Here are resources to encourage the children and youth who are challenged to stay on a gluten free or grain/ dairy free diet in a world full of peer pressure to eat things they shouldn't eat. And yet to stay at the top of your game, a gluten sensitive individual, whatever age has to never eat gluten.
Have you seen the movie, or heard the concept
'Pay it Forward'? It's an excellent feel-good movie that helps the world be a
better place. I believe we all 'pay it forward' once in a while. Paying for the
car behind you at the toll booth, putting a quarter in an expired meter for
someone, slowing down enough when driving to let the car who wants to cut in
front of you be on their way, basically doing a nice deed for someone else
without being recognized for it. Just for the joy of making the world a better
place.
This is one of those
emails.
I need $5.22 and 10 minutes of your time--I promise you're going to help change the lives of thousands.
I need $5.22 and 10 minutes of your time--I promise you're going to help change the lives of thousands.
As those of you who attended the Gluten
Summit will know, children diagnosed with celiac disease have been shown to
have a threefold increased risk of long-term mortality (dying), with or
without a gluten-free diet. This is primarily because of an increased risk
of death from accidents, suicide, violence, cancer and cerebrovascular disease
(See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17324126).
How can this happen on a
gluten-free diet? Two reasons:
- Firstly,
nobody is "putting out the fire", the ongoing systemic
inflammation which can impact the brain, leading to depression and
behavioral changes. This is one of the primary messages of my life's work
educating healthcare professionals and patients about gluten-related
disorders: simply
putting someone on a gluten-free diet is not enough, you must address the
fire.
- Secondly,
we use food to bond with friends and family, to give and receive
hospitality, and to celebrate special days. It's the same for kids and
teenagers. Where do they have to go to congregate? Pizza parlors.
Restaurants. Without
very extensive support, knowledge, and training our gluten-free kids are
at risk of becoming excluded and can even develop social
phobias or depression--they don't want to go out because they think their
friends will call them names, and this is what I would like to focus on
today.
We need to be proactive in
supporting our kids to lead healthy, sociable lives, and teaching them to make
correct and confident food decisions on their own. I highly recommend that
those of you with a gluten-free kid contact your local branch of the Gluten Intolerance
Group (GIG). (In Canada, contact your nearest Canadian Celiac Association or GAPS group) GIG runs mainstream camps with safe, gluten-free food
options, allowing gluten-free kids to integrate 100% with the other kids.
Separate kitchens prepare the food (so there is no cross-contamination), but
one dining hall. Because GIG MAKES SURE to have expert chefs for their portion
of food preparation, it's not long before ALL the kids want to eat the GF food
because it's so good. THAT gives the kids the confidence and knowledge to know
that, with a little work, their food, their lifestyle, is very cool for
themselves and their peer group. GIG also offers the Digest This training
program for kids of different ages, and day camps teaching children how to read
labels and prepare meals. Please support this organization any way that you
can. They are where the pedal hits the metal in education about gluten-related
disorders.
Now, the $5.22.
There are three young people I want to tell
you about and ask that you PAY IT FORWARD to them. These three young minds are
courageous enough to write about being gluten sensitive and its frustrations
and joys. Other kids read this and they feel validated, they see hope. There
are dozens of emails I've read of such messages from other kids to these three.
There's probably hundreds of such messages, I've seen a few dozen. And it grabs
your heart to read the hope, the validation from one 12 year old to another
saying, "Thank you. Yeah, kids in school can be really mean."
I'm
going to ask you consider spending $5.22 and ordering the two ebooks listed
below. These books are written by young people and your investment to
support them will have a trickle-down effect to everyone they reach out to.
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Gluten and Dairy – Who Needs Them? A
Kid's Perspective, written by Lexi Kantor, author, blogger, gluten- and dairy-free
kid. Lexi's ebook is available from Amazon for $3.23.
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A Teenager's Guide to
Food Restrictions, written by Erica Brahan, who is also the author of the Edible
Attitudes blog. Erica shares practical advice on navigating teenage life
while following a special diet, and her eBook is available for $1.99.
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I also invite you to check out the blog "Eat Without Gluten: A
Positive Outlook on the Gluten-Free Diet" by gluten-free guru Sema Dibooglu, which contains recipes
and tips for delicious gluten-free living.
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What do you think will happen if they receive
20,000 orders for their ebooks? Or, get thanked by 20,000 people for their
efforts to make the world a better place for kids? Reach out to any or all of
them to share your supportive words, perhaps a budding Pulitzer Prize winner
will feel the wind beneath her wings!
For the sake of our kids, let's all make use
of these excellent resources! Let's also show our local support groups and
up-and-coming gluten-free bloggers and authors, who are there for us, how much
we appreciate them!
And, don't forget to pay the toll for the car
behind you. :-)
Thank you, and summer blessings,
Dr. Tom O'Bryan To Your Health
Dr. Barbara
