Eight Years of Gluten-Free Fun

8 years of Gluten-Free Fun

Today, Gluten-Free Fun is eight years old! Blog years are like dog years so this old blog feels ancient! I started this blog with encouragement and a push from a dearly departed friend. I kept going with this blog after all of your wonderful comments, emails, and in-person hellos over the past eight years. It is not always easy to keep up this website, my Gluten-Free Globetrotter website, and work full-time, but I do it because I love connecting with the gluten-free community. My dear readers keep me going. Thank you all for the past seven years, here's to many more!

Gluten-Free Fun Giving Thanks

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and as I reflect on the past year, I am extremely thankful. I have a wonderful family, great friends, and I am an advocate for a part of a very dynamic celiac community. My health, while not perfect, is better than it has been and I have a good job with excellent health benefits that allow me to follow-up with specialists when I am sick.

Being 2013, I thought I would list thirteen things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

1. I am thankful for a family that fully supports my Celiac Disease and for a sister that has it too! Our Thanksgiving table will have 5 out of 8 people eating gluten-free; 5 out of 8 people (not the same people) who are dairy-free; and three gluten-eating folks that support us and love us no matter if there are Silly Yaks at the table! Read about my Celiac sister here. 
   
   
2. I am thankful for my friends who don't think me asking to eat at gluten-free friendly restaurants is weird anymore. They usually let me choose where we eat and make sure if they choose, there is something safe for me to eat wherever we go. I am especially thankful for my #GFF (gluten-free friend) Kristen who has crossed over from Meetup member to a great friend who invites me to free trips to Atlantic City and goes to the Pink concert with me (2 more weeks). WOOHOO! Read about my #GFF Kristen here.
   
   
3. I am thankful that I have the means and guts to travel the world. This year, I went to Portland (Oregon) four times for work, went to Wales and Scotland with my mom for ten days, and took a solo trip to Thailand right before my 35th birthday. I rode elephants, pet tigers, and met some amazing people from around the globe. I pushed myself beyond my comfort zone, left my comfortable surroundings in NYC for two weeks, and seriously had the adventure of a lifetime. Here are pictures from my Thailand adventure.
   
   
4. I am thankful I was diagnosed with Celiac almost 33 years ago. I am thankful for my early diagnosis and a really progressive (and young) resident who recognized all the way back in 1981 that I had Celiac disease which could be controlled by a gluten-free diet. Read my Celiac story here.
   
   
5. I am thankful for the amazing community I lead here in the big apple, NYC Celiac Meetup group. I have been part of this group for more than 8 years and this group officially turned 10 years old in October. The group has grown to more than 1700 members and I feel lucky to be the lead organizer of such a dynamic group of gluten-free people. Click here to join the NYC Celiac Meetup group. Membership is free!
   
   
6. I am thankful for social media. It is through Twitter and Facebook and commenters on this blog that I have met some amazing people. I am always so flattered when a fellow blogger wants to meet in person. It's like a gluten-free blind date when I meet up with these people, but we never fall short of things to talk about. I feel honored they want to connect with little ol' me. Recently, I got coffee with Heart of Queens and had an amazing dinner with Winning Without Gluten. Check out their blogs!
   
   
7. I am thankful that I have been a part of some great fundraising efforts for the Celiac community. Every year for the past few years, I have been a part of the Paul Taylor Dance Company fundraiser for the Celiac Disease Center for Columbia University. This is a beautiful, cultural event with a gluten-free pre-party now being held at Lincoln Center in NYC. Buy your tickets now for the 9th Annual Paul Taylor Dance Company event in March 2014!
   
   
8. I am thankful to be nominated for the 4th Annual Gluten-Free Awards at GFreek.com in two categories this year. I am also thankful I got to meet the founder of the awards, Josh, and his entire family after he ran the NYC Marathon this November. Go vote today. Vote for me and I will be extra thankful!
   
   
9. I am thankful for all of the amazing research that is being done on Celiac Disease by experts from around the globe. We are getting closer to understanding celiac, but we still have a long way to go. Read up on research here. 
   
   
10. I am thankful for the FDA finally passing some gluten-free labeling regulations that will help keep me and my fellow celiacs safe! By giving definition to gluten-free, this will force companies to start adhering to these regulations or take the words gluten-free off their labels. Read more about the FDA gluten-free rulings here. 
    
    
11. On a related note, thank you to all of the restaurants that provide me with safe, gluten-free meals. I love to dine out and I am so thankful for the restaurants that keep me safe. I have gotten to know some really wonderful chefs over the past few years. These chefs who not only try to cater to the gluten-free customer, but do it deliciously are my celebrities!  Enjoy some of my favorite restaurant reviews here.
    
    
12. I am thankful for this blog and my travel blog, Gluten-Free Globetrotter. Being able to write these blogs, share my opinions openly with the world, and connect with readers has been amazing. This blog is fun at times, a hassle at times, and therapeutic at times. This January, my blog will be seven years old. This is ancient in terms of gluten-free blogs. I am also thankful for all of the amazing bloggers that are out there. There are too many favorite bloggers to mention but you can read about a recent gluten-free bloggers dinner in NYC here.
    
    
13. Most importantly, I am so thankful for you all. My dear readers, you have kept me writing this blog for almost seven years. Your comments, your emails, your Tweets and Facebook comments, and your support mean the world to me. THANK YOU ALL!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Gluten-Free Fun 800th Post

It blows my mind that I have been writing this blog long enough to write 800 posts. Never would I have imagined I would reach this day when I started this blog in 2007. I never thought I would still be writing this blog almost 6 years later and have this many posts completed. This blog is a labor of love. I have made some amazing friends in the gluten-free community through this blog, have attended wonderful events over the years, and have really learned so much through research and reader feedback. Although I get really tired at times and want to give this blog a break, I still feel super invested in sharing my gluten-free tips with the world. I want to thank each and every one of you for encouraging me along the way with your fabulous comments, emails, and Tweets. I truly appreciate this from the bottom of my heart!


Here are some fun stats about Gluten-Free Fun

Total posts: 800
Age of blog: 5 years, 9 months, 22 days
Frequency of new posts: approximately every 2.65 days
Average monthly visits: 5,000

Number of Facebook fans: 1,773
Number of Twitter followers: 2,692

Published comments: 1,121 (I don't publish spam)

Top 5 most popular posts:
Gluten-Free Skinnygirl Margarita
McDonald's Fries are NOT gluten-free
Gluten-Free Icing from Betty Crocker
Have your beer -- and drink it gluten-free too
Gluten-Free at Dairy Queen

Most controversial post: McDonald's Fries are NOT gluten-free

Top 10 reader countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, Australia, Netherlands, Japan, United Arab Emirates

Top keywords that lead people to my site: gluten free icing

Number of spin-off blogs: 1
Shameless self-promotion for my gluten-free travel website: Gluten-Free Globetrotter

Thank you all for your continued support and readership of Gluten-Free Fun!

The 30 Best Gluten-Free Blogs, Websites, and Tweeters to Follow in 2012

What a nice surprise I got yesterday when Google alerted me that I was picked for CeliAct's "30 Best Gluten-Free Blogs, Websites, and Tweeters to Follow in 2012." I am in great company on this list which includes some of my friends such as Josh from GFreek and Karen of Gluten-Free Travel Site. Considering there are hundreds of gluten-free blogs out there, I am very honored to be on this prestigious list.

Click here to see the whole list of "The 30 Best Gluten-Free Blogs, Websites, and Tweeters to Follow in 2012"

Thank you CeliAct!

Gluten-Free Fun Turns Five!

Today is the five year anniversary of this Gluten-Free Fun blog. Wow. I can't believe it has been FIVE whole years already. Where did the time go?

I started this blog with the strong encouragement from my friend David Fischer, continued this blog when I realized I had a few readers, and branched out to Facebook and Twitter when I realized I had regular followers. I still cannot believe all of the support I have received and the friends I have made through Gluten-Free Fun over the past five years. I am both grateful and humbled.

Thank you all for your support over the past five years. I have said this before and I will say it again, if it wasn't for my dear readers I wouldn't keep going.  Thank you!!!

Exciting Updates for Gluten-Free Fun

As we enter a new month, I am excited about what’s to come for Gluten-Free Fun this March and beyond.

This is me in 1981, right around the time of my diagnosis.

This year is my 30th anniversary of being diagnosed with Celiac Disease. A 30th wedding anniversary is your pearl anniversary and natural pearls are very rare. I’d like to think of myself as a natural pearl of the gluten-free world. Ok, this is probably the cheesiest comment I have ever said on this blog but I’m going there on this special anniversary. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease before there was the Internet, before there was a blood test, before you could walk into a normal supermarket and buy gluten-free products, and before celebrities were jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon. Thirty years ago, my doctor saved my life. I plan on doing a series of blog postings interviewing my parents and doctors from the past 30 years. I think I have a unique perspective of growing up entirely gluten-free and I plan on sharing this with my readers.

As you may have already noticed, I launched “Recipe of the Week” series in January as part of a New Year’s resolution. “Recipe of the Week”, which is posted each Friday, is my attempt to try one new recipe every week of 2011. So far, I haven’t missed a week. With a crazy NYC schedule, this isn’t always easy but these recipes force me to stop and pay attention to what I am actually putting into my body. This series of postings has gotten a great response from my readers and has really inspired me to move out of my comfort zone and try new recipes. Luckily, my successful recipes have outweighed my flops so I hope to continue this Friday series throughout the year.

I am launching a new topic called “Gluten-Free Fun Investigates”. I often read an article and feel like I am only getting half of the story. I don’t always have the time to dig deeper, but I really want to start doing some serious background checks and investigation gives into products, topics, and trends that I am really passionate about within our gluten-free community. I am prepared to work hard to give you the whole story behind some of your favorite gluten-free questions and topics. This articles won’t always be exactly what you want to hear, but at least I will attempt to give the truth and reality to my readers. If there is any specific gluten-free topic you want me to investigate, please let me know. I’m ready to dig up some gluten-free dirt!

There are two more secret projects I am hoping to unveil by April 1st, so stay tuned this month for clues.

Thank you for your continued support. Stick around to see what's to come!