June 11th meeting: Traveling Gluten Free

Just in time for summer traveling, GIG of Marin’s next meeting on Tuesday, June 11th will feature Laura Mertens, creator of the blog Gluten Free Traveller.
Originally from Scotland, Laura now lives in San Francisco. Bit by the travel bug early in life, she refused to let her celiac diagnosis in 2009 curtail her love of exploring the world. Laura will be joining us in June after having spent the month of May in New Zealand.
Says Laura (who, being from the UK, favours British spellings): “Staying safely gluten free can be difficult enough when you’re at home in your crumb free kitchen never mind when you’re travelling somewhere new. Each country has their own unique gluten free labelling laws, different gluten free products and varying levels of awareness of coeliac disease and gluten free dieting.
Travelling is arguably the most arduous area of gluten free life for coeliacs hence my decision to start my website. I’m writing it for you. I want you to spend your time making wonderful travel memories, not searching in vain for something safe to eat!”

Please RSVP by emailing us, or RSVP on Facebook.

March 4th meeting – Beyond Gluten: Identifying and Living With Multiple Food Reactions

Has being gluten-free solved all your problems? If not, you may be experiencing cross-reactivity with other foods or you may have multiple food sensitivities or both!  Did you know that foods other than gluten can create antibodies against gluten even though you are gluten free? This could be one reason why you still don’t feel well even though you are vigilant about your gluten free diet. Come and learn about how foods other than gluten may be affecting you or your kids and how to live more easily with multiple food intolerances. Our presenters are our Co-Leaders Sheila Wagner PT, CN and Alison St. Sure who welcome your questions and input!  Please RSVP

The Gluten Free Expo is happening this weekend!

 

UPDATE: Tickets are selling out fast, so purchase yours TODAY to ensure you will get in to the Expo (they will NOT be selling tickets at the door if they sell out, so call first)!

GIG of Marin is delighted to be one of the featured vendors at the GF Expo coming to the San Francisco area on the weekend of February 9 & 10.  We are making the Expo our focus in February in place of our regular meeting so we can all take advantage of the great educational opportunity the Expo offers!

Please join us on Feb. 9 & 10 at the Expo.  Our next meeting will be on Monday, March 4th, 7pm.

The Expo is the premier gluten and allergen free event in the US. Whether you are looking for specialty products that taste great or learning how to cook and bake to meet your dietary needs, the Expo is the place to be!

 

What do you get with your Expo ticket?

• Sampling and purchasing from over 100 specialty vendors
• Membership in the GFAF EXPO CLUB - with exclusive online offers and news emailed to you every month
• Free lectures about gluten & allergen-free living and cooking
• The best cookbooks and the ability to meet the authors and get a signed copy of your book
• A free gift bag to carry all of your loot
• All products are labeled by allergen
• Coupons for future purchases
• Take home samples of of your favorite and new products
• Purchase hard-to-find products
• Shop at the new Expo Store – featuring gift products that can only be found at the Expo
• Kids area

Each day presenters will offer lectures and demonstrations that you won’t want to miss.  Just some of the presenters include

• Peter Green, M.D., director of the Celiac Center at Columbia University
• Melinda Dennis, M.S., R.D., L.D.N., nutrition coordinator and a research investigator at Celiac Center of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston
• Carol Fenster, author of 10 gluten free cookbooks
• Kenneth Fine, M.D, founder of EnteroLab
• Silvana Nardone, editor of Easy Eats magazine
• Amy Ratner, editor of Gluten Free Living magazine 
• For a full list of the presenters, click here.

 

When you’re at the Expo, do make a point of stopping at our booth.  We look forward to hearing your recommendations for tasty samples and hearing about what you learn in the lectures.

3rd Annual Holiday Potluck – Tues. Dec. 4th at 6:30pm

Don’t feel left out at the holidays because you eat gluten free.
Come to our holiday potluck.  Try delicious holidays foods and take home ideas for your festive menus.  Meet other people who cook and eat gluten free.

Meet special guest,  Elaine Taylor, president of The Taylor Family Foundation and founder of Camp Celiac. Elaine has celiac disease herself, and is an advocate for education about gluten.  Her daughter, Katie Alin, owns Miglet’s Gluten Free Bakery in Danville.

GIG of Marin will donate all proceeds to The Taylor Family Foundation to support their goal of preserving the wellness and enhancing the quality of life for Northern California children with life-threatening or chronic illness, including celiac disease.

Special raffle to raise money for the Taylor Foundation. Bring your cash and check book!

Please bring a gluten free savory or sweet item to share with a card identifying the ingredients in your dish, so
that those with multiple intolerances can eat safely.

We appreciate your RSVP – glutenfreemarin@yahoo.com

Identifying and Conquering Gluten Sensitivity with Tom O’Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN

Tom O’Bryan, internationally recognized expert on celiac disease and gluten sensitivity, will be the guest speaker at a Gluten Intolerance Group of Marin special meeting.

Identifying and Conquering Gluten Sensitivity

Thursday, September 27

6 pm Food samples offered by a selection of local restaurants with GF menus

7pm  Lecture by Tom O’Bryan

At the Mill Valley Hotel (formerly the Larkspur Hotel)

(Shoreline exit off Highway 101)

$10, advance registration http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/265547

A board-certified nutritionist, O’Bryan has a passion for teaching about the many manifestations of gluten sensitivity and celiac disease as they occur inside and outside of the intestines including autoimmune diseases, arthritis, epilepsy, migraines, diabetes, asthma, skin rashes and many other conditions.  Audiences give high marks to O’Bryan for his ability to present complex, well-documented medical information in an easy-to-understand and compelling way.

A sought-after speaker, O’Bryan lectures around the world including a seminar to The Royal Society of Medicine, London in 2011.

In his clinical practice he is known as a “Sherlock Holmes” for finding the root cause of chronic disease and metabolic disorders.  Trained as a nutritionist and chiropractor, O’Bryan is also a graduate of the Institute For Functional Medicine’s hallmark program Applying Functional Medicine in Clinical Practice.  He is an independent clinical consultant to Cyrex Laboratories, which recently debuted testing for gluten sensitivity.

Local restaurants offering samples from their gluten free menus at 6 pm will precede O’Bryan’s lecture which will begin at 7 pm.

Mark your calendars now and invite your friends to this special opportunity to hear internationally-known gluten sensitivity expert Tom O’Bryan on September 27th.

Gluten Free Resource Exchange – 2nd Annual

Tuesday, August 7

What is your the “go to” resource that supports your gluten free life?

Perhaps it is a book you read when you first were diagnosed.  Or maybe it is the doctor or other health professional who has stuck by you through a difficult diagnostic  and recovery process.  You might read –or even write– a blog that connects you with scores of other people living gluten free.  Or maybe you have a favorite appliance that makes cooking gluten free easier.  Is there a product on your grocery store shelf that you buy and use regularly?  Or a restaurant you know of that “gets it”?  Perhaps your resource is a friend–who eats gluten free, or not–someone who listens well, understands the challenges you face and makes you feel welcome at the table despite your diet restrictions.

At our next meeting on Tuesday, August 7, we invite you to share the resources you’ve discovered and depend on to make living gluten free work for you.  We will open up the discussion to exchange our experiences so that each person will leave this meeting with new ideas to enhance their gluten free lives.  Bring along your resource or come and be inspired.
People who are new to the gluten free diet are especially encouraged to attend.

Your RSVP is appreciated, here or on our Facebook page.   

Tips and Techniques from Gluten Free Chefs

If you are new to gluten free cooking and want to know where to start or if you’re already cooking gluten free and looking for fresh inspiration, please come to our next meeting to hear from three local chefs, all of whom discovered their own gluten intolerance when they were well into their food-related careers.

Our panel of chefs has a broad range of experience from cooking in restaurants, to directing a cooking school, to food styling. Uniting them all is the journey each has made to adapt their professional cooking careers to meet the needs of gluten free eaters, including themselves.

Amy Fothergill trained at Cornell University and enjoyed a varied career as a restaurateur, caterer, and food service manager. Her daughter was put on a gluten free diet in 2007. Applying her cooking experience to this new gluten-free cuisine, Amy created delicious recipes that satisfied not only her daughter but everyone who tried them.
To better understand customers who were taking her gluten-free cooking classes, Amy changed her own diet to gluten-free. Within a week, she felt lighter, had better digestion and was sleeping better and after a month, she realized gluten-free was for her. In the following years, Amy’s son and husband also switched to eating gluten free. Her family does not have celiac disease but each family member had found their gastro-intestinal and other symptoms relieved by eliminating gluten. Chef Amy now considers herself an advocate for gluten-free living and cooking. She is currently working with Second Helping, a new gluten-free frozen food company to help create delicious, gluten-free food for the consumer market.

Jeffrey Larsen is a food stylist, recipe developer, pastry chef and cooking instructor, specializing in allergen free cooking and baking. As a food stylist he assisted on nine books for Williams-Sonoma and has worked on almost every issue of Sunset Magazine for the last ten years. His allergen free journey started when he began developing recipes for his dairy and gluten intolerant mother ten years ago. His mother lives in Montana and she had absolutely no support and no information when she received her diagnosis. In helping his mother, Jeffrey gave himself a head start when he discovered that he is also gluten intolerant. In addition to teaching, Jeffrey now consults with individuals and businesses on developing menus and creating allergen free kitchens. He recently developed the breakfast menu for a new gluten free inn in Napa, Inn on Randolph. “I find tremendous reward in helping others come to the understanding that there is no need to live without the foods we enjoy,” says Jeffrey.

Laurie Gauguin has been cooking professionally for restaurants and catering companies as well as for doctors and dieticians and as culinary director of a health-focused cooking school. When her health started to wane, she consulted several doctors, but no one was able to determine what was wrong. “I felt miserable every time I ate, and many nights I spent curled up in the fetal position, feeling depressed and listless,” says Gauguin. Through her own elimination diet she discovered her gluten intolerance. Laurie’s mission became to help gluten-intolerant people celebrate their newly-found health by embracing the enormous variety of foods that will keep them healthy. “I show people that eating deliciously on a gluten-free diet is not only possible, but doable for everyone.” Visit Laurie’s blog for recipes and tips about shopping at the farmer’s market.

This meeting will offer a rare chance to meet all three of these trail-blazing gluten free chefs and learn practical tips and techniques that you can put to work in your kitchen. Don’t miss it!

You can RSVP at glutenfreemarin@yahoo.com or on our Facebook page. RSVPs help us plan logistically for the meeting, but if you haven’t RSVP’d, please come anyway! You are always welcome.