Online Gluten Free Resources

After speaking with some other gluten free people the other day, I found that a lot of people just don't know where to look for information about celiac disease or the gluten free diet. I'm of the opinion that the more information you have the better, so I've put together some information resources that will be very helpful to anyone starting a gluten free diet, and hopefully at least something new for someone who's been following a gluten free diet for some time now. So here goes...

Some informative links:

• First off, Wikipedia articles on celiac disease and the gluten free diet
• Celiac Disease Foundation
• Celiac Sprue Association
• Celiac.com - newcomers should check out the forums
• Gluten Free Baking
• Local Celiac Disease Support Groups
  

Some useful gluten-free blogs:

• Times Union Gluten Free Blog
• Easy Gluten Free Baking Blog
• Gluten Free Girl
• Gluten Free Goddess
• There are many, many others as well!
  

Additionally, did you know that you can set up e-mail alerts through Google? For specific queries of your choice, for example 'celiac' or 'gluten free' you can set up automatic e-mails that let you know whenever that phrase is in the news, new web pages or blog posts concerning that phrase come up, etc. It's a great way to stay on top of the gluten free community, and best of all - it's free! All you need to do is sign up for a (free) Google account, and you can set up as many alerts as you wish. You can find out more information at Google's alerts page.

Still, all this free information is good, but sometimes it's worth paying money for some information. My husband and I started out our gluten-free journey by purchasing gluten free product and Rx lists. They provide subscriptions to lists of gluten information in many different products - you can get this information either on your Windows or Mac desktop (where's the love for us Linux geeks?) or your PDA. If you own a PDA it can be especially useful because you can bring the list right along with you when you go grocery shopping - and if you have any questions the software will provide contact information for the companies in question which can be really useful when you want to research specific foods. There are several such lists available - Vince and I initially purchased the Clan Thompson Celiac SmartList - but I'd love to hear other suggestions as well!

Finally, as one reader, Lisa, also pointed out, The Book House in Stuyvesant Plaza sells some gluten free magazines, including Living Without. It could be worth checking out next time you're in the area!

As always - if I've missed a really great resource please let me know!