We had SO much fun baking to our hearts content, decorating with our imaginations soaring, eating Pamela’s Products and enjoying one another’s company.

I am honored and grateful be able to have incredibly delicious ingredients and fun give-aways for my parties, all from Pamela’s Products as well as Nature’s Food Patches LOADED gift bags , once again.

If anyone is interested in helping to spread the word about making the AWARENESS of celiac much more broadly known, as it should be, please e-mail me and I will share how to bring this about in your area.

We need everyone’s help and support! We need to unite and share each and everyone’s special skills and interests in this area. The profits from this party were all donated to National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.

Thank you, Tina Turbin

I so wanted to be a winner in her December contest and get those delicious cookies ( the gift) delivered to my door BUT the another wonderful baker got the prize. Lucky gal!

You can see my competition here and see my muffins sitting right next to the winner in the top left:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=128591&id=9321268761

You can also view the photo of one of my GLUTEN-FREE cupcake parties in which I donate all the money rasied to National Foundation for Celiac Awareness( NFCA) on her second page. See all the lovely kids and moms!

My hats off to Yvonne M.B. for coming in first place with those adorable cookies.

Check out my recipes anyway as they are scrumptious.

OK folks, next time – right! …..:)  Tina Turbin

In addition to sharing the story of the Fowler family and their journey through all things gluten-free and celiac, I’d like to also announce that all 4 children including Tyler (7 yrs), Parker, Isabell and Peyton (4 yr old triplets), pictured above in their Halloween costumes, were the winners of the October Danny the Dragon contest as part of the Danny the Dragon Gluten-Free “Halloween” cupcake party which I hosted in Florida.

The kids received a Danny the Dragon gift basket loaded with goodies and Danny the Dragon give-aways!

Fowler family story:

Our Celiac Disease Journey started in May of 2007, the triplets were about to turn two and I was questioning the doctor about their small stature. Like most, the belief was that there were 3 of them, so it might just be their size, but at their two year check up we would run more tests if they had not gained any weight.  No surprise, their two year check up came and the girls had failed to put on ANY weight in the 6 month period prior to their checkup.

At that point, we decided to see the Pediatric GI here in St. Pete, FL who immediately thought Celiac or Cystic Fibrosis. He was pretty optimistic and we were sent home wishing for an auto immune disease.  Being a mom with Rheumatoid Arthritis, Auto-immune hepatitis and Thyroid Disease (all auto immune diseases), I only began to worry about what the girls health would look like in the future. Not a promising outlook but the Celiac diagnosis was manageable and that is what we were hoping for.

Halloween 2007 we spent the majority of the day screening at All Childrens Hospital for Celiac and Cycstic Fibrosis. The girls were poked, and encouraged to sweat for their tests, so we walked the halls of All Childrens prompting them with Candy corn.

Long story short, the results were Celiac Disease and after their biopsy’s we learned their small intestines had been effected and they were no longer absorbing the nutrients they needed to grow.  AHHHHHHHHHHH at last a diagnosis, now to change the diet.

My husband and I left the hospital that day and went straight to the health food store in St. Pete and began our Gluten Free lifestyle.  We also have a 7 yr old soon (5 at time of diagnosis) and another son (the 3rd triplet), both who do not have Celiac, so we knew we were in for a big change.

The transition went better than expected and within 6 months the girls blood levels had balanced off and were within normal range.  We finally saw the weight gain, and they were beginning to look like big kids, instead of a year or two younger than they actually were.

The girls are now getting close to being on the growth charts, and are showing signs of growth all around. We still hear that they are small because they were multiples but at least now we know it is not their diets causing it. Overall you can see they are eating more of what they like and just feeling better.

It is a big adjustment to make, but it is manageable and with the right attitude and support you can fine tune the diet so that no child is left out or feels “different” because of what they eat. My girls are sure to ask at every outing, “is it gluten free?”, and that alone puts a smile on my face.  Ms. Fowler

Please sign up for my Newsletter (click on link and scroll down the right side of the page) to stay on top of this.  The “project” details will be fully released by the end of October.

Click here to watch a  7-minute video interview with Dr Peter Green, the doctor I am 100% behind and will be on some radio interviews with across the world over the next many months! He is a delight and is the  TOP doctor truly helping strongly to encourage celiac awareness in the USA. Listen to him and his simplicity. I think you will agree he is wonderful man with a heart of gold to help. He too agrees many kids in the USA should NOT be on drugs and are terribly misdiagnosed! He is the Head of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University. 

Let’s raise awareness about the overwhelming amount of misdiagnosed and long undiagnosed children  and adults. Let’s get the word out about the effects celiac disease has on 1 out of every 100 person in the USA! Connect up with me and I will share with you what is happening to help this area. 

Again, watch this video and get yourself informed in just 7 minutes by an amazing man I respect with all my heart. Dr. Green has devoted his life to opening the eyes of Americans and intends to continue to raise awareness. He is CORRECTLY diagnosing an average of 2,400 people per year as he continues to research this disease and facts of gluten. 

Please ask any of your friends or associates who may be interested in this field to connect up with me. I have had 7 radio interviews on this subject alone in the past 2 months and scheduling an average of 2 per week at this point in time, and this is increasing.

Side Note: Pamela’s Products sponsors my monthly Gluten-Free cupcake party videos. This month we have one scheduled in Tampa Bay, Florida. If you are interested, just let us know. Space is limited.  This month’s theme will be Thanksgiving for the kids and families! FUN! All gluten-free of course. This too is to raise awareness for this disease and all videos promoted broadly.  

Thank you,

Tina Turbin

This is a lovely “thank you” card sent to me from a child that had attended one of my fun and exciting monthly Gluten-Free Cup Cake Parties, generously sponsored by Pamela’s Products and Nature’s Food Patch in Clearwater.

And an equally lovely note from his mother.  Enjoy!

Dear Tina,

Thank you so much for including us in your cupcake party Saturday!  It was really cute, when we got home from your place, Bodhi (my 4-yr old, who you met at Spring Valley School) was actually reading Danny the Dragon!  So Tristan picked up the book and got to the part where they are all eating dinner together, and he said, all matter-of-factly, “Danny the Dragon eats healthy.” I responded with, “yes, and his author, Tina Turbin, eats gluten-free!”, and just as matter-of-factly and straight-faced, he responded, ‘yes, true’. You could not have planned it better!

Then Sunday night I was telling Shane and Tristan that Monday was a holiday (their school started today, Tuesday), and that the four of us (Shane, Tristan, Bodhi and I) would have the day to play, so I asked them to think of some fun things to do on Monday.  Shane got all bright-eyed and exclaimed, “I know, we can write Tina Turbin a card thanking her for Saturday!”.  Oh Tina, just what every mom wants to hear, an un-prompted desire to write a thank you card!  And that’s what fun thing he wanted to do on our day off!  So I am enclosing that card – it looks like both boys drew you scenes of a Pokemon battle – quite an esteemed gift from their point of view!

It was wonderful to see you, and thank you again for including us.  I went to a dinner party Saturday night and must have told about 15-20 people about it, and gluten, and did the same today when I returned to work, so I am defnitely spreading the word.  Even Allen (my hubby) was telling people about it at his office yesterday, and he wasn’t even there!

Love,

Lael

I am heading to Los Angeles right after my very popular  Halloween Cupcake Party I am hosting with a terrific team of children and parent bakers. I only have 100% Gluten-Free Parties!

Pamela’s Products, is sponsoring this event in support of my efforts and my interest to help Dr. Peter Green at the Celiac Disease Center. This amazing man correctly diagnosed about 2500 celiac patients last year alone and the year before and the year before that…. Need I say more?

All of this will be filmed in the Tampa Bay area on October 24th, Saturday. Check your Tampa, St Pete .and Clearwater newspapers, check the internet and check out  http://is.gd/4pYn1 for specifics. (Los Angeles cupcake party will be announced before the end of this year too!)  I invite you to join in the fun and support my Cause.

Please contact me via the contact page if you are interested.Id love to have you join. We have limited spaces available but I was told this week-end we can take a few more kids and moms, since I really want to bake and decorate a load of gluten free cup-cakes for everyone to take home. Yummy!

Thank you Everyone for your support and good wishes, Tina Turbin and Danny

The next show is November 9th, so mark your schedule and connect up. The topic of conversation is Gluten-Free and Celiac Disease! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Thrive-In-Balance Please send me any suggestions of topics and I will be sure and share them with Jordan for her consideraton.

Listen to the previous show in which she interviewed me on a variety of topics and suggested tips to balancing life: http://www.thrivebalance.com/members/tib/cal/VIEW+2009+Oct+12+11:00AM#11:00AM

REMEMBER!
November 9th, EST 12 noon: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Thrive-In-Balance …let’s discuss celiac disease, gluten-free issues and foods and let’s get the word out and better inform the public at large.

Thank you! Tina Turbin

Date: Saturday October 24th
Time: 2-4 p.m.
Location: Dunedin, Florida
RSVP: Rosie Newman at roseann.newman@gmail.com

Parents and kids are invited to help bake and decorate delicious Halloween treats for a good cause. Space is limited, so be sure to confirm your participation today by emailing Rosie Newman at
roseann.newman@gmail.com. We hope to see you there!

Special thanks to Creative Loafing for running the following!

“Tina Turbin’s Cupcake Party: The acclaimed children’s cookbook author hosts a gluten-free cupcake party, to be videotaped and used to raise funds and awareness for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Parents and kids are invited to help bake and decorate yummy treats for a good cause. Those interested in being filmed for the video can contact Rosie Newman at roseann.newman@gmail.com for location and further details, and learn more about the author at TinaTurbin.com. Sat., Aug. 22, 2-4 p.m.”

Oh and as a side note, the cupcake party was a resounding success and a great time for all! Due to popular demand, planning is in the works for more fun, family-friendly events. Stay tuned!