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We’ve slashed prices on our most popular items 20%! Breads, now $8! Muffins, $8! 2-pack of Brownies, $4! Chocolate chip cookie dough (1.25 lb tub) now $12!

Not everything - Bundt cakes only went down to $6 (from 7), cupcakes are $13.50 (from $15), and those little apple tarts and cheesecakes haven’t budged a bit.

Life is like that.

[Not available with any other offer.]

To learn how we did it, read on! …. Read the rest of this entry »

Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity will be addressed on SoCal NOW, Southern California’s premiere lifestyle television show, featuring the hottest spots all around. The segment will be aired on Thursday, April 30th, 6:30am, on KCAL 9. They’re doing a little segment with The Sensitive Baker (that’s us!)

(Yes, I know 6:30am is a little early for TV; that’s what DVR’s are for. )

They taped this weeks ago and I thought it was going to be aired the week before Mother’s Day, after the CDF conference this weekend. Otherwise I would have put in a plug so people would attend. [That's my next post, BTW.] Sorry, wonderful people at the CDF; I didn’t know!

[Edited to say: Not that the CDF needs me to plug them - the conference is probably packed already!]

For more information go to SoCal NOW.

Dr. C. Richard Boland, chief of gastroenterology at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, says that persistent stomach aches, nausea, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, or heartburn should be discussed with your doctor, according to an article called “What You Need to Know When Your Stomach Aches” in US News and World Report.

Just remember doctors aren’t God. (Though they sometimes think they are!) I will always remember bringing my [unknown to us] super-gluten-sensitive son into his doctor, who talked to him for a couple of minutes and pronounced, “Kids get stomach aches. It’s normal.” I ignored my son’s symptoms for years because “it’s normal!”

It is NOT normal to have a lot of stomach aches, even for a kid. It’s NOT normal to often get diarrhea! And no-one knows your body like you.

How cool is this whole internet thing, anyway?!? Yesterday I got an e-mail from Betsey Carus of Baltimore, MD:

“You indicated you were wondering what is the current information concerning diagnosed vs. undiagnosed celiacs.

Dr. Alessio Fasano, Univ of MD, talked to our support group today. He indicated that there are now 110,000 diagnosed. So not much improvement (now 96.3%).”

(A) Only 20,000 more than in 2006? That’s a LOT fewer than I would have predicted! Maybe there are disproportionately more celiacs diagnosed in large cities like LA, so I’m seeing more newbies. I’d say 1/4 of the people we get in the bakery have been diagnosed in the past two years.

(Oh, wait, that would only make 120,000 overall. OMG, there’s a lot of freakin’ celiacs out there! But please, people, PLEASE GET TESTED before embarking on a gluten-free diet! Your insurance will probably pay for it. YOU CAN’T GET A BLOOD TEST AFTER GOING GLUTEN-FREE!! (Unless you start eating it again, quite a bit, for a goodly while. Ouch!)

But anyway. The important thing is: (B) That’s so cool that total strangers will hear the question and take the time to answer! Thank you so much, Betsey!

Until 2003, celiac disease was thought to be rare, affecting perhaps one in 4,000 people. But, after the creation of reliable blood tests, researchers screened over 13,000 Americans in the “largest study ever” and discovered the rate is actually almost one in 100! Today, the University of Chicago’s Celiac Disease Center confirms that over *3 million people* in our country have celiac disease – & 97% of them are still undiagnosed. Celiac disease is more common than any food allergy.

[Note to self: Where is the current data? People have been saying 97% undiagnosed for at least two years! Surely it's down to 95% by now.]

Further, we’re starting to recognize the existence of non-celiac gluten-sensitivity, which suggests that the actual celiacs represent just the tip of the iceberg.

About.com has a good page on The Expensive Gluten-Free Diet: Tips for Curbing the Costs. They say, “One of the challenges of celiac disease is that gluten-free substitutes often cost more than twice as much as “regular” gluten-based products. In my local stores, a 16 oz box of regular pasta elbows costs a dollar, while a box of gluten-free elbow pasta costs $2.83. A 16 oz loaf of regular packaged sandwich bread costs $2.00, while a 14 oz loaf of gluten-free sandwich bread costs $5.98. And so on.”

Take heart! In 2007 researchers from the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University did a comparison and found, “In general, the price of the gluten-free foods was [only!] about 79% greater than their normal counterparts.” “Interestingly, even though availability of gluten-free foods varied widely [among the six geographic locations studied], cost did not.” [From Celiac.com, Low Availability and Increased Cost of Gluten-Free Foods.]

If you think it’s bad in the U.S., try visiting Canada! The Dietitians of Canada recently announced a similar study where they found, “On average, gluten-free products were 242% more expensive than regular products.” Ouch!

[Edited later to say: That must be a typo. Even in Chile, gf-foods cost only 89% more than regular, according to the Revista Medica de Chile. Or maybe the Canadians are specifically looking at gf-specialty foods, and the other studies are looking at an entire "shopping cart." Or, maybe it's, like, Celsius.]

USA Today “Gluten-free diets gaining in popularity” Aug 17, 2008

LA Times “Going gluten-free — for many reasons” July 7 2008

On the one hand, the increased demand for gluten-free products has certainly helped bring more goodies into the marketplace. Our little bakery could never survive if our only customers were biopsy-confirmed celiacs. (Remember, 3 million Americans may HAVE celiac disease, but only 90,000 of them KNOW about it yet.)

On the other hand, I’m a worrier. I worry that people who say “Oh, I was gluten-free last month,” will give your waiter the impression that it’s okay to pick the croutons out of your salad. That parents who say, “Oh, I put my child on a gf/cf diet and his grades/behavior improved,” lead others to do the same, without first testing the kids for celiac disease.

I’m the first one to tell you that “Yes, Virginia, there IS a thing called “Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity.”" My own family is living testament to this fact.

But people, NEVER go gluten-free on a whim!! GET TESTED FIRST! You can’t test for celiac disease after going gluten-free. Even if you don’t have it, you can always CHOOSE to go gluten-free. But at least you know what you’re dealing with!

{Coming down from the soapbox now. Thank you for your time.}

Researchers in Rome found 70% of celiacs studied had “social phobias” vs. only 16% of “normal controls.” They call that “statistically significant.” I’d call it, “mind-blowing” if I hadn’t already suspected. Haven’t you always wondered about it yourself?

Abstract of article.

You can measure your own level of depression &/or anxiety free of charge at the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center. Have fun!

Celiac filmmakers take note: This is how it is done. 14 minutes long.
I sound very cynical because I’m bringing this up in the context of “Why aren’t there any great celiac movies?” but this video really touched me.  Touched, moved, inspired. Everyone should watch it. Keep your tissues handy. (And your credit card!)
Autism - Hope After Diagosis 

If you have a child with autism in Southern California, you are probably already familiar with this organization, but just in case: TACA [Talk About Curing Autism] is a tremendous resource - go there now.

Suzanne Frieder posted this link more than a week ago on the Los_Angeles_Celiac Yahoo! group - What You Need to Know About Celiac Disease and the Gluten-Free Diet. Thank you Suzanne! I watched it in pieces over time. (It’s 90 minutes - Yikes!) Apart from the length, this video has much to recommend it.

1. University of California at San Diego has assembled an world-class team in the new Wm. K Warren Medical Research Center for Celiac Disease. This video is a presentation by three members of this group, so it’s neat to see who’s working in the neighborhood.
2. There’s a fantastic picture of healthy villi in someone’s intestine, not a stained slide like you always see but practically 3-D. It looks like sea anemones! Dr. Kagnoff likens villi to shag carpeting, and it’s a good analogy.
3. Another very good chart diagramming the wheat family tree. Actually; really good visual aids, throughout.
4. About 68 minutes in, the question is asked of Dr. Harmon, “Greg, what’s the difference between gluten intolerance and celiac disease?” and he responds “That’s the million-dollar question!” I love this guy. He’s one of the few doctors you’ll ever hear say “we don’t know.” Give this man a cigar!
5. Susan J. Algert, Ph.D., R.D. / Nutritionist puts the number 20ppm in perspective when she likens it to “one penny in ten thousand dollars.”* These people have a knack for making things understandable.

*Wait - I just re-read that. Shouldn’t it be two pennies? Maybe she was talking about 10ppm.

Anyway, it may not be the most exciting video you have ever seen. (It is, after all, a very “plain-text” recording of a speech. Three speeches, actually, with a question & answer period after. No music, no dynamic editing or artistic lighting. We get spoiled here in Hollywood.) But it is informative and worth watching. Or listen in the background while you do other work!