Well…I’m back.  I know I haven’t been around all summer…sorry…I decided to take the summer off and spend time with my kids and get some stuff done!!  But…now I have tons of things that I want to talk about…first being potassium.

I know I have written about making sure that you are receiving the correct vitamins and minerals and to make sure that you keep up on annually.  I don’t think that I have touched on potassium though.  I don’t know why…I have had potassium issues for a couple of years now…guess I never thought about writing about it…until now.

I was hospitalized about a week ago…one of the things that was causing my symptoms…low potassium!  Hence…the reason for this article.  So, let’s start with the symptoms of low potassium…

• cramping – arm, legs or any muscles (can cause inability to move muscles, if severe enough)
• nausea or vomiting
• heart palpitations
• constipation
• thirsty all the time
• low blood pressure
• depression

There are more symptoms, but these are the main ones.  Now, the muscles need potassium to contract and the heart needs potassium to regulate blood pressure and beat properly.  So, if your potassium is low, it can throw all of your muscles off…quickly!  And with all of your organs being “muscles”…that can cause big issues.

I know I have discussed before that with having celiac disease, you can have problems absorbing the vitamins and minerals from your foods.  And if you are newly diagnosed, then you will be malnourished and depleted of all vitamins and minerals.  So…again…make sure you get your vitamins and minerals checked regularly!

Now…what can you eat that will give you potassium?

• Dried herbs
• avocados
• paprika and red chili powder
• dark chocolate
• dried apricots and prunes
• pistachios
• salmon and halibut
• dates
• raisins and figs
• bananas, nectarines and peaches
• spinach
• sweet potatoes (with skin)

So…if you have any of these symptoms or your not feeling great and can’t figure it out..get your potassium checked!  One more thing…if you have digested gluten and have a lot of diarrhea…eat high potassium foods…because diarrhea causes you to lose potassium…quickly!

Good luck and stay happy and healthy!!!

So, I want to know your thoughts and opinions….do you have issues with the heat?  I have  a horrible heat intolerance and I have talked to other people with celiac disease and they tell me the same thing.  So, I want to know…do you have problems with the heat?

For example…when I go into the heat, it takes me about 30 seconds and I feel dizzy and nauseous.  I always thought that it had to do with my progesterone being off and other complications…due to the celiac disease.  But I have to talked to others that don’t have those complications, but do have the same heat intolerance symptoms.  So…let me know…I really want to see what you all have to say about it!!

OK…here I go…people who know me, know that I don’t suggest a product or rave about a product unless I have tried it myself and really really love the product.  Well…let me tell you…I love this product and I think everyone should be taking it.  Not just people with Celiac…everyone!

You can’t go wrong with CeliAct.  Yes, it’s named CeliAct, because they designed the supplement for people with Celiac.  BUT…there isn’t anything in this supplement that shouldn’t be taken by everyone…with or without celiac.  It is full of all the vitamins that everyone should be taking daily, plus digestive enzymes and probiotics…which, again…everyone should be taking.

The company did a lot of research on the vitamins and minerals that they put in these pills to make sure that they were the right combination to help people with celiac disease.  And they got it right!  They are a mix of all the vitamins and minerals that people with celiac disease are usually missing from their daily diet and also full of enzymes and probiotics, to help the intestines healing process.

You want to know how much I love these…my husband (who does not have celiac), was having some “issues”…so I told him to start taking CeliAct with me…within a day…he felt 100% better!  Now, he takes them all the time…he has no stomach issues and feels great!

So…check them out and try a bottle…I promise you…you feel awesome and you can stop taking a ton a different supplements…because they are all in CeliAct!

Let me know your thoughts after you try them!!

This sounds like a commercial…doesn’t it??!  It’s really not…I just get so excited when I finally find something that makes me feel better, makes my life better and is gluten free…doesn’t happen every day!!  Oh yea…and it’s free of MSG too!!

For those of you who missed my last article or have been not been messing with the “online celiac community” in the past few days…let me bring you up to speed…

“Chef” Damian Cardone posted the following on his facebook page:

“Gluten free is B***S***!! Flour and bread have been a staple of life for thousands, THOUSANDS of years. People who claim to be gluten intolorent dont realize that its all in there disturbed liitle heads. People ask me for gluten free pasta in my restaurant all the time, I tell em sure, Then I serve serve em our pasta, Which I make from scratch with high gluten flour. And you know what? nothing, NOTHING! ever happens! People leave talking about how good they feel gluten free and guess what, They just had a full dose! Idiots!”

If you would like more information on him, you can read my last article or click on the links at the bottom of this article.

Now…I have been thinking about this for the past couple of days and I am really ticked off…to say the least!  In my opinion…this man has intentionally poisoned people.  That to me, means that I think he should be brought up on some sort of charges.

I read an article from the Denver Post and I am little annoyed at a couple of things.  First, the chef who owns Florindo’s, Florent Gallicchio, says that Cardone was not a chef, he was a waiter.  Which, fine…Damian lied about that…that still doesn’t cover the fact that he poisoned patrons in the restaurant.  And yes…he can still give them food with gluten in them…he’s the waiter.  All he had to do was not tell the chef that it needed to be “gluten free” and give them the “regular” pasta, or whatever it was. So, that really in irrelevant in this case.  Second, I read some of the comments at the bottom of the article:

“RonMexico

9:20 AM on 3/31/2011

Can we please just amend the Constitution with something that states that everybody from every walk of life, has the right not to get their feelings hurt? Or maybe we can just get rid of all the boxers and briefs and just have everyone wear panties. Okay, everbody, all together…Sticks and Stones may brake my Bones…..”

“

PostToasties

11:13 AM on 3/31/2011

Come on people….Not everyone with special eating preference can be catered to in a public restaraunt. If you have such special needs, cook for yourself or go to places that want to cater to your needs. Leave these people alone and get over yourself.”

I was really annoyed when I read these….first of all…this has nothing to do with “feelings being hurt”…this is all about medical issues…food that can kill a person with this disease.  If someone had a peanut allergy, you wouldn’t give them peanuts…so why give someone gluten who has a gluten allergy?  This all stems from a couple of things…hold on because I am about to get on my soap box….

First, if celiac disease would be recognized by the medical community and there were more public awareness about the disease, we wouldn’t be running into some of these issues.  Yes, you always have your idiots, but you can tell this idiot doesn’t think celiac disease is real.  This disease needs to be taken seriously by the medical community first…after it is taken seriously by them, then it was start to get into the regular community.

Second…restaurants that decide to serve gluten free foods need to train there employees…ALL OF THEIR EMPLOYEES!  I mean the chefs, the cooks, the preparers, the waitress, the waiters, the bartenders….EVERYONE!  The need to go over what gluten is…not just flour and pasta…but everything, then they need teach them how to prepare the foods, whether it’s a salad or a steak, they need to teach them about contamination. Because let me tell you…it makes a huge difference!  I have been to restaurants that the waitress and/or chef have told me that there is no cheese in the dish…so I’ll be fine.  CHEESE?  What flippen’ culinary school did he go to?  But then I have gone to restaurants where they no everything and I don’t feel like I have to be “on guard” with everything I eat…but I still check and double check everything…and you should too!

OK…I am off the soap box now…let me know what your thoughts are on this guy…am I crazy or what?

Here is the link for my last post

Here is the link for the Denver Post article.

Hope you all have a Happy and Healthy Day!!