If timing is everything, then there’s no better time than now to launch this blog: October is Celiac Awareness Month.  Why not Celiac Prevention Month? Good question. I look forward to a day when TV commercials prompt viewers to get tested, but before that can happen raising awareness in the medical community is the first order of business. In a recent NY Daily News article on Gluten Free diets, Dr. Peter Green (my GI specialist) stated "The tip of the iceberg is the number of people who have been diagnosed. Celiac disease is the most underdiagnosed auto-immune condition in this country today"  in part due to the "failure of doctor recognition and doctor education." 

I understand that statement all too well.  I've had Celiac Disease most of my life and it wasn't properly diagnosed until I was in my late 30's, and then only due to my own personal health crusade.  My health deteriorated to the point where I could no longer work and I was classified as "permanently disabled".  I was in constant pain.  My immune system was failing and I was going downhill fast.  I was searching for a way to ease the constant pain and discomfort.  Finding out I had CD was good news and made a huge difference in my healing journey.  

Unlike so many people that greet their diagnosis with dread, I found hope.  I finally had a way to positively affect my health.  Going GF meant I had to cut out wheat, rye, barley and oats.  At the time, I had been cooking from scratch for almost 15 years because of my son's corn allergy.  I've been gluten free since 2002.

Going GF was easy compared to removing corn from a toddler's diet. Think back to a time 20 years ago before internet access, when health food stores were little more than shops for "tree huggers" and before the proliferation of cooking shows on TV.  (Who could have imagined a channel just for food?) Even in the 80's, corn syrup, corn starch, maltodextrin and "modified food starch" were in almost everything. I couldn't find corn-free versions of the "toddler-important" staples - ketchup, pickles, bread. So I learned to bake bread, really great bread.  I learned to make pickles, ketchup and BBQ sauce.  Canning became an important summer activity.  I read, studied and learned, feet to the flames, so to speak.  Today, with all the free flowing information on the world wide web, going GF is easy by comparison. 

What I quickly found was that while there are plenty of GF recipes, few are well written or tested and ingredients are often difficult to find locally.  I knew that my health depended on strict adherence to a GF diet for the rest of my life. I also knew that food is very important to me.  The moments of our lives that are celebrated around holidays and traditional holiday foods. Gatherings are often remembered, for better or for worse, by the quality of the food and desserts served.  My mission became quite clear.

GF is more than a diagnosis, more than a prescriptive diet.  GF, first and foremost, is about Great Food.  Great Food shared with Good Friends and Gracious Families.  GF means Garden Fresh ingredients and GF will forever be Guaranteed Gluten Free. Welcome to Guaranteed GF

I hope you enjoy learning about my journey, my recipes, and my up-coming cookbook.  I’ll share how recipes are conceived, tested and finally make the cut.

Thank you for spending your time here at Guaranteed GF.

Stacy LaRoche