Happy New Year!

While the pace of progress can seem frustrating and slow at times, a review of 2011 reveals amazing progress.  When I look back to when my son was diagnosed in 2008, the growth and efficacy of the movement for gluten intolerance awareness and options are even more remarkable.  Still, there is much awareness to spread and I have seen the power of people joining together at the local level.  Almost one year ago, our local GIG branch launched with three women who had a desire to increase awareness, build knowledge, and facilitate communication for those affected by gluten intolerance.  Today, GIG of Montgomery has 48 members, but there are hundreds more affected by gluten whether they realize it yet or not.  If we take a round estimate of the area population and multiply by the well-accepted medical (expert) community statistic of celiac (1 in 133) then there are at least 1500 in our area with celiac.  Further, various medical researchers place the percentage of those affected with some form of gluten intolerance at 6% or more.  Imagine if those statistics are proven correct, how many thousands more in our area might need to avoid gluten for maximum health.

We would love to have you join us on this journey!  A newsletter is the next project on the agenda and we plan to line up more knowledgeable physicians to speak at monthly meetings.  Health Wise Foods continues to give our members 10 percent off purchases as well as stock an amazing assortment of GF products.  Jason’s Deli gives our members a discount on the restaurant-sized loaves of Udi’s GF bread.  We will be communicating with even more restaurants in 2012 about providing samples of GF options and/or discounts for our members and several national companies have already contacted us about sending samples of their products for our members to try.  As the number of children represented by our membership climbs, we look forward to coordinating activities specifically geared to our children and youth.  Perhaps you can be a driving force to speed those goals to realization!  Many of our members have gotten involved in various aspects, and the collective knowledge base represented by our membership will benefit anyone who feels confused or adrift.  We can help you ask your physician the right questions if you are in search of answers, we can give tips about ordering food to help ensure attention to details, we can help you equip your kitchen for making great GF meals at home and avoid cross-contamination, and many more guidelines.  Perhaps most importantly, the power of numbers will spur area stores and restaurants to heed our voice.  Our first meeting of 2012 is on January 26^th from 6-7 p.m. at Health Wise Foods (see sidebar)—hope to see you there!