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                       Thank God, I'm Celiac!
                       ----------------------
                         by Marcia Campbell

That's right - thank God, I'm celiac.  Oh, sure, before April, 1989, I
may not have been so thankful.  Before Dr. A (Dr. Thomas Alexander,
TCCSSG physician advisor) announced the good news to me, I may have
been anything but grateful.  I could have had any autoimmune disease.
In fact, since it was feared I might have had leukemia, I am glad the
diagnosis was only celiac disease.

In 1989, the diet was a bit awesome.  Since Dr. A said I could keep my
beloved baked potatoes, I had a place to start in the diet, but
finding gluten-free products was extremely difficult.  The dietitian I
consulted knew very little then about celiac disease and could only
offer materials more than l5 years old.  Many of you have been in the
same position.

But that was then - and this is now.  Do you realize the tremendous
progress companies have made with gluten-free foods and mixes?  In
1989, there were no cake and brownie mixes.

If the May 1999, meeting of TCCSSG was any indication, celiacs should
have no problem getting prepared foods and mixes.  For those of you
who took home a shopping bag of products, you know how tasty GF food
can be.  We received samples from twenty companies to test and taste.
Not only that, we also enjoyed bread, muffins, and pound cake baked by
Joan Wade from Sylvan Border Farms.  Joan flew in the night before
from California and baked so we could enjoy firsthand the fresh-made
tastes of Sylvan Border Farms products.  Joan also shared information
with us concerning some of the questionable grains during the meeting.
Kozy Shack, Kitchen Basics, Ener-G Foods, Menu Direct, Dietary
Specialties, Legumes Plus, Mrs. Leeper's, Food for Life Baking,
Cybros, Ultimate Baking, Mendocino GF Products, Pamela's, Miss
Roben's, Gluten-Free Delight, Freeda Vitamins, Heartymix, The
Gluten-Free Pantry, Lundberg Family Farm, Tamarind Tree, and Specialty
Food Shop are to be supported and applauded for taking the time to
provide samples of varied foods.  There were cookies, coffee cake,
pasta in all flavors and shapes, pretzels, throat lozenges, rice of
many varieties, rice cakes, breads, one-person meals, biscotti, cake
mixes, bread mixes, donut holes, lemon love notes, raspberry swirls,
pizza mix, cookie mixes of all kinds, muffin mixes. . .and on and on
and on.

If you crave pretzels - there are gluten-free pretzels available from
Dietary Specialties, Ener-G, and Miss Robens.  If you long for
chocolate chip cookies, you can buy from Pamela' s or buy a mix from
Gluten-Free Pantry.  Did you say a yummy lemon bar would be good?  Did
you try Gluten-Free Delights?  What about pasta?  Wow, where do you
begin?  Mrs. Leeper's, Legumes Plus, Ener-G Foods?  Are you in need of
multi-vitamins?  Try Freeda's.  Do you have a taste for the spicy?
Try Tamarind's one-meal in a box - microwaveable.  I tried the lentil
chili and it was superb, easy to fix - like homemade.  Rice cakes at
the beginning of a celiac's diet seem to be a staple.  Have you tried
Lundberg Family Farms sesame-tamari or buttery caramel rice cakes?
O.K., you get the idea from my litany.

There is one more aspect the gluten-free companies have provided for
celiacs.  There are products pre-packaged that are excellent for
travelers.  Ener-G Foods packages bread, two slices to a packet, that
will go anywhere.  Both Ener-G and Dietary Specialties have crackers
that are perfect as a replacement for bread while traveling.  If you
carry a small cooler, Kozy Shack has marvelous puddings.  There are
cookies, pretzels and breadsticks from a number of companies which are
tasty snacks.

On behalf of Tri-County, I would like to thank the companies who
willingly donated many samples in a large variety for the May meeting
of our group.

In ten years the gluten-free diet has gone from little choice to
dozens of choices.  These companies are to be applauded for providing
tasty, pre-packaged or easy-to-prepare mixes for the celiac. Thank you
for responding to our request for samples.

If you aren't able to find these companies in your health food store,
you should do something about it.  Take a list of the companies with
their addresses and phone numbers to your store and ask them to start
stocking their shelves with these products.  Make recommendations of
the most popular choices to the store.  Let TCCSSG know when your
health food store is making these products available.  We all must
support the gluten-free companies - and in turn, we will profit with
more products being made available.

Yes, being a celiac isn't all bad.  We have a healthy diet, don't need
to take medications to keep us well, have many choices from excellent
commercially made food products, and belong to an extremely supportive
group that understands our health concerns.

Thank God, I'm a celiac!