February 2015 Meeting Summary

So much information was shared at the February 17th meeting of the Prescott Area Celiac and Gluten Free Support!  A big thank you to all who contributed their thoughts and suggestions.

Many new happenings in the gluten free world! The Girl Scouts organization now have GF Toffee Cookies. Pizza Hut is offering Udi's GF Pizza nationwide (2,400 Pizza Huts). Locally, in the Prescott Tri-City Area, it is not yet known if the local Pizza Hut is part of the roll out test market on the GF pizzas.  Breyer's ice cream will soon be non-GMO.  Organic produce has a bar code that starts with the number 9 (you can verify this at local grocers). Glutenator Beer was highly recommended as a great GF Beer...so everyone in the group that would like a good GF beer, go to Park Plaza or Lloyd's Liquors and ask them to carry it.

A lengthy discussion took place at the February 17th meeting on the possibility of the local GF support group becoming a branch of the national Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG). Individuals may join GIG at www.gluten.net for $28-35 annually (depending on age). There are currently no dues for members of the Prescott Area Celiac and Gluten Free Support Group. However, should a decision be made to become a branch of GIG, there are many benefits, especially because the local support group would be listed on their national web site as a GF support group. Even now, when Mayo Clinic diagnoses someone with Celiac, they recommend finding a local support group. Any comments on this possible opportunity with Gluten Intolerance Group of America can be sent to Renee at gfreerenee@juno.com.    

And a thank you to Bill H. for sharing the words of Hippocrates:"Our food should be our medicine and our medicine should be our food"; "walking is man's best medicine"; and  "All Disease begins in the gut".  These words were said over 2,000 years ago!

The next meeting of the Prescott Area Celiac and Gluten Free Support Organization will be held at the Prescott Public Library, lower level Founder's Room "A", on tuesday, March 17th from 12 noon to 2PM.

RR/DJ

January 2015 Meeting Summary

The Prescott Area Celiac and Gluten Free Support organization met for its' first meeting of 2015 on tuesday, January 20th.  The meeting was well-attended.  Many group members had attended the GF & AF Expo in Glendale, Arizona on January 17th.  Those that did attend the event were able to learn about many new GF products in the marketplace, taste samples and come away with a big bag of complimentary goodies.  And some vendors even sold their dry goods at a very reduced price.

At the expo this year there were several lectures and informative speakers scheduled throughout the day of the event.  One lecture that Renee R. attended was about "GF Belly Blasters". The speaker was a very dynamic woman from Canada named Kathy Smart. She was not only very educated but very entertaining. Check out her website www.livethesmartway.com. Kathy discussed the need to stop weighing yourself and to focus on eating to build muscle.  She also mentioned being wary of all the gluten free packaged/processed foods, because their nutritional value is not always in the best interest of the health of those who are on a gluten free diet. Kathy suggested focusing on what she refers to as "super foods" such as  kale & green veggies; chia or ground flax; coconut oil; fish oil; salmon; hemp seeds and protein.

One additional take away from Smart's lecture is that if you have had a medical diagnosis of Celiac that is concrete.  She was diagnosed when she was 12 years old. However, if you didn't have any tests done, did not have an informed physician and chose to go gluten free on your own and YOU FEEL BETTER, move on and don't worry that you did not have "tests performed on you".  As Dr. Tom O'Bryan often quotes: " You cannot be a little pregnant, and you cannot have just a little gluten". Once you know you feel better eliminating gluten from your diet; don't eat it!

It was really great to hear again from members about how their lives have been changed by going gluten free and  sharing the journeys of those that have been Celiac for over 20 years and those that have been recently diagnosed.

The next meeting of the Prescott Area Celiac and Gluten Free Support organization will be held on Tuesday, February 17th from 12-2PM at Prescott Public Library's Founder's Room A on the lower level.

DJ/RR