Gluten Free Fayetteville: September 2011

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Greetings from the newest Fayetteville Blogger

I am really excited to be added to the Gluten Free Fayetteville Blog. I wanted to tell you a bit about myself, aside from what my profile already says.
I have lived in the Fayetteville area for over 20 years. I am a nurse and I do patient education. I am also a huge foodie and love to bake and cook. I was given a confusing diagnosis last November, that i have the gene for Celiac and would benefit from a gluten free diet. It was felt that inflammatory response to gluten may be the source of widespread pain in my joints. So I began to immerse myself into the world of Celiac and gluten free. The people around me, who love and care about me, have been really amazing. My church ordered gluten free wafers for Communion and I have been supported a hundred percent through my work.
I am working towards getting a support group of celiac and gluten free folk here in the area, so if you are interested, drop me a line. It is still very in the ground works, but the number is growing. We just need to get better organized.
I find my gluten free foods at my favorite grocery store, Harris Teeter and also at a grocery store in Hope Mills, Food Lion. That particular Food Lion, while not a large store, has a great variety of items and pretty decent prices.
I bought a ton of recipe books and flours and have been trying my hand at different recipes to see what works and what doesn't work.
If you are embarking on the new world of gluten free, i have a piece of advice for you. Look in your pantry and learn what you eat now that has gluten in it. Replace each item as you use it up with gluten free items, such as Rice Chex for Cheerios, quinoa pasta for regular pasta. Then start looking really closely at hidden sources of gluten and replace it out as you go. Speak up at restaurants and ask for pasta to be kept off your plate and replaced with steamed veggies etc. It can be hard, but with perseverence it can happen!
I would love to hear from other people in the Cumberland county area that are going or are gluten free. Drop me a line!
Take care, Debbie

Celiac Disease by the Numbers

1 out of every 133 Americans (about 3 million people) has CD.
97% of Americans estimated to have CD are not diagnosed.
CD has over 300 known symptoms although some people experience none.
Age of diagnosis is key: If you are diagnosed between age 2-4, your chance of getting an additional autoimmune disorder is 10.5%. Over the age of 20, that rockets up to 34%.
30% of the US population is estimated to have the genes necessary for CD.
2.5 babies are born every minute in the USA with the genetic makeup to have CD.
There are 15 states in the US with populations less than the total number of Celiacs in the US.
CD affects more people in the US than Crohn’s Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease combined.
500,000 new Celiac diagnoses are expected to occur in the US by 2012 -- thanks to efforts to raise public awareness of the disease.
People with CD dine out 80% less than they used to before diagnosis and believe less than 10% of eating establishments have a 'very good' or 'good' understanding of GF diets.
It takes an average of 11 years for patients to be properly diagnosed with CD even though a simple blood test exists.
The average cost of misdiagnosis is $5,000 - $12,000 per person per year. Improving the time to diagnosis could save the health care system millions of dollars annually in unnecessary medical care.
A recent study by Packaged Facts projects that the sales of GF food will reach $2.63 Billion by 2012.
GF foods are, on average, 242% more expensive then their non-GF counterparts.
The smallest amount of gluten which has been shown by a biopsy to cause damage to a Celiac is 0.1 gram per day - or 1/48th of a slice of bread.
The Food Allergen Labeling & Consumer Protection Act became law in 2006 allowing for easier reading of food labels for those with CD. What took so long?
12% of people in the US who have Down Syndrome also have CD.
6% of people in the US who have Type 1 Diabetes also have CD.
Among people who have a first-degree relative diagnosed with celiac, as many as 1 in 22 people may have the disease.
There are currently 0 drugs available to treat CD.