A huge thank you to our attendees, those who came early and stayed late, those who brought some AWESOME foods to share, those who helped put chairs and tables away, those who stuck around late so I did not have to leave by myself in the dark, those who offered insightful and supportive and sometimes funny comments... what a group! I didn't count... we might have had 15 of us? It was excellent!
Per the agenda, we reviewed the programs of the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America (www.gluten.net). Again, this is not a group I just came up with. We are one branch of about 65 of the GIG, which is classified as a 501(c)(3). Any donations you make I am fully accountable for, both to you, and to the GIG, who is accountable to auditors. I keep a list of all $ in, and all $ out, and it is not a secret. Anyway, please check out their website and consider joining. For $35, you get a lot of information, a quarterly magazine, e-newsletters if you want them, and a very supportive community. For $10, you can join our local group only, or for $40 you can join them both. Very soon I'll be following up with local vendors who were willing to offer us a discount if you show a membership card. I am competing with real life demands on my time, but I'm on it! Even if you choose not to join either group, we can use donations. Meeting space costs. Food for meetings costs. Speakers will cost, esp. if from out of town. Etc. etc. It's all a tax deduction.
I did not get to go over as many of the vendors as I'd have preferred, but by our next meeting, I hope to have compiled all of their handouts into a spiral binder with my notes, so anyone who'd like to take a look can do so. There are a LOT of companies out there to choose from. I sampled some pretty great food!
The main focus of the meeting was my attempt to summarize my notes of the keynote speaker, Dr. Tom O'Bryan (www.thedr.com). Great speaker, personally invested in the topic. He and a few others had just returned from an International Celiac Symposium in Oslo, where there were some new foundations established (a European and an American foundation for celiac research, the official names of which escape me at the moment). Also, it was for the first time acknowledged that gluten sensitivity outside of celiac disease exists, even though there is no formally agreed upon method of diagnosis/testing just yet. This area is exploding. I'd urge you all to start saving and mark your calendars for a trip to Denver next July (probably) for the next annual GIG conference. I loved it, and SO many nice people. The information will have changed by next year, I bet!
There's no way I can get to it all, but some of his highlights were just to note the myriad of conditions that can be associated with gluten, anything from miscarriages to migraines to schizophrenia to anxiety/depression to cancers to arthritis to GI disorders to nearly any autoimmune condition. And another point that was noted repeatedly is the high mortality rates associated with gluten sensitivities, in particular from the inflammation that goes along with so many associated conditions. Over and over it was noted the inflammation is key. It was also noted, and the paraphrasing is mine, that the junk we put into our bodies is killing us.
Other important highlights were that often celiac disease does not improve with a gluten free diet. Two main proposed reasons: 1) Still traces of gluten in the diet. Some of this could be honest mistakes, some could be "cheating" which really cannot be done for optimal health. However, the FDA is open currently for comments about what should constitute gluten free. The National GIG is making a statement, so if you choose to submit comments, please do so as an individual, and not a representative of Gluten Intolerance Group. They want a unified voice. Anyway, the US standard for "gluten free" is 20 parts per million, and if I heard correctly, Australia's standard is THREE parts per million. Hmm. Trace amounts causing problems? Lots to be researched. The #2 proposed reason that people do not heal is that we are "cross reactive" to other foods. Cyrex labs was an exhibitor at the national conference, and has developed a panel to test for about a dozen cross-reactive foods, where the body responds to the food as if it's gluten. Some of the things on the list were some of the alternative GF grains such as quinoa, buckwheat, and also things like coffee, chocolate, corn, potatoes, and more. I believe you can google them and find out more, and as I learn more, I'll keep you posted. I believe that your doc will need to set up an account with them.
Two hours of the meeting flew by. That was about all the time there was. We tossed around ideas for a speaker, and I'm looking into this, as I met a few folks at the conference willing to come, and some people from the group also had their own ideas of local professionals. Stay tuned, I'm hoping for a Nov. meeting. However, the consensus was that we'd like a time also to be able to sit around and talk, so a few attendees are looking into a restaurant or two in town where a large group can come for dinner and eat safely. Stay tuned on that as well.
Hope to meet more of you soon. We are a relatively small but growing community with tremendous ideas and support to offer each other, no matter how far into the gluten free lifestyle we are. Best to everyone, and more to follow!
