Not sure this isn't too light for a serious issue. Maybe it's just me! Claire

America's 10 Hottest Food Trends

http://www.webmd.com/content/article/121/114178.htm

Seems crazy to me to go on a gluten free diet on purpose!

Lisa

I really despise the idea of being considered "trendy" for any reason, and I care much less for the idea of a disease being "trendy". Puke.

I don't consider living a gluten-free lifestyle an "indulgence". I consider it the biggest inconvenience I've encountered so far. Trendy? Get real.

Well, I do it on purpose, but not by choice!

Woo hoo! I'm in the top ten!

I've never been on the cutting edge of fashion before. Will this get me girls?

You're too funny!

maybe it's just semantics, but I don't think they meant trendy as in hip, I think they are just noticing buying trends... "as people become more aware of gluten intolerance" hopefully it's not a temporary trend and it's a permanent trend toward better foods that just happen to be gluten-free.

I like how they put "gluten free" in quotes, like "big bad gluten"



Yeah, I agree, and it makes me worry. I don't want to be the next "Atkins" or "Dr Phil Diet" out there....before you know it people wil be asking at the resturaunt "oh! Your doing the celiac disease too"

See? There's tons of fringe benefits to going gluten free! You're now part of the "IN" crowd!!!

Hugs.
Karen

To be honest, I am glad this is on the list!! Yes, it is a lifestyle for us not by choice, but if you think about it, the more people are demanding gluten free, the more options we have!! I am all for better tasting foods at various places!! I was glutened this weekend for the first time in a long time. I was at a hotel and ate an egg & cheese omlete. I was sick for hours and at my son's soccer tournament. It wasn't fun!! I would love it if more people requested it. Then I wouldn't look like a 3 headed monster when I asked for gluten free!!

Sorry if I ramble! I slept for 13 hours last night and am still foggy today. It has been so long since I have been glutened!! UGH!!

Having the gluten-free diet being trendy is like having a peanut allergy diet being trendy. It makes no sense!

I'm afraid that if it becomes the next fad diet, restaurants and brands will become less careful about cc and whatnot. Most people aren't going to get sick from ingesting gluten. It'll be a lot harder to be taken seriously.


Not to mention that the gluten-free replacement crap ISN'T HEALTHY! It's fattening as all get out and has a higher glycemic index to boot!

Funny story though: My boss was at lunch with a friend and the friend told him about the gluten-free bakehouse stuff at whole paycheck and how she ate gluten-free stuff to be "healthy". He bought me some of the bakehouse cookies and I asked why his friend ate them on purpose. When he said it was to be healthy, I laughed and told him about how full of bad crap gluten-free stuff was and he turned ashen white eating the cookie. He's on Weight Watchers...I'm sure one gluten-free cookie is about 3 days worth of points

I hope so!

I guess wwe can say at least it's WebMD and not Cosmo.

Yeah, one of those cookies is nearly 300 cals! Healthy? No. Tasty? Yes!

I guess my concern is like Chelsea's. That this will not be taken seriously. I am thinking of now saying that I have Celiac Disease and that one crumb will make me very sick. I certainly don't want a server to think that I am just following a fad diet for the fun of it. Then he might not be careful, like taking a bun off of my plate (in the kitchen).

I was never part of the in crowd and now I am. We are so posh. I can't imagine why anyone would intentionally want to be like us but now they have made us all the rage. Nothing worse than being the flavor of the month but who knows, maybe in some perverse way this new "trend" will help us food wise.

I think what Chelse says is what was at the root of my discomfort with this. That it will diminish the whole gluten-free subject - in the marketplace, the restaurant, etc. That would indeed be a setback for a problem just beginning to get recognized. Claire

Yes, Yes, Line up girls, There's plenty of me to go around, and all my kisses are gluten-free, and certified as such by the FDA and the State of Georgia.

I am hoping this will help spread the word about gluten. I'd never heard of it before last year. Even my family can not keep it straight. My sister keeps reading me articles she finds about celiac in an effort to be helpful, but she still can't remember what it is. THe more times someone sees info about gluten, the better chance it will have of sticking.

And hopefully, we can reap the benefits by getting more food choices at a cheaper price.

I don't mind being trendy. Whatever it takes to educate people, I'll support. Of course, I will be expaining to people the difference between it being a medical necessity and a choice. Hopefully, they won't get that glazed over look on their faces anymore. : )

Marcia

You sound like my son!


Even more so . . . .

Having been a "Geek-type" in high school, and adult in college, I have never been in the "in" crowd myself. Finding this a new and "terrifying" experience!!!! I've never been the "trendsetter" -- Oh, the presssure . . .

My only hope is that after the "fad" part of it passes, the companies will continue to make gluten-free foods for those of us that have to remain on the diet for life.

I agree -- Trends come and go. Celiac is forever. Hopefully the companies don't forecast that this is going to end in, say 2 years, and plan likewise. As I said earlier, having this disease doesn't make me trendy. It makes having to have gluten-free foods my lifestyle forever.

This can very well be a double-edged sword for us. In one way it could get more gluten-free food into restaurants and stores for us but will it be made totally that way or will they take it as a fad? Which means they will not care if there is a little gluten added into it from a machine or whatever, because they think this is a fad. Yes, this could diminish the importance of our food and other products if they think it is just a fad. They have to realize that this is more than a fad for some, this is their lives.

It can be a possibility that it could threaten the purity of gluten free foods by companies thinking they could be slack since it is "just a fad". On the other hand, if it increases good gluten free foods, then maybe two years down the road when the diagnoses starting pouring in, the increase in choice of foods will be here to stay.

Karen

I agree that they included it because more people are becoming aware that they must eat gluten free, are buying gluten-free products and are requesting gluten-free selections in restaurants. Anytime we can get information out there, it is a good thing, so I don't think this is a negative thing. Meb MD is generally a good site. We need to look at the positive side of things when this comes up in the press and always try to be educating those that otherwise just don't have a clue about gluten issues. Barbara

I agree with Nini. "Trendy" and buying trends aren't the same thing. I think they're just saying more people are buying guten-free food due to an increased awareness of gluten intolerance. That's a good thing

On a serious note, I say we always start the sentance "I'm gluten intolerant, What do you have that's glutne free?" With the first part, we communicate the important fact that we are not being fashionable, which should do.


Now about those kisses....

You bet it will! Hot chicks seems to be one of the best side effects of celiac!

I had one strange encounter with the supposed trendiness of the gluten free lifestyle. I was at a friend's house, and everyone was eating cookies. An acquaintance offered one to me and I said no thanks, and, strangely, she continued to try to push it on me like a street hustler (i.e. "all the cool kids are doing it"). Finally, I just said, "I can't eat gluten," and she responds, "oh, yeah, I try not to eat gluten, but sometimes you just need to indulge." This is a person whose gone back and forth between being vegetarian, vegan, macrobiotic food only, etc, and the way she spoke about it, she made gluten seem like an ethical issue rather than a medical one--I can't possibly think of why anyone would be politically opposed to gluten. It made no sense to me--I think she just saw the word in nature food stores and believed it had to be some sort of cause, like "save the rainforests" or something. As if gluten is this pernicious critter going around and strangling the endangered animals rather than a protein that poses a threat to people with celiac disease. What the heck?

As far as the "intolerance" issue, I know that it is correct to describe it as an intolerance rather than an allergy, but I think that people don't really take the word intolerance seriously, thinking that a little bit is ok. I always just say I have celiac disease and then explain what I can't have. People never know what that is, but when they hear the word "disease," they immediately believe it's serious. I've had a few waiters and waitresses look at me like I've got six months to live, but I'd rather have that happen and have them take me seriously than having them think I'm on the latest fad diet. I think that people who are not on those diets resent them and think they're silly, so they are less likely to regard the seriousness of our dietary restrictions.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Wheat?

Stupid people, they're everywhere

Yes they are.... I say we use them as lab animals on an untra concentrated gluten diet, and see if they get sick.

Hee Hee!

Shall we call this P.E.W?