OrganizedWisdom Health Blog

Gluten-Free Diet Feature

Freshly baked wheat bread, cookies, and pizza. Aah! The thought of these makes many mouths water. But what if you have celiac disease and the consumption of the protein gluten causes an immune reaction in your small intestine? Well, meet some incredible people who have been there and share great recipes, tips, restaurant recommendations, and life experiences to help others on gluten-free diets. Their expertise, community building, and desire to help others lessen the challenges of gluten-free living is quite impressive. 

1. @celiacchick This New York City nine-to-fiver and gluten-free blogger extraordinaire is a cofounder of Celiac Chicks--the guide to a hip and healthy gluten-free lifestyle. Kelly Courson and her friend, Kim, created this informative and entertaining site to help others with the restrictions of celiac disease. They road test the items they share on the site to save people the trouble of trial and error. There are lists of restaurants and bakeries to try from all over the world, as well as recipes, books, and other gluten-free resources. Celiac Chicks certainly put some fun into living with celiac disease.
   
   
2. @CeliacFamily Heather, a wife and mother of two has switched to living gluten-free after her son was diagnosed with celiac disease at just 18 months old. In order to lessen the risk of Heather's son accidentally eating gluten, the whole family decided to change their diets to match his. She shares her experiences through the Celiac Family blog, which is helpful for any family faced with the challenges of celiac disease.
   
   
3. @yumcat Catherine Oddenino is all about living deliciously gluten-free. She is dedicated to sharing what she has learned and continues to discover through her ‘a gluten-free guide’ blog. She offers tips on traveling with celiac disease, a recipe index of her favorite dishes, an extensive list of national and international restaurants, gluten-free resources, and an “in the news” section. She has certainly covered all the bases. She provides a well-rounded perspective of what it means to live [deliciously] gluten-free. She shares great photos with her posts. 
   
   
4. @Switch2GF Mike, a self-proclaimed struggling gluten-holic, decided to switch to a gluten-free lifestyle for his long-term health. In his Switch 2 Gluten Free blog, Mike shares his personal stories, products he enjoys, and methods that help him live a gluten-free lifestyle. He also shares valuable coupon codes to help readers save money on their gluten-free diets. He also has live help available when he is online. 
   
   
5. @jenglutenfree From Chicago, Jen Cafferty is an expert on cooking and living gluten-free. On her award-winning Gluten-Free Life With Jen site, she shares recipes, videos, contests, and even gluten-free art supplies and bath and body products.  Jen’s website also provides information on her annual Gluten-Free Cooking Expo. This is the site to visit for up-to-date information on living and cooking for a gluten-free lifestyle.
   

If you know of someone who is worthy of our Health Expert Awards, please tweet your recommendation to @organizedwisdom in this format: "I recommend @[username] as a health expert for @OrganizedWisdom or use our contact form. 

Other blog entries featuring patient experts or health professionals:

Diabetes Feature: 5 Type 1 Diabetes Patient Experts
Diabetes Feature: 10 Type 1 Diabetes Patient Experts 
Follow Friday: Eclectic and Effective Group of Patient Experts 
Follow Friday: Featuring 5 Patient Experts  
Follow Friday: Featuring 5 Impressive Physicians for April's End  
Follow Friday: Featuring 5 Impressive Health Expert Profiles for the Week

By: Julie Bohlen, MBA, ELS

Diabetes Feature: 5 Type 1 Diabetes Patient Experts

Continuing with a focus on diabetes, this Diabetes Feature spotlights five type 1 diabetes patient experts who are interesting and talented communicators. They share their health wisdom to benefit others affected by the challenges of diabetes. Many will find their positive outlooks in the midst of overcoming obstacles encouraging and their expertise helpful. 

1. @MiriamETucker Do you think by reading a 7th grader’s diabetes report that you could predict she’d be a prolific and quality medical writer? Well, after looking through Miriam Tucker’s writings, I’d say Miriam was a 12-year-old writing phenom who is still gracing us with fantastic health reporting. Her type 1 diabetes is her “personal and professional passion.”  As a senior writer for Elsevier Global Medical News/International Medical News Group, she contributes regularly to EGMN: Notes from the Road. Check out her writing. Precious nuggets such as her unpublished Dark Poem About Diabetes and her humorous prose are buried—hopefully not too deeply for the average health enthusiast. 
   
   
2. @diabetesmyths Diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in college, Riva Greenberg is committed through her research, writing, and speaking to spread the tools for “Thriving With Diabetes.” She encourages those with diabetes to use the disease as a catalyst to live a healthier and more meaningful life—not despite having diabetes but because of it. Riva is the author of “50 Diabetes Myths That Can Ruin Your Life: And the 50 Diabetes Truths That Can Save It” and “The ABCs Of Loving Yourself With Diabetes.”  She shares her expertise on her Diabetes Stories site, d-blog, Huffington Post blog, and numerous other sites. Whether she's sharing medical research, motivational tips, cutting-edge news, or simple meaningful times, for instance when her husband was a gem after she lost her meter on a Finland vacation, you’ll find her writing and message top notch.
   
   
3. @ginacaps Gina Capone, a graphic designer, is very busy sharing her time and expertise to help others with diabetes. She cofounded DIABETEStalkfest, a support site for adults affected by diabetes that hosts live chats with medical professionals as well as The Diabetes Resource - Your ULTIMATE guide to everything diabetes related. Gina blogs about her personal experiences living with diabetes on Gina Your Diabetes BFF blog and is a patient expert blogger at mydiabetescentral.com.  She's the community manager/leader for Juvenation.org, the JDRF type 1 social website for those with diabetes and their families. She shares insights on her struggle to bring her a1c down, the CGM anti-denial campaign, and a myriad of diabetes subjects.
   
   
4. @diabetesalic Kelly Kunik refers to herself as a diabetic humorist. Her honest and positive approach to her life with diabetes as disclosed through her Diabetesaliciousness blog is refreshing and commendable. As she says, “diabetes is a huge weed whose tendrils have wrapped around my family tree.” She cuts away at the tendrils with her sense of humor, diabetes ownership, motivational speaking, and advocacy. Her mantra seems to be not to take this life for granted while overcoming the challenges of living with diabetes and ultimately living the best life possible.
   
   
5. @dontfeardiabete Sisiay blogs to reflect on some of the positives aspects about living with diabetes while clearly addressing the challenges and frustrations. The images added to the posts are very helpful. Due to the fact that he monitors his blood sugar with DexCom SEVEN CGMS and a FreeStyle glucometer, he shares tips on using these devices. He frequently shares research, products information, and practices that many with diabetes will find useful. Check out his excellent Don’t Fear Diabetes blog. 
   

If you know of someone who is worthy of our Patient Expert Award, please tweet your recommendation to @organizedwisdom in this format: "I recommend @[username] as a patient expert for @OrganizedWisdom or use our contact form. 

Other featured patient expert blog entries:

Diabetes Feature: 10 Type 1 Diabetes Patient Experts
Follow Friday: Eclectic and Effective Group of Patient Expert 
Follow Friday: Featuring 5 Patient Experts

by Julie Bohlen, MBA-HCM, ELS