The CeliAct Blog

A visit to any well-stocked health food store reveals a wide variety of gluten-free flours. While gluten-free flours can make bread, quick bread, cookies and cakes, a single gluten-free flour can’t do the job of wheat flour. You can purchase all-purpose gluten-free flour blends, but you may want to experiment with different combinations of individual flours to incorporate more high-fiber whole grains into your diet or find the flavors and textures you prefer. While learning to bake with gluten-free ingredients requires some time and trial and error, mastering these skills can allow you to enjoy old favorites, find new recipes you enjoy and save money on pricey purchased gluten-free treats. – What Are Gluten-Free Flour […]

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One of the triumphs in the celiac disease community in our nascent 21st century has been a dramatically heightened awareness of celiac disease. The once considered rare “celiac sprue” is now well-known to afflict approximately 1% of all people in the US. As more and more people are diagnosed with celiac disease than ever before, scientists are debating whether the flood of diagnoses represents more cases or simply more awareness. A new study conducted by Mayo Clinic scientists discovered that the actual number of people with celiac disease is rising at a rapid clip. This data is a blow to CD experts that claim better awareness by patients and doctors is largely responsible for the […]

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According to Google Trends, searches for the keyword “gluten free” have nearly doubled in the last 18-months. While the bulk of the increase is due to increasing awareness (and diagnosis) of celiac disease around the globe, it also represents a growing trend: the adoption of a gluten-free diet by people without celiac disease. – Gluten-Free Goes Mainstream   A slew of new diet books advise that anyone – including people that don’t have celiac disease – looking to shed pounds should unceremoniously cut out gluten from their diet. They claim that gluten-containing foods cause a roller coaster of blood sugar and displace more nutritious foods from the diet. One of the frontrunners in the gluten-free […]

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As the gluten-free marketplace grows, the brands that serve you continue to evolve and improve. Years ago, gluten-free brands were overpriced and underwhelming. Many of the breads, bars, cereals, and other foods just didn’t taste good, and they came at prices that anyone newly gluten-free scoffed at. Now, I don’t want to pretend that gluten-free food isn’t still expensive. It is. But, from ten years ago, to five years ago, to even two years ago, prices have decreased and quality has dramatically increased. There’s a lot that has contributed to that reality: more gluten-free consumers, more money at stake, more brands entering the market, bigger brands like General Mills and Smart Balance joining in the […]

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One of the most challenging parts of the gluten-free diet is lunch. While our colleagues simply “brown bag it” or grab something from the cafeteria, lunch poses a very serious challenge for us celiacs. Even if you find a restaurant with great gluten-free options near work, eating there every day can start to be pretty expensive! Luckily for us, times are changing for followers of the gluten-free diet. Like all aspects of the gluten-free life, packing lunch is getting much easier. Below, I share 4 tips that have helped me tackle this challenge and I’m sure they’ll help you too! – “Bringing Sandwich Back” – If you recognize this phrase, it’s because it is an […]

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So I was sitting at home doing some work the other night and I had the TV on in the background. (I actually find it hard to concentrate in silence and tend to prefer music or TV in the background). All of a sudden something caught my attention. I could have sworn I heard the words “gluten-free” emanating from the TV so I turned around to focus my attention on whatever was airing. Sure enough, a Chex commercial was on and the main selling point of the commercial was the fact that Chex are gluten-free! Now I know Chex have been gluten-free for a while, but I find it very surprising and even exciting that […]

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Folate and folic acid became a hot topic in the late ‘90s, when the USDA decided to fortify bread flours, cornmeal, pasta, rice, and other grain products with folic acid. Why did they do that? To decrease neural tube defects, like spina bifida and anencephaly, in new-born babies, both caused by too little folate in mothers at the time of conception. Folic acid’s main job is to help replicate genetic materials like DNA and RNA, so it’s important during high periods of growth like infancy, adolescence, and pregnancy. Fast forward to now, and neural tube defects in newborns have decreased by 25-50%. – This mandatory fortification has led to about 100mcg greater intake per day […]

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The gluten-free life has never been better. New products are constantly coming out, restaurants are putting together gluten-free menus, websites and blogs with useful information are popping up all over the place… there really has never been a better time to be gluten-free. With all of those advances, though, come high expectations. And naturally with high expectations, you increase your chances for disappointment. Disappointment. That is the primary word that comes to mind when I look back on this past weekend’s trip to the Cheesecake Factory. – Just Another Visit to One of My Favorite Restaurants   After having followed the gluten-free diet for 10+ years now, I can almost always eat at restaurants without […]

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Gallons of ink have been spilled about so-called “hidden gluten” foods. Sure enough, gluten-free gumshoes would be well served by investigating foods – such as deli meats – that harbor gluten particle fugitives. However, there’s a new concern growing among celiac experts: how to define the two words “gluten-free.” Right alongside a ballooning debt and sky-high unemployment, Congress is working hard on figuring out how to approach the sticky subject of gluten-free labeling. Here’s the current state of affairs and what to watch out for. –   No Such Thing as a Gluten-Free Lunch   There’s not much debate over whether there should be rules in place to make sure that products which claim to […]

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In Celiac Disease and the Quest for a Cure Part 1, we discussed Nexvax2. This vaccine could one day offer a real cure for celiac disease by “teaching” our immune systems to tolerate gluten. Today, we’re going to look at a company that’s taking a completely different approach. California-based biotechnology company Alvine Pharmaceuticals has been hard at work on their leading candidate for celiac disease treatment. The newest version of this therapy is called ALV003, which uses an enzyme-based approach to break down the harmful components of gluten. See, humans do not break down the massive gluten particle as completely as it breaks down smaller, simpler food particles. These partially digested gluten peptides make their […]

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  In 1796, Edward Jenner developed a treatment for smallpox that consisted of exposing humans to a different and less severe form of the virus. Ever since then, scientists have developed dozens of similar therapies. The ultimate purpose of a vaccine, as this method came to be known, is to trick the immune system by exposing it to harmless elements of a pathogen. Nexpep, a biotechnology company based out of Melbourne, Australia, took this concept and applied it to celiac disease. The potentially groundbreaking results? Nexvax – a vaccine for celiac disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune condition causing your immune system to recognize gluten as a foreign intruder. The resulting immunological response to gluten ingestion […]

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  So, you have to follow a gluten free diet. Sounds challenging, right? Now imagine following that same gluten free diet, but you move to a new city and you don’t know where any of the gluten free restaurants are. You don’t know which grocery stores have good gluten free selections, or even where their gluten free sections are. For the first time in your life you lose access to your mother’s cooking. In fact, you will lose your kitchen altogether and you’ll be lucky to have a locker-sized refrigerator. You’ve also adopted a new sleep schedule where you’re consistently awake up to 6 hours after restaurants and grocery stores close. Sounds tough, right? Well, […]

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With most grains and flours out of the question, how do you eat your favorite foods and cook your favorite gluten free recipes? It’s not easy, but ancient grains are your answer. Why are they called ancient grains? They all have histories that span far back, but they’re all pretty new to modern European and American culture. Not only are they new and novel, they’re nutritious. And in most cases, they can effectively replace your traditional grains. One gluten free brand that’s leading us into the new generation of nutritious and delicious gluten free foods is Cocomama Foods, creator of an innovative line of quinoa-based cereals and soon other ancient grain-based products. “When I was […]

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So many celiac diagnoses are initiated by the patient, and not the physician. After all, there are still a vast number of physicians out there (especially the ones who went to medical school decades ago) who are frighteningly ignorant of celiac disease. Why is this the case? Recent research helps shed some light. The Celiac Disease Center at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston is one of the best of its kind. A lot of you have probably heard their name recently as they have been (very) actively recruiting adults with celiac disease for a survey on celiac symptoms. While the data from that survey isn’t available yet, they did just publish […]

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Max and I always start the summer with a Memorial Day weekend trip to Nantucket for Figawi weekend. It’s a famous yacht race that starts in Hyannis and goes east to Nantucket. Unfortunately we don’t own a yacht. And honestly, we don’t know much about the race. It’s just a great place to kick off the summer. Since it’s a guaranteed 4 days straight of barbecuing, we sought to put together a guide of sorts on how to best do a gluten free barbecue, realizing that no matter where you go, there’s almost never going to be a completely gluten free barbecue. So, it takes work beyond just knowing great gluten free barbecue recipes. Making […]

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