One Woman’s Gluten Free Journey
December 17th, 2009 -- Posted in Desserts, Health, Uncategorized, celiac, friend and family support | No Comments »Julie Rabinovitz was once told by a doctor that he refused to test her for Celiac because it was such a “rare” disease and it was “impossible” that her mother had been diagnosed. Believe it or not, this was within the last ten years.
Julie was eventually diagnosed as having Celiac (by another doctor) although she admits to putting off the diagnosis. I think many of us can relate to the “I don’t want to know because if I know then I will need to change how I am living” mentality. But when that gets weighed against the risk of digestive cancers, not to mention continuing to live with the day-to-day symptoms, it is better to know and change then to not know and suffer.
Julie’s symptoms were not the usual digestive issues. Her mother had pretty classic symptoms including serious weight loss and it took about a year for her to get diagnosed. Julie’s symptoms were more around depression, fatigue, and a daily headache. She just figured that was what she would be living with, “each day I’ll have a headache;” when she went gluten-free her daily headaches went away.
I met Julie because she recently started offering gluten-free baked goods for sale in the Ann Arbor area. It is such a treat to have a fresh-made cookie that I didn’t need to bake myself! She is currently working out of her home kitchen (it’s certified) and hoping that she will be able to have an actual bakery location in the future. Imagine how nice that will be to go someplace and be able to select any number of goodies from the shelves. For the gluten-free, that is a fantasy 99.99% of the time.
In the meantime you can try Julie’s lovely peanut butter cookies or summer fruit tarts by finding her at the Ann Arbor Farmer’s Market in Kerrytown on Wednesdays from 7 AM to 3 PM. On Thursdays during warm months she is at the Zingerman’s Roadhouse Farmer’s Market (near Jackson and Maple/Miller) from 3 – 7 PM.
I wanted to share Julie’s story for two reasons:
- I want everyone to know that we have this wonderful resource now so you can take advantage of getting some home-made goodies without the work (and she does have a lovely assortment of treats including a variety of cookies, fruit tarts, and scones).
- I want you to hear other examples of people who have been diagnosed with Celiac or gluten-free so if you are hearing about a friend suffering from daily headaches, fatigue, or depression, they may want to get themselves checked. It could make a world of difference in their lives.
Not only are Julie’s “Tasty Bakery” treats gluten-free, they are also organic. I really enjoy the peanut butter cookies and the lemon cookies. Which ones are your favorite?
