Tammy Credicott of Bend, Oregon recently released the cookbook The Healthy Gluten Free Life  - By far this is the best, biggest cookbook we have ever had in the office. It is chalk full of delicious recipes that are free of gluten, soy, dairy, and eggs. After hearing Nadine rave about Tammy’s cooking, I could not wait to get this cookbook home! The hardest decision was deciding what I wanted to make first… everything looked so good!

Flipping through the cookbook there were a few things that stood out to me…

1. The photos! I love that every recipe is accompanied by a beautiful photo, really who wants to look at a bunch of words?!

2. All of the recipes use nutrient dense flours! Tammy’s motto is to “make every bite count” and she does a wonderful job of using flours like; sorghum, millet, teff, and amaranth to make every recipe packed full of nutrients. This can unfortunately be rare with gluten free recipes, so I really appreciate the time and work Tammy put into making sure every recipe was not only delicious but also healthy.

3. The index, oh the index! I think that every cookbook should be as well organized and accessible as this one. First everything is color coordinated which rocks… Then the index is organized by pictures, categories, and there is another index to find recipes by name. Instead of spending ten minutes finding a recipe I can spend more time deciding what to make!

4. The recipes! There are over 200 recipes in this cookbook and to be honest I have yet to find one that doesn’t look amazing!

Last night I decided to give the blueberry muffin recipe a shot – To be honest I am not the best baker, and I often just hope that my baked goods will turn out. If I do crave gluten free baked goods I usually head over to Eats and Treats Cafe and buy some of their already made gluten free deliciousness. But…. I had faith in myself and gave this recipe a shot!

The recipe called for several different flours, I got the sorghum and millet from Big River Grains which is an awesome local gluten free grain company here in Corvallis, Oregon. If you haven’t tried them yet, I suggest you do. They are one of the very few grain companies that I trust and I have never been disappointed in their products.

The first thing I noticed about this recipe is how it was organized. The wet and dry ingredients were already separated for me, and all of the instructions were short concise and clear… maybe this was a muffin recipe I could accomplish! First I mixed all of my dry ingredients, then whisked my wet ingredients…

 

Next I whisked everything together and folded in my blueberries, which I got from the lovely Sunset Valley Organics Company. I popped them in the oven for about 25 minutes and out came these beautiful muffins! And… They were AMAZING! Not to mention my picky hubby absolutely loved them!

Thank you Tammy for all the hard work and time you put into this book – We can’t wait until your next cookbook!

- Sam

Recently Samantha from the office took of to New York City for a symposium at Columbia University on Irritable Bowl Disease and Celiac Disease. Here is her journey!

Exploring New York:
 I spent my first day in New York exploring the city and all the beautiful things that it has to offer. I walked through Central Park over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then down to the Statue of Liberty, and through Times Square. I found a few gluten free treasures along the way.

The first thing I stumbled upon was The G-Free NYC Store

This cozy little store is nestled on 85th street in the upper west side. Here you can find all of the gluten free products that your heart might desire. For more information on the G-Free Store check out there website at http://g-freenyc.com

My next stop was lunch and I found a great little restaurant where I had gluten free fries and a gluten free burger with a gluten free bun! The wait staff was very knowledgable and did an excellent job of taking care of me!

After spending the day exploring the city I was tired and opted for a night in at my hotel with a few gluten free beers and a couple of items from whole foods.

Symposium

Traveling with celiac disease can often feel overwhelming and a bit intimidating. I found immense comfort in knowing I would be able to eat SAFE gluten free food at Columbia University. First arriving at the conference I was delighted to be greeted with an entire breakfast buffet!

After breakfast I got comfortable and enjoyed an all day seminar concerning new and relevant topics related to celiac disease and IBD. The conference was jam packed with information, and I actually took over 15 pages of notes! In this blog I am just going to touch on some take home points and notes that I took. In the next few weeks I will be writing more detailed blogs on specific topics.

Here are a few points that I brought back from the conference…

• Most common manifestations of celiac disease are non-gastrointestinal and include; DH, dental enamal defects, osteoporosis, short stature, and delayed puberty.

• 7-8% of children with Down Syndrome have celiac disease

• 7-30% of patients on a gluten free diet still present with symptoms

• Fructose intolerance presents in 30% of celiac patients on a gluten free diet

• There are several diseases that cause villous atrophy aside from celiac disease

• 23-38% of celiac patients have signs of neuropathy

• 20-30% of schizophrenic patients have IGg antibodies

• 40% of the population carries the DQ2 and DQ8 genes

• There is a significant overlap between IBD and Celiac Disease yet med students are still not being taught nutrition in schools

• Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is real but it is a disease that really seems to puzzle doctors.

• Often non-celiac gluten sensitive patients have more severe symptoms than patients with diagnosed celiac disease

• The highest rate of celiac disease has been found in Sub Sahara Africa at a rate of 1 in 18

• Most celiac disease patients are diagnosed from the age of 30-60

• DH occurs in 8% of celiac patients

• Adherence to a gluten free diet reduces the risk of developing other autoimmune diseases but does not eliminate it.

• There is a new type of cheese called “Ale Cheese” – This is not gluten free and is actually made from beer.

• Benefiber is labeled gluten free but contains wheat starch

• Iron supplements may often cause GI distress

• The undiagnosed to diagnosed rate in the United States is 20:1, in Italy it is 7:1 and in Finland it is 2:1

• Dr. Peter Green will no longer make a diagnosis of IBS with out first ruling out celiac disease

• 15% of Americans have IBS

• Giardia symptoms are remarkably similar to IBS

• Crohns Disease can cause villous atrophy

• 1/40 celiac patients are IgA deficient

• Patients with DH are often more sensitive to gluten than those without