Did you know that Saints quarterback Drew Brees is allergic to gluten?

He is also allergic to dairy and eggs. Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints on Super Bowl win!

(Photo via Google Images)

Glamour on gluten (or...Gluten on Glamour)

Gluten: Friend or foe? Some of you may be interested in reading yesterday's post on Vitamin G, Glamour's daily health and fitness blog.

Holiday gift baskets at Vanilla Spoons

There's one way to take the stress out of your holiday shopping: Order a gluten free gift basket from Vanilla Spoons. If there's someone on your list who has gluten intolerance or a wheat allergy, you can feel confident in choosing one of our gourmet gift baskets which have movie-themed names like Close Encounters of the Sweet Kind and Mix and The City. (Cheeky, I know.)

(Photo via Google Images)

Food With A Face

There was an article last week in The New York Times about Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson - author, former psychoanalyst, animal lover and vegan. He was in New York recently to promote his new book advocating veganism, “The Face on Your Plate: The Truth About Food." Masson's other books include “When Elephants Weep” and “Dogs Never Lie About Love,” both best sellers.

Of course I was immediately drawn to this photo.
Then I read this...

“And the thing is, I can’t bring home delicious, wonderful French bread and just eat it in front of him while he has to eat that gluten-free bread that tastes like paper or something.” (Mr. Masson is referring here to his 12-year-old son's gluten sensitivity.)

So I continued reading. Things like...

“Cats don’t appreciate it when you give them vegetables."

“The chickens were very sociable. They would come inside the house and watch me writing at the computer. And I would be picking up after them with a box of Kleenex."

As a Harvard undergraduate, Mr. Masson saw his own demons in a can of tuna.

Call it feeling loopy at one in the morning. But I then had face with a smile.

Do you think you could have celiac disease?

A friend of mine whom I've known for fifteen years was diagnosed recently with iron-deficiency anemia. After experimenting with various treatments and doing some of her own research, she decided to go on a gluten free diet. Since going gluten free, her lab test results are showing significant improvement. In fact, E. acknowledges having had digestive issues since childhood. While she doesn't yet have an official diagnosis of celiac disease, it's pretty clear that she is doing better with the GF diet.

While I'm not recommending that you self-diagnose and put yourself on a gluten free diet, my goal IS to spread celiac awareness. And to have you check out Shirley's fantastically informative post about the 20+ Reasons To Get Tested For Gluten Issues. Go there now.

If you're new here, you may also want to read this.

(Photo via weheartit)

Celiac Spotlight: An interview with Miss Aimee from Mostly Mod

I did a post last month on her gorgeous photography. What some of you may not know is that the lovely Miss Aimee of Mostly Mod has celiac disease. After I read about her recent trip to Marfa I was thinking: How does she maintain a gluten free diet while traveling? So I was thrilled when Miss Aimee agreed to answer a few questions about her personal experience with celiac.

When were you diagnosed with celiac disease?
About 4-5 years ago, although I will say it took me about a year to come to reality with the severity of it. I was in denial for a year thinking I could cheat the diet. I was scared that it would simply be unmanageable to continue on being "the foodie" I am in a celiac world.

What was one of the first things you ate after learning you couldn't eat gluten? Are there any foods you miss?
Well, naturally I think my body naturally disliked the foods I couldn't eat. I never liked pizza or pasta or bread. In fact, I can remember as a child always eating the inside of my sandwiches and the hamburger meat out of buns. I loved grits growing up and all corn-based products. So it wasn't a huge change for me. But I will say after knowing you cannot have something there is a funny thing that happens...you just want one more bite. I miss birthday cake from really great bakeries. I miss scones. I miss a good few bites of homemade macaroni and cheese or a good beer on a hot summer day. Although I have conveniently become a wino because of the lack of beer in the fridge.

Are there other members in your family with a gluten intolerance?
Yes, my Dad. He found out 5 years ago and that was why my sister and I both got tested. Of course my sister was fine, and I had celiac. Both my parents were not at all surprised as my Mom will tell the story over and over about the time I broke out in hives from eating too many stone wheat crackers one day. I loved those crackers! What a shame. The doctor (in the 70s) took me off wheat for about a year. Nobody knew what celiac was then!

What is meal prep like--do you cook one gluten free meal that all can share vs. separate ones?
I DO NOT make separate meals. We eat only gluten free foods in my house except for the basic bin of saltine crackers on the counter for my husband and the kids, and I always make sandwiches for the kids' lunch boxes on whole wheat bread. Although I will say my kids love toasted gluten free bread from Whole Foods. Whole Foods brand makes the BEST Prairie Bread ever! It must be toasted though. I eat it all the time.

Is there a favorite gluten free recipe you'd like to share?
Wow. So many. See my blog Mostly Mod for favorites as I post them every Tuesday! I only post recipes that are loved by the entire family. I have a fantastic Mexican cornbread recipe and we eat Pamela's brand pancake mix every Saturday for breakfast. I recently brought it on my Marfa trip and made pancakes for two families. Nobody knew they were gluten free and everyone loved them! In fact my friend Joslyn told me she thought they were better than regular pancakes! She swears she will buy them now. How great is that!

How often do you travel?
All the time. We are huge get-up-and-go-on-an-adventure kind of family. So I never know where we will eat but I can always find something!

Are there particular places you favor going where a gluten free diet can be easily accommodated?
No, I am a go-with-the-flow kind of girl. So, I am pretty easy.

Is there anywhere you would NOT recommend to a person who has dietary restrictions?
Well, I will say I am NOT a fast food kind of person and never have been. It is greasy and makes you feel so bad after eating it. I try not to ever feed it to my kids but sometimes they just want it (so you got to give in).

Basically, what's your method/best advice for handling the whole gluten issue when traveling?
Pack a small cooler bag full of fresh fruits and veggies, pack a few of your favorite boxes of gluten free crackers and a jar of peanut butter....and you won't starve no matter what. Be open-minded....chefs are pretty on the GF diet now. I find that when I go to any place to eat they pretty much all accommodate me well. You can always order a grilled chicken nothing on it and a side of rice or potato right?!

Is there anything else you'd like to add about dining out in general? (e.g., restaurants, friends' homes, etc.)
I will say my friends are intimidated at first to have us over for dinner because of my gluten free diet and then they realize it is pretty easy. I always send them to a few great gluten free recipe links on my blog sidebar that I frequent and they are all great recipes my husband and friends absolutely love! I always tell people you can't really go wrong with Mexican food either. The truth is gluten isn't good for anyone, celiac or not...so if you don't HAVE to go there why go there...right? I feel great. I have tons of energy, I am feeding my body the way I should...so yeah for celiac. I love cooking, I love eating...so it's all good over here.

Thank you for sharing, Miss Aimee!

Please feel free to email me (jackie at VanillaSpoons dot com) if you'd like to be featured in a celiac spotlight.

Related posts about dining out can be found here and here.

Is your college kid allergic to wheat or gluten?

We call it The Graduate. Remember this? A gluten free care package from Vanilla Spoons filled with yummy edibles. Artisan-crafted chocolate bars which were described as the "Best Organic Bars" by Food & Wine. Gourmet peanut butter with flavors like Mighty Maple and Cinnamon Raisin Swirl. Home-style vegan cookies from the lovely Liz Lovely. (A little warning about these cookies: My two girls WHO CAN EAT GLUTEN once scarfed down the Chocolate Fudge and Chocolate Chip before their celiac bro ever even had a crumb. Crummy indeed. True story.) And much more.

From now until March 20 we will offer a 10% discount on The Graduate. Just enter ANM for the code. Bridget (or Jake) will love being surprised by this gluten free goodness you send.

Planning a trip to New York, babycakes?

There's a bakery on New York's Lower East Side called BabyCakes. They specialize in vegan, wheat- and gluten-free desserts. I want to go there. (Numero uno on my list of places to go on our next New York visit.) A recent article in Gourmet features BabyCakes along with a few other vegan sweet spots throughout the U.S.

I love Erin McKenna's (founder of BabyCakes) philosophy about wanting "to create something that would be fun and cool-looking and didn’t make people feel even more alienated by their food sensitivities or choices." I so get this. Recently my son (who is gluten intolerant) was invited to a friend's birthday party. I asked him if he wanted to take along some of his own food. Come on. Just in case. He insisted no. He doesn't want to be viewed as that kid. I told him: "You're not special." We laughed.

So if you're in New York and have a sweet tooth, check out BabyCakes. Let me know if you run into Natalie, Zooey or Mary-Louise. Parker. Weeds, The West Wing, Fried Green Tomatoes...

*Pre-order BabyCakes' new cookbook in which Erin finally shares her trade secrets.*

(Cupcake photo by Horacio Salinas via Gourmet; Natalie photo via Cupcakes Take The Cake via Just Jared)

A spiel about celiac disease, gluten free food and Vanilla Spoons.

Some of you have asked me for the low-down on celiac disease and gluten. As the owner of a gift basket shop that sells exclusively gluten free foods, I assume everybody has heard about the gluten free diet. I sometimes forget that before my son was diagnosed with celiac disease ten years ago, I didn't know what gluten was either.

In a nutshell, celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten--the protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Gluten is literally the "glue" that holds together baked goods and pasta. Although gluten is found mainly in foods, it may also be in everyday products such as medicines, vitamins and lip balms. Now given that I am not a medical professional, nor do I play one on TV, I'm going to send you here to read more about it.

Since there is no cure for celiac disease, a strict adherence to a gluten free diet needs to be followed. This is the tricky part. It involves reading labels, phone calls to food manufacturers, reading labels and re-reading labels. The cool thing is when you focus on all the naturally gluten free foods. Like fresh fruit and veggies; fresh meat, chicken, fish and eggs; potatoes, rice and quinoa; cultured plain yogurt; and aged block cheeses and many varieties of real cheese (assuming dairy is not a problem for you). It almost sounds like the caveman diet, remember that one?

Certainly there are the obvious forbidden foods (bread, pizza, bagels, muffins, donuts, crackers, cookies, cake, brownies, cereal, fried food). BUT the gluten free versions of all these foods do exist. Buying them or making them is just a little less convenient. But since when is convenience usually the healthier option anyway?

I started Vanilla Spoons because it was something I was already doing. (Albeit without pay.) I call myself the Expert Label Reader. I'm constantly searching for new, delicious gluten free food products that are not always found in the mainstream marketplace. Vanilla Spoons represents my view on living a gluten free life. All the food and fun that can be enjoyed. Vanilla Spoons is an experience that combines creativity and deliciousness.

Thanks for taking the time to read this (if you've made it thus far). It's an unusually long post for Absolutely Not Martha.

(Image from here)

Eat it like Beckham.

Victoria, that is. Like Zooey, she also has a wheat allergy which I mention here. Just felt like using this catchy little post title today. The movie Bend It Like Beckham happens to be one of my all-time faves. A charming coming-of-age story with an intriguing glimpse at Indian culture in England. Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Superb soundtrack. (I rushed out to buy it the next day.) Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Getting back to Victoria. The third photo shows her wearing a $4 Goody Elastic Headband. Oh goody. An accessory of hers that I can actually afford.

Happy reporting in the land of the gluten free.

I'm happy to read that Dr. Nicholas Perricone's top ten beauty food picks are all gluten free. Yaaaay! The list includes: blueberries, apples, wild salmon, nuts, dark leafy greens, asparagus, olive oil and green tea. And I've saved the two best for last: red wine and dark chocolate. Yaaaay! (again)

Several, including the blueberries, dark chocolate and green tea, are great sources of antioxidants. Wild salmon helps keep skin young. Apples are good for your girlish figure. And we've all heard about chocolate being a potential mood elevator. I don't really care if it is or isn't. I'll still indulge.

Please note that the recipes you'll come across if you've followed the link, are not necessarily gluten free. However, I was surprised to see that the Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies are made without flour. Sounds gluten free to me. (No butter either!)

One last gluten free bite of reporting. I found it recently in the Orlando Sentinel. Heather McPherson placed "gluten free" at number eight for ten hot food trends to watch in 2009. She writes:

"Gluten as the new villain. Even though celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten, affects only about 1 percent of the population, proponents say a gluten-free diet can stimulate weight loss and help with chronic intestinal issues as well as diseases including autism and schizophrenia."

She does note, however, that these benefits are unproven. I'm curious to know if any of you would consider going on a gluten free diet if you didn't have to?

(Photo via weheartit)

Zooey. She don't eat no wheat.

(Say this like Aunt Voula in My Big Fat Greek Wedding: "He don't eat no meat.")



I've already posted about Zooey Deschanel's wheat gluten allergy here. But when I came across these photos while searching for this one, I just had to post them.

(Photos via weheartit.)

Part Two: Proper Etiquette for a Gluten Intolerant Person When Dining at a Friend's House.

Like the restaurant dining deal in Part One, call the host of the dinner party in advance. Explain your dietary restrictions in terms of what you can and cannot eat. It may be helpful to read Allergic Girl Sloane Miller's 7 tips for being a great allergic guest. She presents a slightly different scenario. But you'll get the idea of what it takes to make the dinner guest experience an enjoyable and safe one.

One more thing. Definitely bring a dish to share. (Gluten free, of course.) Even though you may be hands-on in the kitchen, it's extra assurance that you won't starve.

photo via Flickr

Part One: Proper Etiquette for a Gluten Intolerant Person When Ordering at a Restaurant.

Allergic Girl has four posts which discuss the whole dining out gluten free situation pretty darn well.

First read about creating a Cheers experience. Here she outlines steps to follow in preparation of your "Big Night" out. Basically, give a heads up to the restaurant by calling ahead. Present a gluten free card. (Get one if you don't already have one.) Be friendly. But be assertive.

Not Plain But Only is her newest bit of dining etiquette. Translation: say "only" instead of "plain" when ordering.

Another useful tip is having a safe friend with whom to dine. Someone who gets your needs and is understanding. Someone who realizes that you guys may need to leave the restaurant earlier than expected.

And finally, check out Allergic Girl's post about eating allergen-free at other people's weddings. Very similar to the steps in the Cheers experience. She also mentions bringing along a safe snack. (Just in case.)

Bon appetit!

(Stay tuned for Part Two: Proper Etiquette for a Gluten Intolerant Person When Dining at a Friend's House.)

Celebs eat gluten free too

Recognize any of these ladies? Maybe not the one in the bright red costume. That's Oscar-winning actress Rachel Weisz. BBC News states that Weisz has a wheat intolerance. (Yes, I realize there's a difference between wheat and gluten.)

remember Elf?
looking fierce

But... The View's Elisabeth Hasselbeck definitely lives the gluten free life because she has celiac disease.

Watch her on YouTube talking with Dr. Peter Green, Director of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University and author of Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic:



Here you can read articles about Zooey Deschanel's wheat gluten allergy and Victoria Beckham's craving for gluten free chocolate cookies.


(Photos via Google Images)