We do! :)) When Katinka comes around with our delivery the children always ask for Pizza or Lollipops straight away. In our house Katinka is now known as 'the Pizza lady'. I hope she doesn't mind to much. As part of our birthday celebration we have been given a 150dh voucher to pass on to one of you. 

So, tell us, here or on Twitter or on Facebook (under the voucher picture), which is your favourite product from the Gluten Free Supermarket? Mine is easy, its the Schar Pizza bases! 

Good Luck everyone :) Winner will be announced on the 2nd of May. 

-Linda

Our Birthday Celebrations continue, Organic Foods and Cafe have given us this glorious gift basket to give away. Its full of gluten free goodies. If you want to be in with a chance to win it, hurry on over to our Facebook page. Please note the basket will need to be picked up in Dubai by the winner.

A big thanks again to Organic Food & Cafe for all your support! 

-Linda 

As many of you may already know, not all insurances will cover testing for Celiac / Gluten intolerance. Whilst insurance may cover the test for someone with a whole string of symptoms, the same may not be the case for a relative of someone with Celiac who is symptom free. 
Should relatives of someone with Celiac be tested? There is a 1 in 22 chance that someone with a first degree relative who has Celiac will develop the disease too (1 in 39 for a second degree relative). My personal opinion (remember, I am not a doctor) is to test anyone in your family who may be at risk, but most certainly all 1st degree relatives. Given that over 95% of Celiacs world wide are undiagnosed, really, there can be no harm in doing the test right? There are tons of websites out there discussing this. Google 'who should be tested for Celiac' and you will get many answers.

Tests can vary in cost from a few hundred, to well over a thousand dirhams. So if you have a big family it may not even be possible to test everyone in one go unless insurance is covering. 

Help is at hand. XY Clinics in Dubai have offered to do super affordable testing for all Gluten Free UAE members the 11th April to 11th May. All you need to do is quote 'Gluten Free UAE' when you book. You will get the test for 175dhs during this time (usual price 750dhs). This is very generous of them and I can not thank them enough, I hope you all help spread the word and get people to get tested! The tests they do for us this month are not even covering their costs!

A few points to remember:

• You can not have the test if you are already on a gluten free diet, your result WILL be negative.
• A positive result is not a complete diagnosis, you would still need further tests to confirm 100%. If your test does come back positive, I can recommend you go to one of the Dr's listed under the Doctors tab of our website. They are all doctors of many Celiac patients.
• The blood tests are not 100% accurate, and if you have a negative and a strong suspicion that you DO have celiac, then further investigation will still be needed. Someone with for example IgA deficiency will also show negative on the blood test. 
• A first degree relative who tests negative would still need to be tested again through his/her life as Celiac disease can develop at any time in life. 

As a side note I also want to say that Gluten Free UAE is 100% non profit, I am not making any money from the work that I do, I do not advertise for anyone for a fee or any type of payment. I have met with the owners of this clinic and they are as passionate as I am about spreading awareness and encouraging people to have the test. Offcourse, they also make money from it, but I guess someone has to pay the lab ;) 

-Linda

Today one year ago, Gluten Free UAE was created. What a long road we have traveled together! We are a big community now and a force to be reckoned with. Personally I have noticed a big change in availability in shops and also to some extent in awareness, have you? I hope so :) We have received some generous birthday gifts from companies and I will be passing them all to you over the coming month. Keep an eye on Facebook and twitter for details :) 
I also want to say a big thanks to the girls behind the scenes, Beatrix, Angela, Kristy, Anja, thank you for the recipes, Daniella, thank you for all your help with phone calls and research, Samantha, thank you for your reviews, Marie-Claire, thank you for hosting Abu Dhabi meets, and to all of you who contribute here on Facebook and on twitter and by emailing me, THANK YOU!! :)


-Linda

I just posted this question on Facebook and thought I should share it with the rest of the world as well :)

Just back from a dash to the supermarket. I decided it was time to add spices to our diet again (we have been using only, salt, pepper and tabasco since going GF). I am actually amazed at how many of the spices list wheat flour as an ingredient, and whats even more worrying, is the ones that don't list ingredients at all, Im sure many of those powders have gluten in them too! What brands do you all use? When you dine out, do you tell restaurants not to use any spices? I just want a basic barbecue spice, a paprika spice and some kind of curry spice. Cant believe most of the jars of those had gluten. I will have to shop around.

-Linda

I forgot to post this one before, I guess online is also press right? :)
We recently had an article in the Dubai Kidz E-zine, read it in their E-Zine - 'Taking Gluten Off the Menu' 

-Linda