CPMC gluten-free talk (part 2) last night

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I was at the California Pacific talk last night and thought I'd pass along a little information from it.

Greta and , two CPMC registered dieticians, organized the talk and presented the first half. They work at the CPMC Community Health Resource Center. And, I was amazed to learn, the first time you visit with them, as dieticians, is a complimentary visit (donation only), and each subsequent time is $40-$5, sliding scale. They'll make sure you get tested for any nutritional defiiciencies and have you keep a 3-day record of what you usually eat. And then they'll help you with any imbalances.

The second half of the talk was given by Alison St. Sure. I had read about her before -- she was featured in an article in the Chronicle about celiac disease and going gluten-free (May '05). She spent all her childhood and early adult years with undiagnosed celiac disease. She had profound improvement in her health, after diagnosis, and many of her family members have also now been diagnosed. She's a very charming, funny, upbeat and inspiring speaker. She does consulting work now (you can meet with her for various celiac-disease-related services) and has an online gluten-free shopping site, called Surefoods Market. The url is www.surefoodsmarket.com.

A dietician in the audience asked Alison if the composition of her diet had changed a lot after going gluten-free. Alison responded that she eats more protein now -- which provides her with a sense of fullness -- and that the other main thing that changed for her was that she "discovered all these other grains" (like amaranth, quinoa...). There's a nutritional analysis of all the different grains in the "more information" section of her website. Anyways, it inspired me to start branching out and trying some of these new (and pretty nutritionally-loaded) grains.

I have a question -- which may sound dumb! -- I am really not a cook, and I'm struggling to make some changes in that respect. And I'm wondering if anyone knows of any resources that might help me in 3 specific areas: 1) more about the alternative grains and how to cook them, 2) what the nutrition-rich vegetables are, and how to locate and prepare them (kale?, okra?, brightly colored things that I don't know about yet) and 3) how to cook meats!! I feel too overwhelmed to get started.

All best,

Sue