Despite author Melinda Beck’s thorough research, the article incorrectly listed envelope adhesives, distilled alcoholic beverages and vinegars, ketchup, ice creams, and lipsticks as products that celiacs should avoid. It speaks for the integrity of the Journal that they printed the following statement of corrections in Saturday’s paper:
“Envelope adhesives do not contain gluten, and the distillation process removes the gluten from alcoholic beverages and distilled vinegars that are made from gluten-containing grains, according to registered dietitian Shelley Case, member of the Celiac Disease Foundation Medical Advisory Board. Ketchup and most ice creams are also gluten-free, and the amount of gluten in some lipsticks is too small to pose health problems. A Tuesday Health Journal incorrectly included all these products among those that people with celiac disease should avoid.”
The GIG and their website is extremely helpful and informative, so we include it in on our page of useful links for anyone new to the gluten-free diet. Besides the fact that our young company is featured in such a highly regarded publication, I am particularly happy that they mentioned the various measures we take to ensure the safety of your customized cereal: we source only naturally gluten-free ingredients, test each ingredient for potential gluten contamination, and hand-mix each cerealization in a dedicated gluten-free facility.
It’s great to see my mugshot in the magazine… What I really hope for though is that this article will help more people realize that they can enjoy a tasty gluten-free cereal by simply creating their own. Having to follow a gluten-free diet is tough enough, let’s try to make it an enjoyable experience!
The Wall Street Journal’s Health Journal columnist Melinda Beck wrote a great article on who has to stick to a gluten-free diet (celiacs, people with a wheat allergy, and those with a sensitivity to gluten). I was pretty impressed by the thoroughness of the research that was done and wanted to share it with you as part of our customer service. It particularly struck me that
Melinda described many of the most common symptoms that ‘glutened’ celiacs experience
it is not well understood how gluten can cause psychiatric and behavioral changes (keyword: leaky-gut)
7% of the population has anti-gliadin antibodies (‘AGA’), as do 18% of people with autism, and 20% of those with schizophrenia
The article also points out that much more research is needed to understand why the various conditions that benefit from a gluten-free diet are so much more prevalent today than several decades ago. While celiac disease was initially believed to begin only during childhood, it is now know that it can start at any time during the life of a person with the genetic predisposition.
In a little video, Melinda Beck also explains that the gluten-free diet is not a weight-loss diet, and that one should not embark lightly on a gluten-free diet.
Finding gluten-free food that tastes good is still a challenge in many areas. That’s part of the reason why we came up with Custom Choice Cereal – providing a fun gluten-free experience! If you are interested in finding out more about how our custom gluten-free cereal came to life you are invited to read our story.
Now that the summer break is coming to an end, there are a few gluten-free food shows and and vendor fairs coming up over the next two months. These are great events to find out about anything gluten-free. While I like food events of any kinds (every rule has an exception, mine is fish), these fairs are super helpful if you have celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity.
I am sure we have overlooked one or the other event, so please feel free to add to the list in the comment section. We at Custom Choice Cereal (and I am sure everyone else) appreciate your help!
It is a great start into the new week as celiac disease and gluten intolerance are getting more and more attention from main stream media!
Last week Custom Choice Cereal shared a video from the Today Show on the gluten-free diet. It mostly covered celebrities and had some inaccuracies but hopefully also drew some attention to celiac disease and the reasons why some people have to go on a gluten-free diet.
In Saturday’s “Living Well” segment of NBC Chicago, we are “straightened out a little” by Dr. Mary Ann Malloy. You can watch the entire video below, but this is hands down the best mainstream media coverage of celiac disease I’ve seen so far. Here are just a few of the highlights:
Celiac disease described as a greatly under-diagnosed condition
Great definition of celiac disease (autoimmune reaction damaging of small intestines)
Explains what happens to a celiac consuming gluten: damage of small intestines, preventing absorption of nutrients from food
Gives common symptoms, including long-term implications such as cancer
Explains how diagnosis works through blood test AND biopsy
Highlights that treatment is simple: a complete gluten-free diet!
Stresses the importance of constant education on celiac disease, i.e. working with a dietitian and reading labels
Clearly distinguishes between gluten intolerance and celiac disease!
Say what you want, but Chelsea Clinton’s by now famous gluten-free wedding cake has further increased awareness for celiac disease.
Though some regard it as a “fad diet”, a higher demand for gluten-free foods results in more choices for celiacs and those who have a gluten intolerance. That’s exactly our mission at Custom Choice Cereal, making the gluten-free life an enjoyable experience by bringing taste and variety to the gluten-free cereal bowl!
Though they define ‘celiac disease’ somewhat loosely we still highly recommend that you watch this video from yesterday’s Today Show! Great job to the Today Show for covering this important topic in such depth!
Yeah, it’s late for our daily blog entry. But Custom Choice Cereal has been putting in long nights and weekend shifts for a smooth transition, and the move to our new location is now complete!
Your custom gluten-free cereal creations will from now on be mixed at
We at Custom Choice Cereal just closed another one of our gluten-free 3-second-polls, and the new survey is already up (hint: top left corner of this blog). A big Thank You! goes to all of you who answered our last question
Are you completely gluten-free or do you “cheat” sometimes?
Thanks to 61 answers total the results are becoming more representative. The results below also show that the vast majority of you are entirely gluten-free and don’t eat a food if you are not sure about the ingredients. That’s a very smart decision given research indicating that not switching to a gluten-free diet significantly increases the mortality rate for celiacs. Here are the detailed results of our 3-second-poll:
54.1% (33 out of 61) of you said that you are 100% gluten-free and don’t eat the food if you don’t know every ingredient
26.2% (16 people) said that accidents (unfortunately) happen
11.5% (7 out of 61) cheated once but will never cheat again
8.2% (5 of you) admitted to sometimes giving in to a “gluten craving”
For those of you who like graphs as much as I do and prefer them to text I have displayed the results in the chart below.
Age of Autism is a great website offering information, daily news, and updates to the autism community. Many families with an autistic family member have been able to achieve improvements in behavior and digestion on a gluten-free casein-free diet. Most notably, the common ‘leaky gut’ symptom seems to be mitigated by this diet.
As if the gluten-free diet wasn’t tough enough the casein-free aspect certainly does not make it any easier. Fortunately our custom gluten-free cereals also taste great with almond milk and other substitutes!
The gluten-free diet has many challenges – constant studying of ingredients labels and searching for words such as “barley malt” or “brewer’s yeast” that make you put the item in question right back on the shelf is just one of them. In order to make things a little bit easier for you, we at Custom Choice Cereal have therefore collected a few tips & tricks on how to master your gluten-free life.
Your safety is our highest priority! That’s why it has been our policy to test all of our naturally gluten-free ingredients for potential cross-contamination with gluten before they enter our facility. Our test is accurate to 10 parts per million (ppm) and thus twice as strict as the FDA’s proposed contamination threshold of 20ppm.
Almost a third (seven) products would have failed the FDA test
One product (soy flour) contained >3,000 ppm of gluten
Tricia Thompson, nutrition consultant and lead author of the study, admits that the sample was too small to make people with celiac disease especially wary. However, it shows that it is unfortunately not safe to assume that an item can be consumed safely just because no gluten-containing ingredient can be found on the label.
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