When you’re on a restricted diet, you’ve got built in limits. For those of us who are gluten-free, alternative flours are an expensive fact of life.

I’ve tried both store bought and homemade flour mixes. I like quinoa flour, brown rice flour, and almond meal for various purposes.

But there’s another flour I really like for baking that you might not find at your local health food store: coconut flour. (more…)

Organics are a part of our daily food shopping choices. Living Yoga studio in Naperville, IL, is presenting first in a series session on genetically modified foods with Jill Teller, Pilates instructor and Nutrition Specialist, at 2:00-3:30 pm Sunday, March 9, 2008.

Learn how to properly choose organic food and which organic foods are more beneficial to consume versus non-organics. Did you know that the European Union has banned genetically modified foods but the U.S. allows them in our food supply? (more…)

Dr. Rodney Ford, a pediatric gastroenterologist from Christ Church New Zealand, has launched two public service videos that explain very simply how Gluten can affect the brain and the gut. Dr. Ford is the author of several books about what he has termed, “the gluten syndrome”. Dr. Ford urges people who suffer from reoccurring bouts of illness yet test negative for celiac disease to go ahead and try the gluten free diet anyway. The first video is geared toward children and adults alike and makes a very understandable and simple explanation of how gut and brain symptoms are connected in the person who suffers from gluten intolerance, or the gluten syndrome. (more…)

Gluten is the term we use to describe the mixture of proteins, including gliadins, that are found in wheat grains, barley, and rye. Gluten, quite simply, means ‘glue’. And the term is appropriate because it is that glue-like quality found in these grains that make them ideal ingredients in our baked and prepackaged goods. The sticky quality of gluten has given it value in non-edible markets such as the production of paper and fabric glue. It is also used as cattle feed and as an initial ingredient in the manufacturing process of monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Most of us have a remote understanding of celiac’s disease, the seemingly rare autoimmune disorder of the small intestine that causes damage to the intestinal villi, thus triggering a whole host of health problems, nutritional deficiencies, and possible colon cancer if left untreated. (more…)

On the heels of Jenny McCarthy’s new book, Louder Than Words: A Mother’s Journey in Healing Autism, and several different national television appearances with celebrities such as Oprah and Larry King, ABC’s Good Morning America gives us a closer look at the Gluten-free/ Casein-free diet and its potential benefits, not just for children suffering from Autism, but for any child suffering from developmental delays. Watch the interview on October 15, 2007: Can a New Diet Help Autistic Kids?

If you are considering a gluten and casein free diet for your child, visit our forum for more information and recipe ideas.

If you are practicing a gluten and maize-free diet (GF-MF) and are still struggling with allergy symptoms it may be due to your condiments. It is a little known fact that condiments often contain hidden corn or gluten components that only the experienced allergy sufferer may be aware exist. Condiments are usually made with vinegar. White vinegar can be made from any fruit, or any material containing sugar, including and especially corn. So if you tend to use a lot of ketchup you may want evaluate whether or not the kind you use is safe from allergens. Ketchup is a favorite condiment for just about any meal, so let’s look at some familiar and harder to find brands…. (more…)

Bed-wetting, or Nocturnal Enuresis, is a nuisance when parents are starting to potty train. But for many families this inconvenience stretches for many more years. As bed-wetting children age it becomes even more apparent to them that there is something wrong.

There is a shame that runs deep among those that grew up with plastic mattress covers and a second set of spare sheets already underneath them. It is a secret society of members that hold on to their anonymity for life. As adults they remember sleep over parties and vacations that were always wrought with anxiety. A bed-wetter knows when they to go to sleep that more than likely they will awaken hours later wet and embarrassed, and it is completely out of their control. Or is it?

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Breast milk is best for a variety of reasons, but sometimes your baby weans early or the mother’s milk doesn’t get firmly established and supplementation is necessary. You resort to feeding your baby formula, and you are racked with guilt by this because the pressure to breastfeed is so strong. It is not so rare to have a baby exhibit colicky behavior when switching to formula (more…)

If you have found this page through a search engine then you have probably already learned that you are allergic to both wheat and maize. You have undoubtedly been suffering with some type of extreme allergic reaction, chronic illness, or auto-immune disorder for months, if not years. It is quite a shock when you discover that you or a loved one has an intolerance to both wheat gluten and maize, as these two ingredients are a staple in the modern American diet.

As a multiple allergy sufferer this poses quite a challenge for you when it comes to ingredient purchases and meal preparation.

I have devoted a special section of this website for people allergic to both wheat and corn, hoping to spawn a community of readers that will interact together with tips and recipes to share. (more…)

The next time you trim the fat off of a steak or pour all the grease drippings out of your frying pan, consider the starving children in the third world who could actually use that fat to improve their brain power. We live in the same world, but Americans and our third world neighbors have two varying views on fat. Americans loath it. Fat keeps us from having washboard abs and enviable waistlines, but (more…)