Saturday, October 30, 2010

Help research for celiacs/gluten intolerance

I have been traveling like a madwoman for my new-ish job, which is both great and not-so-great.  The great part is that I'm working (yay!) in a category that I'm passionate about (double-yay!) but because we are in a new-product launch mode, I am finding myself stretched too thin these days (as Bilbo says "like butter spread over too much bread").  I can't eat either anyway, so the metahpor seems a bit funnier to me.  :)  One of the pluses about business travel though, is that I am finding more and more places for us #foodallergy or intolerant peeps to be able to manage our issues!

I was in San Diego this last week, and at the suggestion of a woman with celiac's I met at my conference, I found the Jimbo's chain, which is local to the SD area.  It's sort of a cross of Wild Oats and Whole Foods, with a great deli and bakery section for takeout.  While in the bakery section, I overheard a young woman inquiring about gluten- and soy-free items in the bakery, and we started a conversation (shoutout to Laura!) about how time-consuming it is to bake from scratch when you have both a gluten- , dairy- and soy-allergy (and add rice to mine).  It made us both feel good to know we're not alone out there. (For you SD peeps, she mentioned Pizza Fusion who offers gluten-, casein- and vegan pizza, and Gluten Not Included bakery as friendly for us.)

Pizza Fusion has two locations in LA, fyi, will try them out even though the crust includes rice.  I think they're using Daiya cheese, I'll let you know!

I also found in the bakery a questionnaire for a celiac research project that I encourage you all to take and to share with others with gluten issues.  This student, Jaquelyn Askew, is looking for a connection between colic as a child and celiacs and/or gluten sensitivity.  As for me, I already know I was colicky as a child, my mom has mentioned it on more than one occasion (sorry Mom!), so I am intrigued to hear about her results, which according to her questionnaire will be published in spring 2011.

Here is the link to the simple questionnaire, comprised of six questions.  If you're answering for a family member, please submit answers for each person.  I'm a tad annoyed that she doesn't introduce herself, tell us of her school affiliation or credentials, etc. but as the questions don't ask for name or contact info, I'm not worried about privacy issues.

http://www.celiacresearchproject.com/index.html

The more we learn, the faster we'll figure out some solutions, right?  Thanks all!

1 comment:

Susan said...

Though not gluten-intolerant (or so testing told both daughter & I) add yeast-bread & maltodextrin intolerant. In fact, my yeast-bread/food intolerant induced Asthmatic Bronchitis has just again blossomed and I'll be headed to after hours for the usual ASAP. (sigh). Blessed be!