Beat The Wheat

News pills from

May 2012

Germany Portugal!
from and

and

Spain!

Where to eat in:

Travel tales

Norway Malta!

Spanish actress,

Maria Valverde is a
coeliac!

Small surprises
A discussion in a caf at Riga airport: - a coeliac: I would like to buy these chips, but could you please translate the ingredients for me? They are only in Latvian... I cannot eat wheat - thewaitress: Oh, do you have the gluten allergy? Let me see the package These chips contain no wheat. And hey, we also have a gluten-free brownie foryou! You know the feeling? When you recognize the waitress knows what you are talking about, she knows coeliac disease. When you dont expect it, you get totally surprised and cannot stop smiling! The caf was Costa Coffee. When you google Costa Coffee glutenfree, you find discussions about this gluten-free brownie. There were complaints about the unclear package with (gluten-free) wheat starch and warning for wheat. Thereare comments about the ppm levels and worries about thesafety. Several people have sent questions about the product to the company. The last posting from Lynda (3/2012) is saying the product is now safe, actually the recipe has been changed into wheat-free.

Editorial

This is raising awareness! We want to thank you all for the precious raising awareness work, which you do all thetime, sometimes not even noticing it. You ask questions,give suggestions, even contact companies. Your actionsmake the companies to improve their gluten-free selection. There is a growing number of places, where you get this insightful I-know-gluten-free answer, alone 15 mentioned in this bulletin,but far too many where its not possible yet. Lets keep up the good work! We would also like to thank you all for your participation! Sending texts, reading or sharing it, you have contributedto this bulletin. The first issue had great success, itreached over (how many?) readers. We shall keep improving,so you should let loose your imagination and sendus your ideas, texts and pictures to our email addresseditors.beat.the. wheat@googlemail.com!

This bulletinis what you make of it!

Comic Strip

Portugal

News pills
guese and 3 Spanish) had the opportunity to (re) discover Lisbon and to make new friends. For this September, we are organizing our second summer camp, this time in Sintra, a beautiful traditional city close to Lisbon. The camp is located near the beach and participation is open to children and youngsters from ages 8 to 18; they will be divided by age for the various activities. We also take part in organizing APCs national gatherings, which happen twice a year in different areas of the country.

Living gluten free as a young Portuguese coeliac

In Portugal, coeliac disease is not very well known. The Portuguese Coeliacs Association (APC) has only very few voluntary workers who give their time to take part in APCs activities. Thats the reason why a great part of our work has to do with directly helping our mother organization. So we work every day to spread the word, trying to achieve better conditions for coeliacs and more awareness for the public.

Gluten free baking trial

In May, we celebrate Coeliac Month and we are preparing a special activity for May 27th, Coeliacs Day, in Pavilho do Conhecimento (Pavilion of Knowledge), an interactive museum dedicated to science, where the children will take part in experiences with bread, trying to identify the role of gluten. This will be one of the activities with quite a lot of publicity, so we are expecting good results from it. As there are not many restaurants, cafes and stores with gluten free products in Portugal, we work to inform them about coeliac disease and indeed there has been a great improvement in the last few years. Now more commercial and distribution brands care about this target group and offer gluten free products.

Summer camp and other activities

APC Jovem our youth group was created in 2008 with the intent to reach the younger generation, but as the time passed our goals changed and nowadays our focus is broader. Besides maintaining our blog Sem Espiga (which means something like no grain) we organize what we call green meals (participants have the green light to eat anything they want!), informal gatherings, and last year we organized our first summer camp. That was our most ambitious project so far: during three days, 10 young coeliacs (7 Portu-

The German Youth Board is part of the German Celiac Society and has seven Delegates from all over Germany. We meet at least four times a year and during these meetings we discuss and organize a lot of different things. For example, we organize different camps for youngsters between the age of 12 and 28. This year we have a city weekend in Bremen for those between 16 and 28, a Summer camp for those aged 12 to 15 years and a sailing trip on the Ijsselmeer in the Netherlands for celiacs between 16 and 28. All in all we have seven camps this year. Other projects we work on are a special magazine for youngsters called Zottel and a youth hostel guide. In this guide you can find a lot of youth hostels

Germany

in Germany with information about whether they offer gluten free bread or meals and if so, how much notice they need to know your special need before your arrival. So before planning a trip you can check if the youth hostel you chose offers a gluten free diet. A special event this year is the election of a new youth board in October. Therefore, we also have to think about whether we want to run for the next youth board or not. Elections take place every three years and you have to be between 16 and 28 years to run for one of the seven places on the board. I hope you now have a bit of an idea what we do in Germany. Of course there is a lot more but these are the most interesting points for someone not working on the Youth Board.

Malta

Travel Tale

My name is and I am from Cyprus. I recently visited Malta where I had a wonderful time and I enjoyed tasty gluten free meals! I was very impressed by the gluten free options that many restaurantsand cafes in Malta had to offer, especially in the town of Sliema. Most of the restaurants show the gluten free options clearly on their menu, and some of them also note in the brochure that they could prepare some specific meals, like pasta or pizza, by order.Mint is where I had lunch every day during my stay in Malta. It is a small cafe with a fantastic selection of both savoury and

Christina

sweet gluten free dishes. Each day the cafe has 4 or 5 savoury dishes on offer with a salad and dressing which they confirmed was gluten free.

They also had delicious desserts, 2 or 3 different gluten free options each day, which all looked Frescos is a restaurant which we visited on our last day in Sliema. Their menu had a few gluten free options that sounded good. Their menu also stated that they can prepare their pasta dishes gluten free and it costs 1 euro extra and takes 20 minutes. Now, if youre looking for a good Italian meal - pizza, pasta, salads, etc., La Cuccagna is a great place to go. They have very nice gluten free pizza, which was

amazing.

fantastic, because it is something that I cant easily find, as well as traditional Maltese plates, friendly staff and a reasonably quick service.

Norway- an expensive paradise

During the last year, I spent three weeks in Bergen, Norway. Lots of people cant imagine how beautiful this city is, they only know the capital, . Believe me, I have proved it: Bergen is the nicer one. The beautiful landscape, Bryggenthe warehouse district which is a world cultural heritage site and, last but not least, the unique music scene all fascinated me. I have never been to a city before where you can attend so many great concerts, the majority of which are free. The audiences are always peaceful and the atmosphere always amazing. In spite of it all, my best and most spectacular experience was my gluten-free experience! If you travel to Norway you cant miss Pepes Pizza, as its everywhere you go. I was totally surprised, because in Germany I have never seen Pepes Pizza before and here in Bergen you can assume nobody could survive without it. There, on Mondays you can eat as much as you can for 99 NOK (its about 12/13). The fact that you can order this arrangement as well as it being gluten-free just tops the bill! it. Since my coeliac diagnosis in 1999 I have not eaten pizza in I couldnt a normal restaurant, it was such a pleasant situation for me, just sitting with my friends and feasting without any fears. Without having to explain and discuss whats possible for a coeliac to eat, I passed a real relaxed and delicious evening at Pepes. Another shop I can recommend is called , where you can buy gluten-free muffins, which are not a miniature of normal ones and which taste heavenly! I found a huge one with apple-cheesecake taste....great! So fluffy and juicy...mmmhhh..... Apart from my two highlights however, Bergen does have negative features for coeliacs: the supermarkets were great disappointments. Scandinavia is known for high prices, but I was still shocked after checking the gluten-free range available. Mostly, I went to KIWI or REMA 1000, these are the cheaper supermarkets. But I realized, cheap is relative.... I always thought twice before I bought a package of little breads or crispbread. Luckily for me, I had a lot of food supplies with me and so I didnt have to buy too much.

Oslo

UNESCO

believe

Deli de Luca

In Norway the best alternative is to ask in usual bakeries for gluten-free products and in most cases you are successful. Once, I entered a bakery that had an appealing appearance and so I took my courage in both hands and just took my chance. Excuse me, do you have anything without gluten? Oh, of course we have, these brownies and cupcakes you can enjoy! Was I ? No, I wasnt.... there were beautiful little brownies in front of me, figured like brownies you can usually consider in backbenchers or prospects... but in real? I was sceptic....stayed sceptic for a few seconds...felt unbridled pleasure... Yes, I would like to buy...a brownie...and two cupcakes.... ehm...oh, I think Ill take two brownies. Finally, I came out of the with such a big grin in my face, I was unbelievably happy. My lucky streak in Norway still wasnt over. One evening, my friend and I wanted to have a great dinner with valuable food and good drinks. We wanted it until we saw the prices! So, in the end we found ourselves at McDonalds. , I thought, I dont want to eat salad with french-fried potatoes as always...boring! But I remembered the wise words and so I asked the staff for a gluten-free burger. No problem, which one do you want? Did I hear wrongly? WHICH ONE? I heard right, I could choose between all offered burgers without coating and to arrive at a decision I took the cheapest one My cheese! The bread wasnt burger was hard or chewy, instead fresh and crispy like it should be. The sole negative aspect was my greed for more! One burger was definitely not enough! Norway is not only a great country for trekking, skiing or fishing,the mountains, fjords and rustic villages are unbelievable and definitely worth a visit. For , especially, its a country where you can pass easygoing days, without being shy, unsure or afraid because of your diet. Most Norwegian people know a lot about the coeliac disease and you will always find a conclusive gluten-free alternative...actually alternative is wrongly worded. I must tell you all that my friend was very confused after tasting my gluten-free burger. It was absolutely the better one

dreaming

bakery

Great

wonderful

coeliacs

Log (Spain) roo

Where to eat in

Firstly , I must say that La Rioja -the region where I live- has been nominated the capital of gastronomy in 2012, and luckily we have plenty of places where we can eat gluten-free. Of course, the most well-known, and envied by many other cities is Laurel Street, where there are more than 50 bars. The way to eat in this area is a small savoury brochete, more commonly known as pintxos. There are several bars controlled by ACERI, the association of celiac disease in La Rioja, serving gluten-free pintxos:

*Black and White: they serve small snacks made with delicious pepper and anchovies (called marriage), or you can opt for a slice of raspberry cheesecake. *Jubera: its specialty are wild potatoes (fried potatoes with spicy sauce). Of course they have gluten-free bread. *Donosti: they have many gluten-free snacks served on a slice of toast. The pintxos are more glamorous. *Pata Negra: where you can taste the best cured ham in the area, in some delicious crispy sandwiches of ham and cheese, and at a great price! *Soriano: famous for its rich grilled mushrooms. The secret is the saucescrumptious...

Spain

My first experience with FACE Young (coeliac youth organization of Spain) was in winter 2008, when I received a letter with information about a national residential weekend in Aragon, where we would practice skiing and snowboarding.

I tell my story Italy

Although I had always been very shy, I took the chance and joined the trip. I did not know any other coeliacs yet so the experience was great, being able to eat the same as others, not having to worry about cross contamination, bite others sandwiches ... Of course, every meal was gluten-free on the trip. It seemed we were among friends, almost familiar, even knowing that the residential weekend lasted only three days. But I will always keep in touch with the friends I made there. We skied on Saturday and Sunday, and, one night, we went out to dinner in the village of Jaca. We went to gluten-free bars with snacks organized, and then we went to have a drink at a pub. From my point of view it was an unforgettable weekend. After that residential weekend, I swore I would never miss anymore, and so far I have accomplished this!

I think all of us on an almost daily basis have to deal with many small problems, being in a pub or in a pizzeria with friends, and not being able to obtain gluten-free food and finding it rather annoying. For this reason many young people may not always adhere to the diet for varying periods of time. I have always adhered to the diet. However I still had a time when people were not always able to fully accept this move from the diet and the national association for example, providing a different reading of coeliac disease! The coeliac condition, if lived in a conscious way, can help everyone move towards greater autonomy, personal independence and dietary management and possibly to become excellent cooks! Above all we need to stress that people should adhere to the diet and not put their health at risk. Contact with other coeliacs, real improvements in services, restaurants and general public awareness are very important and should cross national borders by creating a network of European contacts in an increasingly globalised world. This will offer the possibility of new experiences outside the country of origin promoting and sharing knowledge of coeliac disease throughout the entire community. In short I am convinced that the common goal of improving the quality of life for all people with coeliac disease can be achieved through the combination of the very real commitment and the common interest of all including CYE.

We managed it!
If you asked me how Coeliac disease had changed my life, I would probably answer In no way. However, for my parents it must have been quite a big change. Im 18 years old now and doctors diagnosed C.D. when I was 13 months old. My parents were desperate because I had had problems for 5 months. I lost weight as is common for C.D. Those 5 months were very draining for the body of a toddler. Firstly, doctors thought that my problems were nervous in origin. Fortunately, they found out in time that the problems were caused by C.D. Although my health got better, it was hard for my parents because they had not heard about CD before. But they informed family and friends, so that for example, I could have a lunch with classmates in kindergarten and at school. We managed to travel wherever I wanted and gluten free food gradually became part of our lives. Of course, for me as a small child it was hard to get used to all this when I saw my classmates eating everything, but it worked out just fine. However, as I got older I started getting indigestion. I did not know how it was possible because I strictly observed the rules of the gluten free diet. Indigestion was caused by Crohn disease, that is an inflammatory bowel disease. Firstly, I had a nervous breakdown, but that is the worst thing for managing this disease. So, I had to start fighting, and I did. Luckily I had strictly observed the rules of the gluten free diet because if I had not observed them, I would have had worse problems than I had. Overall, Coeliac disease has helped me to manage my other disease, to get used to a stricter diet and to live without problems. Although I take some pills every day and I cant eat everything I want, I manage. If you met me and you did not know about my diseases, you would not discover it. My doctor always says that I look healthier than people who are not as ill as I am.

Czech Republic

They are right, because despite my diseases I volunteer in the hospital. I realized I am strong and healthy enough to help others. I can give advice on how to manage diseases like these. If your close friends and family support you, if you are psychologically balanced and if you are enthusiastic, everything is simple. I, and you who read this now, can scream to the world that we managed it. I hope that you all live with Coeliac disease as an ordinary part of your life. Furthermore, publishing of this bulletin is a success and shows that we are strong. I think all of us on an almost daily basis have to deal with many small problems, being in a pub or in a pizzeria with friends, and not being able to obtain gluten-free food and finding it rather annoying. For this reason many young people may not always adhere to the diet for varying periods of time. I have always adhered to the diet. However I still had a time when people were not always able to fully accept this move from the diet and the national association for example, providing a different reading of coeliac disease! The coeliac condition, if lived in a conscious way, can help everyone move towards greater autonomy, personal independence and dietary management and possibly to become excellent cooks! Above all we need to stress that people should adhere to the diet and not put their health at risk. Contact with other coeliacs, real improvements in services, restaurants and general public awareness are very important and should cross national borders by creating a network of European contacts in an increasingly globalised world. This will offer the possibility of new experiences outside the country of origin promoting and sharing knowledge of coeliac disease throughout the entire community. In short I am convinced that the common goal of improving the quality of life for all people with coeliac disease can be achieved through the combination of the very real commitment and the common interest of all including CYE.

Doughnuts
All you need for about 20 doughnuts is: 3dl (300gr) milk or water 25gr yeast 1tbsp cardamom 1/2dl (50gr) sugar 1/4tsp salt 2 eggs 7 dl (700gr) gluten free flour

Bits n Bites

5. Heat the oil in a pan and try the temperature with a small piece of dough. The oil is warm enough when the dough bakes in about 1 minute (about 180 degrees). Then fry the doughnuts.

For frying: oil For covering: sugar (or melted chocolate, nonpareils, cinnamon... whatever you like!)

1. Add yeast to warm milk/water 2. Add everything else and beat them in with a food mixer for 3 minutes 3. Stand in a warm place until dough is doubled in size. 4. Take pieces of dough and form them into... well, doughnuts. Alternatively, you can form little balls.

6. Drain the ready doughnuts on a piece of kitchen paper and roll them in sugar while they are still warm.

7. Eat them all! If you want to freeze some of them, dont coat them.
Doughnuts are something Finns love to eat. Usually they are covered with sugar or filled with jam. Especially, they are a favourite at Vappu on May 1st, which is a national holiday in Finland.

Stampot rauwe andijvie

-

Ingredients (for 4 people)

1 kilo of crumbling potatoes 500 grams of raw endive 250 grams of bacon strips 1-2 smoked sausages 50 grams of butter Sip of milk Pepper/salt

Preparation
large pan with water and a bit of salt. Bring the water to the boil. After 20 minutes of cooking the potatoes will be ready. Strain off all the water.

1.Peel the potatoes and cut them into four parts. Put all the potatoes in a

2.In the mean time, boil the smoked sausage in a pan with water for 15 minutes. This pan must be on low heat, because the water cannot be boiling. If the water does boil, the sausage will brake up and all the taste will be gone. 3.Fry the bacon strips in a pan until they are a nice and crisp. 4.Put the potatoes and raw endive in a large pan together with a sip of milk, 50 grams of butter and a bit of pepper. Mix these ingredients together with a masher. 5.Now put the bacon strips in and stir all of the ingredients.
The smoked sausage can be served on the side together with some gravy. This is a typical Dutch dish that we eat in wintertime!

Maria Valverde writes: Yes, I am of those people who cant eat gluten.
An actress,

Portrait of a famous coeliac

ies. The kitchen smelled like a charm and I really had a tremendous desire to eat. On the other hand my grandmother was accustomed to preparing the best rice pudding Ive ever eaten. On other childrens birthdays, my mother prepared my own lunch and at the end I was the envy of everybody else, although I would have loved to eat a piece of those chocolate cakes... Being a coeliac has taught me a lot about nutrition, I like to look after my diet and what better way than to have to watch what I eat. Sometimes there are people who believe that the gluten-free diet is a diet that is just about losing weight or something like that. In my profession as an actress, Ive had problems of this type. I remember one of my first days of shooting the film The Weakness of the Bolshevik. After having worked all morning it was time for lunch and I found I could not eat anything that was provided. Then, with tears of helplessness that I felt, I told them I would go home and eat later when the cameras had finished rolling. It was then when they realized that I was not talking about anything foolish, but a serious issue.

Disease? I prefer to call it intolerance. When I was a baby, I didnt flourish on pureed food. After being sick for several weeks, the doctor diagnosed me with gastroenteritis. But as it got worse as my parents visited the emergency department, where the staff finally performed a biopsy and I was diagnosed with the disease. When I was 3 years old I had another biopsy to make sure everything was correct. That day was The Elephant day, a game that my parents invented to make me laugh in order to make me forget the tubes that I had from my mouth to my stomach. That same day I got my first skates. That day could have been horrible for a child, but thanks to my parents it was one of the most beautiful days. I was always the special one of my family, always had a different dish on the table, and I liked that. I remember my childhood very affectionately, especially those days when my mother made me cook-

Always carry some bread in your suitcase It is better to be safe

The trick is to always carry food in your bag or suitcase, it is better to be safe, you never know what can happen. ( Infallible advice of my mother.)

Celiapps please!

Various

How many of you have wondered how many restaurants or shops have gluten free products? I personally do all the time. Nowadays, with all the technology we have, why has no one thought about creating one of these apps for smartphones? We have apps for nearly everything but still have to use other ways in order to find restaurants with a gluten free menu or shops where you can buy specific products. There are some apps that can read products barcodes to detect if they contain gluten, and others that have lists with gluten free products. However how about creating one which can detect your location and list places where you can buy gluten free products or eat in a restaurant with a gluten free menu? There has been an increase in specific coeliac products and restaurants where we can find gluten free food, and we coealics are extremely grateful for this. However, the fact that there are so many places where we can find gluten free products (compared to a few years ago) has also created confusion on where to find these places. Not every place has gluten free products, in fact, there are many more places where we cannot find specific products for us. Therefore, if there were an app that could facilitate this information, our life quality would increase exponentially. I wish to appeal to all app creators to create a life-changing app for this coeliac group.

Photo Section

As you can see in these pictures, Christina had lots of fun in Malta!

I will never forget my trip to Budapest, Hungary! The picture shows a moment of true happiness. I bit into the very first hamburger in my life. I ordered it at a small fast-food counter called free from gluten and waited. It seemed like an eternity. And then, a man behind the counter handed me a steaming bun. Melting cheese and mayo were mouthwatering. My first hamburger was yummy!

Homemade birthday cake and pizza

Medical Curiosity
Did you know that?
WHY DO NON-COELIAC PATIENTS HAVE GI SYMPTOMS WHEN EATING WHEAT?
Non-coeliac gluten sensitivity is nowadays on the crest of a wave. It sounds somewhat new and modern, at least in the last year; however, this topic was already known in 1981. In fact, a short article by the University of Minnesota published in The New England Journal of Medicine - one of the most quoted medical journals - explained why non-coeliac patients have GI symptoms when eating wheat. The subjects of this study were healthy volunteers who, after an overnight fast, subsequently ate a test meal. This meal consisted of 100 grams of carbohydrates in the following forms: 1) sucrose; 2) white wheat bread; 3) macaroni; 4) low-gluten white bread and 5) rice bread. Then breath samples were obtained hourly to quantify the content of breath hydrogen. An increase in breath hydrogen after the ingestion of the meal indicated incomplete absorption of carbohydrate itself. This increase was observed in all the healthy subjects after the ingestion of macaroni and white wheat bread. Researchers speculated that, trapping carbs in its net, gluten could be the cause of malabsorption and that this could lead to gastrointestinal symptoms in non-coeliac susceptible subjects. This happened about 30 years ago, before the modern term Gluten Sensitivity was introduced. So, wheat could be a very strange animal for more than just coeliac people! It is very difficult to deal with it, no matter if you are coeliac or just glutensensitive. Anyhow, only coeliacs need to be on a strictly gluten-free diet, while gluten-sensitives can choose to pay the price of having discomforts on a wheat-containing diet.

* Hannah Mensch, Germany news pilss * Vanessa Domingos, Portugal news pills * XristiaSimilidou, Cyprus travel tale, Malta, photos * Yvonne Martin, Germany travel tale, Norway * Juan Carlos Garcia, Spain where to eat in, portrait of a famous coeliac *Gianfranco Bianco, Italy I tell my story * KristnaBubenkov, Czech Republic I tell my story * Riina Siikanen, Finland BitsnBites, doughnuts * Laura Schriver, Holland BitsnBites, stampot rauwe andijvie * Angela Gallastegui, Catalonia Celiapps, please *Francesca Safina, Italy photos *Tereza Laskova, 22, Czech Republic photos * Stefania Leoni, MD Pediatric Gastroenterology and Liver Unit Sapienza University of Rome

Authors box

Mirjam Eiswirth, 21, Germany Editor in Chief Jonas Rengman, 21, Sweeden Co-editor Lana Pavkov, 20, Serbia Layout, cover, comic strip

Editors box

Hanna Koponen, 27, Finland CYE General Coordinator Francesco Valittuti, Italy CYE Project Manager

Board box

Alexander Schmidt, 22, Sweeden Financial Manager of CYE * Special thanks to Ana Godfrey for proofreading.

Sketches were taken from: http://literally-is-aswel.blogspot.com/