Hi, I’m Claire.

I began my gluten-free life the week of Thanksgiving 2009.  After 9 months of blood tests and confusion, my severe iron deficiency anemia was finally attributed to celiac disease, an auto-immune disorder whose only “cure” is to stop eating gluten.  Forever.  I could go on about celiac disease, but I’ll leave that to the doctors.  What concerned me most about the diagnosis was the diet.  Gluten is found in wheat, barley, rye, and spelt- i.e. flour, bread, pasta, crackers, baked goods, and a multitude of other food products.  What on earth was I going to do?  I lived on those foods and there would be gluten abound at our Thanksgiving dinner.  It was a tough week.

After the initial shock, I began to pour myself into researching gluten-free this, gluten-free that and found that I had to dig to find where I could get a slice of gluten free pizza, and I still don’t know where I can buy gluten-free beer other than Whole Foods.  I live in New York City, probably one of the best places to have this dietary restriction, and eating gluten-free can still be tough.  This brings me to this blog.  I’m creating this to document my sans gluten adventures and also to share my experiences and discoveries with all of you out there with this diet.  Enjoy!