Gluten Free Wilmington: June 2009

Friday, June 19, 2009

Useful Resources: Gluten Free Meat Products

We all know that in going to the store if people do not have Celiacs disease they might not be aware of what Gluten is or why the product is marked that way, so I wanted to do a little research to see in a pinch what kind of web sites I could find that have gluten free meats for sale.

Here are the results:

http://www.thebuffaloguys.com/_SEO/gluten_free.asp
http://www.glutenfreeinfo.com/FoodList/fd/FD-meat.htm - this site is a bit outdated I am going to try to contact each supplier on this list to see if they have new products or an updated list.
http://surefoodsliving.com/2009/04/07/lunch-meat-gluten-free-and-dairy-free-list/ - this seemed to be a great site very good information.
http://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.php?autocom=blog&blogid=27&showentry=143
http://www.hqm.com/Products/gluten_free.aspx

Hope that this helps. I know that I have been wondering for a long time what meat I can and can not eat this is a challenge as a lot of food is processed and you are not sure with what. I believe that ingredients are a mystery in my latest meeting involving Celiacs a lot of people had stated they would not touch a product unless it stated gluten free on the package some where or the store had it marked gluten free.
How can we help to make any of this easier the producers are not labeling the products do we call each one individually and ask them maybe. I presume that only time will tell.

Gluten Free Raleigh Special Event: GF Cooking Demo w/ Jules Shepard

Click here for more information about an upcoming Gluten Free cooking demonstration with famous Celiac author Jules Shepard. The event will be held at the Earth Fare in Raleigh on July 12, 2009 @ 10am. Please sign up soon as only 40 spaces are available.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Grocery Store Review: Wal-mart

As we all know Wal-mart has a vast array of Gluten Free marked products on their shelves. Great for the Celiac diagnosed person. What we need to be aware of which I am sure many of you are, is the frozen meets. Great Value frozen chicken drum sticks are not gluten free they contain the ingredient sodium phosphate which many times as we all know contains gluten.. Orieda has also made it a point to put gluten free on their fries that you can purchase making life a lot easier. If any one knows any more about any items that are gluten free from Wal-mart please feel free to add to this post.

I have also discovered the wal-mart powder brand of chocolate pudding to be gluten free it takes a total of five minutes to make and is yummy and for all of you candy lovers out there we can still eat skittles and starburst.

Happy shopping....

Wal-mart has 3 Wilmington area locations
Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #1392
5226 Sigmon Road
Wilmington, NC 28403
(910) 392-4034

Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #4273
1112 Newpoint Blvd
Leland, NC 28451
(910) 383-1769

Wal-Mart Supercenter Store #1348
5135 Carolina Beach Road
Wilmington, NC 28412
(910) 452-0944

P.S. Harris Teeter also marks there products Gluten Free and has tortilla chips that are an unbeatable price check them out.

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.