Gluten free?

I really feel for people with food allergies and such. I can not say that I have any food allergies as of right now, well except I find milk disgusting so I like to tell people I'm allergic when they give me those WHY DON'T YOU LIKE MILK eyes. It makes them feel better. And I'm always about people feeling better. Ok maybe not always, but perhaps I'll try from now on.

There really is no allergy I cry more about than gluten allergies. Have you ever tried gluten free bread? It's actually the most disgusting thing I could honestly think of eating right now. Give me a second and I may think of something that would be more disgusting, but right now I'm saying gluten free bread. Gluten is a protein that's in wheat, rye, and supposedly barley too. Gluten does all sorts of wonderful things like helping the bread rise, giving it its nice fluffy structure, and keeping the right shape of the bread.

Unfortunately if you consider all of the bread and cereal you probably consume on a daily basis, you can imagine how difficult it would be for someone to have a gluten allergy. And that's not even venturing into the scary world of gluten free bread. Imagine bread without a fluffy texture, wheaty flavor, and shape. The blob of a rock you are imagining is so close to the mark. Now just imagine the flavor of grass and you nailed it on the head.

General Mills decided something had to be done, so they started a website. In some ways this website scares me about as much as WebMD scares me. It is such a blatant marketing ploy that only tells of the wonderful things General Mills sells, but it does inform gluten allergic individuals of their over 200 items that are gluten free. I'm sure individuals put lists together on the web of items that are gluten free, but to have the manufacturer informing you of the safety of their products is pretty impressive.

I snooped around the site and dear WebMD these people have won me over. They have recipes, an impressive list of their gluten-free products, and even a guide of where to find the "Gluten Free" info on the food. Beautiful! Lovely! Ignore the General Mills stuff. They pretty much gave you tons of info FO FREE, and attached their labels on it. The labels of course aren't the important part; the info is.

I am still terribly sad for these gluten free people, but my heart is a little warmer knowing that they are allowed to eat fruit snacks. Who doesn't love fruit snacks? The lack of any real nutritional value makes them all the better. If I were allergic to gluten, I would replace all of the bread I eat with fruit snacks, because of course I would never touch the gluten free bread.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily