Jen Cafferty, Founder of the Gluten Free Expo 2009 admits liberally to her own battle with the problem of how to eat healthy and nutritionally once she was forced to learn the ropes of a gluten-free lifestyle.
In my interview with Jen, I learned that Jen’s daughter was the first to open her eyes to the world of a celiac lifestyle, soon followed by other family members, to much of everyone’s surprise. This finally answered the multitude of troubles she too had for many years. Mystery solved, the culprit was gluten. Simply stated, gluten is a mixture of proteins found in a number of grains and primarily eaten by millions in the innocent grain, wheat.
Once on a diet free of gluten, one needs to read many labels and learn how to prepare foods and cook, so that one is getting the proper nutrition needed to be healthy and feel healthy. An area of concern is the gluten-free child and the needs to furnish these children with the essential and proper nutrients to grow healthy and strong and feel good now.
Jen Cafferty single-handedly reached out and decided to help others with similar problems by establishing her own cooking school and founding the Gluten Free Expo, this year in its third year. Most Expos tend to be more inclined toward the medical and Jen stated this Expo is to be more of a nutritional approach, a need she felt was missing, despite her 50 hours a week planning and organizing to pull this off. The Gluten Free Expo 2009 will be at the lovely Wyndham Hotel in Lisle, Illinois and according to Jen: people are already confirmed and flying in from all over, even Canada.
This year’s Expo is a packed 2 days on August 15th and 16th and all attendees will be in for an abundance of surprises, from the all dairy-free and gluten-free treats available, to a full children’s program, and getting your very important questions answered as well. How about the picky eater, food that actually tastes good, learn how to really cook gluten-free. Well, this and much more will be covered and all attendees will leave with a wealth of new skills and knowledge to apply.
Children under the age of 12 are welcome to come to the Expo, yet there is also plenty to do in and around the hotel. It is recommended to bring an adult to keep an eye on your younger children, as it is a busy time for the attendees, and no one will not want to miss out on all the samples, vendors, lectures, demonstrations and fair.
Jen promises this year will outdo the previous. She has arranged all menu items to be gluten and dairy free and all attendees will leave with their own book, recipe supplies and charts.
Jen shared her goals for this year’s Expo: “to TRULY help the newly diagnosed and completely overwhelmed parent with a newly diagnosed child, to teach the old timer or newly diagnosed how to cook for oneself so that the food does not taste like cardboard.” She found many long term gluten-free families still have not mastered how to cook gluten-free so it tastes delicious and is nutritious. This year’s Expo promises to solve all this and much more in an enjoyable and entertaining way.
August 15th and 16th Gluten-Free Expo 2009 website: http://glutenfreeclasses.com Be sure and look at the roster of vendors and Chefs!
Tina Turbin (http://TinaTurbin.com) is a successful, published children’s author, writer, researcher, humanitarian and mom. Through her work with children, Tina became fascinated with the area of children’s health and nutrition, leading to her extensive research, interviews and developments in this field. Her website, www.GlutenFreeHelp.info , is just one of her ways to help improve the quality of lives and health for others.
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