VOTED #2 .INFO WEBSITE IN THE WORLD!
Celiac disease (also spelled coeliac) is an autoimmune reaction to gluten, a protein that’s found in wheat, barley, and rye — the only autoimmune disease funded in its research and by the U.S. government, even though an estimated 3 million Americans have it. Left untreated, the disease can cause severe health conditions and complications, but once it’s diagnosed, the treatment is simple—eliminating gluten from the diet. However, as simple as it is, a gluten-free diet is also a challenge, demanding time, hard work, and dedication. Fortunately, the celiac and gluten-free community have an invaluable resource available to it in this internet age—gluten-free websites.
As an author, researcher, and gluten-free advocate (glutenfreehelp.info), I’m always searching for tools and resources for the celiac and gluten-intolerant community in order to help allay the some of the challenges that go along with the gluten-free lifestyle. In my search, I’ve found gluten-free websites to serve as a way to connect up the gluten-intolerant community and share helpful information and resources.
Gluten-free websites, such as gling.com and my own glutenfreehelp.info, make the gluten-free lifestyle more convenient with helpful information about gluten-free products, an abundance of gluten-free recipes, and sometimes even the opportunity to connect with others in the gluten-free world. For those who don’t belong to a support group, an online community such as the one on gling.com can offer similar benefits. It can be quite a challenge living gluten-free in a gluten-filled world, but with websites such as gling.com, you actually feel that gluten-free life isn’t a handicap, but an adventure.
Gling.com stands out as a first-rate GF resource, divided into four helpful parts, the first of which is the Community, not unlike the social network sites which have been growing increasingly popular. Studies show that one of the main reasons why some celiac patients can’t stay gluten-free is that they don’t have a support group to encourage and help them. After setting up a profile, users connect with GF restaurants, bakeries, and companies as well as with gluten-free friends they already known or with brand-new ones. Don’t have any gluten-free friends? You can make some on gling.com; soon enough, you’ll have plenty of GF friends you can even connect with in real life, say, at your favorite local GF bakery that you also found on gling.com. The other three tools comprise comprehensive listings of gluten-free recipes, foods, and locations, such as bakeries and stores which sell gluten-free fare.
In my experience of managing my own website, glutenfreehelp.info, I’ve come to realize how many people are reached by online gluten-free resources. Glutenfreehelp.info provides gluten-free information, resources, and recipes, as well as my far-reaching blog. I touch the lives of so many gluten-sensitive and gluten-intolerant people, who write to me in staggering numbers. When the statistics themselves are staggering, with one in every 100 Americans suffers from celiac disease and only three percent of them knowing it, it’s gratifying to see we’re making a difference. With websites such as gling.com, awareness about gluten-free living will surely increase and living gluten-free will become more convenient.
Tina Turbin
Resource: Gling
From our home to yours, Tina Turbin
If you have any questions or suggestions just email me at info (at) GlutenFreeHelp.info.
This is completely true and what illustrates this is that many celiacs I know, including myself, were only able to get diagnosed from our own research that we did on the internet trying to understand our symptoms and what was behind them. The internet is one of the best things to happen to our health!
Thanks. I’m a big fan of gluten free blogs, especially yours, because it takes a while for information to be collected and published in regular book form and magazines can only print so much at a time. With websites, you have access to current as well as archived data and it’s all available in minutes.
I really agree with you. It’s the internet that’s really made a huge difference in my life even more so than the library and books. This is the future and it’s the present too! I have been able to learn so much about cooking, recipes, shopping, testing, support groups etc. Where would we be without the internet??
Tina this is my first visit to your blog and I really like it, especially the recipes! You are 100% spot on with this post here. I hardly own gluten free books (except cookbooks) because I rely primarily on websites for my information. This is a constantly changing field due to new research, changes that food companies make to their recipes and cooking processes, restaurants deciding to offer a gluten free menu, etc. so for this reason continually updated websites are what I depend on.
I agree with you a lot. It was through websites and blogs that I first came across the term celiac disease which had symptoms that matched my own. I also continue to get great advice on diet and food companies that I wouldn’t be able to get from my doctor. My celiac support group largely relies on websites for getting information as well.
This is true all right! I really don’t know where celiacs would be without the internet. How else would I have found out that I had celiac disease? It’s so crucial that we use this power we have to forward our cause even more!
My favorite part of gluten free websites has been connecting up with others. I have been active in quite a few forums and a listserv and I get SO many tips and recipes and recommendations from other gluten-free individuals that I “meet” online. I attribute my amazing baking skills now to websites. My cookbooks have been great, but they’re nothing compared to real people.
I have heard of gling.com and was wondering if anyone could tell me if they use it? I don’t want to be involved in too many social networking websites and if I do use one, I’d like to know that that’s “the place to be,” like Facebook we can all agree has become the main social networking website, although there are certainly many other ones.
This is a great article but I was I thought there might be many more websites you could recommend, but then I saw your Links and started checking them out and they were really awesome. Can Do Kid was really cute and Gluten-Free Travel Site rocks! Thanks for recommending such awesome links:)