\u2018Keeping everybody safe\u2019<\/p>\n
Unlike many food festivals, the Wicked Gluten Free Expo and Food Festival is entirely gluten-free and designed to be safe for people with celiac disease.<\/p>\n
Celiac disease<\/a> is an autoimmune disorder in which consuming gluten triggers an immune response that attacks the small intestine. Celiac disease is chronic, and repeated gluten consumption can prevent nutrient absorption<\/a> in addition to causing stomach pain, vomiting, fatigue and other symptoms. The only treatment for celiac is a strict gluten-free diet.<\/p>\n Jessica Lebovits, a clinical outpatient dietitian at Columbia University\u2019s Celiac Disease Center who also has celiac disease herself, said sometimes people have to work harder to ensure the foods they eat supply them with the necessary nutrients. For this reason, she does not recommend a gluten-free diet for people who don\u2019t have a gluten intolerance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe encourage diversifying gluten-free whole grains, things like brown or wild rice, quinoa, buckwheat, millet, sorghum, amaranth, tuff \u2014 eating those foods, or eating breads, or pastas, or other starches made from those grains \u2014 to be able to get more of those nutrients in, including the vitamins and minerals, but also the fiber,\u201d Lebovits said.<\/p>\n However, the effects of celiac don\u2019t stop at the diet. McKeon said people can\u2019t always cope with the emotional and social difficulties that can come with a gluten-free lifestyle.<\/p>\n \u201cThe emotional side of living with a restrictive diet goes beyond just \u2018Eat this, not that,\u2019\u201d McKeon said. \u201cFood is social. You are at risk for cross contact in restaurant settings. Sometimes family members don\u2019t understand. School, work, living in senior living can be a challenge, because sometimes access to gluten-free food is not available.\u201d<\/p>\n Kelly said celiac is widely misunderstood, perceived from many as less severe than it is.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s still so many people who don\u2019t understand,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI think it\u2019s gotten a little better because there\u2019s just more of it, and then the more mainstream it becomes, the more people understand, but it\u2019s medical. You could be out of work for three days.\u201d<\/p>\n Because of this, Kelly said, the safety of attendees is the biggest priority.<\/p>\n \u201cI do decline vendors, even big ones,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cIf there\u2019s even one little question, I say no, and I feel bad. I\u2019m not judging. I\u2019m just keeping everybody safe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Keeping everybody safe\u2019 Unlike many food festivals, the Wicked Gluten Free Expo and Food Festival is entirely gluten-free…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":812637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[49,48,2771,84,395],"class_list":["post-812636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-diet","tag-health","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=812636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/812636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/812637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=812636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=812636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=812636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}