See you later, never goodbye!

At first, I was skeptical about being able to blog twice a week for 10 weeks about the same topic. Before this project I had never blogged before in my life and had never actually ever read someones blog before. At the beginning I had no idea what in the world I was going to talk about each week, but each week I thought of something knew. 

When choosing what to research, I chose something that was something I knew about already but wanted to further my knowledge on the subject. I chose Celiac disease because I have the disease and am always finding out new information and ideas to incorporate in my daily life. Hence the title, Life of a Celiac.

If I had to do it all over again, I don’t think I would take anything back. I might add more information. But in all reality I talked about such a wide variety of information that dealt with the disease. Even if the disease does not mean anything to you, anyone could read this blog and take some valued information away from it. 

I might continue to post actually, I loved learning knew things about this disease and it will be important not only for me but my family members with the disease as well. I really enjoyed blogging alot because it is unlike any other social media that I currently have. It is a unique way of getting my thoughts out and is so personal. 

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Awareness in the MLB

May is Celiac Awareness month! It’s an exciting time and lots of things are going on throughout the country. Last year I didn’t find out until after it happened, but there was a Celiac Awareness night at the San Francisco Giants game. Everything at the park that night was  served gluten free and everything was safe to Celiac’s to eat. I think that would be a great thing to go to since: 1. I am a Celiac and 2. I love love love baseball!

Before I miss this event again I started to look at all the teams and see which teams are participating in Celiac Awareness. I came across information that the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team does a week long Celiac Awareness event every year. 

I think this is really cool because not a lot of people know about  the disease, but if more an more teams pick up on this, the disease will spread like a wild fire.

I included the link to their webpage, which explains all the different events.

http://news.yahoo.com/gluten-free-celiac-awareness-week-arizona-diamondbacks-baseball-140104748.html

Research Summary Part 2

As with the last post, this pertains to my research paper on celiac disease. So as for those who don’t know what i was researching… my research question was: How can awareness be widespread about Celiac disease and the effects of gluten on individuals?

I really wanted to focus on how to get awareness about the disease out and widespread because it is such a big deal right now and is a constant issue with this disease.

The second source I used in my research paper was from an EBSCO database provided by the University of Idaho, in which I  did a search for Celiac disease and it brought me to this article, titled, “Celiac- What Parents and Caregivers should know.” 

I found this article to be very informational and extremely effective for those who are near and around someone with Celiac on  a daily basis. 

The solution to my research paper is awareness, not only through word of mouth but also in doctors offices and I feel like this article could contribute or be transposed into a brochure about Celiac disease. This article talked a lot about how to protect someone from eating gluten, especially when young kids develop the disease or an intolerance. 

I referred to this source quite often in my research paper, and it help me a lot. I will definitely use a lot of this information when talking to friends and family about the disease as well.

Research Source Summary

As part of our recent research paper we were assigned to get sources from our library and scholarly websites. So for this blog post we must choose one of our sources and do a summary of what we learned from the source and how it helped develop our paper. 

So of all the journals and articles that I read about Celiac disease, my favorite one and I think the one I learned the most from was actually from kidshealth.org. (this is the link) But it was as if was teaching the disease to kids and teenagers about the disease. Literally anything you want to know about the disease, it is tailored to your ability of understanding.

I used this source a lot in helping me develop sentences to help me describe the disease. This link of the website was written by a doctor, which is even better and makes the article more credible to the reader.

One of the main things that I did not know about the disease, but learned from this website is that, “People with Celiac who eat gluten experience an immune system reaction to the protein gradually damages the villi in the small intestine. When the villi are damaged, the body is unable to absorb the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients it needs to stay healthy. People with celiac disease are therefore at risk of malnutrition and can develop anemia (a decreased number of red blood cells due to lack of iron) or osteoporosis (brittle bones from lack of calcium).”

This website I felt was really good not only for my research, but for teaching kids about the disease as well because that can be really hard to do sometimes.

Gluten-free as a Fad Diet

Gluten-free as a Fad Diet

This news story actually aired today on ABC Nightly News, talking about people who use gluten-free as a low carb diet. Gluten-free foods have become very popular these past few years, so people are seeing it as a chance to help them take out pastas, and breads from their diet. 

They talk about Miley Cyrus and how there has been a lot of talk about her body recently and the different rumors and questions people are posing about her. As it turns out, it just came out on Twitter that she has Celiac disease and is lactose-intolerant, causing her a great deal of stress. She is not anorexic or bullimic, she has real medical conditions.

This is an interesting article, because I thought that people who use a gluten-free diet to help them with weight loss would be better for us with Celiac disease because it would get more people talking about it and get awareness out and people would be healthier but after reading this; the doctor believes otherwise. “It’s a protein that has been in the human diet since the dawn of agriculture,” he said. ”I don’t endorse cutting gluten as a weight loss strategy. I think it is advisable only for those with genuine sensitivities.”

Stuff People Say to Celiacs

This is what we as Celiac’s go through on a daily basis, because people honestly just don’t understand!! It gets a bit annoying after awhile!

This just goes to show how much awareness about the disease is still needed, not only about the disease but gluten as well.

Top 50 gluten-free foods to find in every grocery store!!

When first learning you are a Celiac it can be hard to go grocery shopping, reading labels and getting used to not buying the same foods you had before. Here is a list of the Top 50gluten free foods chosen by kids from kidceliac.com.

1. 100% pure Ground Beef
2. ** Baked Tostitos and Bite Size Tortilla Chips
3. Black Label Bacon
4. Buddig sandwich meats
5. Butter (cream and salt)
6. Carnation hot chocolate
7. Cook’s ham slices
8. Daisy Sour Cream
9. Dinty Moore Beef Stew
10. Edy’s Snickers Ice Cream
11. Eggs
12. Ener-G Foods Rice spaghetti
13. Ener-G Foods Tapioca Bread
14. Ener-G Pretzels
15. French’s Mustard
16. Fresh Fruit
17. Fresh Vegetables
18. Frigo String Cheese
19. ** Fritos
20. Glutano Pretzels
21. Heinz Ketchup
22. Hormel Chile WITH beans
23. Hormel Little Sizzlers Sausage Links
24. Kids Kitchen Beans and Wienies
25. LaChoy Soy and Teriyaki Sauce
26. Midel Arrowroot cookies (like animal crackers)
27. Midel GF Chocolate Chip Cookies
28. Miracle Whip
29. Mission Brand Corn Chips
30. Nature’s Path Honey’d Corn Flakes
31. Nestle’s chocolate chips
32. Ore Ida Golden Crinkles
33. Oscar Meyer beef hotdogs
34. Pace Thick and Chunky Salsa
35. Pamela’s cookies
36. Prego Spaghetti sauce – original
37. Salads in a bag (without croutons or dressings)
38. Sargento Deli Cheese Slices
39. Sargento Shredded Cheddar Cheese
40. Shrimp
41. Sirloin and other types of beef steak, hamburger and pork
42. Star-Kist tuna – Plain
43. Sugar Babies
44. Thai Kitchen Instant Rice Noodles (Lemon Grass, Curry, Garlic and vegetables, Ginger and vegetables)
45. Thai Kitchen Red Chile Sauce
46. Tyson Chicken Tenders – Plain not breaded
47. Tyson Chicken Wings
48. Vlasic Pickles
49. Vlasic Sliced Jalapenos
50. Yoplait Yogurt1

After reading this list, you can tell celiac is becoming more widespread compared to years before! It is very exciting!!

People I Follow On Twitter!

For one of our assignments for class we were forced to create a twitter page to help us with our research assignment. So not only do we have to create this blog site but also must tweet everyday. Not only do I follow friends and classmates but also a few people near and dear to my research topic. I thought I might share those few people with you all!

Scott Adams @celiac_disease: He is a writer for the website celiac.com and always posts new information about events, coupons and new studies or findings. He posts very often and always useful information.

Wendy Gregory Kaho @midlife_celiac: She is a mom with 2 kids in college with celiac disease. She talks about finding new foods and recipes from local grocery stores and restaurants.

Kelly Coursen @CeliacChick: She is a chef and a “gluten-free treasure hunter.” She has been blogging gluten free for 7 years, about whats new gluten free!

Celiac Foundation @CeliacExperts: It is the official Twitter page for the Celiac Disease Foundation. They use twitter to help raise awareness at http://www.celiac.org.

Celiac Central @CeliacAwareness: It is the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness Twitter page. By following them you will get gluten free recipes, product reviews, celiac news, and tips.

Elizabeth Hasselbeck @ehasselbeck: Mom, wife of Pro Football Player Tim Hasselbeck, Celiac, actress, co-host on television show The View and recently author of a new book the G-Free diet.

 

 

Gluten Ataxia

When learning about gluten and Celiac disease, I thought it could only damage your small intestine, but after reading this article I was told differently. In some people, not only does that evil protein sets its sights on the intestinal wall but it aims for the brain in addition.

Not only is the intestines on the mind of the disease, its specific target is the cerebellum, the part of your brain that controls your coordination, balance and movements. Damage in this area due to gluten can lead to progressive balance issues, and eventually could force you to use a walker or a wheelchair to get around.

I would have never thought gluten damages your brain as well. It actually sounds really scary! When gluten begins to cause damage on your brain there is actually a medical diagnosis for that, not only would you be diagnosed with Celiac disease, but Gluten Ataxia as well.

It is not curable once you have it, but it is treatable the same as with Celiac, simply by removing the gluten from your diet completely.

Maple Baked Apples

As you know I am in love with food and I love cooking 🙂 It is my passion!! So here is an awesome recipe for maple baked apples!!! Can’t wait to make these!

Ingredients

• 4 apples
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• Ice cream (optional)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400° F.
2. Using a paring knife, remove the cores and trim about a 1/2-inch slice from the bottom of each apple, so they sit flat. Place the apples in an ovenproof skillet or 8- to 9-inch baking dish.
3. Drizzle with the syrup. Divide the walnuts and raisins among the apples, filling the cavities, and place any extra in the dish. Dot the apples with the butter. Bake until tender, 40 to 50 minutes.
4. If using a baking dish, pour the liquid from the dish into a skillet. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook until it thickens slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon the sauce over the warm apples and serve with the ice cream, if desired.