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 This weekend our wonderful State of North Carolina was hit by what is referred to here as a “snow storm” – 6-8 inches of snow, at least here in the Triangle. Since this is a fairly unusual event for this part of the county, Custom Choice Cereal went out and enjoyed this rare occasion. As you can tell we literally left our footprint in the snow…
We wish all of you here and in the rest of the country a wonderful weekend! Fellow North Carolinians, please be aware of “roads likely to be a nightmare” and many schools being closed on Monday.
Custom Choice Cereal has to say Thank You to all of you who were so creative in naming your gluten-free cereal creations this past week! It’s been again an interesting week, and we are happy to share what we (very subjectively) consider the top 5 names for gluten-free cereal mixes.
5. Coconutpartyflakes (nice word creation!)
4. The Flava (Flav…?)
3. Waltzin’ Granny (she sure will be waltzin’ with this cereal!)
2. Carolina Crunch (so happy it’s not Crunch Carolina…)
1. Our winner this week is Yummy in my Tummy
Don’t forget that next Wednesday will be another Q&A session with Dr. Stephen Wangen where you can ask any question you have about celiac disease, celiac symptoms, gluten-free diets, gluten intolerance, and wheat allergy.
Have a great, relaxing gluten-free weekend!
If you are reading our blog you can tell that the team at Custom Choice Cereal is curious about any research on celiac disease and developments in the market for gluten-free food. Whenever we come across interesting bits and pieces of news we share them here with you. We continue to be educated about triggers, symptoms, research on potential treatments, and new findings on celiac disease, and rarely does a day pass where we don’t learn anything.
It seems to be a generally accepted fact that roughly 1 out of 133 Americans suffer from celiac disease. Great resources such as the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America, the Celiac Sprue Association, the Celiac Disease Foundation, and The University of Maryland Center for Celiac Research list this 0.75% figure. At the same time, most of these institutions as well as The University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center estimate that only 3% of these roughly 2.5 million Americans have been diagnosed correctly. This means that a scary 97% or over 2 million Americans suffer unnecessarily, and a gluten-free diet could completely change their well-being!
 More and more are we hearing and reading that this estimated number of 1 in 133 Americans having celiac disease might actually be too low and that the prevalence of celiac might actually be more around 1 in 100 people. The WM. K. Warren Medical Research Center for Celiac Disease is the most prominent institution representing this higher figure.
What will research say by the end of this year? What are your thoughts or comments on these numbers? Please join the discussion, we appreciate your input!
This morning we received a phone call from one of our customers who had cerealized their gluten freedom on Friday evening that they had not yet received their gluten-free cereal. Having had some bad experiences ourselves, Custom Choice Cereal is proud to write Customer Service with upper case letters and went on an investigative mission to find the missing cereal.
Several emails, phone calls, and shipment tracking number discussions later, we were happy to find out that the shipment was placed in the customer’s mailbox instead of being delivered all the way to the door. Of course we informed the customer about this who found the gluten-free cereal mix and was very happy. We love stories with happy endings, especially if they involve you as our customers!
After having written about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet, Custom Choice Cereal is excited to see that Jessica Sipperley from the Jackson Citizen Patriot dedicated an entire article to our customizable gluten-free cereal.
 Jessica says that we created Custom Choice Cereal with “the goal of giving those on gluten-free diets a chance to have complete control over their cereal”. She continues describing out motivation for the company by writing that “many people may not care for every ingredient included in a mass-produced gluten-free version of a cereal. Maybe you don’t like almonds. Maybe you could do without raisins. And if you want to add your own topping to a cereal, there may be a danger that food is not gluten-free.”
Click on the link to read her entire article on giving your gluten-free eating a personalized touch!
 You know how it is: you here about something once and within the next couple of days or weeks, the same thing gets mentioned again and again. This is what happened to Custom Choice Cereal about a summer camp that has a gluten-free week every year. Having been a counselor in a YMCA summer camp in Massachusetts himself in 2001, Hajo had to write about this.
Camp Kanata is located here in North Carolina and is run by the YMCA of the Triangle. Their gluten-free week this year is from June 27 to July 3, and we’ve been told that this week is usually fully booked by the end of February, so you should act quickly.
All meals during gluten-free week are safe to eat for kids with celiac disease or gluten intolerance, which allows them to feel normal and lets them enjoy daily camp life with other campers without worries about their diet. We believe it is a great opportunity that you should definitely consider if your child eats gluten-free.
There are two sides to everything, and Custom Choice Cereal likes to look at the positive side of what if confirmed is a rather nasty incident that happened right here in the Triangle in North Carolina. Some of you probably came across the newspaper article about a company selling gluten-free bread that might in fact have turned out not to be gluten-free.
 Several people with celiac disease who purchased the bread at the NC State Fair in Raleigh last year said they showed their typical celiac symptoms like rashes and bowel movements. The rash Rebecca Fernandez’ pre-school aged son developed are captured in a movie at MyNC.com. Blogger Fred Lybrand also tested seven loafs of the supposedly gluten-free bread and tested them for gluten. All of his tests came back positive.
The owner of the company claims that if his bread really had been gluten-contaminated he would have received many more complaints. While he is presumed innocent until proven guilty this is a bad argument as not all celiacs necessarily show symptoms despite damage being done to their small intestine.
Taking their job very seriously, the NCDA&CS filed a lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order against the company. While we are saddened that this incident happened in “our” State, it also sets a precedent for the de-facto enforcement of gluten-free labeling. Custom Choice Cereal thinks this is good news! It is also a good reminder to constantly read labels, coordinate with other celiacs in your respective communities, and to speak up!
To some it’s just the end of another week, to Custom Choice Cereal it’s the end of an exciting week. We went to a presentation on celiac disease & gluten-free diet options on Tuesday evening. It was great to connect with celiacs and other people on a gluten-free diet, and we were pointed to a great resource with tips and tricks for gluten-free baking. Of course we shared what we learned with you!
The exciting news for us was the nice article about our custom gluten-free cereal that was published in the Durham Herald-Sun! It is important that we like to stay connected with the local gluten-free and celiac community. We therefore invite everyone in the Triangle area to save on shipping by marking the checkbox “pick up from facility” during checkout and come by our facility in person.
Finally, here are the best/most creative gluten-free cereal names of the week.
5. Good Morning Kyle!!! (sweet use of exclamation marks  )
4. Wendy’s Morning Munchies (nice)
3. Breakfast treat (so true!)
2. First tie ever: Yummy! and High Five!!
1. And this week’s winner is Bundle of Joy
Thank you for your creativity, it makes our job even more fun!
As many of you probably know from experience, baking without gluten can be a challenge because the gluten protein is responsible for making dough elastic and stretchy. It also traps gas in baked goods which results in a light, airy structure.
Custom Choice Cereal wrote about the most important take-aways from a celiac support group meeting that we attended in our blog entry Celiac disease & gluten-free diet options. But speaker Lesley Stanford from the Duke Children’s Hospital & Health Center also shared a short guide on gluten-free baking. The guide was compiled by the Colorado State University Extension, a center that offers “reliable, research-based information to help you make informed decisions”.
The guide includes
- an overview of gluten replacement products and their qualities
- gluten-free flour blend formulations
- advice on gums and binders (eggs are the most common binder in
gluten-free baking)
- tips on how to increase moisture, enhance flavor/structure/texture
Whether you’ve had trouble baking gluten-free or are an expert, we highly recommend you download by clicking on the picture below. It’s definitely worthwhile to print and have it handy in the kitchen at all times!
Custom Choice Cereal is very excited to be featured in today’s version of Durham’s Herald-Sun!
The article mentions some of the mix names that you have given your gluten-free cereal creations, commenting that “some of the monikers may have an intended levity, but the product that Custom Choice Cereal is marketing is serious food for people diagnosed with celiac disease, or customers who have allergies to gluten.” We’d like to add that customizing your personal cereal is fun for anyone, and reducing your gluten intake certainly does not hurt, either.
You can read the entire article here or by clicking on the picture below.
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Gluten-free Cereal Cerealize your Gluten Freedom! Our blog serves to share all things gluten-free and give you the occasional update on what's happening at Custom Choice Cereal.
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