Stephanie Life of Determination

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) is a non profit organization to help raise awareness of Celiac Disease. I have volunteered for over two years by handing out their brochures at doctors offices and natural health food stores. The organization has a monthly email newsletter. I use to have write articles for the newsletter. Their goal is to help reduce the time to diagnose and reduce te devastating impact of undiagnosed Celiac Disease, including the contraction of other diseases such as cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and 'autoimmune cascade.' I was diagnosed late and ended up with many more medical issues. The peditrician didn't know anything about Celiac. I was told that I had Irritable Bowel Syndrome, but It was acutally Celiac for seventeen years. Now I am twenty-three with already ten surgeries. The Foundation is always looking for volunteers. You can visit their website at: http://www.celiaccentral.org

Reading about the Meijers GF taste testing, I thought it would have lots of samples. Come to find out it wasn't much. I went to the Cascade Meijers and there was only one table with samples. It was Pamala's cookies, some type of pizza and the Glutino's pretzels. I went around 1:30pm and was surprise that they didn't have that much to sample. There was more regular samples then that. The best place to samples Gluten Free items is Forest Hills Food, when they have Gluten Free Day. Meijers has alot to catch up compared to Forest Hills Food. At least Meijers was thinking about us gluten free people. Thank You Meijers!!

The Gluten Free Fair was a blast, like always. I talk to some of you who went to the event. Most of you said that you liked Breadstone Stone Bakery the best. I have tried many different types of bread and I too agree with all of you at the Fair, that Breadstone Bakery is the best. There breads are so soft and tasty. Usually all the Gluten Free breads are dry and heavy, but their breads and cinnimon rolls are to dye for. Try their breads you wont regret it.Once you try it you won't want to buy any other breads. You can buy their breads at Forest Hills Foods Grand Rapids Michigan, Harvest Health on Cascade Grand Rapids Michigan,We will be delivering frozen products through Panecea in Rockford, as well. This year there was two room, which helped keep the flow of people smooth. People didn't have to wait forever to move table to table. There was many resturants that had their menus out labeling what is Gluten Free. There was tons of Gluten Free items and samples to try. Every th

Out all the Health Food stores around Grand Rapids area and even Lansing is Apple Valley Natural Foods. They have the best selection of Gluten Free items. Every week they get something new in. I feel that Apple Valley has a better selection then Whole Foods and even Trader Joe's. If you are in the area stop in and you will be happy about going. If you get a chance, drive to Apple Valley Natural Foods. The more you stop and buy the selection will keep getting bigger. Apple Valley Will have some samples, free products and a list of what the store carries at the Grand Rapids Gluten Free Food Fair at Kyuper College on the Beltline at 10:00- 3:00. Address: (The Kentwood Apple Valley, I know has a big section of GF, The other I am not sure, because they are owned by different people.) Apple Valley Natural Foods 6070 Kalamazoo Ave., SE Kentwood, MI 49508 616-554-3205 (phone) Website: http://www.avnf.com/locations.html Hours: Sunday: 11:00 am - 5:00 pm Monday - Thursday: 9:00 am - 8:00 p

The annual Gluten Free Fair is back for hopefully another successful year. On May 2nd at Kyuper College on the Beltline. Time is at 10:00-3:00 They will have free samples and information about different companies. There will also be door prizes every 30 minutes. Contact Information—616-363-9425 celiackidsofgr@yahoo.com Sponsored by: Anchor Baptist Church Business that will be there are: Tastefully Gluten Free Bread Stone Bakery Breads From Anna Celiac Specialties Full Flavor Foods Best Breads Enjoy Life Meijer, Inc. Food Tek Organic Bistro Coco Charlotte Midge’s Muffins Heartlands Finest Forest Hills Foods Pamela’s Products It’s A Piece of Cake Harvest Health Foods Gluten Free Sensations And More

I've heard that the following celebs avoid wheat. So they may or may not have Celiac Disease (some could just avoid wheat because they think it's healthier... or perhaps for religious reasons), but... they are supposedly on similar diets! Many of these I found on a message board at Celiac.com. Billy Bob Thornton Jim Carrey Victoria Beckham (aka Posh Spice) Rachel Weisz Regis Philbin (from Regis and Kelly) Goldie Hawn Jude Law Madonna Elisabeth Hasselbeck (The View) Juliette Lewis Susie Essman Sarah Vowell (Violet in The Incredibles) Terence Stamp (Jor-El in Smallville) Emmy Rossum Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) Dannii Minogue (Kylie Minogue's sister) Amanda Donohoe Scarlett Johansson said in an interview that she has a wheat allergy, referring to working in a wheat field. Not sure if she is on a wheat-free diet. Gwyneth Paltrow has been on a GF diet in the past (not sure if she still is). I thought that was pretty neat. I wish more would speak out about it though! I'm sure the

The following is an announcement from General Mills - great news! General Mills Announcement 3/31/09 "Thank you for contacting General Mills regarding gluten in Corn Chex cereal. General Mills is reformulating the following Big G Cereals to gluten free status: · Corn Chex · Honey Nut Chex · Strawberry Chex · Chocolate Chex · Cinnamon Chex As was the case with Gluten Free Rice Chex, the barley malt ingredient was removed and replaced with another ingredient. Production has begun, so you may start seeing the gluten free formulas on store shelves now. All 5 products should be widely available across the U.S. by June 1, 2009. As with all reformulated products, both products may be on store shelves at the same time so please read labels/packaging carefully, examining the product packaging to ensure that the cereal inside the box is in fact the new, gluten free product. Look for "NOW GLUTEN FREE" or "GLUTEN FREE" on the front/side/back panels. In addition, the follow