Tag Archives: celiac disease

New Cascadia Bakery – Portland

Posted on July 21, 2011 | 1 comment

I have so many posts to make from my trips that I don’t even know where to begin. But, I suppose the most impressive place that I went should go first.

After a thrilling trip to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, where I kicked some butt in old school video games, I headed to the one spot in Portland that was a must-go gluten free place…

New Cascadia Traditional ” The Gluten Free Artisans”

What a ~~pretentious~~ fitting name.

We had just missed sandwich time, which they serve until 3pm, so that was disappointing.

But they had so many other choices that I had to try a few things, one for now and one for later.

For now = asiago bagel with cream cheese.

When was the last time that you could order one bagel from a store, and have them make it for you the way you like? For me, probably about six years.

It was definitely a great bagel, but I think I may have lost my bagel lust somewhere along the way. It just doesn’t do the same thing it did for me in high school when I got a bagel with butter on it nearly every day after school (oh the shame).

For later =this amazing pizza with asparagus, mushrooms, blue cheese, and hazelnuts.

Yeah – who knew about the deliciousness of hazelnuts on a pizza?

I ate this for dinner, and then as a snack, and then as another dinner. I could have eaten the whole thing in one sitting though, but it was really rich, so I managed to hold off.

The only thing lacking at New Cascadia was the customer service. The girl behind the counter looked like she wanted to kill me every time I asked a question, and heaven forbid I ask for my bagel toasted. But luckily their food made up for it. I could have spent $100 on food here easily – blueberry pie, fresh bread, scones, cookies – you name it, they had it.

New Cascadia Traditional

1700 SE 6th Avenue at SE Market (two blocks South of Hawthorne).

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Posted in Restuarant Reviews

Tagged bagels, bakery, celiac disease, cookies, Gluten-free, Oregon, pizza, portland

Breaking News: Most people on a gluten free diet kind of think it sucks

Posted on July 3, 2011 | 1 comment

I was reading this article on jacksonville.com by Mark Basch (The Gluten Free Glutton) about how “43 percent of people on a gluten-free diet rated their satisfaction as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor,’ with 35 percent rating it as ‘average.'” So that’s 78% of people on a gf diet that kind of think it sucks.

How sad is that?

Then I got to thinking about how I would rate my satisfaction with my diet. And I think I’d say “above average”. Or maybe “average”? It’s such a weird question.

On the one hand, I still get to eat things like this massive Thanksgiving sandwich from Terri Vegetarian in NYC. And I’m very satisfied.

But on the other, sometimes I have to buy the one gluten free veggie burger in the grocery store, which ends up tasting dry and looking like a dirt patty, and I have to slather it with hummus to make it edible. Then? Not so satisfied.

How would you rate your satisfaction with your gluten free diet?

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Posted in News, Product Reviews, Restuarant Reviews, Tips

Tagged celiac, celiac disease, diet, Gluten-free, study, vegetarian, veggie burger

Mike’s Lite Hard Lemonade – do I dare?

Posted on June 22, 2011 | Leave a comment

I just read this updated post on Gluten Free Gobsmacked about Mike’s Hard Lemonade Lite. Surprisingly enough, I had never heard that this version of Mike’s was gluten free. I always assumed that it was in the “malt beverage” category, and therefore off limits. However, they claim that the lite version is gluten free on their website (and in a long Facebook message with Kate), meaning that they had it tested a bunch of times and it came back as being less than 5ppm gluten, which is far below the 20ppm limit you have to be under to be considered gluten free. Read more about it on their site.

This used to be one of my favorite summer drinks, as it’s low in calories, refreshing, cheap, and kind of corny. Plus you can almost do that “bros icing bros” thing with it.

However, Kate at Gluten Free Gobsmacked had a reaction when she drank it…which makes me hesitant to sprint out the door right now to buy some, as I had originally planned on doing.

Do I dare?
I never could really resist a dare, or anything alcoholic mixed with lemonade, so I’ll probably give it a try. I don’t have severe reactions like many others do, and I can’t imagine that a big company like theirs could be claiming the product to be gluten free still if many people are getting glutened from it.

If it IS gluten free, then this calls for a celebration! If it turns out to NOT be gluten free… Mike himself can expect a strongly worded letter from yours truly.

Gluten free beauty products are a hoax

Posted on June 15, 2011 | 5 comments

A few months ago I splurged and bought a lovely bottle of Origins “Checks and Balances” face wash that cost an arm and a leg, but smelled amazing and was really highly rated. Oh how I loved it so. Every time I washed my face it was like a little moment of luxury. Then I started reading about gluten free beauty products and started getting paranoid about if any of my shampoos, moisturizers, etc. contained gluten.

Long lost love

Of course, one of the ingredients in my prized face wash was actual “Wheat Protein” (say what?!). I didn’t really see anything happening to my face since using it, but I figured to be safe I should stop using it. And when I moved I gave it a tiny funeral in my head as I threw it in the trash can.

But THEN…

I stumbled upon the Washington Area Celiac Sprue Support Group Newsletter published in May. And apparently the Mayo Clinic just discovered that the whole “gluten free beauty” trend is a complete sham! Unless you actually ingest the product, it won’t do anything to you.

I feel so gypped!

The only thing that you have to look out for are products that go on or in your mouth, like toothpaste and lip balm.

Can someone please refund me $18.50 plus tax? : /

*Note: I have heard of people having skin reactions to gluten in skincare products. It might be a coincidence, or a DH reaction that manifests at the same time (a rash/blistering of the skin that is caused by eating gluten), but some may say “why take a chance?” and choose to avoid gluten in products. More power to you! I think that going forward I’m going to try to avoid anything that screams “contains wheat protein or wheat germ”, but I’m just not going to be as anal about checking and Googling every ingredient in my shampoo.

5 Comments

Posted in Product Reviews

Tagged beauty, celiac disease, celiac sprue, face, Gluten-free, origins, skincare

Grand Opening Field Trip: G-Free NYC

Posted on April 20, 2011 | 1 comment

I managed to make it up to the Upper West Side today for the Grand Opening of G-Free NYC! I needed some gluten free oats, plus I wanted to check out if they had any new loot that I couldn’t find at Whole Foods or the other natural stores I usually go to.

The store itself is pretty small, with a window seat, three freezers, a full wall of pantry shelves, and a table in the middle to house the baked goods imported in from Tulu’s.

The first freezer had desserts, including break-and-bake cookie dough, “Ring Tings”, cheesecakes, ice cream sandwiches, tiramisu, and ice cream. The break-and-bakes and ice cream sandwiches were new to me, but with so many fresh desserts I chose to focus my energy elsewhere.

The second freezer had breads, including hamburger buns, bagels, and Italian bread.

The third had more bread, with frozen baguettes, buns, and English muffins. The frozen baguettes are not something I’ve seen before, but at $7 and some change I decided to wait until a special occasion.

The pantry shelves held a couple more gems, including one of my purchases: individual packets of tamari soy sauce! Usually I lug around my La Choy in my purse, but this will be much more convenient. I’ve considered ordering these online before, but they only come in multi-packs, and who really needs 10 boxes of these?

I found another item that I considered purchasing online before in the pantry as well…Skinny Crisps! They also had all four flavors on the counter as free samples, and all of them were wonderful. Onion and cheese for savory-lovers and chocolate and cinnamon/sugar for the sweet-lovers.

Speaking of free samples… cinnamon rolls were out for the taking!

I picked up a carrot cake from Tulu’s for the train home, and an apple pie from Pi! This things smells amazing and looks buttery and flakey, can’t wait to try it! They also had potato knishes made by Pi, and some vegan cupcakes (which didn’t look that great to me – especially compared to the frosting perfection on Tulu’s).

I love that this store exists, that I could walk around and not be afraid to taste things, and not have to check labels. I only wish that it was closer to my work or apartment!

My haul = Skinny Crisps ($7), Tulu’s carrot cake loaf ($3.95), Pi apple pie ($4.50), and 20 pack of tamari soy sauce ($4.95).

For a full list of the products sold at G-Free, check out their website.

I hope more people go to G-Free to support local business and the gf community!

G-Free NYC

77 West 85th Street (1,2, A, C, E)

g-freenyc.com

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Posted in Product Reviews, Restuarant Reviews, Staple foods

Tagged bakery, celiac disease, Gluten-free, Groceries, NYC

The Celiac Kid!

Posted on April 12, 2011 | 1 comment

Last week I received a super fun package, containing a copy of “The Celiac Kid“, by Stephanie Skolmoski. The cover is amazing – I wish I could have a t-shirt in this design (except with a cartoon that looked a bit more like me, and a bit less like Charlie Brown with a toupee on:) ).

Since I don’t have any kids, I was trying to put myself in the seat of my 6 year old self when I read the book. I know that kids with Celiac’s must have a really hard time feeling “normal”, explaining their food choices to their friends, and learning about what is and is not okay for them to eat. I can see how a book like this could be really helpful in explaining the disease to younger siblings, cousins, or classmates who have never heard of a kid who can’t eat bread. There was obviously a lot of thought put into explaining each type of situation that a kid might find him/herself in (at school, at home, at a picnic, at a party).

I especially appreciated the pages about the mechanics of Celiac’s disease, how it destroys the villi in our intestines and makes us feel sick and lose nutrients. I wish that I could give some of the people I meet such a simple tutorial!

I also like that the author integrated a lot of typical kid foods into the book, to show that the diet doesn’t have to be so restrictive or unusual. However, there were a couple of things that I thought could be confusing to kids. Like there’s a page that says “I love waffles and pancakes – gluten free, of course… So you see, there are lots of different foods I can eat.” But, without describing that these are special waffles, made with different flour, I can see how another kid might think, “Oh great, my friend can eat waffles! I’ll make sure to share mine with him/her next time!”

When I first saw the cover of the book, I thought it was going to be more of a fairy-tale-like story about a kid who fights off gluten-filled foods, and maybe takes a journey inside his body (ala The Magic School Bus) to defend his GI Tract from the evil gluten proteins. Maybe he’d even have some kid of gluten-killing wand, or a sidekick of vitamins to defend himself with. Instead, the book is more of an explanation of what it’s like to live as a kid with Celiac’s. Which is definitely helpful, just not as exciting as I thought it would be. Maybe I should get to writing that Celiac Fairy Tale myself!

After reading the book, I was curious how many other children’s books were out on the market about having Celiac’s, and I found this whole list on Amazon! Who would have known that there were so many emerging resourced out there? Hopefully this trend continues so there is plenty ready for when I have kids.

The book is only $6.50, so there’s really no good excuse for not buying it for yourself, your son/daughter, or any young Celiac you know.

Buy it!

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Posted in Product Reviews

Tagged celiac disease, children's books, Gluten