Gluten-Free Coverage at LoHud.com

Includes Input from Dr. Peter Green and Two Regional Bakers

LoHud.com (which covers the Lower Hudson Valley) recently ran two Linda Lombroso articles having to with celiac disease and the gluten-free diet.

The longer article, "Eating gluten-free" (May 11, 2009) features two area bakers: Three Dogs Gluten-Free Bakery founder Karen Miller (current head of GFRAP in the greater metroplitan area) and Good Day Sunshine founder Pam Goldberg as well as Dr. Peter Green—Elisabeth Hasselbeck's celiac specialist and mine, too. Lombroso mentions a study co-authored by Green that documented the greater cost of a gluten-free diet and writes

Outside the United States, some patients diagnosed with celiac disease get a prescription for gluten-free foods, says Green. "In areas of Europe, like in Italy, the government encourages diagnosis, and all around the world, there are many countries in which gluten-free food is part of the national health care and the food is provided free."

Keep that possibility in mind when you're thinking health care reform!

The other article, "Celiac disease: a hidden epidemic?" (May 8, 2009), revolves around Dr. Green's book of the same title (sans question mark). Green encourages people who suspect that they have celiac disease to consult with their physicians about getting tested regardless of their symptoms.

"I see patients who say they asked their doctor to have the blood test, and they say: 'He said I couldn't have it because I was too fat or too tall or I didn't have diarrhea or I wasn't Irish or I wasn't Italian or I was Jewish,' because there are a lot of misconceptions about what celiac disease is like. Most people don't have classic symptoms," he says.

"If a doctor says he won't test for it, you should find a new doctor, because that just means he doesn't know the tremendous variability in the ways it can present."

Here's information about diagnosing celiac disease.

GFRAP Welcomes Midtown Restaurant Nizza

Upstate Bakery Also Added

The latest New York City restaurant to join the Gluten-Free Restaurant Awareness Program is Nizza.

Located at 630 Ninth Avenue near 45th Street, Nizza (rhymes with pizza) is convenient to Times Square and the Broadway and Off-Broadway shows in the Theatre District, and even relatively close the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. (Not very long ago, you had to be intrepid to wander through this part of Hell's Kitchen, but now it's a welcoming part of town that's crowded with restaurants and host to an annual food fair.)

Nizza, which delivers, opened around October 2007. Since then its Italian-French fare (including a chick pea pizza-pancake-crepe called socca) has been written up in The New York Times, New York, and Time Out New York. It's also been sized up by the good folks at Menupages and Zagat, where it rated a very respectable food rating of 20.

Nizza's GFRAP participation is not coordinated with an area group.

Another addition is Three Dogs Gluten-Free Bakery of Briarcliff Manor. The owner of Three Dogs is GFRAP leader Karen Miller, who is also involved with the Westchester Celiac Sprue Support Group (WCSSG). Karen brought a plate of delicious bakery samples when she recently visited Manhattan to speak about GFRAP and the WCSSG with the New York City Celiac Disease Meetup Group (NYCCDMG). I especially enjoyed her chocolate chip cookies.

The GFRAP participation of Three Dogs Gluten-Free Bakery is coordinated with WCSSG.

CeliaCalendar: Westchester Support Meetings

Author-chefs Annalise Roberts and Connie Sarros will be the guest speakers at Sunday's meeting of the Westchester Celiac Sprue Support Group (WCSSG). Billed as a "Holiday Food and Baking Spectacular," the meeting will also feature the following vendors:

Soul Dog Restaurant and Bakery
Three Dogs Gluten-Free Bakery
Miller's Gluten Free Bread Co.
Whole Foods Bakehouse
Katz Gluten Free

The meeting takes place at 2:00 pm on Sunday, December 7, 2008 at Phelps Memorial Hospital.

Also on the WCSSG schedule: a New Patient Meeting (with dinner) at the Whole Foods Market in White Plains at 7:30 pm on Thursday, January 22, 2009(!).

Vendors Announced for Westchester Support Group Meeting

Meeting Scheduled for Sunday, September 21, 2008

As mentioned previously, the scheduled speaker for next week's meeting of the Westchester Celiac Sprue Support Group (WCSSG) is Dr. Peter Green, who is to offer "an update on the diagnosis, treatment, ancillary conditions and research into a cure for celiac disease," as the group's newsletter puts it. "Come early if you want a seat—there is usually an overflow crowd for this important presentation of the most important information available," the newsletter advises.

The meeting takes place from 2-4pm at Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, NY. Discounted copies of the book Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic will be available. Also represented as vendors are Joan's GF Great Bakes (you might want to bring a cooler to keep the bagels and such frozen) and Everybody Eats, Kettle Cuisine, Gluten Free Gourmet Solutions, and Three Dogs Gluten-Free Bakery (formerly Baking with Brodie).