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On Aug 21, 2012, at 11:53 AM, Mary Thorpe wrote:

> The Bleak Future Of Gluten-Free Food
> <http://easyhealthoptions.com/alternative-medicine/nutrition/the-bleak-future-of-gluten-free-food/> 
> Carl Lowe <http://easyhealthoptions.com/author/carllowepl/>  | Aug 21, 2012


I could not agree more with the content of this article!  A story that many here might find interesting:

I am the branch manager for our local Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) in Indianapolis.  One of our Board members, and also the person who runs our support meetings, is a Registered Dietitian, and she treats many people who have been advised by their doctors that they have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity.  While she seeks to educate these clients, of course, about gluten and how to avoid it -- she also tries to educate them about eating a HEALTHY diet, not just "gluten free."  

This is a bit of a long story to say that when we discussed approaching GF manufacturers for freebies/samples to hand out at our meetings, she put the big "kabosh" on this idea, unless we could find healthy non-junk food items to use -- because she really did not want to hand out carb/fat/sugar filled cookies and chips (even if GF) to our members, because they are so unhealthy.  

She had a point!

However, my personal point of view is that people who are GF never get to eat anything, if they go to any meetings or social gatherings -- so it seems like it is generally a very nice thing to have trial samples of products that they can turn around and buy for use at home.  After all, a GF support meeting is the one place where you can sidle up to the refreshments and snack table and actually eat what is there!  But providing HEALTHY snacks -- that's the tough call!

So, I took this as a challenge.  A couple of months ago, I put out a request on this (CELIAC) listserv for recommendations of packaged foods (GF) that might be healthy and suitable.  My parameters were that the foods had to be pre-packaged, and must not require any refrigeration, cooking or preparation -- mostly because all of us who manage these meetings work, and do not have the ability to provide some kind of "fresh" foods snack for our meetings, that we might otherwise lovingly prepare in our own kitchens.  We would if we could, but we can't!  Also, we need to be able to store the samples in a non-refrigerated cupboard between meetings, at the hospital where we hold these meetings.  

I hoped for some great ideas, not only from members of this listserv, but also from the many manufacturers and purveyors of GF food products who read and advertise on this listserv!

But guess what?  NOT A SINGLE REPLY did I get that actually addressed our "healthy-for-you" issues or offered up usable suggestions.  I did get some terrific and well-meaning replies from quite a few members here, offering up really nice recipes for fresh dips and veggies and the like (and thank you so much to those of you who took the time to send us these!) -- but unfortunately, homemade items really aren't possible for us to work with under the circumstances.  (It is also our goal to get donations of samples from manufacturers, quite frankly, since we operate on something of a shoestring budget!)

I might add that I got an avalanche of replies wanting to know the results of my inquiry -- because many group members here would all like to know what prepackaged, convenience snacks and foods might be out there that are not just "junk."

Since I received no ideas from readers/advertisers on the listserv, I then turned to looking at a variety of products that are offered on various online GF food retailers, and wrote directly to a couple of dozen companies that made foods which "seemed" like they might be suitable to our purposes.  

I also received NO answers to these requests, save for one -- who sent us a selection of trial packs of a very nice Lentil Cracker they make, which has a better-than-most health profile.  Unfortunately, while GF, they were not dairy-free, so it turned out that it sort of limited the number of members who were able to try them at our last meeting.  However, especially since these people were so nice to actually make a healthy-ish food and also send us samples, I am giving them a shout-out here:

http://www.mediterraneansnackfoods.com/products/lentil-crackers-cracked-pepper/

So, the quest continues.  And I suppose that it looks like we're likely going to have to resort to a stop at a grocery store on the way to the meetings, to get plain bottled water and fresh whole fruit.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it makes a big statement about the state of affairs of Gluten Free packaged goods.

Visit the Celiac Web Page at Http://www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC