As a celiac, I can’t eat gluten. Town after town, I walk by bakeries with their windows adorned with scrumptious cupcakes, wedding cakes, and tarts. My friends walk in and enjoy the tasty delights they can consume, leaving me longing while I attempt to satisfy my needs with a coffee or tea sweetened with stevia, as if stevia really does the job.

Well, San Francisco’s Crave wholesale bakery has filled my needs, my desires, and my longings for GF baked goods. The cupcakes are like the ones I remember eating as a child, with no bad aftertaste or aftereffects. The cakes are of a quality of the finest dining experience. It was unanimous among all my staff and field testers, including an arranged testing I hosted: Crave rules! Keep in mind my testers consist of picky, non-GF eaters (lucky folks), kids with “discriminating” taste buds, and then some GF guys who are as picky as they can be.

Founder Cameo Edwards started Crave, a wholesale bakery, in 2003 after a year of frustrating physical difficulties, which she found to all be stemming from gluten, which she now had to cut out of her diet. She longed for delicious treats and eventually created a delicious brownie. Retail shops started ordering from her, and the rest is history.

Cameo makes gluten-free products taste delicious. They are all baked in small batches and delivered immediately. Her vanilla and chocolate cupcakes are large and moist, and the frosting is heavenly. Her cheesecake is light and the crust unlike any we had tried before. Her chocolate cake is rich and brownies unique in flavor, and honestly, we couldn’t get enough.

With a mission to ensure her customers satisfy their cravings for traditional baked goods with her own, she offers a multitude of goods to satisfy everyone’s needs. Cameo omits gluten and casein from all her products, trying to service the needs of most celiacs, as many can’t tolerate casein. She uses free-range eggs from Petaluma chicken and supports local producers and family-owned operations.

Her products are literally scattered all throughout the Pacific Coast rocky regions, and she accommodates any shipping needs. Maintaining freshness is the priority. She’s there to service and to continue to present the most delicious GF wholesale bakery. One can order select items from her website in the shop section. Currently, all her products are available all throughout the Pacific coast and in retail stores as well as in Whole Foods in the Rocky Mountains.

Cameo custom-bakes beautiful, eye-appealing wedding and birthday cakes to order while adding the right touch to any event. All of Crave’s products are packaged in beautiful, see-through containers, allowing the customers to eye the goods freely. Seeing her items will make anyone purchase them without a hint of disappointment.

This food company is given a thumbs up and is HIGHLY recommended by me.

Tina Turbin

www.glutenfreehelp.info

Just as food allergies can cause a variety of physical and mental conditions, some of them rather severe, food sensitivities can have serious effects on one’s health as well. I was diagnosed with celiac disease, which is an auto-immune disease not an allergy many years ago, and as an author, researcher, and humanitarian, I have studied gluten allergies and gluten intolerance, to find that it is not uncommon that those who are sensitive or allergic to gluten often have additional sensitivities or allergies as well. I’m pleased to find there’s a test out there—the ALCAT—which accurately determines one’s sensitivities to various chemicals and other foods. There are other good and reputable tests as well.

The ALCAT (Antigen Leukocyte Cellular Antibody Test) is a type of blood test that dates back almost 25 years and is used by individuals and healthcare professionals to determine one’s food and chemical sensitivities and their degree of sensitivity – extreme or mild. While 1 in every 100 Americans has celiac disease, there are many who are not have and won’t test positive for the disease, but they do, in fact, have a reaction on some level to gluten. This means that the millions of Americans who suffer from mental and physical discomfort from ingesting gluten can  be helped.

What is the difference between an allergy and a sensitivity? ALCAT Worldwide says that the “inability to tolerate foods and environmental factors, also known as sensitivity or intolerance, induces chronic activation of the innate immune system and gives rise to inflammatory processes.” It is this inflammation that leads to health problems such as digestive difficulties, migraines, skin disorders, arthritis, and obesity, just to name a few. In other words, even if you just have a “sensitivity,” and not a full-blown allergy, it is important to your health and quality of life that you address this.

It is not uncommon to find that celiacs have allergies or sensitivities to additional foods, such as casein or soy. I personally am not able to tolerate dairy, and I have run into many celiacs with this same intolerance. If you’ve tested positive for celiac disease and have changed to a gluten-free diet, but you still don’t feel your best, there may be other sensitivities that need to be addressed. The ALCAT is highly useful for celiacs who fall in this group.

So what is the ALCAT? It is a blood test that identifies one’s type of reaction (extreme, mild, or no reaction) to over 300 foods, chemicals, and other substances by measuring cellular reactivity in whole blood, using “state-of-the-art” electronic technology. The results are presented in a simple, color-coded, easy-to-follow chart.

If you’re celiac, and you’ve already made the change to a gluten-free diet, you have taken a critical step in protecting yourself from a wide range of health problems and diseases. If you suspect you may have other sensitivities, or if you’d like to go the extra mile in safeguarding your health, the ALCAT Test may be the answer you’re looking for.

Read success stories:

http://www.glutenfreehelp.info/gluten-free-and-allergy-tests/gluten-free-and-the-alcat

http://www.glutenfreehelp.info/autoimmune-disorders/alcat-success

Tina Turbin

www.GlutenFreeHelp.info

April 17th and 18th – The Wyndham Hotel, Lisle, Illinois

Some of the events to look forward are two days of GF cooking demonstrations by acclaimed authors, chefs, and nutritionists; printed recipes for you to refer; and learning how to prepare each dish (with taste-testing, too!). Admission to the vendor fair is included in your Expo registration, and Gourmet Gluten Free lunch is provided as well as a gift bag of gluten-free goodies.

To find out more and sign up, check out the link below!  For questions, contact Jen Cafferty at jen@gfreelife.com or 847-217-1317.   Some tables are still available for vendors if you’d like to sample or sell your products. http://gfreelife.com

Tina Turbin

“Each night, they provided the GF passengers with the next day’s menu, which was modified for us.  Even made us special soups and a flourless chocolate cake.  

“We  had pre-ordered breads, muffins, etc and they had them waiting for us.

“I’m pretty sensitive and react to the slightest amount of gluten.  For the
first time in a long time, I was able to travel and eat with relative ease. Would do it again in a heartbeat.”

“If you go: call their Special Diet people at least 30 days in advance.  There’s a GF form, where you make your bread and dessert requests.  And eat your dinners in the main dining room and stay with the same waiter.  That’s what made it much easier for us.”

Bonnie in NYC

With this in mind, Dr. Ali Keshavarzian, vice chairman of medicine and gastroenterologist at Rush University Medical Center, has been looking into the effectiveness of mind/body techniques in the treatment of celiac disease.

Celiac patients who are enrolled into the celiac disease and mind/body study at Rush will be randomly assigned to two course assignments for a period of eight weeks. If you’d like to find out more information about the study or to enroll, you can contact Dr. Sunana Sohi at 312-942-1551 or Sunana_Sohi@rush.edu.

Tina Turbin