Welcome to Gluten Free in SD (San Diego)
The goal of Gluten Free in SD is to provide useful and accurate information about living gluten free in San Diego. Also included are lists of resources that provide additional information about celiac disease and gluten-free diets, as well as related “News” updates.
Comments, suggestions, and recommendations are encouraged to keep this website up-to-date and as useful as possible. Please refer to the “Contact Us” section of the website – all input will be greatly appreciated.
The following are some of the items that have occurred or have been reported within the last month (dates indicate when the information was added). The most recent or most urgent are in red type.
- Temecula Celiac Disease Foundation support group meeting: August 21 at Henry's Market in Temecula. All welcome. More info.
- San Diego CSA Support Group Meeting: September 13 at 2 pm. We'll watch a video by an expert dietician in celiac disease, as well as the usual sharing of announcements concerning food items, restaurants, recipes, and great GF snacks. All welcome.
More info.
- Two educational classes in September by the Warren Celiac Centers:
September 6 - My Gut and Celiac Disease; An informational, hands-on class for kids ages 12-17 with celiac disease. See class flier (a PDF). Or more info.
September 27 - Nutrition Basics for Those with Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity. See class flier (a PDF), or more info.
- GF cooking class: Wednesday, September 24, 6:30 - 9:00. Gluten Free, Dairy Free & Fabulous. . .Who Knew? On Mira Mar Road at San Diego Kitchen & Bath. "Add some secret recipes to your repertoire so you can enteratin like a pro and still enjoy every bite." The menu still being developed will include a variety of both savory and sweet offerings. You must register. Read more.
- Have you recently been diagnosed with celiac disease? Are you feeling overwhelmed about learning the ropes of the gluten free diet? The CSA San Diego Support Group has a mentoring program that is eager to help you. Click here to learn more.
- Woman runner at the Olympics has celiac disease: Amy Yoder Begley from Oregon will run the 10K race on August 18 in Beijing. See an article in her local paper about discovering she had celiac disease. And another article in the Portland Tribune on her training and diagnosis. On her website, she mentions she has celiac disease on the About Amy page. 8/11
- Gluten-Free Culinary Summit: Providence, Rhode Island from September 19 - 21. Erica Welker, one of the leaders of the San Diego ROCK group, went last year and highly recommends it. She may even be up for sharing a room if someone else is interested in going this year. More info.
- Landmark Genetic Nondiscriination Information Act (GINA) into law: GINA is the first and only federal legislation that will provide protections against discrimination based on an individual's genetic information in health insurance coverage and employment settings. "American health care consumers and employees will no longer have to fear the adverse effects of being tested to determine their risk status for genetic diseases" said Joann Boughman, Ph.D., executive vice president of the American Society of Human Genetics. CSA is a member of the Coalition for Genetic Fairness. For more info, visit www.geneticfairness.org. 8/13
- Planning a trip to Italy?: A new book called The Gluten-Free Guide to Italy could help. Published in Spring 2008. 8/13
- Gluten sensitivity vs celiac disease: Tricia Thompson, a Registered Dietician, has an excellent site dealing with celiac disease (www.glutenfreedietitian.com). Recently she interviewed Dr. Fasano, a leading expert in celiac disease on the differences between gluten sensitivity and celiac disease for her diet.com blog. 8/5 Read article.
- Help advise the FDA on what we want on advisory allergen labels on foods: Read more 8/11
- New GF blog from a San Diego Resident: "My name is Andrea and I am a San Diego resident recently diagnosed with gluten intolerance. I had barely heard of Celiac before last December so in order to educate myself and also learn how to cook for this new diet, I began a gluten free cooking blog a few months ago: Tasty... and Gluten Free! tastyandglutenfree.blogspot.com The content is all original, and any idea that I have adapted from another recipe (or photograph that I did not take myself) is fully credited to its actual creator and host website. At the moment there are about 26 recipes online and I add content approximately 3x per week." 7/27
- Pizza Fusion: This restaurant in Hillcrest has GF pizza, salads, brownies and beer, as well as a lactose-free cheese option. Read more. To see an article about this eco-friendly restaurant and the San Diego franchise, click here.
New Review: "Everything we tried here was SO good...even my non gf (vegetarian) boyfriend loved it so much we had to come back a second time! We had the gf pizza with red sauce, mozz cheese, artichoke, roasted garlic and carmelized onions...sensational. I also had some of the gf beer, and the gf brownie was to die for! They are very friendly here and even gave us a 10% off coupon for the next time we're in town. We will definitely be going back!" Jen Hopkins, Eatontown, NJ 8/16
- GF cupcakes in Pt. Loma: "My mom took my daughter to Cupcakes Squared on Point Loma yesterday. http://www.cupcakessquared.com/ They have a GF cupcake every Friday and they'll do special orders. Helen reports that it was extra yummy and that no one could tell the difference between it and a "floury" cupcake. I just tested it and it was super moist and dense." Catherine 8/05
Note from the owner: "This is Robin from cupcakes squared. I just wanted to let you know that we will be adding gluten-free cupcakes on Sundays and Wednesdays as well as on Fridays. We are so happy to offer our cupcakes to people with special dietary needs…. Vegan is soon to be added as well as sugar-free." 8/12
- Two new restaurant recommendations:
"Veg-N-Out: Located at 3442 30th St, San Diego(619) 546-8411. Small vegetarian restaurant with exceptional food. The cook was very accomodating and with her help I ended up having the sweet potato medallions and fried (not in flour) avocado bites as well as the Alley Kat meal with a vege patty substituted for garlic bread. It basically was a vege patty with basil, fresh mozz cheese, and balsamic vinagrette with a side of cucumber salad...very tasty!
Masala Spices of India: 314 5th Ave, San Diego (619) 232 5050. After many try-and-fail attempts to eat a gf dinner while walking around downtown, I was happily relieved to learn that this restuarant knew what being gf meant! Sadly, many places didn't and therefore we continued our downtown trek frantically searching for dinner. The waitstaff guided me through the menu and I had the potato soup which was amazing, and the goa chicken dinner. Everything was really good and the waitstaff was very helpful."
Jen Hopkins Eatontown, NJ
- Manufacturers that declare gluten: Read the statements from some of the companies like Kraft who say they declare all gluten if it is in an ingredient. 8/13
- Contadina tomato paste with wheat: "I was making pizza sauce, using the same ingredients that I
always use (or so I thought) when I realized that the tomato paste had green flecks in it. I
usually buy plain old tomato paste (Contadina brand) and it's gf....but when I looked at the
label on this can, it said "Tomato Paste with Italian Herbs", and when I looked at the
ingredient list, it clearly listed "WHEAT" as one of the allergens. Yikes! So I got a BIG
reminder to take the extra few second in the grocery store to READ THOSE LABELS and be
sure that what I'm buying is truly what I *think* I'm buying." Rhonda to SillyYak site 8/9
- Trader Joe's Organic Corn Chips: "We recently started buying Trader Joe's Organic Corn Chip Dippers, which are delicious. They taste like 'real' corn chips and my kids love them. They state that they are GF right on the bag (although they also state that they are made on shared equipment, even though they segregate ingredients to avoid CC)." -Meredith in CT
"I just had these at a recent Celiac Support Group get-together. You
are right, they are delicious! Nice and simple ingredients, too." -Brenda 8/8
The "Search Window" on the left is to help you find specific information on the website more easily. For instance, if you want to find what is available in Chula Vista, type "Chula Vista" in the window. You will see a list of the restaurants on this website that have Chula Vista as a location, and also that there is a grocery store in Chula Vista that has gluten-free foods. DO NOT type in any punctuation, such as the apostrophe in "Denny's". Merely type "Denny" in the search window, and all of the pages that mention Denny's restaurants will be shown.
This website has been created by Roxie Johnson and "tech wizard" Ken Loomis using the software program Dreamweaver. It is not sponsored by or affiliated with any specific group, organization, or company.
The original idea for this website was brought about by the desire to help answer family's and friends' questions about celiac disease. Both myself (Roxie) and my then-16-year-old daughter (Karen Lynn Johnson) were diagnosed with celiac disease in 1998. I've included the three recommendation sections (in the "About Celiac Disease section") based on my own experiences. These are recommendations I would give to a friend either newly diagnosed with celiac disease, diagnosed years ago with celiac disease, or who has suspicions about having the disease. I am not a medical expert, so I am sharing only what I personally think would be helpful. Please consult a physician before acting upon any information provided in this website.
The information, including opinions and recommendations, contained in this website is for educational purposes only. Such information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. No one should act upon any information provided in this website without first seeking medical advice from a qualified medical physician.
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The information, including opinions and recommendations, contained in this website is for educational purposes only. Such information is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. No one should act upon any information provided in this website without first seeking medical advice from a qualified medical physician.
