Ep 105 Celiac News January 2020 Roundup

Let’s start the blog with the show notes for this Episode –

This week I chat with Ellen Bayens of theceliacscene.com for a roundup of news and views to begin January 2020.  We talk about the current and upcoming food trends in the gluten free marketplace, as well as a recently published study on the connection between celiac disease and psoriasis.  We cover the subject of body image from a male perspective and identify that females often find the diagnosis and GF diet isolating.  Bard’s Beer is different because of the malting process, which in this case is gluten free, and the My Healthy Gut App is offering a 7-day free trial.  Here’s some links from Ellen you might want to look up –

Are You Gluten Free? Here’s What’s Happening in 2020!

2020 Vancouver Island Safe Fries List (+ onion rings, calamari, chicken strips, S’mores & more!)

Study Shows Significant Association Between Psoriasis and Celiac Disease

Celiac Disease – Is it affecting Your Body Image?

Is the Gluten-Free Diet Making You Feel Lonely?

Facebook Response: https://www.facebook.com/theceliacscene/posts/10159158832503012

15 Things We Wish People Knew About Celiac Disease

Bard’s Beer Trademarks Truly Gluten-Free Beer Logo

Symptom Tracking & Report Creation by MyHealthyGut i-Phone App

I have many different interviews scheduled for the first couple of months of 2020, and if there is anything you’d like me to cover, please email me at acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com.

Sue’s Websites and Social Media –

Podcast https://acanadianceliacpodcast.libsyn.com

Podcast Blog – https://www.acanadianceliacblog.com

Facebook – @acanadianceliacpodcast

Twitter – CeliacPodcastCA

Email – acdnceliacpodcast@gmail.com

Baking Website – https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com

Instagram – @suesgfbaking

YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUVGfpD4eJwwSc_YjkGagza06yYe3ApzL

     (search Sues Gluten Free Baking)

Email – sue@suesglutenfreebaking.com

Other Podcast – Gluten Free Weigh In – https://glutenfreeweighin.libsyn.com

My Thoughts –

While I was discussing food trends in the gluten free marketplace with Ellen, I identified some past trends that got us where we are today.

For a long time many foods that were “naturally” gluten free were not identified as such.  I’m thinking of foods like potato chips, popcorn, most yogurts, drink mixes.  In most cases these foods would not contain gluten, unless it was hidden in flavourings, but gluten was not an integral part of the food as it might be for a cake mix.  As celiacs we learned to read labels, and to trust them as much as we could.  We also learned to contact food manufacturers if we had questions.

Gluten Free Certification changed food shopping for the better.  We were able to look for a symbol, making label reading take a back seat on many products.  Gluten Free was what we needed and what we looked for.

As I mentioned in the podcast, my bakery customers, who needed everything to be gluten free began to request other exclusions from my recipes.  Milk free, egg free and nut free were common, and in some cases, I was able to accommodate these specific requests.  I was able to adjust a couple of my recipes to be “free from” something or other, while still maintaining the integrity of taste and texture.

A natural progression of this trend was for companies to produce foods that were “free from” the common allergens.  While this can be very beneficial to many consumers, it may not serve the gluten free community well.  Some ingredients make a real difference in gluten free recipes and removing those produces an inferior product.  Eggs are a good example, they add structure and protein to a gluten free recipe.

Of late, the “free from” trend has become the vegan, vegetarian, paleo and keto friendly.  If a company can produce a “special” food that meets all the requirements of the common diet restrictions it has to be a winner, right?  Wrong.  I don’t need my food to be vegan, dairy free and egg free, I just need it to taste good and feel good in my mouth.

Let’s talk eggs again.  For a food to be vegan, it can’t contain eggs, to be keto friendly, eggs are welcome.  The common vegan substitute for eggs is a flax meal concoction.  I know it’s personal, but I have a severe allergy to flax seed, so these vegan, gluten free products are off limits for me. 

When I operated my bakery, I stuck with my plan to make the best gluten free foods I could, with common grocery store ingredients.  Maybe one day we’ll get back to that, maybe not, but for me, and my family, I will likely need to keep baking my own food to my specifications, regardless of current and future food trends. That suits me just fine.  You can find many of my recipes on my website at https://www.suesglutenfreebaking.com