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Thursday, August 26, 2010
Gluten-Free Fun 400th Post!
In just three and a half years, I have reach my 400th post here at Gluten-Free Fun. I honestly cannot believe I have made it this far and have continued writing as much as I have. I am very excited to reach post number 400. I even more excited to see that my readership and site visits have skyrockted in the two years since I started keeping track via Google analytics!!! This is very exciting.

I was diagnosed in 1981 with Celiac Disease after months of my parents toting me around from doctor to doctor. Once I was diagnosed, I went gluten-free almost immediately and there was no looking back. It was the early 1980s and my parents were clueless, simply because there was NO information out there about Celiac Disease. There was no Internet so my pediatric gastroninterologist put them in touch with one of the oldest celiac support groups around, the Celiac Support Association. We received occasional printed newsletters throughout the 1980s and then joined the local CSA chapter in the early 1990s. The information we got from these meetings was good, but it wasn't like it is today.

As the Internet became more popular, I started learning so much more about Celiac Disease. Despite the fact that I had grown up with the disease, there were all of these new products and foods that I had been nervous to try until I had more information. Quinoa, millet, and buckwheat were just a few of the grains I introduced into my diet after reading about them online. Glutino, Schar, Kinnickinick, the new-to-me product list was endless. I wanted to learn everything I could. I also now how the community that I had been lacking. Although I appreciated the CSA meetings, no one ever really was close to me in age so I assumed I was the only person under the age of 40 with Celiac. Not the case in the online world.

I soon realized that I wanted to share all of my gluten-free experiences with the public. I wanted to let my readers know that you can grow up with this disease and still thrive. I wanted to share with others that I have lived my entire childhood and adult life with this disease and I turned out just fine. I went to day care, school, sleep-away camp, college, lived with gluten-eating roommates, and I survived and thrived on a gluten-free diet. I am healthier than I have ever been and have not let Celiac Disease ever stop me.

With encouragement from my dearly missed friend, David Fischer of Gluten-Free NYC, I started my blog as a New Year's resolution in January 2007. The rest is history!

Thank you, dear readers, for your comments and your encouragement over these 400 posts. Please keep in touch and keep on reading.

Erin S.
Gluten-Free Fun

As an aside, we just marked one year since David Fischer has passed away. Over the past year, there have been so many gluten-free events and tidbits I wanted to share with this good friend. David, you made a wonderful contribution to the gluten-free world and a lasting impression to those around you. You are thought of often and are deeply missed.

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4 Comments:

Blogger iampalegreen said...

Woo hoo! Congrats! You definitely are the #1 resource for growing up gluten free. Thank you so much for sharing your story, I have come across only a handful of people that have been diagnosed with celiac prior to a few years ago, so it's always great to know how life was before gluten free cookies and bread. :)

Betsy

Anonymous Tiffany said...

Wow Erin! Congratulations for a wonderful accomplishment! You are in inspiration to the rest of us - no doubt! Thanks for doing what you do to help so many that you'll never know who have learned the gf ropes from you ;)

I think of David often and even though I never met him in person, he was one of the nicest people I've ever 'met' online. I'm so sorry we never got to enjoy the drink we planned to have on our next visit to NYC. What a beautiful soul David was.

Blogger GFyvr said...

It sounds like you and I are pretty similar in some ways as I was diagnosed in my teens, in 1982. One difference is with one of my jobs I travelled for 8 years full time (25 days a month on average in 1994-2002) around North America installing software and meeting with customers. All those I met sure learned about CD, and while I was on the internet, the biggest accomplishment I was able to do, was advocating what a gluten free meal ACTUALLY WAS to United Airlines, which I depended on for my meals due to my travel schedule and need to travel light. I asked them (and proved to them at a gate getting off a plane in Seattle) to change their GFML to one that was consistant and did not have items that make Celiac's sick such as orzo pasta as a substitution instead of rice, which happened a good portion of the time. So, in 1995 they obliged - instead the meal came from a central kitchen out to all the flight kitchens around the US, frozen, and was put on the planes when ordered. Now there are no meals on domestic flights! Oh well, it was good when it lasted!
Anything you can do, such as having a blog, which is just awesome in the commitment that it takes, raises awareness for Celiac Disease.
I produce a newsletter 6 times a year, which I get a break from every other month, however a blog, that is constant research and posting!
I am just thankful now that the food industry knows what a gluten free meal is, restaurants are creating gluten free menus and the response when asking about a gluten free menu is not a "glutton or glucose" what? as I cannot tell you how many times I heard that in the past! Having CD for over 25 years is a unique person these days - congratulations on making it through and your blog!
Lynda, Vancouver, BC

Anonymous SueZboss said...

CONGRATS ERIN!!

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