NFCA Webinar: 60+ Meeting the Needs of the Mature Celiac

60+: Meeting the Needs of the Mature Celiac

Join us for a Webinar on May 18

Space is limited.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/943219350

Announcing NFCA's Webinar, 60+: Meeting the Needs of the Mature Celiac, on Wednesday, May 18th at 1pm Eastern.

Join NFCA as Veronica Alicea, M.B.A., R.D., a well-known dietetic consultant in the celiac and gluten-free fields, leads an hour-long discussion on the increasing number of celiac diagnoses in the mature adult population during which she will provide expert advice for fellow dietitians on how to best care for this unique population.

Sponsored by Crunchmaster crackers, this webinar is free of charge and the only requirement is a working Internet connection!

Veronica will:
* Discuss the growing prevalence of celiac disease among adults who are 60+
* Address the unique needs of mature celiacs, such as diet compliance
* Offer tips on how best to adjust to a gluten-free lifestyle when diagnosed later in life
* And more!

Title: 60+: Meeting the Needs of the Mature Celiac
Date: Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EDT

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Official NFCA GREAT Guide

It's official, I am a GREAT Guide for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. There are now 15 of us in the entire USA.

I've written before in the past about the Gluten Free Resource Education Awareness Training program. If you are not familiar with the program, look back over some of these previous posts to learn more. It's basically a training and awareness program for chefs, dietitians, cafeteria workers and other hospitality industry professionals that deals with Celiac disease and the Gluten Free diet. Click this link to see the locations that have already gone through GREAT training to date. At this time, the Raleigh area is home to only one GREAT certified restaurant - ZPizza.

I have spoken with several restaurants over the last few months that are extremely interested in participating in GREAT training and I will work over the next few weeks to make sure they get what they need from the program. The end result will be a safer dining experience for folks on the Gluten Free Diet and increased awareness among the food service industry. The goal is to have many restaurants go through this training in the Raleigh area. I will be posting in the future about these locations as they come on board. Each location will also have a handy window decal by the front door of their location and the GREAT logo on their Gluten Free menus.

For more information about GREAT, click here for the NFCA GREAT Web page or check out this handy 1 page brochure.

If you are interesting in participating in the GREAT training program, please email me!

NFCA - Gluten-Free Lifestyle Webinar Series

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness has announced the third Webinar in the new Gluten Free Lifestyle Webinar program. See my previous posts about the first and second Webinars.

Gluten-Free Lifestyle Webinar Series -Going to School Gluten-free

April 3, 2009 at 1:30 pm EST

Nancy Baker, MEd
NFCA: Director of Education

Margaret Weiss Masiello, RD
Clinical Coordinator
Kogan Celiac Center

Beckee Moreland
GREAT Guide Coach

Click the following link to register (Click the Upcoming Tab).

Interview: Alice Bast - NFCA Director & Founder

Since I began blogging last August, I have met so many great people who are working hard to make the lives of those with Celiac Disease better. When I get the chance to meet important folks in the Celiac/Gluten Free community, I like to share with you what we discuss. So I've published a few interviews in the past few weeks and had the opportunity to have another one today. I look forward to talking with more folks out there, especially leaders of the national support organizations and companies that make Gluten Free products.

Today, I had the pleasure of speaking with Alice Bast, the Executive Director and Founder of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA). Alice founded the NFCA in 2003 after suffering for many years with undiagnosed Celiac Disease. She went through 22 doctors, the trauma of delivering a stillbirth, multiple miscarriages and a baby born at only 3 pounds. These years were also marked by debilitating physical symptoms and almost unbearable mental and emotional strain. See more about her personal story here. After her CD diagnosis, Alice became co-chair of the Greater Philadelphia Area Celiac Support Group which now serves over 750 members. She became involved in the community and in supporting others with Celiac but eventually wanted to do more.

With existing Celiac or Gluten Intolerance groups focused more on support, Alice launched the NFCA with the idea of focusing on raising awareness, improving diagnosis and becoming a change agent for CD sufferers. With her business background, she had hopes of working with corporations (non-profit and for-profit) in the hopes of increasing the products available to those on a Gluten Free Diet. An example of this is her collaboration with Anheuser-Busch on the creation of their Gluten Free Beer Redbridge - the first and only with distribution to all 50 states. Alice and the NFCA were instrumental in getting this product to market.

Alice is passionate about the fact that better awareness will feed better research... better research will in turn increase the number of companies who cater to Celiacs... the more companies that cater to us, the more competition... all of which leads to lower prices, more choices and an easier Gluten Free life. This pretty much sums up the mission of the NFCA.

Here are some interesting items mentioned during my time talking with Alice.

• Alice's wish is that scientific researchers do Celiac research because CD is an interesting/intriguing genetic disease to study.
• The NFCA has distributed over 800,000 Celiac brochures to date with the assistance of their grocery and diagnostic partners.
• Alice and the NFCA are currently working with Wal-mart on their Gluten Free product selection. Introducing Wal-mart into the fold will certainly help bring down prices. Judging by my last poll question in which the majority of respondents said they spend $200 or more per month just on GF grocery items, this is great news.
  
• Alice will be presenting at the 13th Annual International Celiac Disease Symposium on April 6th in Amsterdam. The presentation will include the NFCA's approach to physician training and changing physician behavior around Celiac Disease diagnosis.
• Alice envisions a country where there are Celiac research centers in every major city around the US, not just at Columbia, Maryland and U. Chicago. With Duke, UNC and NCSU so close, there is definitely no reason why Raleigh-Durham can't have one!
  

A special thanks to Alice Bast for taking the time to talk with me today and to Whitney Ehret, the NFCA's Director of Communications, for coordinating the interview. See my previous posts about the NFCA here.

NFCA's Web site relaunched

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) relaunched their Web site late last week and it is now a little more user friendly. Some new content has been added and some outdated information has been removed.

Check it out at http://www.celiaccentral.org/

Jules Shepard / Earth Fare Event SOLD OUT!

Good news (unless you didn't get a ticket to the event) - the Jules Shepard / Earth Fare Gluten Free Event has now sold out!

There was room for 30 participants and all 30 places have been taken.

Early estimates indicate that this event will raise over $300 (after expenses) for a donation to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA)!

Thanks for all that have purchased tickets and I look forward to seeing you this Saturday at Earth Fare.

Stay tuned for more Gluten Free Raleigh Special Events in the near future!

Becoming a NFCA GREAT Guide

I wrote earlier about the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) GREAT Program. The Gluten-Free Resource Education Awareness Training (GREAT) program is a comprehensive tool offered by the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) to educate chefs, dietitians, cafeteria workers and other hospitality industry professionals about Celiac disease and the gluten-free diet.

Yours truly has been invited to become a GREAT Guide and will be going through the official process and training over the next few weeks. From what I understand there are only a dozen or so GREAT Guides in the entire nation so I am proud to become part of this small but effective group. After completing this process, I will be able to better assist restaurants, chefs, dietitians, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.. in the area in safely providing meals and services for Gluten Free consumers. You, as the GF consumer, will be better served and feel more confident about living Gluten Free in Raleigh.

Stay tuned for more information. I have a few places already lined up to go through the certification process and hope to get more in the coming months. The goal is that eventually Raleigh will become one of the most Gluten Free aware cities in the nation. Please email me if you know of any places you'd like to go through the process or if you own a business that is interested in becoming certified by the NFCA.

NFCA's GREAT Program - Gluten-Free Resource Education Awareness Training

I recently wrote about the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness here. I mentioned in that post that I would be going into more detail about the GREAT program. The GREAT program offers a certification/validation program for restaurants and dietitians so that they can safely deal with Celiac Disease patients. Gluten Free consumers can easily recognize GREAT program participants and feel comfortable utilizing these resources knowing the NFCA has had a hand in their training.

GREAT Program Description
The Gluten-Free Resource Education Awareness Training (GREAT) program is a comprehensive tool offered by the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) to educate chefs, dietitians, cafeteria workers and other hospitality industry professionals about Celiac disease and the gluten-free diet.

GREAT offers a systematic approach to using gluten-free ingredients and preventing cross contamination. Through a few simple lessons, GREAT provides professionals with a protocol that can be applied to any kitchen or gluten-free meal plan. GREAT addresses the entire spectrum of preparing and serving gluten-free foods by simply looking at ABC. Awareness, Bringing in Supplies and Cross Contamination Caution. The training includes a manual, online lessons and a web-based examination.

In addition, the NFCA's team of GREAT Guides can aid in every detail of the implementation of a gluten-free protocol from staff training and logistics consultation to menu creation and product referrals. GREAT is a full service program created by a multidisciplinary team - all dedicated to getting a gluten-free process into the hands of those intending to serve gluten-free products.

There are 2 distinct areas to the GREAT program - one for Kitchens and another for Dietitians.

GREAT Kitchens
The GREAT Kitchens program will equip restaurants with the knowledge to safely provide customers with gluten-free meal options, as well as to create a gluten-free menu. Your kitchen will receive long-term support from the NFCA staff to help with menu updates or with training your entire staff. Upon completion of program, your kitchen will be added to a public registry of gluten-free certified establishments and members of the American Culinary Federation are eligible to for up to 6.0 continuing education hours. This program can be used for Chefs, Restaurants and Cafeterias.
Cost per kitchen: $150 (Sliding scale for chains)

GREAT for Dietitians
GREAT for Dietitians will prepare registered dietitians and dietetic technicians to help patients manage a gluten-free diet in the home, at work and in all other places someone might encounter food. Dietitians will learn how to find gluten-free food items, how to properly read ingredient labels and how to adjust recipes to be gluten-free. GREAT for Dietitians is a Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Accredited provider with the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR).
Cost per dietitian: $100

GREAT Guides
GREAT Guides are hand-selected leaders in the gluten-free community who are cooperating with the NFCA to provide widespread, consistent and supported educational materials to the public. Guides are professional consultants that can aid kitchens to implement gluten-free protocols. There are currently only a dozen or so GREAT Guides in the entire US.

For more information, please see the GREAT Program Web site.

NFCA - Gluten-Free Lifestyle Webinar Series

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness has announced the second Webinar in the new Gluten Free Lifestyle Webinar program. See my previous post about the first Webinar here.

Gluten-Free Lifestyle Webinar Series -Parenting the Gluten-free Child

February 27, 2009 at 12pm EST *Only 200 seats available*

Elaine Monarch, Executive Director
Celiac Disease Foundation
Effective child programming and support groups for kids.

Nancy Baker, MEd
NFCA: Director of Education
Using the school curriculum to empower your child.

Loretta Jay, MA
NFCA : Director of Program Development
Emotional support for Children.

Nancy Patin Falini,MA,RD,LDN
Author: Gluten-free Friends: An Activity Book for Kids
Social skill sets for kids

Margaret Masiello RD
Kogan Celiac Center, St. Barnabas Health Care System
Menus that work and school lunch.

Jessica Hale
Glutenfreeda
Kid Friendly Recipes

Click the following link to register (Click the Upcoming Tab).

Useful Resources: National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA)

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness is a non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for Celiac Disease. NFCA is affiliated with the leading researchers in the US who are working toward this goal. NFCA will promote careers in Celiac Disease and fund fellowships in order to attract the best and the brightest to join the fight.

Origin
Founded in 2003 by Alice Bast (read her personal story here) who was diagnosed with Celiac Disease after visiting 23 physicians and suffering since 1988. The NFCA is located in Ambler, Pennsylvania just outside of Philadelphia but also has locations in Washington, D.C. and Seattle, WA.

Membership
None/Free

Mission Statement
The Foundation's mission is to raise awareness and funding for Celiac disease that will advance research, education and screening, and improve the quality of life of children and adults affected by this autoimmune disease through grant making and direct programming.

Features:

• GREAT (Gluten-Free Education Awareness Resource Training) - more to come in an upcoming post on this program
  
• Symptom Checklist
• Free monthly email newsletter
• Ask the Chef
• Events around the Country
• Volunteer opportunities
• Celiac Links
• Gluten Free Lifestyle Webinar Series
• Celiac Survival Guide
• Monthly Meetups
• Celiac Shop

Donations
Board of Directors
Staff

Web site: http://www.celiaccentral.org/
Email: info@celiaccentral.org
Phone: (215)325-1306

NFCA Celiac Survey

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness is sponsoring a survey about Celiac Disease. See below for more information and click here to take the Survey.

Celiac Survey
Share your experiences - earn $10

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness has partnered with the marketing research firm National Analysts Worldwide to conduct a Celiac survey and we would like to include your opinions.

The survey is for research purposes only and is available online.

The survey is for diagnosed celiacs. If you have celiac disease and would like to take the survey, you will be asked to answer some brief questions about your celiac experiences (it averages about 45 minutes in length) and, in return, you will receive a $10 honorarium.

Your privacy is important to us and, if you choose to participate in this survey, it will be protected. While personally-identifying information may be collected as part of the survey's research and for honorarium purposes (for example, to send you the $10), this information will not be used or disclosed for any other purpose. Your responses will be held in the strictest confidence. All data from the project will be tabulated and reported in the aggregate only.

If you are interested in taking the survey, please simply fill out the form below and we will send you a link and login information within 24 hours. Thank you!

NFCA - Gluten-Free Lifestyle Webinar Series

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness is launching a new Webinar program.

Gluten-Free Lifestyle Webinar Series

NFCA is a launching an exciting new series entitled the Gluten-Free Lifestyle Webinar sponsored by Blue Diamond Growers Nut-Thin Crackers. The first webinar will be held on Wednesday January 21st, 2009 at 3pm EST and will focus on Gluten-Free Common Sense.

1. The basics of the Gluten-Free diet - Nancy Baker, NFCA
2. Finding Gluten-Free products - Mary Schluckebier, CSA
3. Fresh and common ingredients - NancyBaker, NFCA
4. Using coupons on a specialty diet - Kathleen Reale, Be Free for Me
5. Cooking tips - Nacy Baker, NFCA
6. Cooking wth crackers - Lnda Simon RD, Gluten-Free Kitchen Therapy
7. Q&A Session

Registration begins on January 13, 2009 and is LIMITED to 200

Click the following link to register.

NFCA Celiac Central Newsletter - November 2008

For those of you who do not subscribe to the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness "Celiac Central" Newsletter, here are some highlights and a link to the newsletter for November 2008.

Table of Contents

-NOTE FROM ALICE
-BEYOND RICE CAKES
At-Home Celiac Test Coming Soon to U.S. Market
-RESEARCH UPDATE
Study Verifies Link Between Celiac Disease & Thyroid Disease
-ALTERNATIVE INGREDIENTS
Malt Flavoring: What is it and how can you avoid it?
-GLUTEN-FREE ON A BUDGET:
Gluten-Free, Fresh & Delicious: Laughing Cow Green Pea Risotto
-ATHLETES FOR AWARENESS
NFCA Launches Athletes for Awareness Program
-TRAVELING ON A GLUTEN-FREE DIET
A Gluten-Free Trip to Washington, DC
-UPCOMING EVENT
2008 South Florida Gluten-Free Cooking Spree
-AWARENESS ADVOCATE
David Milkes: Alcatraz Celiac Swimmer
CALLING ALL KIDS!
Hot Products

Here is a link to sign up for the newsletter if you have not already.

NFCA - Celiac Disease Awareness Activity

Not to be confused with CSA's Celiac Awareness Month Activities, the NFCA also has great ideas to raise Celiac Awareness. This one happens to go on year round and is an excellent idea.

The idea is to host a Gluten Free Cupcake Party for you and your friends. Supplies are provided by the NFCA and Pamela's Products and all you have to do is bake and decorate the cupcakes (and make donations).

Please see the following NFCA Web site for more information.

Here's how it works:

Step 1: Fill out the form below to register to become a Gluten-Free Cupcake Party host. Note: Please sign-up no later than 3 weeks before you wish to host your party.

Step 2: NFCA will contact you to arrange the details of your party and answer all of your questions.

Step 3: Invite 12 of your closest friends over to decorate cupcakes! Each guest will donate $15 to Celiac awareness.

Step 4: Once you've set a date for your party, Pamela's Products will send you a full Cupcake Party Baking Kit that contains Classic Vanilla Cake Mix, Luscious Chocolate Cake Mix, and three frosting mixes. Each of your guests will also receive a special take home gift such as a spatula, whisk or frosting spreader.

You will also receive an apron from Ohm Dog as a thank you for hosting a Cupcake Party!

Step 5: Host the party! Be sure to take lots of pictures! Following the party, NFCA will ask each host to submit photos and an event recap for publication in NFCA's newsletter and on www.CeliacCentral.org.

So...if you're ready to become a Gluten-Free Cupcake Party host and raise funds for Celiac awareness and research while eating delicious desserts, fill out the form below!

Celiac Disease Awareness Month Activity

This is the first of many Celiac Disease Awareness Month Activity ideas for each of us to use to help promote awareness of Celiac Disease during October.

I imagine those of you out there with school age Celiac children that Gluten Free Options during School lunches can be difficult.

To help promote Celiac Disease awareness and to improve the School Lunch situation, please see the following post from The Beyond Rice Cakes Blog which is written by Vanessa Maltin who is the director of programming and communications for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA). In this post, there is a link (which I also included here) to submit your comments/input to the USDA which is revising the Child Nutrition Act in 2009.

The deadline for submission is October 15, 2008.