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Jun/Jul 2012
Features
A Double Diagnosis: Celiac Disease and Diabetes
Gregg and Shari Friedman sit around the kitchen table. In front of them is a large plastic coffee container, big enough to make 270 cups. But the bright blue jug is filled to the rim, not with coffee, but with two months’ worth of needles used by their 12-year-old daughter Julia, who has type 1 diabetes and celiac disease, both autoimmune diseases that require constant vigilance.
Table Talk
Subscribers OnlyIf you don’t have time to research the restaurant and plan your gluten-free meal ahead, remember these rules for walk-in dining.
Inside Look at Eating Out
Subscribers OnlyLiving with a food allergy or intolerance changes your life forever. But being food allergic and a chef can really set your world on fire. I was diagnosed with a severe sensitivity to milk when I was attending culinary school in San Francisco. The diagnosis was a shock—but it made sense. For years, I’d been living with breathing problems, migraine headaches, diarrhea and I had trouble gaining weight. At 23, I was 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed 130 pounds. (I looked like a walking toothpick when I wore my chef’s uniform and hat.) With my milk sensitivity, I couldn’t eat half the foods I prepared in culinary school. If I did, I suffered for days.
Cheers!
The idea of a beer made without gluten used to be a cruel joke, a tease for millions of parched beer lovers living gluten-free by medical necessity. Fortunately, things have changed - and how! Today, gluten-free beers are springing up all over the globe. Thirsty innovators are creating beer in gluten-free varieties with satisfying profiles that range from light strawberry-honey to dark pseudo-malt.
Gluten-Free Brewing Bonanza
The idea of a beer made without gluten used to be a cruel joke, a tease for millions of parched beer lovers living gluten-free by medical necessity. Fortunately, things have changed—and how! Today, gluten-free beers are springing up all over the globe. Thirsty innovators are creating beer in gluten-free varieties with satisfying profiles that range from light strawberry-honey to dark pseudo-malt.
Departments
Life Story
Actress Pauley Perrette
It was 2003 when Pauley Perrette first played Goth forensic scientist Abby Sciuto on the TV global sensation NCIS. In 2011, she was voted America’s favorite prime-time television star. Perrette’s early goals were to work with animals or be an FBI agent, having studied at John Jay School of Criminal Science—and to live a long, happy and healthy life. To this end, she is disciplined about physical activity and healthy eating habits and always tries to look on the bright side of life.
All in the Family: Celiac Disease
Subscribers OnlyWhen Michelle Sullivan, DO, diagnoses a new patient with celiac disease, she blocks at least an hour. Michelle, who practices in the South Chicago suburb of Mokena, Illinois, doesn’t want to rush this news. And because it’s too much information to take in at once, she sends her patients home with a CD she’s prepared chock full of information about safe and unsafe foods, recipes and a collection of TV specials on celiac disease.
Celiac Symptoms
Subscribers OnlySymptoms of celiac disease vary widely. They may occur in the digestive system or in other parts of the body. It’s possible that symptoms may only be recognized in hindsight or that there may be no symptoms at all.
So Good
Gluten-Free Shortcake on a Shoestring
Subscribers OnlyIf you haven’t had much luck making gluten-free pastry in the past, your fate is about to change. Resist the urge to skip steps in the instructions and these irresistibly puffy and layered gluten-free shortcake will be your sweet reward.
Know Your Gluten-Free Noodle
People often complain that gluten-free pasta disintegrates in the pasta water, falls apart on the plate or globs together when refrigerated and reheated. These tips can help ensure your pasta will be a success.
Gluten-Free Pasta Shopping List
For gluten-free or allergy-friendly pasta ingredients, check out these resources.
No Tomatoes, No Potatoes
Subscribers OnlyWhen I was growing up, my family feasted on tomatoes during the summer months. Our meals, a reflection of my mother’s upbringing, northern French cuisine, also included lots of potatoes, my Irish father’s influence. Once I got a taste of Mediterranean foods, I fell in love with peppers and eggplant. Then the colors, textures and aromas of Mexican and Asian cuisines, especially the chilies, drew me in. Little by little, these foods would turn on me.
Gluten-Free Pasta-bilities
These gluten-free pasta recipes were created to showcase the season’s bounty of fresh vegetables, bringing out the best of summertime flavor and the wide variety of gluten-free pasta choices. Keep them cool and they can be packed up and toted to potluck or picnic.
House Call
Celiac Bill of Rights
Three million Americans have celiac disease and an estimated 18 to 20 million more are gluten sensitive. To serve this growing population, gluten-free prepared products are popping up on grocery store shelves in record numbers. This year, sales of gluten-free products are expected to reach $2.5 billion. According to one research group, the gluten-free market will exceed $5 billion in sales by 2015.
Pediactric Allergies Q & A - Bee Stings, Allergy Diagnosis, Epinephrine, and More!
Research suggests that indoor plants can pollinate and prompt allergic reactions, just like outdoor plants. Although not common, allergies to rubber plants, lilies and other flowering plants are reported in the medical literature. Additionally, indoor plants and the soil they’re potted in can harbor mold, which can trigger allergy symptoms, such as itchy, watery eyes, sneezing, nasal congestion and even breathing problems. Those who suffer from seasonal allergies may be particularly vulnerable. Given your reaction, you should limit the number of indoor plants in your home or avoid them altogether.
Research Roundup: Taste of Gluten, Hives, Celiac Screenings, and More!
For years, experts have recommended introducing gluten to infants at risk for celiac disease, such as those with parents or siblings with the condition, between 4 and 6 months of age. Now researchers at the University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research say there may be a benefit to delayed exposure, waiting until at least 12 months of age.
Try it
Living Without's Favorites: Good Snacking
If you like tortilla chips, you’ll love Way Better Snacks. These gluten-free chips have good-for-you nutrients from germinated whole grains, seeds and beans packed into every tasty bite. We’re talking organic flax, quinoa, Daikon radish, chia and broccoli seeds—all sprouted, which means more antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, not to mention flavor and crunch.
Living Without's Favorites: Better than Popcorn
If you’re missing popcorn due to corn allergy or sensitivity, you’re in luck. Mini Pops are air-popped grains of sorghum that taste, crunch and look just like popcorn but smaller. This innovative gluten-free, corn-free snack is organic and nutritious with fewer calories and more protein, iron and calcium than popcorn.
Living Without's Favorites: Just Enough
Calling all chocoholics! Do you have trouble saying “no” to more helpings of your favorite food? Try NibMor Daily Dose of Dark. Each individually wrapped square holds one serving of dark chocolate (72 percent cacao) that quells craving with just 50 calories.
Living Without's Favorites: More for Less
NadaMoo is creamy, smooth, rich and delicious—just like real ice cream except there’s no dairy, eggs or sugar. Basically, here’s what’s in it: coconut milk, a little rice syrup solids and a touch of agave syrup—all for about 140 calories a serving.
Read it
Living Without's Favorite Books: Feast for the Eyes
Now almost anyone can indulge. The Complete Allergy-Free Comfort Foods Cookbook (Lyons Press) by Elizabeth Gordon features gorgeous eats that are allergy friendly—free of gluten, dairy, soy, nuts and eggs.
Living Without's Favorite Books: Focus on Family
From the editors of Kiwi magazine comes Allergy-Friendly Food for Families (Andrews McMeel Publishing), a collection of 120 recipes that don’t contain gluten, dairy, eggs, nuts or soy. Although not all recipes are devoid of every listed food allergen, each offers flavorful opportunity to expand your family’s dining experience and help your children develop a diverse palate.
Living Without's Favorite Books: Cooking Class
Few home cooks know it all about food preparation because few of us have the opportunity to attend culinary academy. Here's a book to help remedy that. Kitchen on Fire, Mastering the Art of Cooking in 12 Weeks (Or Less) (Da Capo Life Long) by Olivier Said and Chef MikeC is a full course of cooking school crammed between two covers.
Living Without's Favorite Books: Food for Life
Like many other cookbooks, The Healthy Gluten-Free Life (Victory Belt Publishing) by Tammy Credicott has fabulous photos for every recipe that illustrate while they inspire. But it’s the spirit of this book that makes it special.
Food for Thought
Hard to Stomach?
You are what you absorb won’t catch on as a replacement for the old standard, you are what you eat—but it’s much more accurate. Whether faulty digestion causes food reactions or the reactions cause digestion woes is debatable. Either way, one condition rarely exists without the other. The fact is, for those with food allergy or intolerance, digestion needs help.
The Iris
I look on the bright side. Perhaps this is a natural trait of those who have food allergies—in my case, dairy, egg, beef, shrimp, soy, some tree nuts and so on. When simple pleasures that are available to everyone else are off limits to you, you pursue alternate satisfactions. As a perpetual latenik, I never worry about showing up before appetizers are gone because I wouldn’t be able to eat them anyway. I can’t order off the dessert menu, sure, but I enjoy my $11 tawny port without guilt.