Omega Smart Nutrition Bars are made with figs and flax with health and skin in mind.  They are really nutrient dense and most definitely made with celiac, autism, diabetes, food allergies and heart health in mind to name a few.  They have no eggs, dairy or peanuts and come in a number of flavors.

These bars are made in a dedicated gluten-free facility, come in 8 flavors, and 3 which are their Youth in a Bar with 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per bar. The company promotes that they bake their bars just long enough to acquire their signature texture.  The texture is firm, not sticky and slightly between dry and moist.

These bars are definitely in the category of healthy and this is their sole intention.  They profess they are not trying to make a candy bar in disguise. They prefer to know they are doing something positive for one’s health, such as diabetics and celiacs, which they are.

Each bar is easy to digest, contains over 2,000 omega 3’s, has healthy fats, protein and helps manage blood sugar, being low on the glycemic index.

Out of the 8 flavors, I preferred the Organic Apricot and Almond Nutrition Bar (pictured above). This is a bar you can grab in a hurry in a convenient condensed pack of nutrients.

This food company is given a thumbs up and is HIGHLY recommended by me.

Tina Turbin
www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

     Tell your family and friends, even certain colleagues, about your diet. It’s especially important to tell your family because there’s a strong genetic component to celiac disease, so if you child has celiac disease, your relatives are at a higher risk for it. It can be hard at times to follow a gluten-free, but it’s nearly impossible to do it in secret. Check the gluten-free status of items in your pantry, and learn how and where to shop for gluten-free food. Find out which stores near you publish lists of their gluten-free products. Take advantage of mail-order companies that will ship gluten-free food (even ready-to-eat meals) to your door.

     Get in the habit of calling manufacturers to verify that their products are in-fact gluten-free. You can usually find a toll-free number on the product’s package, or you can look it up online. Some manufacturers often change ingredients or switch suppliers, so it’s important to periodically check whether or not favorite products are still gluten-free.

     When you dine out, you’ll need to inform the waiter about your gluten-free diet, and learn what questions to ask regarding the preparation and serving of your food, and as your child gets older, teach him how to dine out gluten-free and practice with him at home by role-playing with you as the server or cook pretending to serve and prepare his meal.

     Learning to be vigilant about what you feed your child and teaching him this same attitude is part of the celiac lifestyle. It’s important that unless you’re one-hundred percent certain that a food contains no gluten even through contamination from other sources, don’t even allow your child to taste it. Teach your child this same habit of, “When in doubt, don’t.”

Tina Turbin

Delicious boxed mixes that are easy to make, even for kids, yet they are delicious for every table as well as for many courses in a meal: main course, side dishes, and desserts. Each box is versatile and can be used in a variety of recipes offered on the 1-2-3 Gluten Free site or in ones you make up on your own. When I am able to get 7 or more recipes out of one single box of mix from a gluten-free company, and it tastes good, I’m really pleased.

I know of 14 current mixes, but out of these, there at least 142 versions of recipes thus far that I know of. My testers and I played a game of trying to come up with ten recipes using the site’s recipes as well as our own. Each recipe was delicious, many unique, and all very well-liked. (The site offered 80 additional ones.)

Founder Kim Ullner comes from a celiac family. Her sister was celiac, and as a child, Kim created recipes to help her face the challenges of her gluten-free diet. Later on, her niece and nephew were diagnosed, and soon Kim’s gluten-free pigs-in-a-blanket was a family hit. Kim has named many of her mixes after family members, and now that Kim is a mother of two, we can guarantee two new names will soon be on her newer mixes.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The mixes are very easy to make and require very few ingredients, all common to your home’s pantry. Each box offers double the size of most other brands. 1-2-3 Gluten Free products are all made in a facility free of wheat, gluten, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, and soy.

Click here to enter the GlutenFreeHelp/1-2-3 Gluten Free give-away of September. 5 individuals will each receive a 3-pack assortment of delicious 1-2-3 mixes for FREE!

Their biscuits were light and fluffy and just how I wanted a biscuit to taste.  I also made mine without any dairy and they were perfect.

With this same box I made cinnamon buns, pigs-in-a-blanket, chicken and dumplings and roasted vegetable pizza.  I could have made more but I accepted the versatility of these products.

1-2-3 Gluten Free’s Aaron’s Favorite Rolls have the texture of a true roll, where one can “rip” out the insides (like kids love to do) instead of the all-too-common crumbled gluten-free alternative.

Let’s not forget the devilishly decadent brownies, silky, rich, and loaded with chocolate chunks. The pound cake, with a hint of lemon. Sugar and Spice Pan Bars, which are delicious with banana, sweet potato, or even zucchini added.

The prices are good. The servings per box are definitely greater than most companies offer and it all just tastes fresh as far as baked goods are concerned.

All their products are made in a gluten-free facility, are gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free and egg and dairy (casein) free.  All but two are corn-free and all but one is soy-free.  Their labels are clear and easy to read.  Their packaging is smart.

1-2-3 Gluten Free is worthy of a well-written book describing their finest mixes and options. And don’t forget to look inside the box to find even more recipe options. They have a website offering many more recipes and welcome ideas.

Great mixes – terrific company.

Tina Turbin

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

(makes about 2 cups)

Serve this with delicious gluten-free Angel Food Cake as a zesty dessert!

INGREDIENTS

1 c sugar

3 large eggs

1 tbsp orange zest

2/3 c fresh orange juice

½ c butter

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar and eggs. Sire in orange zest, juice, and butter. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly for 10 to 12 minutes, or until thickened.

2. Remove from heat. Let cook. Spoon curd into airtight containers, and store in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

The body has its own digestive enzyme for gluten known as dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPPIV).  When this enzyme is supplied, it greatly assists in the hydrolysis of propy peptidase assimilating proline-rich proteins.  “What’s this?” you ask?

Read on:

Now this may all sound like a foreign language to you but let me clarify what it all means.  These are the exact “remnants” that can cause severe troubles for the celiac.

The DPPIV enzymatic activity actually assists in breaking down the difficult to digest peptides.

Reports in the July 1993 American Journal of Physiology says that the sequence of digestion which leads to partial digestion of gluten proteins exasperates the gastrointestinal condition and one of the enzymes required to break down these peptides has been identified as DPPIV.  The lack of this enzyme in the small intestine prevents this digestion and can result in an immune response which inflames the small intestine.

There’s additional support from the October 2002 Journal of Physiology Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology stating that DPPIV was instrumental in the breakdown of the gluten’s peptides.  The possible strategy for celiac sprue has been recognized through enzyme therapy.  Up to now only a strict adherence to a gluten-free diet has been the only therapeutic option.

In the May 2007 Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology, the researchers made note and confirmed that gluten intolerant individuals definitely have a deficiency in the necessary gluten digesting enzymes.

There are a number of new products on the market currently offering supplementation with products containing DPPIV such as Metabolic Response Modifiers (MRM), Gluten-Free™, and Enzymatic Therapy to name a few.

Any celiac is warned that to date, a strict adherence to a gluten-free diet is the only prescription to follow for optimum health and repair of the delicate tissue lining of the small intestine and the villi.

There may be hope with new research into this area of enzymatic therapy and DPPIV.

Tina Turbin
www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

Dr. Allen Lim, the former exercise physiologist for the renowned Garmin Transitions Pro Cycling team and their CEO, Jonathan Vaughters, placed the team on a gluten-free diet.  What were their reactions and changes?  Well read on.

The first reactions were of shock.  With a full day of training these guys burn an easy 8,000 calories, needing carbohydrates to not only fuel energy but the excess glucose gets stored in muscles as glycogen which helps during exercise as well as during recovery.  Without this they will have a terrible time.

To simply handle this, their hired chef did what all celiacs and gluten-intolerant people get accustomed to – switch their source of grains and carbohydrates.  No pancakes!  That’s silly of course.  They ate pancakes. Just gluten-free ones.

The results of this change were enlightening to the team as a whole.  Do keep in mind these men are severe athletes, not celiac (or so they hope) and not gluten intolerant (or so they thought).  There are reports of digestion being much better, better recovery, sleep improvement, weight loss and overall improved performance.

Interestingly enough, the initiator of this diet Dr. Allen Lim was with Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack team.

Leaves one to wonder if Lance’s crew was on a gluten-free diet as well, while in training.

Tina Turbin
www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

Gluten sensitivity is the term recommended by the world renowned celiac researcher, Dr. Michael N. Marsh. The terminology I advocate is congruent with Dr. Marsh’s assertions and it provides some clarity, as it often identifies specific sites of damage induced by gluten, distinguishes between some subgroups, and allows even the novice to
accurately interpret some discussions of these topics.

The varying opinions on another’s biopsies may have be driven by just how familiar or unfamiliar  physicians are with the Marsh system for categorizing intestinal damage, which was developed by the same Dr. Michael Marsh mentioned above. The Marsh system is gradually being adopted throughout most of the industrialized world, as older pathologists and gastroenterologists advance their understanding, and the younger ones usually learn about the Marsh system during their specialization training.

Of course, the terminology I recommend also makes it very clear that there are a number of types of gluten-induced damage to various body systems. Dr. Rodney Ford, on the other hand, has offered the term gluten syndrome’ to incorporate the various groups of gluten sensitivities into one group. I also subscribe to that choice of terminology. Careful word choices in this regard are, I think, critical to understanding the broader field of gluten sensitivity, and that celiac disease is just one sub-set of a rather large and growing continuum of illnesses that require a life-long gluten free diet.

Celiac disease has long been considered the most serious of this spectrum and  other gluten sensitivities were considered “lesser” ailments. However, Anderson et al recently published findings that suggest that non-celiac gluten sensitivity may more frequently lead to serious illness or death  than celiac disease (1). If confirmed by
further research, we may need to revise our opinions regarding where celiac disease falls on the gluten sensitive spectrum.

I hope my comments serve to clarify this issue for many.
Best Wishes,
Ron Hoggan, Ed. D.

co-author: Dangerous Grains ISBN: 978158333-129-3 www.dangerousgrains.com ,author: The Iron Edge: a complete guide for meeting your iron needs ISBN: 978-0-9736284-4-9 http://tiny.cc/ironedge , author: Smarten Up! ISBN: 978-0-9736284-3-2 www.smartenup.info

Source:

1. Anderson LA, McMillan SA, Watson RG, Monaghan P, Gavin AT, Fox C,
Murray LJ. Malignancy and mortality in a population-based cohort of
patients with coeliac disease or “gluten sensitivity”. World J
Gastroenterol. 2007 Jan 7;13(1):146-51.

Someone near and dear to my heart sent me this recipe, and I just HAD to share it with you!

INGREDIENTS

2-4 filets of sole (or other lean fish)

¼ cup shallots, chopped

1-2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped

¼ cup white wine

¼ cup water

1-2 oz. ginger-lime butter (see recipe below)

DIRECTIONS ( for main dish)

1. Sprinkle the shallots over the bottom of a sauté pan. Add the wine and water. Add the filets and season with salt and pepper.

2. Cover the pan with foil or parchment paper. Place pan on high heat until the piqued comes to a simmer. Immediately lower the heat, maintaining a simmer and poach the fish for 2-5 minutes, or until the fish is done.

3. When the fish is cooked, remove from the pan and keep the fish warm.

4. Bring the liquid in the pan to a boil and reduce until it is syrupy and 1-2 tbsp remains in the pan.

5. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk the butter into the liquid. Add chopped cilantro. Adjust seasonings, pour sauce over fish and serve. Garnish with cilantro.

Ginger-Lime Butter:

INGREDIENTS

4 tbsp butter, unsalted and room temperature

2 tbsp (1 lime) of lime zest, grated

1 tsp ginger, grated

½ tsp salt

pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS ( for butter)

Combine all the ingredients and stir until smooth. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour (optional).

Tina Turbin

We all love ice cream, especially when it’s gluten-free right?  Well folks, the following list makes it very easy for you to enjoy some of the best ice cream in the world:

BEN&JERRY’S Gluten-Free Flavor List:

Ice Cream

Butter Pecan

Cherry Garcia

Chocolate Fair Trade-Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl

Chocolate Macadamia

Chunky Monkey

Coconut Almond Fudge Chip

Coffee Fair Trade

Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz

Crème Brulee

Mint Chocolate Chunk

New York Super Fudge Chunk

Orange and Cream

Phish Food

Strawberry

Triple Caramel Chunk

Vanilla Fair Trade

Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch

Yogurt

Black Raspberry Swirl LF Yogurt

Vanilla LF Yogurt

Sorbet

Berry Berry Extraordinary

Jamaican Me Crazy

Lemonade

Mango Mango

Strawberry Kiwi

No Sugar Added

NSA Vanilla Fudge Chip

Tina Turbin
www.GlutenFreeHelp.info