Over thirty years ago, Mr. Ritt opened a bakery in Philadelphia that would later become a gluten-free establishment and gain a dedicated fan base among the gluten-free community. It’s no surprise that after closing his bakery’s doors, Mr. Ritt was met with the demands of his enthusiastic customers who couldn’t do without his tasty creations. Lucky for us, in response to their feedback, he developed a variety of mixes, which can now be conveniently ordered online. We had the opportunity to test some of these mixes, and we were quite satisfied.

Mr. Ritt makes a wide assortment of gluten-free mixes, allowing the gluten-free community to make all sorts of baked goods, from cookies and cakes to baguettes, pizza crust, and hamburger buns. The mixes are excellent, with great flavor, versatility, and quality ingredients.

The All-Purpose Buckwheat Flour Blend is a high-fiber and high-protein mix. This one is ideal for baked goods with a flavor that’s stronger than chocolate chip cookies, according to Mr. Ritt’s website. Pizza and Italian lovers can use the Multipurpose Italian Bread and Pizza Crust Mix, which is not only gluten-free but also egg- and dairy-free.  This mix is good for hamburger and hotdog buns as well as pizza crust.

Waffle-lovers, rejoice! Mr. Ritt’s Buttermilk Waffle Mix can be used for not only waffles, which were the mainstay of Mr. Ritt’s bakery for years, but also pancakes and even a tempura mix.

If you’re a fan of soft pretzels, as I am, you’ll love the Quinoa Bread and Pretzel Mix, a delicious mix that’s not only free of gluten, egg, and dairy, but made with quinoa flour, rich in protein and fiber. As far as I know, it’s the only soft pretzel mix celiacs can make at home!

Mr. Ritt has used his impressive experience to enable us to reproduce his cherished goods in our kitchen with versatile, nutritious, and delicious mixes. What’s more, Mr. Ritt says more are coming. I highly recommend his products for your gluten-free baking needs!

Miranda Jade

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

k.m.

This sauce is delicious and the perfect accompaniment to my GF crab fritters (include link)!

INGREDIENTS

½ c mayonnaise
½ c sour cream
1 grapefruit (squeezed of juice)

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine ingredients and heat in a pan until warm.
2. Serve over Gluten-Free crab fritters (include link) or any other recipe of your choice.

Miranda Jade
www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

Try this really yummy shrimp recipe using Cajun Choice seasoning. It is so good for dinner, for appetizers or just on a salad for a light lunch! Try also with yummy veggies.

Ingredients:

1 Cajun shrimp seasoning packet

Approximately 24 precooked medium sized shrimp

1/3-1/2 butter stick

1/3-1/2 lemon juiced

Directions:

Put all shrimp in a pan on a low-medium heat (if your shrimp are frozen be sure to run room temperature water over them before you cook them to be sure they are defrosted)

Add whole packet of Cajun Choice Shrimp seasoning evenly on top of the shrimp.

Cut butter into small pieces and add directly into pan.

Once butter is all melted stir shrimp, seasoning and butter all together.

Add lemon to mixture.

Stir some more to make sure lemon is all over shrimp.

Cook for about 2 more min and serve.

Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as an appetizer.

Miranda Jade

www.GlutenFreeHelp.Info

k.m.

Now that you’re gluten-free, you don’t have to say goodbye to your favorite recipes. If you have tons of family recipes that have been handed down to you, this can be very good news!

The conversion process is simple: just use gluten-free flour blend (which you can make yourself using my gluten-free flour blend recipe—or buy it prepackaged) one-for-one. This applies to cookies, pancakes, and muffins.

Does your recipe require cake flour? You can make your own by combining 1 ¼ cups of your gluten-free flour blend with ¼ cup of tapioca starch or flour or ¼ cup of corn starch.

The one-for-one substitution doesn’t apply to all recipes, though, such as with Danish sweet rolls and yeast breads.

Miranda Jade
www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

b.a.

I like bacon, and I like candy, so I gave this recipe a try, and boy, was it delicious! Kids will love this gluten-free treat, for sure.

INGREDIENTS

1 lb. bacon

Brown sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Slice bacon into 1-in.strips and coat with brown sugar.

3. Bake at 350 degrees on a broiler pan for approx. 15 mins., turning once.

4. Cool and store in an airtight container.

Miranda Jade

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

The symptoms of celiac disease cover a wide range and are variable from person to person, but according to the Canadian Celiac Association, there are some symptoms that seem to be particularly common among celiac children.

These are: vomiting, irritability, behavioral changes, delayed growth or puberty, short stature, and dental enamel abnormalities.

According to Celiacs, Inc., the symptoms of celiac disease usually manifest in children after three to five months after they first ingest gluten, but this period of time may be shorter (“as short as one month”).  Their website lists additional celiac symptoms commonly found in children, such as a large abdomen, abnormal stools (large, pale, or floating), flattened buttocks, and acute diarrhea and dehydration.  Older children will experience “more subtle” symptoms such as: poor appetite, poor growth, and anemia.

Miranda Jade
http://www.GlutenFreeHelp.info
b.a.

Gluten is not a staple in the Asian world or in their foods and never has been. Even the inclusion of soy and wheat is “an American idea.” How absurd!

KA-ME has delicious gluten-free, single-serve rice crackers as well as lightly-salted ones which I really enjoyed and would purchase again.

The company manufactures more products and many in Asia, yet these are the only two I tested and can comment upon.

Miranda Jade
www.glutenfreehelp.info.

It’s been over two years since I finally found out what was destroying my body from the inside out. I had a history of stomach problems and when my symptoms became bad enough to feel justified going to the doctor, was told that I had gastritis, which is essentially an enflamed stomach lining. Antacid medications were prescribed and I was sent on my way. The medications seemed to work at first, but eventually my symptoms came back. Each time my “gastritis” came back, it was worse than the time before. I felt bloated, my head hurt, I was nauseous, and my insides felt like they were on fire. My skin also reacted by producing patches of red, itchy, flakiness. Around 2003, the symptoms began to include mind­crushing migraines. To combat the migraines, a neurologist put me on an anti­seizure medication and told me to stop eating yogurt, bananas, chocolate, and to eliminate caffeine from my diet. I did as I was told but my stomach problems and migraines continued.

By the Spring of 2006 my health had deteriorated to the point that my body finally had enough. What felt like another attack of “gastritis” quickly evolved into fever, and sharp, stabbing pains on the right side of my abdomen. I ate antacids like candy to no avail, and had to sleep sitting up otherwise I’d wake up choking on stomach acid. I was admitted into the ER and went through a battery of tests, which indicated inflammation in my stomach (a shocker!) and small intestines. They attributed it to gas, gave me yet another script of antacid medication and sent me on my way. The medications didn’t work at all and I continued to get worse.

By June of 2006 I began to lose weight. In addition to the pain, headaches, nausea, and bloating, I began to experience new and disturbing symptoms. I could no longer look at computer screens without feeling dizzy, and everything that moved produced a visual tail. I started to feel like I was losing my mind, or tripping on some kind of hallucinogen.

Food began to scare me, since many things I ate made my symptoms worse. In the course of three months I dropped from an unhealthy 212 pounds to 165 pounds. I still sought out the help of doctors, now mainly gastroenterologists, who once again put me through a variety of tests. I had an MRI, CAT scan, at least 20 different blood tests, an endoscopy, a colonoscopy, parasite tests, and neurological tests.

Nothing produced answers. Frustrated physicians began to blame me for my symptoms, telling me that I needed to seek the help of a psychiatrist or a counselor. There was nothing more disheartening to be told that all your physical symptoms are in your head, that the pain and discomfort you are feeling are not real. I’ve got to admit that I did a lot of praying during those months.

By the end of October 2006 I began to experience excruciating pain when I had a bowel movement, which was often accompanied by fresh blood. I again returned to the hospital, only to have physicians shove their fingers in my anus, which was extremely painful due to my rectal tearing, as well as a bit embarrassing as I’m sure those of you who’ve had the same procedure know, and told that there was nothing wrong with me. It wasn’t until I brought in a picture of my toilet bowl filled with blood did my gastroenterologist begin to explore possible dietary causes of my symptoms. One of which was a test for gluten­ antibodies. I asked him why and he informed me that I may have something called Celiac Disease. Celiac Disease, he said, was an auto­immune condition created by the body’s inability to digest gluten. Gluten was a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and possibly oats.

Although my test came back “inconclusive,” I decided to try and avoid eating gluten anyway. What could I lose? I was desperate. I had taken every medication given to me, as well as put myself through a variety of herbal dietary detoxification regimens, and stupidly enough, even fasted. Nothing helped. However when I eliminated gluten, I quickly noticed results. Within three days my rectal bleedingstopped, and in a few weeks I was having pain­free bowel movements! However, gluten had taken its toll on me. When I visited my mother for Christmas of 2006, she began to cry as soon as she saw me. The last time she had seen me I was over 200 pounds, so seeing me at 145 pounds must have been quite a shock! We cried together and I told her not to worry, because I felt that I had finally found out what was killing me. As I avoided gluten my health began to slowly improve.

Once I started researching gluten and Celiac Disease, I found that my negative physiological reactions to non­gluten foods were caused by a condition called “leaky­gut syndrome.” In people with Celiac Disease, gluten creates an auto­immune condition where the body begins to attack the villi (hair­like structures lining the intestines used for moving food particles and facilitating the absorption of nutrients), eventually flattening them. As conditions become worse, the intestines become severely inflamed and eventually begin to tear and create fissures. My intestines had been so damaged by my disease, that large, undigested food particles began seeping through the cracks in my intestinal walls into my blood stream. Once there they were attacked by my immune system and labeled as “intruders.” If you don’t know how the immune system works, once it identifies something as an enemy, that information is communicated to the rest of the body. The result was that I began to have allergic reactions to many of the things I ate, but especially nuts, seeds, and dairy products.

Severely damaged intestines also produce neurological conditions. Not only did I have a hard time looking at computer screens, something of a liability when in graduate school, but when I closed my eyes I saw what looked like strobe­lights flashing in my peripherals. Stores with a lot of visual congestion, like bookstores, made me dizzy. I was also seeing trails. When I moved my arms, even slowly, a visible trail resulted. It was worse with cars, birds, and anything else that moves. But worse than all of that was

the fogginess I felt in my mind. It was so hard to concentrate on anything that I suffered chronic headaches from the strain of trying to focus my attention. To sum it all up, it completely SUCKED!!!

It’s been over two years of healing now and I’m still not feeling as good as I did before I became ill. Some days are much better than others, but in general I always feel a little bit off. However, I feel unbelievably better than I did when things were at their worse, so I’m extremely grateful. I’m sure it took many years to have led to how sick I became, so it will most likely take quite a while to repair the damages. I eventually accepted the reality that there was no magic pill to make me instantly better. I realized that the rest of my life would be somewhat of a dietary challenge, especially when it comes to traveling. But as some wise person once said, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I’m sure as new gluten­free products are introduced and awareness of Celiac Disease increases, living with dietary restrictions such as mine will get easier and easier. I just hope that I’m able to help as many people as I can have an easier time adjusting to gluten­free living.

­Travis Sky Ingersoll

Great Resources and Links:

Check out my Gluten Free Cooking Blog. It has tons of useful information, recipes, product sampling, restaurant reviews, and tips to living a gluten free life. And it’s FREE!

http://www.travsgoneglutenfree.blogspot.com

Here’s my ever-growing list of used and approved Gluten Free cookbooks, GF products, and related products:

Trav’s Gone Gluten Free’s Amazon Store

Helping Hands Books is a social venture aimed at contributing to youth development:

http://www.helpinghandsbookstores.com

Miranda Jade

GlutenFreeHelp.info

Celaic disease, which has a wide variety of symptoms in itself, often is attended by other health conditions. According to the Canadian Celiac Association, for this reason, it’s recommended that people with celiac disease symptoms or a family history of celiac disease get tested for the following associated conditions:

-Osteoporosis
-Type 1 diabetes mellitus
-Other autoimmune disease (such as autoimmune hepatitis or autoimmune thyroid disease)
-Down syndrome
-Turner syndrome
-Lymphoma

Miranda Jade
http://www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

b.a.

You can order a copy of the Winter print edition of the Journal of Gluten Sensitivity to read my article, “U.S. Has Yet to Define ‘Gluten-Free’ for Food Labels,” in which I take up the critical subject of the FDA’s gluten-free labeling regulations.

The Journal of Gluten Sensitivity is a print and online quarterly newsletter co-edited by the founder of Celiac.com, Scott Adams. It publishes articles geared toward those on the gluten-free diet for reasons of celiac disease, gluten intolerance, as well as wheat allergies, keeping readers up-to-date on the latest scientific research and developments in the gluten-free arena. I am honored to have my article included in its Winter publication.

Check out the link below to subscribe to the newsletter:

http://www.glutenfreemall.com/catalog/journal-gluten-sensitivity-celiaccom-paper-edition-online-edition-year-subscriptionissues-celiac-disease-newsletters-p-469.html

Tina Turbin
www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

b.a.