Birthday Reflections: Being an Authentic Celiac

AUTHENTIC (adjective) 

au·then·tic 

\ə-ˈthen-tik, ȯ-\

• real or genuine 
• not copied or false
• true and accurate

source

Today is my birthday and it is time for a little reflection on my celiac life, my gluten-free blogs, and my position as an advocate within the community. As I sit here, the word "AUTHENTIC" keeps popping back into my brain.

I have always tried to be 100% authentic. I blog how I think and how I talk which is usually stream of consciousness, honest, raw, and real. I greet readers and Facebook friends with a wide genuine smile and usually a hug, which is how I want to be greeted by people I like and admire. I leave honest comments on other blogs that aren't always in favor of what the author is writing, but it is my honest opinion that I want to share.

Recently, I had some interesting questions thrown my way by others in the gluten-free industry. One person asked me why I bother with two separate blogs. (Different topics, different missions.) Why I quit my job to do freelance work? (If not now, when?) and why do I do what I do or don't do XYZ with my websites.... in a less than friendly tone. (Um, this is me, take it or leave it!)

But these questions made me think, are there that many bloggers not being truthful to themselves and their audiences? Are they selling out their personal style and opinions just to make money? Why would I not do what I love, follow my passion, share my experiences while remaining authentic and true to myself? I honestly cannot imagine being any other way.

I may not be the gluten-free blogger with the biggest following. I never expect everyone to love me, my blog, and my opinions. But I can tell you from the bottom of my heart, I am real. I am genuine. I am authentic. I have been living with celiac disease for almost 34 years. I am not trying to be trendy by eating gluten-free for three decades and writing this blog for the past eight years. I am trying to share my life long experiences in hopes that I can help just one person in this world navigate their new celiac diagnosis. I will continue to be real as I start this next year of my life. This is my birthday promise to you.

My Birthday Wish for the Celiac Community

Today is my 36th birthday. It feels weird to say this number out loud because I most certainly don't feel 36 nor do I think I look 36 (most days). I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 1981 and for the past thirty-three birthdays, I celebrated in a gluten-free way. I was a very sick toddler and my parents didn't give up on trying to find out why their child was so ill. It was a young resident (younger than my parents at the time) who finally diagnosed me with Celiac Disease. I do not remember life with gluten. Celiac has been almost my entire life. Today, I am healthier than I have been in years. 

As I celebrate my birthday today, I have a big wish for the Celiac Community. I wish we all could get along. As someone who has been gluten-free blogging for more than seven years and leading a Celiac support group for more than eight years, I have seen a dramatic change in this Celiac Community over the past two years or so. We used to be such a supportive and caring community, helping each other and encouraging others who were newly diagnosed. Key words: used to be. 

Unfortunately, the past year has been rough in this community. REALLY ROUGH. So rough that I have actually considered taking a break to avoid all of the drama that has increased over the past 6-12 months. I've been sent hate mail, plagiarized three times, harassed via Twitter by an (in)famous "advocate", had others take credit for my work and research, bashed on my own Facebook page by a local business owner, and even falsely accused of my motives in my volunteering as the leader of the NYC Celiac Meetup group. 

There is so much competition, feelings of (gluten-free) entitlement, plagiarism, bashing, blaming, complaining, whining, harassing, cattiness, trolling, and negativity within the Celiac Community and I don't understand it anymore. There is no longer a feeling of community and "safe space" that we once had with our fellow Celiacs but feelings of extreme defensiveness and offensive responses. It makes me very sad. 

I write this blog and Gluten-Free Globetrotter because I genuinely care about the community. I have three decades of experience of living with Celiac Disease so I believe I have a lot of knowledge and personal experience to share with others. I have a sister and cousin both living with Celiac so this goes beyond me and is truly a family affair. I run the NYC Celiac Meetup group because I lacked this type of gluten-free community when I was growing up. Most people do not realize that I have a full-time job completely unrelated to the gluten-free community because I make ZERO money on my blogging and support group leadership. This blog, my social media presence, and my Meetup group are all done out of my personal passion to advocate for those of us living with Celiac Disease. If I can help just one person navigate the new gluten-free landscape, my mission is complete.

I admit that I am not perfect and the negativity and cattiness get the best of me at times. I am going to work hard to stop my own negativity and counter it with positivity and support of the Celiac Community. I want to get back the kind, helpful, supportive celiac world that I was part of from the beginning. I cannot do this alone and hope you join me on my birthday wish to help fix this Celiac community. If we cannot support one another, how can we expect others to support us? 

Thank you.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my 35th birthday. Some people throw a party, some go out to dinner. Me? I book myself a two week trip to Thailand! I just got back and I am slowly getting used to the time change and catching up on sleep after a 40 hour journey home. I am so proud of myself for navigating (solo) my first Asian country. I rode an elephant, pet tigers, and managed to eat relatively safely throughout my entire trip. I have so much to catch up on but I thought I would share a few of my favorite photos from my vacation. It really was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I am so glad that I went to Thailand. It was the best birthday present ever!

Getting a monk blessing and bracelet at Wat Arun, Bangkok

Baby tiger at Tiger Kingdom

BEST DAY EVER!!

I seriously loved every minute of riding the elephants. That was the highlight of my entire trip.

Elephant kisses

Selfie on a sandbar in Koh Phangan, Thailand

Oh and in case you were wondering, this is what a riding a hungry elephant looks like!!!

Happy Birthday Gluten-Free Fun

Today is the 6th birthday of this Gluten-Free Fun blog. I cannot believe that I have been writing and you have been reading this blog for six long years. If it wasn't for my dear readers and friends, I would have quit a long time ago. Your comments, emails, Tweets, and Facebook messages all keep me going and for that I am beyond grateful. Thank you all for your support of Gluten-Free Fun for these past six years. Here's to many more gluten-free years together!

I Love You, Julia Child

The more I read about Julia Child, the more I love her. Her gregarious personality, her devotion and love for her husband Paul, and her enthusiastic passion for food is so inspiring. I read My Life in France last month and felt like I was with her in France. I now have As Always, Julia on my late summer reading list. I now want to read all things Julia that I can get my hands on. Julia was truly a pioneer in the food world and I am sure many of our TV shows, food blogs, and specialty cookbooks would not be around today if it weren't for Julia Child paving the way for us all.

In honor of  what would have been Julia's 99th birthday, I share this image I found on the new PBS Food website.

Happy Birthday Gluten-Free Fun

Tomorrow is my 33^rd birthday. I am ok with this. Many people thinking aging is a bad thing, but I actually think that so far my 30s have been way better than my 20s. I am much more in tune with myself as a person than I was even just 5 years ago. As a tribute to my birthday, I thought I would share 33 things about myself that you may or may not know about me. Making this list wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. 

33 Gluten-Free Fun Facts

1. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in 1981, at the age of three, by a very forward thinking gastroenterologist. Hewas only 29 years old at the time of my diagnosis. I truly credit this man for saving my life.
2. I have been writing Gluten-Free Fun since January 2007. To date, I have posted almost 570 posts.
3. I am the lead organizer of the largest Celiac or Gluten-Free Meetup group IN THE WORLD!! (There are 71 gluten-free or celiac-related Meetup groups on Meetup.com.)  We have whopping 1,273 group members in the NYC Celiac Disease Meetup group. I am very proud of this group.
4. I talk to my mother every single day. She is one of my best friends. She calls me her very own “gluten-free celebrity”. This makes me laugh and realize how proud she is of me.
5. I have one wonderful sister that also has Celiac Disease. I was diagnosed as a child; she was diagnosed as an adult. She grew up calling me a “Banana Baby” but little did she know she would also be a “Silly Yak” one day. I love you baby soucie!
6. I have 545 fans on my Gluten-Free Fun Facebook page. I have 854 followers on Twitter. These numbers amaze me.
7. I have one first cousin with Celiac Disease. I believe at least two more cousins and maybe even my dad have Celiac. They are in denial.
8. I have twin nieces and a nephew who I adore more than anything in this world. Both of my nieces are gluten-free. They think it is hilarious that I have “no gluten” in my food too.
9. I am addicted to the internet and social media. I really don’t know how ever lived without it. I have 258 blogs on my daily RSS feed and 163 of those are gluten-free related blogs!
10. I have a day job completely unrelated to anything in the gluten-free community. I am the Director of Production at an education software company and I like to think I am shaping the minds of our country’s youth.
11. I love to dance, love pop music and always dance while I cook in my 100% gluten-free kitchen.
12. I grew up eating Ener-G foods bread since it was the only gluten-free bread on the market in the 1980s. Even with all of the delicious gluten-free breads on the market, I still buy this bread by the case a couple of times a year. It comes vacuum sealed. This is slightly scary to me.
13. I have been featured in two Columbia Journalism School senior thesis projects about Celiac Disease. This is very flattering.
14. I still talk to my best friend from Kindergarten. We have known each other for 27 years. She was one of the first people that knew about my Celiac Disease besides my family. Our favorite after-school snack growing up was potato chips dipped in mustard. I still eat that as a snack from time to time.
15. I am no longer embarrassed to tell people I have Celiac Disease. It took me almost 25 years to get to this point in my life and admit that I have “food issues.” I can now openly talk about Celiac Disease and realize I have nothing to be ashamed of and my knowledge and experience can only bring awareness to others.
16. I love to travel and have gone on at least five vacations by myself in the past 6 years. These have been some of my best experiences ever. I don’t let being gluten-free stop me which leads me to my next entry…
17. I love quotations. Some of my favorites include: 
• “You can’t have a favorite place until you have seen them all.” (from a printed ad)
• “You can never step into the same river; for new waters are always flowing on to you.” (Heraclitus)
• “Just because you have a restricted diet, doesn't mean you have a restricted life” (Allergic Girl)
18. I was on an episode of the Food Network’s show “Chopped” in 2009 where the cook was making gluten-free crepes during her bio. The episode is called “My Froggy Clementine.” She was chopped but not before you see me in my magenta sweater more than 5 times in a very tiny kitchen. 
19. I won a recipe contest in 2005 and I have a featured recipe in the book “Beyond Rice Cakes: A Young Person's Guide to Cooking, Eating & Living Gluten-Free” by Vanessa Maltin.
20. I buy URLs for fun. When I think of a good website name, I usually buy it. I need to stop buy and start executing some of these gluten-free projects. Stay tuned!!
21. Some of the most amazing people in my life right now are people I met through the gluten-free community. I cherish these new friendships and love working with these people to spread awareness in our community.
22. I have an online gluten-free store called Gluten-Free NYC Boutique. I inherited this fun website from a dear friend and fellow gluten-free blogger named David Fischer who passed away in 2009. David was the person who inspired me to start this blog. He was truly a pioneer in the gluten-free NYC blogging community. I miss David. 
23. I have been approached by random strangers at restaurants in NYC who ask me “Are you Erin from the Meetup group?” They recognized me from the NYC Celiac Meetup website because my picture is on every damn page. I am always caught slightly off-guard by this and get embarrassed but I do secretly love it too. If you see me, say hello.
24. I am thanked on page x of the new book Allergic Girl by Sloane Miller. When I discovered this, I actually cried happy tears.
25. I am the moderator and founder of the Gluten-Free Goodness photography pool on Flickr.com. We have over 560 members that post to this group and almost 5,000 pictures in the photo stream. I love taking pictures of my food and apparently so does everyone else in this group. Add your pictures today!
26. My most viewed blog posting to date is a controversial posting about getting gluten-free food at McDonald’s. Apparently this post pissed off a lot of people. Three years later, I still get comments on this post. 
27. My favorite movie of all time is Grease 2. I can sing every song from that movie by heart and probably recite 99% of the movie lines. When I discovered that my roommate from college and one of my suitemates both loved the movie and also could sing every single song, I knew we would be friends for life. Love you girls!
28. I do not eat oats, even certified gluten-free oats. Never have, never will.
29. I’m not proud to admit, but I cheated and ate gluten a lot as a teenager. This was my personal form of teenage rebellion. I knew it was extremely bad for me but I still drank beer all the time. I was probably the sickest of my life during freshman and sophomore year of college due to this cheating and realize I might have done some serious irreversible damage. Now, I NEVER CHEAT; It’s just not worth it.
30. My favorite number has always been 33. When I play roulette, I bet on 33 black. I’m turning 33 year. I have a feeling that this is going to be a great year!
31. I currently have 7 boxes of gluten-free Chex on top of my refrigerator. This is not unusual for me, but some of my friends think it is weird. I love a bargain and a coupon so I get especially excited when I can stock up on gluten-free products on the cheap.
32. I manage a map of restaurants, bars, and markets that can cater to gluten-free people in New York City. I think there are now over 170 places on this map. I update it when I can and I am always happy to add reader suggestions.
33. If you have gotten this far on my list, I thank you tremendously. Without my dear readers and fans, I wouldn’t have this blog to begin with. Thank you for your feedback, comments, and emails. They truly do mean the world to me! 

Gluten-Free Birthday Traditions

I grew up being the only kid in school not bringing in Munchkins, but bringing in dixie cups of vanilla and chocolate ice cream. Of course the other kids LOVED this, but I wanted to be like everyone else.

Cupcakes seem like another birthday norm so starting a few years back, I decided that I needed gluten-free cupcakes on every birthday. Lucky me that for the past two years, I have had great friends and coworkers head to BabyCakes NYC to buy me gluten-free cupcakes. My coworkers devoured the gluten-free cupcakes yesterday, not even noticing the difference from regular cupcakes. I managed to eat 1 1/2 in the office and come home with 2 1/2. I don't think 4 cupcakes in a span of two days is that bad.

Babycakes NYC
248 Broome St
New York, NY 10002
(212) 677-5047
Open Tue-Thu 10am-10pm; Fri-Sat 10am-11pm; Sun 10am-8pm


My other birthday traditions include taking a day off from work and heading to the spa for a 90-minute massage and a manicure. Ahhh, what a lovely day.

Happy Birthday to me!