GlutenAway Blog: My Opinions

Showing posts with label My Opinions. Show all posts

By: Taylor Miller

The definition of diet: "To restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight."

Key words, "in order to lose weight".

From a Teenager's Perspective
In case you haven't seen the Nascar Superbowl Commercial calling those who are gluten-free, "soft", you can watch it here. For the most part, I've been sitting back and reading people's comments as this all unfolds. Listening to everyone's point of view saying how they are either outraged or that we can't take a joke. Whatever your opinion on the matter may be, I really suggest you keep in mind the few things I share below no matter how this situation pans out.

I've been blogging for just over 2 years now and have connected with so many great bloggers! Even though I'm a blogger doesn't mean I don't take part in reading other's blogs. As a teenager I'm usually pretty selective of what I find interesting and who I enjoy to read from. I haven't been as engaged with blogging lately since I've been very busy with school, my senior year, etc. So if you ever feel like venturing out to some other blogs, here's a list of my top 10 favorite gluten-free bloggers that I read and that you should follow too!

The Evolution of a Gluten Free Lifestyle
Everyone who is gluten-free has gone through the process of learning how to adjust to the gluten free lifestyle in their own way. Most of us who have Celiac went through the stages of grief - shock/denial, pain, anger, depression/loneliness, the upwards turn, reconstruction and working through then acceptance and hope. Going from the traditional lifestyle of eating normally to a lifestyle with strict guidelines based on the wellness of our entire being is tough to take on. It’s something that takes time to work through and I believe that everyone goes through an evolution when being diagnosed with Celiac Disease or a gluten intolerance. With all the negativity towards others lately, I think it's important to understand that not everyone is at the same point you are and that everyone is going through this process in their own way.

Today, April 21st, I'm celebrating my 17th birthday! I'm not doing much to have a huge party but I'll still be celebrating with my family. Over the last 17 years I've learned a lot as a teen and kid. Most of my life I've had it pretty hard but I know everyone has difficult times at some points in their life! I think most people view me as a lot more mature than most teenagers. I've been through a lot and experienced a lot as a 17 year old but that's what makes me who I am today. A lot of people seem to be interested in my positive attitude and why I act the way I do. It honestly all has do do with my life experiences and these 5 important things I've learned over the last 17 years.

For this post, head on over to Dineaware.com! I was happy to share my take as a teenager about food allergy bullying as well as share a little more about myself. I think this is something that happens at any age and something that needs to be stopped. I've already discussed this topic once but I felt it was very necessary to talk about it again. You can read this full post through this link where I share my insights as a teenager who has dealt with these situations before.

If you haven't heard yet, the U.S. food labeling system is getting a change for the first time in more than 20 years. A lot of huge changes are coming to our labels which means it can be either bad or good for some. Most of these changes will probably make you happy but there are some pretty obvious things not being done which should be. These changes are all pretty big and changes you will see coming in the next few years. I'll share with you what's going to change with the labels and give my input as a teenager about what still needs to be done in the future.

Wow, it's crazy to think that I'm still here 200 posts later writing this blog. I couldn't be more grateful for what it's become over the last year and from all the people that have impacted me through it. Talking to all of you and being apart of the gluten-free community is something I truly enjoy every day and is something I am extremely proud to be apart of. I wanted to thank some of the people that have been helpful to me since I started Glutenaway as well as share what my favorite posts have been over the last 2 years. If I don't mention any of you that I should of just know that 1. I don't have the best memory, lol and 2. you definitely have not been forgotten. You know who you are!

Each year most of us make a new year's resolution. It can be to lose weight, eat better, be happier, or really whatever! Most times it's along the lines of wanting to make ourselves a better person for our own needs. One thing I've never understood though is why do we wait until January 1st. each year to make these decisions? There's a lot of points in our life where I'm sure we want change. Even I have gone through a lot of points where I want change as well. But just because I want change then doesn't mean I'm going to wait until January 1st to begin working at it! If you want change now then work on your change now! In this post I'll share a little about how you can work on your resolutions and how they don't have to be made just on January 1st.

I always feel like there are mixed views and opinions when it comes to this topic. Sometimes I feel like people get angry if they are told to limit even gluten-free labeled foods as much as they can. One thing that I do know is that everyone's body is different and that no one body is the same. What may work for you may be sickening and terrible for someone else. For me it's been about trying to find a balance in what I eat on my diet to make me feel best. Hopefully I can express how I feel on this topic but also give you a better idea on what may be better for your health as well.

Since school has pretty much started for all kids now, I decided to write a post for something I thought was important. As you all know I'm very passionate about advocating for gluten-free and celiac disease awareness. But another thing I am very passionate about is advocating for healthy eating among teens. A lot of kids and teens are told to eat their vegetables and a certain way from their parents. But honestly a lot of ways kids are told to eat is completely unrealistic. That's why I wrote this post to explain the importance of eating healthy and what simple things can be done to do so for kids! I share all this from my perspective as a teen and I'm really hopeful this can get through to a lot of teens and families as well.

When I visited the hospital in mid August I noticed a lot of new things were added to make eating gluten-free easier. It had been 2 years since I stayed in the hospital last, so I was worried about what my options would be when it came to food. I was very surprised to see how incredibly knowledgeable the kitchen was of gluten-free food and how many options they had as well. The food and options available was one thing, but the doctors and their knoweledge of celiac disease was a completely different story. It still amazes me to see how little doctors know about celiac disease and how unaware they are on this topic. If my hospital visit made me realize anything, it made me realize that the kitchen staff of the hospital knew more about the gluten-free diet than the doctors themselves. Pretty upsetting to hear when it comes to the medical community..

On June 3rd, I got to appear on Kathy Nelson's Gfree and Happy Show for a 2nd time! The last time I was on the Gfree and Happy show back in March it was more about explaining how I live with Celiac Disease and my rare type of Adrenal Disorder. But this time I shared my top 10 favorite gluten-free products as well as a product that I have been talking about releasing for a while. I will share with you all my favorite gluten-free foods as a teenager that I've found which I think are pretty tasty. I really enjoyed sharing my top 10 gluten-free products as well as my new product that will help make dining out gluten-free easier. Hope you enjoy the video and my top 10 list below!

For most of my early childhood I was the type of kid that went to school every day and ate the typical school lunch. Most of which consisted of pizza, burgers, sweetened milk, cookies and foods such as that. Since I was a kid I never really decided what was put on the dinner table, what was in my school lunch, and what I ate each day. I ate whatever was given to me like what most kids in America do as they grow up. But one thing I never considered was exactly what I was eating. Sure it was food, sure it tasted ok to me, but could this be affecting how I work in school and how I eat each day? Of course!

When I first started writing this post it was going to be about a healthy and possibly sugar free alternative to syrup. The only problem was that there were none. With my adrenal disorder I have to avoid almost any type of sugar so naturally I looked into sugar free syrups that I could possibly use. After reading the ingredients and trying to understand how they can even call some of these products syrup, I realized a much bigger problem. Most people look at products that say sugar, fat, or gluten-free and automatically go to the label..not the ingredients! Now a days they are trying to put these on everything and people think it's healthy! Some people may have educated themselves enough to know what I'll explain below, but I guarantee a majority of the average everyday citizens would not.

There's many days that I would go about my blog and think I'm not doing enough, that I could be doing better, and would wonder I'm doing is actually making a difference. A lot of the things I write I am very critical about. Every little detail about my blog and posts matters to me, and sometimes I don't think about the one little thing that I always overlook. My age. I'm 16 and could be like any other teenager in the world. I could be going about life only worrying about myself, and choose to mope about my situation like many other teens I see. But I choose not to. One thing I need to do is sit back and realize what I'm actually contributing to the gluten-free community and how I couldn't do it without any of you. That's exactly what I hope to express with this post by just giving some thanks to many of you that have helped me along the way.

Many of the things I have learned and expressed on my blog couldn't of been done without the support and parenting from my mom. As hard as I imagine being a parent is, having a kid with celiac I know has to be harder. For this post, I actually had the pleasure to be able to guest blog for Jackie Ourman of jackieourman.com!

If there's one thing that couldn't bother me more it's the way the kids eat in this country. Not only are kids putting tons of crap in their body, but their doing it without even knowing. A lot of this is probably all surprising to hear from a 15 year old because honestly, I don't think many other kids my age care or are even aware. There's a lot of things that I feel contribute to why kids are eating the way they are and are not making a change to eat healthy. In this post I'll talk about what I feel contributes to why kids my age eat the way they do and what I think it eventually will lead to in time. Hopefully this will give you a different look at things from how I see them as a 15 year old.

About 4 months ago, a major gluten-free product was recalled due to the misbranding as "gluten-free" and because of undeclared wheat in the product. This is the product that was recalled..

"1,572 pounds of Applegate Naturals Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets."

If you have gotten sick during a period of time when you ate these then that's probably why. If you haven't seen or eaten this product before then look at it as rather to prove a point of, "what is actually gluten-free?"

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