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Are C-Sections Related to Celiac Disease?

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 2 Comments

Quite an interesting article was posted recently on the REUTERS website. Some researchers in Germany did a small study about babies delivered via c-section and whether or not they were more likely to develop celiac disease than babies that did not have cesarean births. The research team studied adolescents and included kids with other conditions including Chron’s and ulcerative colitis. Only celiac children had a noticeably higher rate of being born via c-section. The other groups studied didn’t seem to be affected.

What does this mean exactly? Well, the experts don’t really know and they don’t all even agree that it means anything. Much larger studies would be needed to prove that there might be a link between how babies are born and their risk of developing celiac eventually. According to the article, it could have to do with bacteria in the intestines, but the researchers really don’t know enough at this point to make any connection between celiac and c-section births. Dr. Murray from the Mayo Clinic in the states suggests that a study about c-sections and diabetes rates would be another important study to do.

Excerpt from REUTERS article:

Researchers who were not involved in the study called the results intriguing, but said there may be explanations that don’t involve the way babies were born.

For example, Dr. Daniel Leffler, director of clinical research at the Celiac Disease Center at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said many of the children’s mothers may have had undiagnosed celiac disease. Given that celiac disease can be inherited, and that undiagnosed celiac disease increases the risk of cesarean section, undiagnosed disease “would be more than enough to explain the increased number of cesareans,” he told Reuters Health.

How interesting that undiagnosed celiac disease in the mother increases the risk of cesarean section. Maybe OB/GYN doctors should start testing every pregnant woman for celiac disease. That would be better than nothing. You would think that since almost 1 in 100 people in this country have celiac, the medical community could somehow get that information to all doctors here. Then they might start looking into celiac as a possible cause for some of their patient’s problems. As always, it comes down to money. As long as there is no money to be made (by the medical industry) to treat celiac disease, most U.S. doctors are not going to test patients for it, period.

While it’s very important to get people properly diagnosed (when possible), it might be a good idea to keep them from getting celiac in the first place. Dr. Alessio Fasano from the Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland believes that a vaccine is needed for celiac disease. In the U.S., we vaccinate against conditions that affect 1 in 500,000 people, but not for something that affects almost 1 in 100 of us.

Gluten-Free BBQ Time

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 1 Comment

Now that summer is here I have the urge to get the grill going. Over the weekend I posted a burger recipe that got me in the mood for grilling!

I am going to share a couple of super easy grill recipes to put on your menu rotation this year. The first recipe is one that I got from my sister. I now swear by making my baby back ribs this way.

BBQ Baby Back Ribs

  • 2 racks of pork back ribs
  • 1 bottle Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce (all varieties are gluten-free)
  • Salt & Pepper

1. Do this step earlier in the day or at least 2-3 hours before you want to grill your ribs. Heat oven to 350. Cut each rack of ribs in half. Sea salt & pepper both sides. In a large, glass pyrex dish, pour some BBQ sauce. Coat each rack of ribs with sauce, don’t be stingy. Place ribs in dish in a single layer. Cover tightly with foil.
2. Bake ribs in oven for 2 hours at 350.
3. Remove ribs and let cool down before placing in fridge or hold aside to place on the grill.
4. Heat up grill to medium – medium high.
5. Baste ribs with some more BBQ sauce. Place ribs on grill for just a few minutes a side to finish off cooking.

Perfect every time. If you are not a fan of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce, there are many gluten-free versions on the market. Montgomery Inn, Kraft Original, Bone Suckin’ Sauce & KC Masterpiece come to mind as others that are gluten-free. Always remember to double check the label.

Next up? Pork chops! When we eat pork chops, we always buy the boneless, butterfly chops. I used to make pork chops with Shake & Bake, but my husband is not fond of breaded pork and I have found many better ways to make pork.

Spicy Marinated Pork Chops
**Recipe found on allrecipes.com

  • 3/4 cup soy sauce (La Choy is GF; note ~ you want to use low-sodium here or it will be too salty)
  • 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon chili sauce (I use just under a TBSP of chili powder b/c I didn’t have any sauce)
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 8 center cut pork chops (you could also use this marinade with a pork tenderloin)

1. Whisk together in a bowl the first 5 ingredients. Pour over pork chops and place in fridge to marinate for a minimum of 6 hours, even overnight if you wish.
2. Heat up grill and grill for about 6-10 minutes per side, depending on thickness of chop. (as you see in my pic, I cut open my chops to make sure they were done ).
3. Serve! Simple, easy & yummy!!

These go great with basmati brown rice or roasted sweet potatoes.

Filet Mignon is another favorite in our house. My husband is the grill master when it comes to steak. We will often buy a whole beef tenderloin when it is on sale ($6.99 or $7.99/lb). Aaron will cut & portion out the tenderloin into filets. The butcher will also do this free of charge. He then seasons the steak with sea salt, pepper & a touch of garlic powder. We like our steaks medium-rare, so it doesn’t take long once the grill has been fired up for them to be done. We usually serve our filet along with garlic mashed potatoes (another of Aaron’s specialties) and steamed broccoli.

If you like to roast your vegetables, as I do, move your operation outdoors! Anything you roast, try on the grill. Just toss in a marinade or spray with Pam and season as you wish. Place on the grill, but keep a close eye as they will cook fast, depending on the temperature. There are vegetable baskets to place the veggies in, skewers or you can make your own foil packets.

Eating gluten-free BBQ is easy! Just get creative & light those grills!

Gluten-Free Vacation Tips

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 1 Comment

Schools here let out for summer last week and for many families, that means summer vacation is around the corner. If you’ve read much of my work before, you know I love traveling and eating out. Gone are the days when those activities came to an end when someone found out they could not eat gluten. Even though I love fabulous salads, don’t think I’m going around settling for salads when I’m dining out. We now eat better than we ever did in our gluten-eating days and that includes when we dine out. Like anyone, in a pinch, I’ll order a boring salad (or maybe even a fancy gourmet one), but those times are exceptions for me – not the rule.

It always kind of saddens me to read listserv posts from people who are super anxious about having to travel for work or play. Oftentimes, people are looking for information on where to buy gluten-free foods in the areas they are traveling to. Though that is good information to have – so is info about where the best options for gluten-free dining are. Far more people are now asking where others have had success eating out than those who just ask about buying gluten-free food. And that is excellent progress from four years ago, in my opinion.

Below are my personal gluten-free travel tips. Many people have told me they work for them too so I thought I’d list them here for those who might be taking their first gluten-free summer vacation soon. First off, know you can do it successfully if you set your mind to it. That would be true about almost anything, of course.

  1. Google the city/area you’re going to with ‘gluten-free dining’ to find restaurants with gluten-free menus, shopping info, and other helpful information.
  2. Search online for the local gluten-free or celiac support groups in the area. Such groups often maintain a gluten-free restaurant (and shopping) guide right on the websites. For instance, the Alamo Celiac group even posts helpful restaurant reviews on their site.
  3. Look for gluten-free blogs in the area you’re going to. Some might offer nothing but recipes and won’t be helpful in terms of gluten-free dining options. Others might offer extensive restaurant reviews, noting the signature dishes of the places reviewed.
  4. Look for accommodations that offer a complete kitchen if possible. You can save a lot of money by eating at least breakfast in the room. Plus, most places are not going to offer you gluten-free pancakes or toast and it gets old eating meat and eggs every morning.
  5. If your budget allows, order the Restaurant Guide and dining cards. For international travel, I love Let’s Eat Out with Celiac/Food Allergies. When traveling to places where your language is not the native tongue, you really need some type of translation dining card. Even if you have to make your own – don’t leave home without something to help explain your dining needs.

Obvious tips include packing at least some shelf-stable food for any trip. Having plenty to eat on airline flights is key for me. Don’t overdo the food packing for the actual vacation though. We went to London and Paris with a backpack full of food. It was 3/4 full when we returned home and my husband ate as much of the snacks I’d packed as I did. In NYC where gluten-free options abound, we took much less of our own food. Generally, forums on Trip Advisor can offer help with information on destinations. I like to look for gluten-free restaurant options that support groups suggest and compare them to Trip Advisor ratings. It doesn’t really matter to us if “XYZ cafe” has a gluten-free menu if the locals think it’s by far the worst place to dine in the area.

Last but not least, if you want to sit back, relax and let someone else do all the research for your trip, consider taking a gluten-free adventure with Bob & Ruth’s Travel Club. They do all the work – guests just show up and enjoy the incredible gluten-free offerings – and scenery and culture as well!

Review: Healthy Choice Frozen Dinners

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 4 Comments

Quite a while back, I tried a Cafe Steamers meal from Healthy Choice. It is not labeled gluten-free, but a call to the company confirmed the product is made with gluten-free ingredients. The meal was very good, though a bit on the pricey side. Recently, I checked the label of some other Healthy Choice frozen dinners which sell here for $1.99. To my surprise and delight, I actually found one that didn’t contain gluten ingredients. There was no disclaimer about the product being processed on lines that process wheat either so I decided to give it a try.

Since Healthy Choice products are not tested for the presence of gluten, Con-Agra (manufacturer of Healthy Choice) will not state anything they make is gluten-free. They will only state whether or not gluten ingredients are used in them. Even though I think Con-Agra is woefully behind the other large food companies in the U.S. in terms of the gluten-free market, I also think they take allergens seriously. Like any large company, their legal departments work overtime worrying about the many ways the company can be sued. Due to that issue, companies tend to be overly careful when it comes to labeling foods that contain ingredients that are top allergens. Seriously, is the disclaimer “may contain nuts” really necessary on a jar of peanuts?

The Spicy Caribbean Chicken is the only meal I could find that didn’t contain any gluten ingredients on the label. The meal has 310 calories, 30 grams of whole grains and 15 grams of protein. For a relatively small meal, it packs a pretty impressive nutritional punch. The meal took longer than stated on the package to get completely hot – about 25% longer, in fact. Immediately, I noticed that there is not a lot of rice in the container. The picture on the box indicates that there is more rice than is actually in the package. The taste of everything was very good, though the tanginess factor was a little overwhelming. More rice mixed in would have calmed that down a bit, but adding my own rice would take away the value of buying a fairly healthy meal for only $1.99. I’d rather have them  at least double the amount of rice and charge $2.49 instead.

The black beans, corn, pineapple and sauce really worked well together and I enjoyed the overall flavor much more than I expected to. Spicy Caribbean Chicken is a ‘select entree’ within the Healthy Choice line. Since Weight Watchers exchanges are listed on the website, and don’t indicate a milk exchange and the only allergen statement is about soy, the meal appears to be dairy-free. Below is the rest of the nutritional information for the meal I tried.

Amount/Serving %DV*
Total Fat (2 g) 3%
Saturated Fat (.5 g) 3%
Trans Fat (0 g)
Cholesterol (20 mg) 7%
Sodium (290 mg) 12%
Vitamin A (10%)
Calcium (6%)

*Please note – there are some mistakes on the Con-Agra website regarding allergens on individual products. I noticed that a Cafe Steamer lists only shellfish as an allergen, even though the item is made with pasta. Either the company switched to gluten-free pasta for this item or they goofed on the website. As always, read the entire ingredient list on products before deciding to purchase them.

Naturally Gluten-Free Fresh Strawberries

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 5 Comments

We live near a strawberry farm. Well, it’s actually about ten miles from us, but in this area that’s considered close by. Sometimes we get lucky and find pretty decent-tasting strawberries at Whole Foods and find them less often at Publix. However, nothing compares to fresh strawberries that you pick right off the vine. The sweet juicy flavor of fresh strawberries is one of my favorite things about summer. Though it’s not technically summer yet and the weather here can’t make up its mind, we’ve had average temps several days here already. What better time to put fresh strawberries to use?

Whole Foods actually has a great online article about how to use strawberries. Many of the recipes listed are gluten-free or can be easily modified to be so. We loved strawberry shortcake and in our gluten-eating days, used Sara Lee’s pound cake to make it. These days, we either bake a pound cake with a mix (123 gluten-free or Sylvan Border Farm) or use the ready-made sponge cake from Shabtai-Gourmet.

Even though we avoid using the oven during the summer – as much as we can – making fresh strawberry bread has become a ritual since our house went gluten-free. Before we knew there was a strawberry farm near us, we used frozen strawberries to make the bread. Now, only freshly picked will do. You can make full or mini loaves and freeze the loaves for up to six months. Here is the recipe I use from Recipe Zaar. For the flour, we now use Jules gluten-free, but Pamela’s baking mix or Gluten-Free Pantry’s all-purpose flour works well too. Add some xanthan gum if the flour blends you use do not contain it. To remove some of the fat and still make a moist loaf, use some unsweetened applesauce for some of the oil. Just don’t use all applesauce if you want it to be really moist.

Another way to enjoy strawberries it to use them over vanilla ice cream or in my case, frozen yogurt. Adding chocolate sauce and whipped cream makes the perfect summer sundae. Soak cut-up strawberries in a little orange juice for several hours or overnight. We do this for both sundaes and strawberry shortcakes. There are countless ways to enjoy this amazing summer fruit. And besides tasting delicious, strawberries are quite healthy as well. They have more fiber than you might think, contain no cholesterol, and are loaded with Vitamin C. Check out the full nutritional data here. How do you enjoy strawberries during the summer?