Gluten Free Diets and MS

A good friend of mine, Lucinda Gunnin, has been dealing with multiple sclerosis for many years now. She recently tried a gluten free diet and is experiencing some great results.

You know how you feel if you step on something while swimming? When it hurts, but the pain isn't as sharp of immediate as it should be? That's sort of how my right leg has felt for most of eight years.

So, when I walked out to the mailbox this morning and felt some soreness in the ball of my foot, I was dang near ecstatic. Whether its coincidental, anecdotal or just plain weird luck, I feel amazingly more health since getting gluten out of my regular diet.

I recommend reading the rest of her article: Treating Multiple Sclerosis with a Gluten-Free Diet

MS is a difficult disease to live with and finding any method to improve quality of life is a blessing. I know many of my readers follow a gluten free and low-carb diet. I know you understand the difficulty of finding food products free of ingredients you don't want. If you have any tips, suggestions or just want to offer her a word of encouragement, please do leave a comment on her article. If you want to learn more about MS and the gluten free diet, I recommend you subscribe to her column. I believe you'll learn a lot in the coming months as she shares her experience and journey with us.

Review and a Giveaway: Grace Island Baked Cheese Crisps

When I first heard about this tasty sounding new product called Grace Island's Baked Cheese Crisps, I'll admit to having high hopes. Having lived through the whole "low-carb craze" era, where every manufacturer and his dog were pushing their products as low-carb. I'll also admit to being skeptical. Many of those products were not truly low-carb, and some of them were down right nasty tasting. (Nasty as in maybe a dog really did come up with the product.)
With these conflicting emotions fighting for precious, but rare, real estate in my brain, I took a bite of the Baby Swiss flavor. I immediately sold all remaining land to Hope and gave Skepticism it's eviction papers.

I. Am. In. Love.



Not only do these awesome little crisps taste great, but they are also all natural. Grace Island's Baked Cheese Crisps are gluten-free, wheat-free, soy-free, sugar-free, corn-free and contain no MSG. Does it get any better than that? To quote Kalista Johnston, owner of Grace Island Specialty Foods Inc. and creator of the snack, "The really exciting thing about my crisps is that they are not the usual low-carb new product 'frankenfood'. They are just plain old fresh, wholesome ingredients that you probably have in your kitchen right now..."



Kalista being a low-carber herself, she knows just what we are looking for. With this in mind she created a product that is healthy, packaged for portion control and easy to take along anywhere - no cooler required! Let me also add that these little bites of heaven are filling and available in 4 great flavors: Romano & Black Peppercorn; Parmesan & Italian Herb; Baby Swiss and Asagio. One serving carried me over for quite a long time.


Nutritional info for the Asagio flavor:

NUTRITIONAL FACTS
Serving Size: 1 bag (29 g)
Servings Per Container: 3 bags

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 160
Calories from Fat: 120
Total Fat 13g
Saturated Fat 4g
Monounsaturated Fat 4.5g
Polyunsaturated Fat 3.5g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 10mg
Sodium 200mg
Total Carbohydrate 4g
Dietary Fiber 3g
Sugars 0g
Protein 10g

Ingredients:
Cheese (milk, cheese cultures, rennet, calcium chloride, salt), egg white, sesame seed, garlic, onion, salt, spices, natural flavor

Allergen Alert:
Contains: Milk, egg

Processed in a grain-free kitchen

To learn more about this amazing product be sure to check out her website at www.graceislandfoods.com.

Don't run off just yet though! I have a fun surprise for you. Kalista has agreed to give two of my readers a sample pack of Grace Island's Baked Cheese Crisps. To enter your name in the giveaway you'll need to participate in a little scavenger hunt. Here's how it works. Simply visit www.graceislandfoods.com and find the answers to the following questions:

1. What state does the Grace Island Specialty Foods, Inc. reside in?
2. What page do you use to submit recipes for inclusion on the website?
3. What is the catchy little saying you'll find on every page of the website?

Send your full name, mailing address and the answers to these questions to me at healthylowcarbliving@gmail.com by March 29th. Be sure to put CHEESE CRISPS GIVEAWAY in your subject line so I can be sure it won't end up in my spam filter. If you find all the correct answers your name will be entered in a random drawing on March 30th. I'll announce the winners here on my blog, so be sure you check back on March 30th!

Anyone heard of Teff?

I found this article on an interesting grain called teff. It's gluten-free and high in calcium and iron. A two ounce serving contains 7 grams of protein.

This article was in my inbox and caught my attention with the following headline and description:

Teff - Staple Grain of Ethiopia
BellaOnline Wed, 26 Mar 2008 8:23 AM PDT
This tiniest grain packs a healthy nutritional punch. A great grain for low-carb and gluten-free diets.

So would this really be a low-carb solution to grains in our diets? The article itself says nothing about low-carb. It does say it's high in complex carbs, which isn't necessarily a good thing. I did some searching for nutritional info on teff. Here's what I found:

1 cup of uncooked teff yields 73 carbs with 8 fibers. The same amount of traditional white flour yields 76 carbs with 3 fibers. While this may be a good option for those who have to stay gluten-free, I don't foresee low-carbers jumping on the teff bandwagon. It's in no way a carb bargain for us.

I'm guessing who ever wrote the byline for this article must have assumed that low-carb and gluten-free are synonymous. The lesson here is never assume. You'll probably be wrong. :0)