GLUTEN FREE
Allergies, Intolerances & Sensitivities ... Oh My!

A few years ago you never saw gluten free products at the grocery store, and if they were there at all, it's most likely they were tucked away in some corner where they wouldn't scare regular customers away. As the concept of a gluten-free diet and healthy eating overall has slowly made it's way into popular culture however, general grocery stores have adapted to compete with the surge of new health food shops that have been popping up in nearly every neighborhood.

You can almost certainly find a growing organic section at your local supermarket and sure enough, there they are in all their glory, the allergen-friendly products ... way overpriced, but at least they're on display for the world to see. Is it a coincidence that a protein like gluten which is used in almost everything humans eat regularly (bread, pasta, cereal, breaded meats, breaded vegetables, breaded bread!) seems to be causing so many digestive problems in more and more people every year ... maybe not but it's definitely a sign of the times we live in and it doesn't hurt to ask questions and get informed.

My beautiful fiancee Liz grew up tolerating regular stomach pains and severe discomfort without knowing what was happening to her until she was ultimately diagnosed with celiac disease. As anyone familiar with gluten free living will tell you, it's a huge shock to learn about how much stuff you are NOT allowed to eat anymore, but at least the trade off is less pain, and that's the trump card after-all.

---

I've been living without gluten for as long as I can remember, and there are definitely days when I wish I could just forget it all and indulge in some wheat-laden treat, but it's a life-long challenge. Thankfully we're a team & working together makes a huge difference.

---

When I fell in love with Liz, I fell in love with everything about her, including this crazy gluten free world she was living in for so long. My first home-cooked GF bread was an ambitious attempt to show how much I cared, but resulted in a pale, play-doughesque brick that still makes us laugh when we think back about it ... but I learned, and information was the key. So you google for answers, you google for recipes, you go to the grocery store armed with a great big list of weird ingredients, you realize the grocery store has 2 of the 30 things you need, you go to the health food store, you find out how ludicrous the price of xantham gum is, you get home and pretend to know what you're doing, you lose your temper when you find out that coconut oil is hard as a rock at room temperature ... it's a learning process.

At some point you find out that 99% of what you read on the web is crap and that there are a handful of real people offering genuine advice and experience about how to navigate the gluten free landscape ... just like everything else in life right? Well you've arrived at just such a place, a site run by infamously GF-savvy 1-percenters, i.e. real people sharing a bunch of stuff we learned the hard way, so welcome to Gluten Free Connect!

Living gluten free has brought us closer together as a family, and we hope it will do the same for you. If any of the topics on our site hit home for you, then grab a coffee and a GF muffin and click to your heart's content ... happy surfing.

---

At first I thought I was just being a nice guy accommodating Liz's special diet, but wouldn't you know it, she turned the tables by helping me realize my own gluten intolerance; oh the irony! So we certainly don't know everything, but we are a pretty resourceful duo ... if, for some reason, we seem like a couple of know-it-alls, we come by it unintentionally I promise.

---

Thanks for visiting our site, we're always trying to add relevant information about the GF world, and with any luck some of it will be of interest, or maybe even assistance, to you or someone you know. Pages like these may help you find what you're looking for ...

Celiac Disease Causing intestinal discomfort for millennia

Gluten Avoiding wheat, rye & barley is a real challenge

Healthy Eating Sadly, good intentions alone won't cut it

Organic Food Not just for the culinary elite anymore

... and if ever you find that searching the web isn't cutting it, you can always lean on the GFC community a bit too by asking questions on our FB page. If we don't have the solution ourselves, there's bound to be a fellow GFC'er with answers, or at least the ability to point you in the right direction ...

... naturally, if you find something useful here on GFC, we'd certainly appreciate you passing it along by spreading the word, our community is our greatest mutual asset of all so don't be shy, let the people know ! ...