You might want to also see these related blog posts:
Holiday Baking- Does Your Choice of Flour Really Matter?
Gluten-Free Update January 2012 Including Apps
November 2012 Potpourri: Gluten; Diabetes; 2013 Women’s Heart Health )
The holidays are exciting and everyone looks forward to them, although if you need to follow a special diet, it may be a bit disconcerting to think about how to handle a wide range of holiday situations.
How do you deal with invitations to holiday get togethers at friend’s homes, office parties, dining out at restaurants and buffets and even catered affairs, or just grabbing a quick bite to eat when tired from holiday shopping and trying to find something fast while still on the run?
GLUTEN-FREE
Anyone who lives with Celiac Disease or Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity needs to be very careful about what they eat not only during the holidays, but everyday.
It is necessary for those individuals to avoid wheat, rye, barley, graham, spelt (aka dinkle), kamut and any contaminated oats. There are ‘manufacturers’ of gluten-free oats, which anyone on a gluten-free diet can discuss with their treating physician and registered dietitian, including options such as Bob’s Red Mill, Cream Hill Estates, Gifts of Nature, Gluten-Free Oats, Gluten Free Prairie, Holly’s Au Natural Oatmeal, Legacy Valley Gluten-Free Oat Products (rolled oats, quick oats, oat flour, oat groats and oat bran which are now available exclusively via the Amazon site) and Only Oats.
Some acceptable alternate gluten-free food sources one can potentially eat (depending upon other health parameters) include amaranth, arrowroot, buckwheat, cassava (manioc), chia seeds, corn, flax seed, hominy, Indian rice grass (montina), Job’s tears, legumes (dry beans, peas, lentils including fava beans, garbanzo beans aka chickpeas, and romano beans and their flours), mesquite flour, millet, finger millet (ragi), nuts (including their flours and meals), pea flours, potatoes (including potato flour and potato starch), quinoa, rice (basmati, brown, glutinous rice, jasmine, rice bran, rice polish, sweet, white, wild), sago, sorghum including its flour, soy including its flour, tapioca (aka manioc, cassava, yucca), tef (or teff), wild rice, and yucca per se.
Back when we posted the blog entitled “Holiday Baking – Does Your Choice of Flour Really Matter?” we had broached the subject of gluten and referenced some of the challenges of living and baking gluten-free and promised to include some holiday gift book suggestions that did discuss the subject.
Although someone might not be as familiar with specifics of these food choices, luckily there are many sources of information they can turn to making it possible to live better through more knowledge and its application. They can also discuss these matters in depth with a qualified Registered Dietitian/Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RD/RDN) who can provide individualized advice.
Below are listed just a smattering of the potential sources of information out there to provide hopefully useful tips concerning living with Celiac Sprue and also with Gluten Sensitivity.
We’ve tried to include some medical and research center* programs and related information sites, some books, some blogs, and also some sites with various tool type offerings for eating out, such as restaurant related guides, etc.
The following listing is NOT meant to be comprehensive or all-inclusive. A smattering of sources are mentioned, but there are many other sources of valuable information out there–we simply couldn’t list them all! You are welcome to use the comments box if you would like to mention any other valuable site or other resource that to the best of your knowledge endeavors to provide accurate infotainment tips related to gluten-free living.
Please Note: the following sources of information are ONLY intended to provide potentially relevant and hopefully helpful material. It is impossible to track the accuracy of all the information posted through the sources mentioned and thus the information should be considered infotainment unless otherwise specified on any given website or in any given book, etc.
None of these potential sources of information are intended to serve as a replacement for professional medical advice. Please contact a qualified, competent medical professional credentialed to practice where you live for comprehensive care concerning celiac sprue aka gluten intolerance, or concerning gluten sensitivity.
You can check out any of these sites for great ideas related to gluten-free lifestyles and options, although note by our mentioning them here does NOT mean that we endorse any given site.
All we are doing is providing a listing of general sites of potentially useful information and you are free to explore them and decide for yourself what may or may not be valuable to you.
Again, remember that any and all information should be considered infotainment unless otherwise specified by a competent and credentialed practitioner qualified to practice their profession in your locale.
Some RDs/RDNs do post about Gluten-Free matters and as of the date this post was written, the following blogs were active. Not all of these websites are devoted to 100% gluten free living, as some address other topics as well.
NOT ALL RECIPES POSTED MAY BE GLUTEN-FREE so please, please, please read them over very, very, very carefully.
REMINDER: by mentioning any of the blog sites, no endorsement is being made concerning them.
Variety is the spice of life, so I will leave it up to you, the reader, to decide for yourself if any of these sources of information meet your needs for gaining potentially valuable insights.
GLUTEN FOCUS APPS
Please see a full blog post on the subject of Gluten-Free Update January 2012 Including Apps (originally posted on Jan 11, 2012, but which has also been updated).
GLUTEN-FREE ADVOCACY and SUPPORT GROUPS:
Gluten-Free Global Community (if you want to connect with many living gluten-free)
Tricia Thompson, MS, RD website listing of Celiac Disease Support Groups
GLUTEN-FREE BOOKS and COOKBOOKS:
Amy Goes Gluten-Free: A Young Person’s Guide to Celiac Disease a comic book from the Division of Gastroenterology and Nutrition at Boston Children’s Hospital under $4 USD
Best Bread Recipes by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt
Celiac Nutrition Guide, Second Edition, Year 2006, 48 pp, also available in its paperback from from Amazon. Author Tricia Thompson, MS, RD has also released among other books, The Gluten Free Nutrition Guide
Note: Although Tricia Thompson, MS, RD, maintains a US based national list of RDs with celiac disease expertise on her site, there may be a number of additional RDs with expertise that can be of assistance when it comes to living gluten-free, whether someone has celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity.
Easy Gluten-Free: Expert Nutrition Advice with More than 100 Recipes [2010 Paperback or Kindle version both from the American Dietetic Association] Tricia Thompson, MS, RD and Marlisa Brown, MS, RD, CDE, CDN with foreword by Shauna James Ahern, author of Gluten-Free Girl (find “Gluten-Free Dietitian” Tricia Thompson’s website here ; find Marlisa Brown’s website here ). You can find some sample recipes from the book here and find a sample chapter excerpt to read here.
Essential Nutrition Gluten-Free Guidebook by Lisa Lanzano, RD
Gluten-Free Baking with the Culinary Institute of America by Richard J. Coppedge, Jr.
Gluten-Free Diet by Shelly Case, RD (her website contains helpful information!)
Gluten-Free, Hassle Free by Marlisa Brown MS, RD, CDE, CDN
Gluten-Free Jubilee by Elizabeth Kain
Gluten-Free Quick & Easy by Carol Fenster (who has a total of 10 cookbooks out now and her site has been updated and from there you can link to her Savory Plate Blog which features her cookbooks and some recipes from them).
Jump Start Your Gluten Free Diet free eBook from the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center
Real Life With Celiac Disease (Troubleshooting and Thriving Gluten Free) by Melinda Dennis, MS, RD, LDN, and Daniel Leffler, MD of the Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston
The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam at her Elana’s Pantry blog site.
The Gluten-Free Kitchen cook book by: Roben Ryberg. In the year 2000, I wrote the preface for that recipe book, although the publisher asked that a couple of paragraphs of my original draft be omitted. Someone asked me just this week if the book still might be useful as part of a gluten-free library of potentially helpful information and indeed there are still great pointers included in that book.
Roben has also published The Ultimate Gluten-Free Cookie Book featuring more than one hundred recipes of all types (cookie bars, other cookies, brownies and more).
In 2011, Roben came out with a new book “Gluten-Free in Five Minutes” featuring microwavable recipes, some of which may need additional cooking after the first 5 minutes, but a number can be made in a very reasonable time frame. Roben uses mostly single flours (white or brown rice flour, cornstarch, cornmeal or sorghum).
Roben’s recipe for Extreme Chocolate Cake isn’t for everyday, as it happens to be very high in fat. It would be interesting to remove some of the fat and adjust the recipe using an acceptable replacement for all that oil. Roben does include other recipes higher in fat in her books so just be aware of that.
Some other books will feature other gluten-free options and since I always encourage consumption of a wide variety of food items as sources of valuable nutrients whenever possible, it is always a good idea to look at all of one’s options.
What I said years ago in that book preface still rings true:”…when it comes to special diets, choice and options is what it’s all about.”
Mommy, What is Celiac Disease?
The Gluten-Free Nutrition Guide by Tricia Thompson, MS, RD (Tricia also runs the subscription-based Gluten Free Watchdog site which sheds light on gluten-free food testing data for various manufacturer’s products).
The Intolerant Gourmet: Glorious Food Without Gluten and Lactose by Barbara Kafka
The Trouble That Jack Had free eBook published by Friends of Celiac Disease
GLUTEN-FREE GENERAL INFORMATION FROM THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH):
NIH Educational Materials and Resources from the Celiac Disease Awareness Campaign of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases aka NIDDK; includes pdfs for Celiac Disease, Celiac Disease What You Need to Know, Dermatitis Herpetiformis Skin Manifestation of Celiac Disease, Testing for Celiac Disease, Celiac Disease News, The Gluten Free Diet, What I Need to Know About Celiac Disease, etc.
GLUTEN-FREE TOPIC MAGAZINES and JOURNALS:
- Allergic Living covers allergies, asthma, and gluten-free
- Easy Eats
- Delight Gluten Free (has a digital edition for computers, iPhone, iPod, iPad; and Android devices and each edition is Under $4 USD; version 2.2.4 app for Apple devices is free, as is version 2.1.2 app for the Android Market)
- Gluten Free Living
- Journal of Gluten Sensitivity
- Living Without (addresses not only gluten-free, but also dairy-free, etc.)
- Simply Gluten Free with online issues (includes dairy free, egg free, nut free, as well as paleo, vegan, and vegetarian lifestyles –debut Nov & Dec 2012)
GLUTEN-FREE RESOURCES SITES:
Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University (also has videos)
Celiac Disease Foundation (which offers the Gluten Free Resource Directory)
Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland (also has videos) (Dr Fasano formerly of U. of Maryland even worked with a group to come up with a gluten-free cruise opportunity; Dr. Fasano is now affiliated with Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA)
CeliacNow.org of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA (launched 14NOV2012)
Celiac Sprue Association including: Counting Gluten-Free Carbohydrates
Gluten Intolerance Group of North America including excellent piece on: Producing Gluten-Free Products in a Non-dedicated Kitchen {A Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) Education Bulletin Updated June 2011}
National Foundation for Celiac Awareness
The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxsis Network
GLUTEN-FREE RESTAURANT & GROCERY PROGRAMS:
Disposable American Dining Cards
Gluten-Free Restaurant Awareness Program
Gluten-Free Laminated Triumph Dining Cards aka Triumph Dining Cards (gluten-free focus) multiple languages
My Gluten Facts (has some tips for dining out gluten free, as well as mentions some reportedly “gluten Free menus” for restaurants–one list for the USA and one list for Canada)
New York Examiner/Gluten-Free Reporter (Gluten Free Guru and Founder of Celiebo, a voluntary Certification Program for Gluten-Free Dining)
GLUTEN-FREE MAIL ORDER SHOPPING:
GLUTEN-FREE VARIOUS BLOGS:
A Girl and Her Carrot by Jennifer Vagios, MS, RD
A Healthier Michigan by Grace Derocha, RD, CDE
ATX Gluten-Free by Jessica Meyer, MS
Chapman’s Landing Cooking Studio by Nancy Guppy, MHSc, RD
Dietitian UK by Priya Tew, MS, RD, HPC
Eat Drink Be Happy by Desiree Nielsen, RD
Food Wise Nutrition by Autumn Hoverter, MS, RD
Gluten Free Goodness by Cheryl Harris, MPH, RD (who also has a nice website, newsletter, and professional materials that RDs can purchase for their own practice)
A G-Free Thanksgiving 2011 by Cheryl Harris, MPH, RD
A G-Free Thanksgiving 2012 by Cheryl Harris, MPH, RD
G-Free Holidays 2012 Newsletter by Cheryl Harris, MPH, RD
A dietetic/nutrition colleague has some tips if you will be a guest to help you have a merrier experience: The Gluten-Free RD by Rachel Begun, MS, RD, CDN (She also did a post for those thinking of eating out a restaurant during the holiday season: The Gluten-Free RD )
Kitchen Therapy by Linda Simon, RD
Kumquat by Gretchen Brown, RD
Practical Wisdom Blog by Joan Guthrie Medlen, MEd, RD
Spicy RD by EA Stewart, RD
The Gluten Free RD by Rachel Begun, MS, RD, CDN
What I’m Eating Now by Tamara Duker Freuman, RD
Whole Life Diets by Ana Johnson, RD, CDE
GLUTEN-FREE and/or CELIAC DISEASE PODCASTS or VIDEOS:
Boston Children’s Hospital, Family Health Education Series “Raising Your Celiac Child–Guidelines for a Gluten-Free Life” Note: the 12 sections can also be viewed individually online at their website (I. Introduction; II. What is Celiac Disease; III. Diet Information; IV. Home; V. (Food) Shopping; VI. Cooking; VII. School; VIII Eating Out; IX. Away From Home; X. Emotional Adjustment; XI. Support Group; XII Kids Speak). There is bonus material as well as Summary Information available for many of the sections. If you are short on time, at LEAST view the video clips from IV. Home (A Gluten-Free Home Part I and Part II)! Excellent overview for adults! Make time to view this online if you are not already familiar with gluten-free living. Also be sure to check out their downloadable pdf Going Gluten Free Guide Book.
Celiac Disease Center (Columbia University)
Center for Celiac Research (University of Maryland)
Gluten-Free Diet by Shelley Case (who also has a website and has written a number of educational materials including a book the Gluten-Free Diet mentioned above under books)
Videos about Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance includes Cheryl Harris, MPH, RD
GLUTEN-FREE YOU TUBE “LIGHTER-SIDE” THEME VIDEO CLIPS:
Melinda Dennis MS, RD, LDN on youtube with some video clips (she works at one of the 8 celiac centers in the United States mentioned below) as a guest on Your Health or Mine mentioning a book website and her own website.
GLUTEN-FREE WEBSITES and OTHER BLOGS:
Home for the Holidays Gluten-Free Style is hosted by Gluten Free Easily and their recipe index
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*Some of The Celiac Disease information locations that are Medical Center based in the United States include the following:
Center for Celiac Disease, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Celiac Disease Center, Columbia University
Celiac Disease Clinic, Celiac Disease and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
Center for Celiac Research and Treatment, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children
Celiac Disease Clinic, Mayo Clinic GI Center
University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center
University of Virginia Digestive Health Center of Excellence-Celiac Disease
Wm K. Warren Medical Research Center for Celiac Disease at UC San Diego
It takes about [X] months to … rid your body of gluten, but my son’s doctor says to give it [Y] months for infractions. [What about] taking digestive enzymes with each meal in case you get a hidden source of gluten? I took my son off gluten and it took X months [to really] notice a difference. Also, if you haven’t done so, go online and get a list of ingredients to look for on labels.
Please note that I did need to edit the comment before publishing it.
In those with celiac disease (CD), it can indeed take months AFTER gluten has been removed from the diet for the body to “calm down” and stop the antibody patrol against the fear of another invasion by some type of “gluten” antigen. Even though you may have removed “gluten” from your son’s diet to make it gluten-free (GF), antibodies might still be in production and circulating for some time going forward, especially if your son experiences “cross reactivity” to other substances that don’t even contain “gluten” peptides, but are mistaken for them.
For anyone with CD or non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), a GF diet is something to be followed 24/7/365-6. “Infractions” as you mentioned happen (not strictly following the diet) and the best thing to do is get back on the diet ASAP.
One also has to be on the alert for unintentional gluten exposure due to cross-contact sometimes also called cross-contamination. This accidental exposure to gluten is sometimes the reason why the body continues to produce antibodies against a gluten attack. Sometimes persons refer to this accidental exposure as “glutening” as they may experience symptoms once again as they did with regular gluten exposure in the past, but this time, only a tiny amount of gluten can trigger the symptoms. CD is considered a chameleon as the symptoms can vary so widely from person to person.
If a person has CD, once that person is eating GF, it can take many months (even up to a year or so) before their intestinal tract really heals and they start absorbing nutrients more normally.
Children who have CD are at nutritional risk because of being in a state of growth and development with an intestinal tract that may not be functioning normally. They need a well balanced diet that must be GF and that requires knowing particulars of how to meet their nutritional needs in spite of consuming a GF diet, especially if there was any previous intestinal damage.
BTW, the “digestive enzymes” that are sold over-the-counter (OTC) are NOT really going to protect someone who is gluten intolerant. The tiniest fraction of gluten peptide invading the intestinal tract can cause havoc with someone who either has CD or NCGS. You might not realize the damage is occurring in someone with CD who has minute gluten exposure because the damage to the villi can occur without overt symptoms being present at the same time.
Since sometimes a GF diet is used as part of a treatment plan for a child diagnosed with autism, there are concerns with implementation that should be addressed by a qualified clinician.
We urge you to make an appointment with a qualified dietitian-nutritionist in your area who can thoroughly review the details in regard to your son’s unique situation and provide personalized advice for your son.
Meanwhile, we do recommend the “Going Gluten Free Guide Book” from the Gastroenterology and Nutrition Department of Boston Children’s Hospital. You’ll find the link in this blog–just scroll down to: GLUTEN-FREE and/or CELIAC DISEASE PODCASTS or VIDEOS and the first listing is for Boston Children’s Hospital and the link is at the end of that paragraph. The grocery shopping list section covers a lot of important ground when it comes to gluten awareness. That hospital’s website has some good info for any parent of a child who needs to go GF–the website link is right in this blog post. Please be sure to check out their patient resources and videos section.