Gluten-free resources

A friend asked for a list of my favorite gluten-free companies & products & suggested that I post it on my blog. So, here it is!

Food Companies

The Gluten-free Pantry / Glutino: http://www.glutenfree.com/home.aspx -- carries prepared foods, mixes, & gluten-free (g-f) baking ingredients such as g-f flours. I use a number of their products.

Ener-G Foods: http://www.ener-g.com/ -- I order my rice pastas from here.

Bob's Red Mill: http://www.bobsredmill.com/ -- This company is terrific. It carries g-f mixes & baking ingredients & also a wonderful hot cereal called "Mighty Tasty Gluten-Free Hot Cereal."

Bakery on Main: http://www.bakeryonmain.com/ -- This is a local company (Glastonbury, CT). It makes the best g-f granola I've ever tasted, although it's a bit pricey. But it's worth it. Whole Foods in West Hartford carries the granola, or you can order it directly from the company.

Grocery Stores

Whole Foods: Whole Foods carries an increasing number of gluten-free foods, plus it has its own dedicated g-f bakery; products from that bakery are carried in the frozen food sections of the stores. Whole Foods will also order products in bulk for you & give you a 10% discount, even if the store doesn't carry that product; as long as the store orders from the company, it will do a bulk order. E.g., the store where I shop the most didn't carry the Bob's Red Mill G-F hot cereal but carries lots of other Bob's Red Mill products, so I was able to get a carton of the cereal. Not only did I get a discount; I didn't have to pay shipping!

Trader Joe's: Trader Joe's has lots of g-f stuff & has a list of g-f products. ALWAYS READ THE LABEL, HOWEVER, BECAUSE THE INGREDIENTS ON ANY PRODUCT MAY HAVE BEEN CHANGED. Trader Joe's also has its own g-f granola that is less expensive than Bakery on Main.

Stop & Shop: Stop & Shop has started to carry more & more g-f foods, which is wonderful. They put them in the "Natural Food" aisle. Among the best g-f stuff is Tinkyada Pasta. Shaw's also carries quite a number of g-f items; I did find in Boston that Shaw's was, overall, more expensive than Stop & Shop.

There are dozens & dozens of companies that now make g-f products. The 4 I've listed are my favorites. The web has been an incredible help, & most companies have websites. Some companies have "sampler packages" you can buy that include a bunch of different products the company makes so you can try them. I think Kinnikinnick in Canada still has a sampler. I've tried lots of different companies' stuff & keep coming back to the products I like best. I've listed those just below.

For breads & bagels: Glutino
For baking mixes: Gluten-free Pantry; Whole Foods
For pizza: Glutino; Amy's (Spinach & Cheese)
For pasta: Ener-G; Tinkyada
For muffins: Whole Foods G-F Bakery's Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins
For granola: Bakery on Main; Trader Joe's

After 11+ years on a gluten-free diet to "cure" my Celiac Disease, I find it both amusing and somewhat annoying that, all of a sudden, it's "in" or "chic" to go on a gluten-free diet. Some folks know that they have sensitivity to certain foods, that certain foods cause bad reactions, e.g., wheat causes a number of my friends to have (1) stomach pains, (2) breathing problems, (3) skin problems -- itching, hives, & they stay away from these foods. It seems though that lately a bunch of people (not my friends) see going on a gluten-free diet as a fad king of thing. I don't know if this helps the food industry produce more gluten-free products; I guess I hope it does. My concern is that, with somewhere around 95% of cases of Celiac Disease (CD) going undiagnosed, if people go on & off a gluten-free diet & then need to be screened / tested for CD, they could get false, misleading results & put themselves into even greater jeopardy. Okay, enough mother-henning.

One more note on having Celiac Disease: I have Celiac Disease. I am NOT "a Celiac." This is one of my biggest frustrations with the CD community. I / we are not a disease. Just as with Osteoporosis, I don't refer to myself as "an osteoporotic." Illnesses & diseases are something we have, not something we are. This is especially crucial, I think, when it comes to mental illnesses. A person has bipolar disorder or depression; they are not a bipolar or a depressive (although it used to be common to refer to someone as a "manic-depressive," until the term bipolar came into more consistent use). Being referred to as "a Celiac" is one reason I stopped going to support group meetings in Boston shortly after I was diagnosed with CD. I am a person; I am not a disease or any one of my numerous illnesses. Thank you.