The CeliAct Blog

A recent diagnosis of celiac disease can be scary and isolating. You may suddenly find that the world around you feels like it’s loaded with gluten landmines. The kitchen, the grocery store, restaurants, parties, travel… The combination of these can very overwhelming when you’re new to gluten-free living, instead of fun or exciting. Well, finding a good celiac support group can be just the remedy you need. The internet is a fabulous source of support, but there’s something very special about chatting (and eating) with other celiacs live and in person. Fortunately there are celiac support groups all over the United States, and all over the world! There’s no better place to get emotional support, […]

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Back when I was working for the federal government, finding a good gluten-free lunch was always tough. Most of the restaurants near my office were too pricey for my budget and required way too much time. This left the food trucks that would often hang around our office building during the lunch hour. Food trucks are often inexpensive, quick and convenient, and are the perfect lunch solution if you haven’t brought something from home. The problem? It was often extremely difficult to buy a lunch I could guarantee was gluten-free. Even if the ingredients looked safe on the surface, it was tough asking the food truck’s employees many questions when there were dozens of people […]

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As we discussed in our post on B vitamin deficiency, a gluten-free diet is critical for people with celiac disease but may also result in nutritional deficiencies if care isn’t taken to eat a healthy and balanced diet. Well, not only are B vitamins more difficult to come by, but sources of gluten-free fiber and iron are scarce as well. This is because while the general population consumes pasta, bread, cereal and other products that are fortified with vitamins and minerals, most gluten-free products are unfortified. Fiber and iron are two important components of a healthy diet and a healthy body that are naturally present in many wheat-based foods or are added by food manufacturers […]

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Imagine leaving your house in the morning to go for your morning coffee and being able to conveniently – at any of over 10,000 locations across the country – grab a gluten-free donut or gluten-free muffin at the counter along with it. Well, for some of us, that day is here as Dunkin Donuts has released gluten-free items at a few select locations. Last Friday, I stopped in at Dunkin Donuts in Brookline, Massachusetts (a few minutes from Fenway Park on the edge of Boston), when I noticed these donuts and muffins. I didn’t know from any ads outside the store or even inside the store. When I got to the counter to order, there […]

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In the spirit of 2012, ten of the best gluten-free blog articles didn’t seem like enough, so we had to go with a full-fledged twelve! This year was a huge year for improvements in celiac disease diagnoses, celiac awareness, and the gluten-free industry as a whole. New brands emerged, new research came to the forefront, and gluten-free food and options became a whole lot better! The good news is you can only expect that to continue, so we foresee even more progress in all of these areas in 2013. So, to celebrate the year, here’s a list of our twelve most popular blog articles (decided by you, our readers)… – Going Gluten-Free at the Drive-Through […]

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Following a gluten-free diet can be tough, and for many of us, it can be one of the biggest challenges in our lives. After all, if you have celiac disease, a gluten-free diet isn’t optional, and even the smallest amount of gluten can leave you debilitated for days. Can you imagine voluntarily doing something that would make it even more difficult to follow a gluten-free diet? Well, that’s exactly what thousands of men and women in the U.S. military do when they volunteer to serve the country – knowing they will face countless hurdles in their efforts to maintain a strict gluten-free diet. – Captain Benjamin Andrasik is one of those heroes. His memoir, Gluten […]

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After your diagnosis, you were told to follow a gluten-free diet and that your recovery would begin. Everything should be fine now, right? Not so fast! Although gluten-free diets are critical for people with celiac disease and gluten intolerance, there are serious nutritional drawbacks to a gluten-free diet. Since so many grains used today are fortified with B vitamins, gluten-free diets can often cause deficiencies. B vitamins are a family of water-soluble vitamins that are often added to processed wheat-based foods in the fortification process but are rarely added to gluten-free food. B vitamin deficiencies may arise in some people who are not consuming gluten-based foods any longer. Here we will discuss the B-vitamin deficiencies […]

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By all accounts, both celiac disease and gluten intolerance are being diagnosed much more widely these days. A recent study by Joseph Murray, MD, of the Mayo Clinic, tested blood samples taken fifty years ago and compared the incidence of celiac disease with blood samples taken today. The study found that the incidence of celiac disease today is four times what it was fifty years ago. There’s much ongoing debate about why celiac and gluten sensitivity diagnoses are increasing, which includes both research and conjecture. Here are a few controversial theories we’ve heard about why celiac disease and gluten intolerance are being diagnosed more frequently than before. –   Celiac disease is not becoming more […]

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Whether you spell it Hannukah, Chanukah, or any other variation, the Jewish festival of lights is drawing near, and with it comes an opportunity to indulge in lots of traditional holiday foods. Hanukkah fare is best known for fried foods such as latkes (potato pancakes) and sufganiyot (jelly donuts), which are served in recognition of the Hanukkah story. What’s the deal with all the fried food you ask? Well, since the story of Hanukkah involves one night’s worth of oil burning for eight nights in the Jewish Temple long ago, foods cooked in oil are consumed to celebrate! Any excuse to eat fried food sounds good to me, but it definitely poses some challenges to […]

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Thanksgiving just ended, and for many of you, that means one thing: It’s time to start thinking about Christmas. Of all the temptations for gluten-free folks around the holidays, the ubiquitous Christmas cookie is one of the hardest to resist. In the breakroom, at holiday parties, in bakeries, in mom’s kitchen… A beautiful array of gluten-laden cookies glistens with colored sugar and lends a buttery, sugary smell to the air! Everyone seems to have memories of favorite cookies baked by their families around Christmas-time, or of decorating cookies with icing and other decorations. For those of us who can no longer partake, it can be hard to miss out on all these delicious (and now […]

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Although celiac disease is best known for its gastrointestinal symptoms, there is a lot more to the disease than just diarrhea or bloating. In a subset of celiacs, the disease manifests in an extremely itchy autoimmune skin disease called dermatitis herpetiformis (DH), also called Duhring’s disease and referred to by some as a “gluten rash”. It is important that every celiac know what the signs and symptoms of DH are, so that you can be sure to identify it and get the proper treatment. –   What Does Dermatitis Herpetiformis Look Like?   Uncomfortable, or even painful, bumps and blisters filled with liquid form on the skin all over the body in affected individuals. These […]

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Thanksgiving is all about family, food and gratitude. But it sure can be hard to feel grateful when you’re a guest at someone else’s house who may not fully understand your diet. This can lead to difficulty finding things to eat at the table, and concern about cross-contamination. For these reasons, Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays for celiacs to plan for. It revolves around one big meal, and there are a number of things you can do to make sure your Thanksgiving is everything you hoped for. Here are a few tips to help make Thanksgiving celiac-friendly so you can focus on enjoying your friends and family and delicious gluten-free food… – […]

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The terms “gluten intolerance” and “gluten sensitivity” are often used interchangeably, and sometimes they are even used interchangeably with “celiac disease.” So what’s the deal with these different terms that are used for people who are unable to digest gluten? Does it matter which term you use? And, most importantly, do the nutritional concerns of a person with biopsy-confirmed celiac disease vary from the nutritional concerns of someone with serious non-celiac gluten sensitivity? Let’s take a look at what these terms mean, and why using the right one can improve your health. –   Know the Difference Between Celiac Disease and Gluten Intolerance   Celiac disease: An autoimmune disease also known as celiac sprue or gluten-sensitive […]

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I live in an area hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. Before the storm, we got more serious about disaster preparedness than we had been in the past since it looked like it could be a massive storm. We stocked up on batteries, flashlights and bottled water like everyone else did… But I also had something else to consider: How would I feed myself if we were stuck in our house with no electricity for days on end? I could think of lots of easy food for the rest of my family, but for my gluten-free self, it was a little more challenging. I’m glad that I gave this some serious consideration, because we did lose […]

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Tortillas are one of the most versatile tools in our gluten-free tool box. They make fantastic substitutes for almost any gluten-free baked product. You can wrap them around a hot dog instead of using a bun, or you can use them instead of gluten-free bread to make a deli sandwich or a quick PB&J. And for those of you who enjoy Mexican cuisine, tortillas are an absolute necessity. Well, since being able to find good gluten-free tortillas is such an important aspect of the gluten-free diet, we did some research for you. Here are some gluten-free tortillas available on the market today… – You may find these at your local health food store, Whole Foods, […]

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