New Gluten Free Website! Check it out New Jersey!

I've been wandering aimlessly around the web and happened upon a GREAT website for all us New Jersey Celiacs.
Check out www.myglutenfreenj.com

This site lists all the places in New Jersey to get gluten free food! Restaurants! Health food stores!

It also has a gluten free alcohol page! Whoo hooo!

Apologies...

I don't post here as much as I should. Good intentions often go out the window as life comes in.
I recently came back from Florida. Food issues always drive me a bit batty when I travel. I fear food. I don't want to eat out for eight days and nights due to cross contamination issues. How do I know what goes on in that kitchen behind the swinging door? I've worked as a waitress and seen what's back there. Dinner hour in a restaurant kitchen is like a hurricane blowing over a tiny island of chaos. Food moves through at the speed of light. Order up, cook, slap it on the plate and move it out. Mistakes are easy to make.
I got sick the third day of my trip and felt like crap for three days. Blah.
Which put me off food for the rest of the trip. I ate very little, saving my appetite for home when I could eat without risk. (Can we ever really eat without risk?)
Florida was nice. Hot, humid and relaxing but its good to be home.

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!

Betty Crocker is doing GLUTEN FREE!
Just picked up the Browie mix and Yellow Cake mix in Pathmark in Hazlet, NJ. (They also have Chocolate Cake mix and Chocolate Chip Cookie mix).
The Brownies are in the oven now....I'll let you know how they come out.
Doing the happy dance here!

Everybody's Nuts AND Gluten Free (Almost)

Thank you for contacting Everybody’s Nuts concerning pistachios processed and packaged by Paramount Farms. With the exception of the European Roast Flavor, all the other flavors are gluten free as the European Roast does contain some barley in the malt vinegar. I hope the information I provided you with was useful.
Regards,
Paramount Farms
13646 Highway 33
Lost Hills, CA 93249
kgettenpowell@paramountfarms.com

Celiacs and other issues

I've been diagnosed with hypothyroid for about ten years. Celiac's since 2003. Going gluten free definitely made me feel better but underneath I still felt there was something else.
One lovely Saturday afternoon I was cleaning and my dd was watching a show called Medical Mysteries. The woman in the show had IBS, dizziness, and a few other issues. As each ailment was brought up I said, "I have that." After the third or fourth time my dd turned to me and said, "Hey, maybe you should get checked for whatever she has."
The woman in the show had Pernicious Anemia which is a B-12 deficiency.
Hmmm, so to the doctor I went for a test.
My B-12 was low. Now I get shots once a month and take a perscription B-12 vitamin every day. And I'm feeling much better!
The Internet doesn't have a lot of in depth information on Pernicious anemia but I found one wonderfully interactive site:

STOP!

Sometimes a really nice doctor will tell you..."Just go off gluten for a while and see how you feel."
VERY BAD ADVICE
Sheesh! You might feel better, headaches clear, tummy and bowels improve, joint pain gone...but you will never know if you have Celiac Disease. When you stop ingesting gluten the antibody level in your blood will also change. Thereby altering a positive test result.
Going off gluten forever is life-altering. You have to change not only the way you eat but also the way you cook, shop and party.
Yes, I said party. Gone are the days where you can grab a quick slice of pizza from the corner store, a buttered roll with that morning coffee or share a random treat from the vending machine at work. The neighborhood BBQ? You'll now have to bring your own food...and yes, maybe their burgers are gluten free but I'm betting they put the rolls on the grill to toast them. Hence, anything else on their grill is GLUTENATED.
Do you really want to make this big a change without knowing for sure?
I didn't think so. So continue eating gluten every day until all tests are completed. It's the best way to know for sure.

More Gluten Free bars.

I was shopping the other day and the words GLUTEN FREE just jumped out at me.
I love it when they put it right in the middle of the lable so I don't have to spend 20 minutes searching the fine print.
Lately I've been seeing more and more gluten free products in the local grocery stores. Watch out! Celiacs are all around us.
This bar I found in Shop Rite.
The best part is-it's really good! Definitely on my buy list from now on. Cost of about $1.59 or so, it was sold in singles.
170 calories
5g fat
27 total carbohydrates
9g protein
On Weight Watchers it's 3 points.
:)