b$#@@#$$.”

So, whether you agree with her or not, Theron has officially put her Hollywood friends on notice about their fad gluten-free diets, and clearly stated what so many Americans have felt for some time: For people without celiac disease, a gluten-free diet is “b$#@@#$$.”

With the most recent and comprehensive studies now casting serious doubt over the existence of non-celiac gluten sensitivity, what do you think? Is Theron onto something, or is she being way too dramatic? Share your thoughts below.

Celiac.com 08/22/2014 - It is often hard to tell if isolated case reports have anything to contribute to the larger understanding of celiac disease. However, some case reports are enough in themselves to cause reflection, whatever their contribution to the larger scientific understanding may be.

For most people with celiac disease, symptoms disappear and healing begins with the adoption of a gluten-free diet. For one 9-year-old girl, however, the battle to beat her symptoms and feel better did not end with a gluten-free diet.

The girl had initially complained of non-specific abdominal discomfort, and showed positive blood tests for celiac disease. Duodenal biopsies revealed Marsh 3B histopathology. So, she definitely had celiac disease with corresponding symptoms. Despite following a strict gluten-free diet, the girl continued to have symptoms and show positive blood tests for active disease.

Gluten is a common additive in plastics. After some detective work, the team discovered that the child was being exposed to gluten from her orthodontic retainer that contained a plasticized methacrylate polymer.

She discontinued its use and her symptoms disappeared and her celiac blood tests returned to normal.

This case illustrates that, even for patients on the strictest gluten-free diet, exposure to non-dietary sources of gluten, such as those used to make plastics, dental equipment, and cosmetics, can trigger or exacerbate celiac disease symptoms. This case also emphasizes the importance of ferreting out and removing all possible sources of gluten, including non-dietary, when managing celiac disease.

Source:

•  Open Original Shared Link

Celiac.com 08/15/2014 - Systech Illinois, which makes gas analysis instruments, has struck a deal with Ultrapharm gluten-free bakery to monitor Ultrapharm’s modified atmosphere packs.

Ultrapharm will use Systech’s oxygen and carbon dioxide headspace analyzer to make sure their products are properly sealed, and to test the inert packaging atmosphere for maximum shelf life.

Beth Faulkner, marketing manager, Systech Illinois, told FoodProductionDaily that Ultrapharm is the first gluten-free bakery to partner with Systech for atmospheric quality assurance testing. Systech’s Gaspace Advance uses a probe that is inserted into the gas pack to measure levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide. The results are then shown on an LCD display.

Ultrapharm opened its gluten-free baking facility in Poland in 2005. Nearly all of the company’s gluten-free products are exported from the Polish manufacturing site to Italy, Germany, France, UK and Ireland.

The baking facility uses modified atmospheric packaging to extend shelf life of up to six months for its frozen breads, rolls and filled pastries and pies. Testing the modified atmospheric packs helps to assure proper shelf life, and to keep the product looking its best.

Systech Illinois also produces oxygen permeation and water vapor permeation analyzers for packaging film, finished package and PET bottles.

However, left untreated, celiac disease can lead to numerous other conditions, several of which are potentially fatal. Remember, many people experience few, or no classic symptoms of celiac disease. These folks may find it easy to keep eating gluten with relatively few noticeable consequences; at least for a time.

So, for people with celiac disease who ignore either their doctors, or their bodies, the risks can be huge. They can even lead to death by one of the following:

1) Cancer—Nobody wants cancer, and especially nobody wants the type of cancer that can strike people with gut damage that comes with long-untreated celiac disease.

People with untreated celiac disease are at risk of developing any number of associated conditions, including gastrointestinal cancer at rates of 40 to 100 times those of the general population. Chief among these types of cancer are a type known as Enteropathy-Associated T-cell Lymphoma (EATL). EATL is a gut cancer that often ends in death. People with celiac disease also need to watch out for non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

2) Thyroid Disease - There is a Open Original Shared Link.

The good news is that papillary cancer of the thyroid has a high cure rate, with 10-year survival rates estimated at 80% to 90% for any given patient. Still, the dark side is that 10-20% of patients with papillary cancer of the thyroid don’t survive.

3) Epilepsy - Rare form of celiac disease.

Patients with an autoimmune disease faced a nearly four-fold higher risk for epilepsy. In some cases, people with epilepsy can suffer from sudden unexpected death (SUDEP).

SUDEP are still poorly understood, it is possibly the most common cause of death as a result of complications from epilepsy, accounting for between 7.5 to 17% of all epilepsy related deaths and 50% of all deaths in refractory epilepsy.

4) Heart Failure - Celiac disease doubles the risk of coronary artery disease, which can, in many cases prove fatal.

5) Diabetes - Diabetes can cause numerous complications, some of which can be fatal. People with celiac disease have higher rates of diabetes than people without celiac disease. Moreover, long-term celiac disease increases death rates in people with diabetes.

There is also some evidence that a gluten-free diet can lower rates of Type 1 diabetes.

In the end, for people with T1D, having a celiac disease diagnosis for at least 15 years was associated with a 2.80 times greater risk of death

6) Obesity - Recent studies suggest that people with celiac disease are likely to be overweight or obese at the time of presentation.

Studies show that nearly 40% of people diagnosed with celiac disease are actually overweight, not underweight. Also, a full 30% of celiac disease patients are obese at the time of their diagnosis.

Of course, long term obesity can increase the likelihood of fatality in numerous categories. People treating celiac disease with a gluten-free diet are more likely to have a healthier weight. 

So, while celiac disease won't kill anyone in the short term, it can have devastating consequences if it remains untreated for a long period of time. Share your thoughts on these ways to die from untreated celiac disease, or add additional insights in the comments section.

Celiac.com 07/29/2014 - Food costs are rising and eating healthy and gluten-free on a budget is becoming more challenging. If you experience sticker shock while buying some of your favorite foods check out these easy ways to save money on organic and gluten-free food.

Use coupons. Yes there are a lot of coupons on healthy foods. Here are two sites I use frequently:

1. Open Original Shared Link is a printable website that comes out with coupons for whole foods and organic products. There are typically 75 or more coupons at any given time. Choose to browse page by page, or narrow your search by category or brand.
2. Open Original Shared Link is a website for natural and organic products. The printable coupon section of the website offers you savings on about 30 different products at any given time. They also have coupon books they mail out usually during the spring and the fall to your home. The books are full of healthy, organic and gluten-free coupons.

Shop store brands and at stores that label their gluten-free foods. We have Aldi’s stores in the Midwest. Aldi’s was one of the first stores to realize the need for gluten free labels on their brand and have recently introduced a line of gluten free baking products, organic foods and carry many other gluten-free foods like corn flour, granola bars, tortilla chips and of course produce. Open Original Shared Link offers the Gluten-free Grocery guide and app that helps you find over 44,000 brand-name and store-brand gluten-free products at grocery stores across the U.S. There are a lot of big brands that make gluten-free food being able to find the products can you save you a lot of money.

Start a garden and grow your own food. I recommend putting in a raised bed or doing a few container plants if you live in an apartment.Look for items that have a high yield, grow well in your area and can be frozen easily. We have had a lot of luck with bell peppers, squash and sugar snap peas. Start small while you learn the ropes and add more year by year.

These are just a few of the ways I cut cost on my grocery bill. Please share some of your favorite ways.