Awareness Is The Key
Increasing awareness of gluten-related and wheat-related disorders is what Gluten Free Lexington is all about. Celiac disease and non-celiac gluten sensitivity in particular are among the most under-diagnosed illnesses in the world, partly because symptoms are not always gastrointestinal in nature. If you know someone who has unexplained symptoms of fatigue, depression or irritability, abdominal pain, gas/bloating, weight loss, diarrhea or constipation, heartburn, nausea/vomiting, headaches, seizures, muscle, joint or bone pain, confusion or memory loss, skin rash, osteoporosis (early onset), anemia, ataxia, peripheral neuropathy, microscopic colitis, or any of the other symptoms that can result from gluten-related disorders, encourage them to consider being tested for celiac disease. (Currently, there are no medical tests for non-celiac gluten sensitivity; the diet is the only way to know for sure.) Allergic reactions after eating could be a sign of wheat allergy, a separate medical condition also relieved by a gluten free diet.
To learn more about how to create awareness of gluten related disorders, see the article below. Then be sure to browse the links on our Food & Info page. Our web site is a rallying point for the local Lexington area, but the Resources page is your portal into a vast world of information, food, and encouragement.
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Keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing
Many doctors and dietitians consider the gluten free diet to be the most difficult diet in America. After all, we must avoid an ingredient that is not identified on food labels, eating anywhere outside of our own kitchen is a challenge at best, and our allowable margin of error in avoiding gluten is an unforgiving zero.
Wouldn't you like to get off of this merry-go-round?
Stephen R. Covey said, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." For those of us on the gluten free diet, it's easy to put all of our time and creative energy into planning our diet, and lose sight of the 'main thing' - the thing that will make our diet easier, and perhaps even lead to a cure. The 'main thing' is to create public awareness of celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and wheat allergy.
Why is public awareness the main thing?
The single most important reason that the gluten free lifestyle is so difficult is that both the food industry and the medical community are woefully uninformed about gluten related disorders. Celiac disease (CD) in particular is the most underdiagnosed autoimmune disease in America: at the time of this writing, only 90,000 of the estimated 2-4 million cases have been diagnosed. A second ailment - gluten sensitivity - affects an estimated 12% of Americans, most of whom don't even know what's ailing them. Still another group suffers from wheat allergy. And so millions upon millions of Americans are straddled with food-related medical conditions that they don't know they have, that the food industry is not accomodating, and that the medical community is not adequately addressing!
The main reason there is no cure for these conditions, and that the gluten free lifestyle is so difficult, can therefore be summed up in three words: lack of awareness. Once public awareness has been achieved, the first domino will have been tipped. As the millions of Americans mentioned above begin to be diagnosed, at least three other dominoes will begin to fall:
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Pharmaceutical companies, eager to profit from a cure that would benefit millions of Americans, will work harder and faster at developing treatments.
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The food service and retail food industries will begin to respond by marketing more satisfying gluten free products.
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The retail food industry will begin accurately identifying gluten on product ingredient labels, and eating out safely in restaurants will become a more widespread possibility.
How can we make the main thing the main thing?
How can you help to create public awareness? Below are a few ideas to help get you started. This list is a 'living document,' and will be updated as new ideas come to the fore. Please feel free to offer your thoughts - just click here to send an email to the webmaster.
1. Join Gluten Free Lexington, or make a donation. After all, creating awareness is our main mission.
2. Contribute to other awareness groups or campaigns, such as the Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) and the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA).
3. Help us to get the government on our side. It's easy! To get started, click here.
4. Take the visual approach. Web sites such as Cafe Press and Celiac.com sell attractive, eye-catching T-shirts, car magnets & bumper stickers, lapel pins, etc. You name it, then Google it!
5. Request Gluten Free Lexington brochures from your GFL leaders and ask your doctors/dentist to place them in their reception area. Take them to teachers and health care providers at your child's school or day care center.
6. Patronize restaurants that have gluten free menus, and tell the manager why you are there.
7. Put it on the information highway! Link to our web site from yours...place links to our site in your email signatures...put it in your blog, on your MySpace, etc.
8. Keep those letters flowing - to your local newspaper health editor, to Congress, to the medical community, etc. For helpful tips, click here.
9. Read awareness sites, such as GIG, the Celiac Disease Awareness Campaign, or the NFCA. Or, just explore: type 'gluten awareness' or 'celiac awareness' in your favorite search engine.
10. If you work in the media... well, you know what to do!
11. Hire a skywriter! (Just kidding...unless, of course, you have the money...)