Celiac Disease vs. The Old Italian

Letting people in on the not-so secret of Celiac Disease can be a daunting task. Explaining it to them. Describing it to them. All the pros and woes that come with a strict gluten free diet. Advocating and educating about Celiac Disease has it’s ups and downs. It all comes down to the person you’re trying to relay the advocation to.

Every holiday is the same with family members calling, texting or e-mailing you wether or not you can have certain foods or ingredients. That’s always a given, they sorta/kinda get the idea of Celiac and what it means to be gluten free. Their education is always ongoing, like I said, every holiday. What about the people outside the family? The general public who have no clue about it?

Most of my work comes from personal experience and today is no different, the old italian lady I used to cut grass for. An 84 year old barely speaking English woman who was two feet shorter than me and only wanted her lawn to be immaculate when it was cut each week. A kind enough woman who’s every other word was an italian word because she couldn’t string it together in an english sentence for me to understand.

On a hot day I was cutting grass and she offered me a homemade Biscotti. Oh shit, this is where I was in a conundrum. My first thoughts were ‘I can’t eat this’ but the old Italian lady stood there and watched me. Urging me to eat it. It was one of those moments where you kind of look like a deer in the headlights. I know I couldn’t eat it. I don’t think that I could explain Celiac Disease to this lovely and kind woman because in my heart I don’t think she would get it. She once told me she doesn’t drink Canadian coffee, only espresso, so how could I convince her of my disease?

Deer in headlights. How do you explain Celiac Disease to the elderly?

I was stuck in a place where the stereotype of old world Italians eating wheat pasta was swirling in my head and this woman just wouldn’t understand and in a world where I need to stand up and tell her about my Celiac Disease and that her homemade biscotti would just destroy me. Could I tell her? I finished my grass cutting and tried to avoid her for the duration of the work.

As I was leaving she asked me where the biscotti was or if I had eaten it. Truth was, I tossed it into the truck not even caring where it landed because I knew I wasn’t going to eat it. I knew that this old italian woman was probably going to ask about it again, so what did I tell her?

In the end, I told her I was going to eat it later.

I couldn’t bring myself to explain to her about Celiac Disease. I felt that maybe she wouldn’t understand, not just because of the language barrier, her poor understanding and command of english and my own misunderstanding of her throwing in italian words in each sentence, but because I didn’t think she’d grasp the concept of Celiac Disease. A person who can’t eat wheat, rye or barley. A person who couldn’t eat homemade biscotti because it was wheat based. I have a feeling it would have been a long afternoon of attempting to explain.

I could have brought awareness to a kind lady, but I didn’t. It was a culture clash that I felt would have gotten in the way. As much as raising awareness of Celiac Disease is important, I don’t think the old Italian woman would have understood.

I Review Simply Protein Chips

Did you read THIS BLOG? Where I talk about not reading the label of a gluten free product? Well, it’s only fair that I review it.

Simply Protein Chips (website HERE) come in three flavours, and as of a week ago I had no clue they even existed. That’s not really my fault, I wasn’t searching them out or anything. One of the greatest things about having Celiac Disease and needing to be 100% gluten free is that companies try all sorts of different alternatives with food and come up with some really nifty ideas. Some work out, some don’t. Not everyone can be the best.

This is their picture of the product taken straight off of their website

Simply Protein Chips are pretty good at being good. Made of pea protein and are better for you on many levels. They even show you a nifty chart on their site about how it’s better for you. Better for weigh loss or dieting or weening yourself of other snacks (I’m not to sure how that last one works, but I will give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s their company, they can do whatever they want). I snagged a bag of BBQ flavoured chips, not for the BBQ, but because it had grilled tomatoes on the front of the bag and that intrigued me. I don’t even think I saw BBQ printed on the bag when I grabbed it, just the tomatoes. Grilled tomatoes.

I ate them in the truck, and while at the time I didn’t consider making a review of the product, I will give you my thoughts on it.

This is my picture of the product as I ate them and pulled over to take a picture of it (I’m totally a professional)

You know that smell of fresh dirt? My first bite kind or reminded me of that. It really isn’t a bad thing, it’s like the smell of fresh cut grass. Every one likes it, but if you can taste how something smells then you’ve got something. It didn’t affect the flavour because it was kind of heart warming for me. Reminded me of home, this could be a great comfort food if there wasn’t so much emphasis on it being a healthy food. The home run of the BBQ flavoured Simply Protein Chips with the grilled tomatoes on the bag is that they really taste like tomato soup. How does any other company compete with that? Tomato soup in chip form? I’m sold.

It’s spicy and sweet and tastes like tomato soup, you have to get a bag to try it.

Does the Label Say Gluten Free

There is always one rule when you go shopping and you have Celiac or need to be gluten free for some reason, check the labels. How much can we as a community support this one rule? How many times do we all have to get in your face and tell you to check the label? Just pick up the bag and look at the fucking label. Simple. Check the label.

I didn’t check the label.

We all know by now that every store has a gluten free aisle or a natural foods aisle, whatever the case is. It’s that one aisle to get us in there to buy what we need. There is a food at every store in the neighbourhood that has something that another store doesn’t have and we as diagnosed Celiacs have to go to each and every store to get what we need to finish our list.

The bulk foods store has a gluten free aisle, and rightly so it should. It’s the compendium of baked goods and should have a plethora of food stuffs. They have cookies, mixes, boxes of crackers; it really is a Celiacateers paradise. While not every brand of GF food is there, you will be guaranteed to find something you like at the local bulk foods store. This one particular day, hanging at the end of a hook smack dab in the middle of the gluten free aisle was a new kind of snack food. Small bag and the flavour was right up my alley, so without looking, I snatched it off it’s hook, bought it and didn’t even think about reading the label. It was in the gluten free aisle why would I even give it a second thought?

Half way down the road in the truck I opened the bag and started eating. I was half way through the bag when it dawned on me, I never checked the label. I broke the cardinal rule and let my stomach do all the thinking. What if some half hearted reject from a monster movie decided to put up wheat based food on that hook? What if the new guy had no clue about what gluten free means and just threw up the snack anywhere there was space?

Boy was I in trouble.

My heart skipped a beat when I looked down at the half eaten bag and realized it was gluten free, says so right on the bag. Big bolt letters right on the front.

I was saved.

But I pulled a boner when I didn’t read the label.

So, check the label or else next time, it might be a handful of something worse than hurt pride.

I Review The Bushman’s Bar

Staring at the product I’m going to review today and thinking ‘The Bushman’s Bar actually sounds kind of dirty’.

I was really curious about what The Bushman’s Bar was all about (more HERE). It’s an independent Canadian company that makes these natural bars. Manitoba is not a place you’d expect to find something like this, and the official/unofficial mascot for the company is a the bushman himself JoJo. How could I pass up something like that? A gluten-free food that is made and based on wild and natural food found in the northern parts of Canada, I’m all over that.

I first came across The Bushman’s Bar at the Gluten Free Expo in Toronto, it was a busy booth that I wasn’t able to get close to. I listened to others talk about the food and was able to sneak a tiny sample for myself. At the time I wasn’t sold. Of course it was a small sample and could have been sitting out for a while, but I really wanted to get my hands on more more MORE!!!

Boreal Berry Bar Inc was more than happy to send me some proper wrapped samples to give a try, and I wasn’t disappointed.

This bar is made of wild rice and all natural ingredients that make a flavour pop in your mouth. This dense bar is a purple colour that reminds me of a fancy bar of soap, but the taste is no where near that. It’s sweet. It’s denseness means you need to give the chewing power an extra munch and chomp, but it’s worth it. This is a great gluten-free bar. Jeff Willerton author of Fix Canada have one quote on the Boreal Berry Bar Inc website which sums up what I think of this product: “All I want is one bar a day for the rest of my life. Is that too much to ask?” and I couldn’t agree more.

Maybe I’ve been eating them so much because they put crack in them? (they don’t put crack in them as far as I know)

I’ve been eating these bars for breakfast, with my breakfast, as an after work snack and a decoration on the counter. There is a place in my life for these bars, and now that I know they are available for purchase online, I might just be getting a few more, take them camping, and then everyone else might be getting some for Christmas.

Children Should Get Tested for Celiac

I am no medical professional, but really, if there is another person in your immediate family that is diagnosed with Celiac, and your child exhibits signs of Celiac, then they should get tested. I think that is a given. But what age should they be tested? Is there a start time at which you can get the little tykes checked?

Generally, it’s ages 2 or 3. Anyone under that, the tests might not be too accurate because for the blood test the antibodies might not be present. If the kid is on a full and regular gluten filled diet, there really should be no problem. Don’t let the age fool you though, just like adults getting tested for Celiac Disease you’ll need to do the full run of tests to achieve a correct result: blood and biopsy.

There are at least 200 symptoms of Celiac Disease, and while Celiac Disease is the most common autoimmune disease on the planet, the symptoms could be other tricky little things. Other diseases like Crohn’s or Cystic Fibrosis share similarities and that’s why we get tested for Celiac.

Especially if you have a family member diagnosed with Celiac Disease. It’s hereditary.

Undiagnosed Celiac can destroy your body, and imagine if a toddler had Celiac and went untested for years? Malnutrition, stunted growth, bowels all messed up, cancer. All things that can happen if someone goes undiagnosed with Celiac (provided they have it). It’s important to have children checked for Celiac if they are showing signs of the disease. It’s an easy test, and it’s an easy thing to maintain. A 100% gluten-free diet is so easy and much better than taking pills the rest of your life.

Out of all the diseases, Celiac is the jackpot. It’s manageable with diet. It’s unique that all you have to do is avoid gluten and your body will repair itself from the damage done by gluten poisoning your body.

A child who can’t speak can’t tell you what’s wrong. We have to trust our instincts and parents and trust our parenting instincts with what our doctors think. Some doctors aren’t on the celiac train and pass it off as something else, but if you can arm yourself with enough information then you can attempt to get the results you need.

I am no medical professional, I only feel deeply about children getting checked if they have the signs of Celiac. A child going undiagnosed or a child who isn’t even checked for Celiac (with signs) could develop a lot of problems in their future life, so for their sake, get them tested.