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Jewish Celiacs Newsletter, POB 58059, Phila., PA 19102
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Jewish Celiacs Newsletter

Street (Paper) Editions

JCN-(First Edition)-2001

JCN 2007-Vol.1, Nos.1, 2, 3
(Prior JCN editions can be found here.)

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About Us

Jewish Celiacs Newsletter (JCN) is all about helping people with Celiac Disease, sometimes called Coeliac, Coeliac Sprue, Celiac Sprue, Sprue, or simply Gluten Intolerance. JCN is also concerned with the Jewish problem of keeping Kosher, which about 25% to 30% of the Jewish people in America concern themsleves with, according to Kosher Quest. This is not an indictment of the rest of us, but just a fact.

After almost six years, Jewish Celiacs Newsletter is still the only web site of its kind (to my knowledge) on the Internet. I searched Google as of August 2006 and saw for myself. JCN's goal, since its debut, is to try to help people with determining whether, or not they have CD by pointing out the symptoms, and if they really have Celiac, to get a diagnosis, where to get gluten-free, kosher food, how to prepare it (if that's a real problem) and how to live with Celiac for the rest of your life, barring a real painless cure other than refraining from eating anything with gluten. To learn more about what Celiac is and what Kosher means, go to my Celiac FAQs and Kosher FAQs pages.

My Celiac Story

I discovered that I had Celiac Disease in late 1999. I was having a terrible bout with diarrhea for about three weeks, a story which had first appeared on the front page of the first online edition of JCN. Diarrhea is one of the strongest symptoms of Celiac Disease and you can learn more about those symptoms on my Celiac FAQs page. I went to the VA Hospital in Philadelphia, PA to see my care-giver, June Lauer, and she had a good hunch that it was what it turned out to be and sent me to a Dr. Katz who asked me some questions and ordered a blood test, which had come back showing the possibility of CD. He then performed a biopsy of my small intestine, which was over in a minute so-to-speak. When the results had come back, I tested positive. The last step in the series of three tests was to stop eating foods with wheat, rye, barley and oats for at least three days and to report back to my care-giver. Needless to say, I had felt a heck of a lot better. I was told to stop eating those grains because of the gluten for the rest of my life and I was told to see the dietician for more instructions.

I still have aches and pains as a result of what could happen to Celiacs who discover that they have this hereditary, autoimmune disorder late in life. When you are deprived of a lot of nutrition via your small intestine's villi, the rest of your body breaks down over time and this could lead to anything from Liver Disease to Cancer. (See Celiac FAQs.) It's important to catch it early on in life. I am always glad to hear from mothers who tell me that their teenaged son, or daughter has it and is dealing with it. I get e-mails (and letters) from mainly women more so than men. Most men keep their aches and pains to themselves, or if they share them, they do so with a real close male friend, but rarely. My mother, may she rest in peace, had no idea that when she made me something to eat like kugel, blintzes, knishes, matzo meal latkes, sponge cakes, lemon marangue pies, or rye toast with my scrambled eggs that she was ruining my health. She was a great cook, but her meals were setting me up for destruction, so I hope you can imagine how it's really hard to look back with a sense of joy at what she made for me every day when most of it contributed to my undoing because her cooking was sooooo good! When my sister invites my over to eat with her family, she makes me several "different things" with "different ingredients." It is hard to have to be reminded that "you have a problem" and to have "to act normal" and then try to "enjoy yourself," but I have learned to and at least I get to spend time with my family. Right? I thank G-d for allowing me to live this long (I am 63 as of this type-writing), Baruch HaShem, so I can help others who have this terrible autoimmune disorder called Celiac. No?

Jewish Celiacs Newsletter

After I had started to get used to shopping for gluten free, kosher food, I discovered a whole new world of eating, which included Asian cuisine, which wasn't always kosher, or even gluten-free except for the plain white, or brown rice, which I had rediscovered after many years, had come in many varieties including "sticky" and then there was thin rice noodles (chow mei fun), wide rice noodles (chow ho fun) and not just vegetable fried rice, or plain fried rice. Lo Mein is wheat noodles, so that was out. I also reaquainted myself with Kosher Chinese Vegetarian restaurants as well as Israeli Kosher Vegetarian restaurants and the one Indian Kosher restaurant in my area (Philadelphia, PA, USA). No more ordinary rolls, toast, or bagels and butter with my breakfast , or dinner, or quick pizzas on-the-run, a beer here and there, or even a kosher hot dog, hamburger and fries without thinking unless the edibles were gluten-free. Shopping had become a chore, but it has gotten easier as time has gone by. Three quarters of what I saw and still see in the average super market is off limits for Gluten-Free reasons while Kosher food is more easily obtainable, but putting the two together is still a trick!. I also tried to go back to organically-grown foods and started with low cholesterol foods since my recovery. Since Gerd has become a real problem too as I am getting up there in age, choosing more alkaline-producing foods like lemons, limes and grapefruits has become important to me as well. I now adhere to Dr. Peter J. D'Adamo's Blood Type Diet, which makes loads of sense and, which I do feel has had a positive affect on me for the past few years since I began taking it to heart! It has all influenced me in how I intend to run Jewish Celiac Newsletter.

Jewish Celiacs Newsletter will naturally be covering all aspects of Celiac Disease , but I will also be covering in some degree, Jewish Diseases because this publication is aimed primarily at Y'hudeem (Jews) like me. I am happy to be adding on Kosher and Celiac restaurant listings, news about Celiac research and much more. I hope to get other writers who have a real knowledge of Celiac and Kashrut to add their two cents to the equation more than once. This is basically a non-profit venture though I will be trying to raise money to keep this going, so if you care to support what I think is a worthy cause and get something out of it at the same time like my advertisers do, "Can we talk?" You can contact me at , or by going to Contact Us if you have any questions, comments, or even suggestions.

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