Welcome to the Southern Arizona Celiac Support Group

We WANT you!

Support your support group. SACS is as good as you, our members make it.

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Mark Your Calendar, October 6^th

At the general meeting our speaker will be Dr. Rodney Ford, who will address "Gluten: ZERO Global". Time and location to be announced.

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Special Offer for SACS members

Dr. Rodney Ford, the speaker at our October 6^th general meeting, is offering SACS members his new ebook (an epublished, revised and updated edition of Full Of It!).

Yes, brains and nerves get damaged by gluten. Medical research reveals that gluten commonly causes nerve damage, brain disease, mental disturbance, learning disorders, fatigue, and poor growth. But most sufferers from gluten-harm remain completely unaware of it!

Use PS85S as the code for a $5 copy of the new Gluten Brains edition from Smashwords. Offer expires: May 25, 2012

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Gluten-free Dining Featured in the Star

On Thursday, January 27 the Caliente section of the Arizona Daily Star featured an article on Dining without gluten. Local restaurants that offer gluten-free dining were highlighted, as was your SACS website. Thank you, Arizona Daily Star!

Celiac Disease Survey

If you have been diagnosed with celiac disease or gluten intolerance you probably have a story about your experiences. Please share it with us by taking our survey.

Symptom Checklist

With the kind permission of Dr. Peter H.R. Green we are able to reproduce the symptoms checklist from his book Celiac Disease—A Hidden Epidemic. Use it to see if you should talk to your doctor about testing for celiac disease. We've also attached a diagram showing the steps to arrive at a diagnosis. Note that not every doctor will follow exactly this sequence, but you should be insistent on following up with all tests needed to establish for certain if you do or don't have celiac disease.

News and Events

For a full schedule of support group events please see our calendar.

Photos from the 2011 SACS BBQ, held June 4th

Everyone had a wonderful time a the BBQ at Corene's house with it's beautiful views and or course our SACS gluten-free BBQ masters. A great time was had by everyone. Please enjoy the photos.

2011 Gluten-Free Food Faire

The Food Faire was held in a new location for 2011, with more space, more vendors and more fun--samples, raffle, a silent auction and improved blood screening. Please take a look at our photos of the GFFF.

GFFF in the Media

Melissa Diane Smith talked about her newest book, Gluten Free Throughout The Year and about SACS’ upcoming Gluten Free Food Faire with Bill Buckmaster on his radio show. The interview starts at 16:35. Many thanks to Melissa and Bill for their support!

GoodSearch will donate to the Celiac Sprue Association

Want to donate to our parent organization (CSA) every time you search the Web? Well, you can by using GoodSearch and setting up CSA as the charity you want to support. Just go to http://www.goodsearch.com/ and enter "celiac sprue association" in the "WHO DO YOU WANT TO GOODSEARCH FOR" box and click the "Verify" button. You should see "Celiac Sprue Association USA - CSA (Omaha, NE)" appear and you're good to go. There's a link (http://www.goodsearch.com/Toolbars.aspx) with instructions on how to add it as a search option for the search box in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome. You can even download a toolbar for Internet Explorer.

A Reminder from Your Support Group

We want to remind everyone with celiac disease or on a gluten-free diet that ALL types of wheat contain gluten at levels harmful to anyone who is sensitive to it. This includes: Bulgur, common or bread wheat, Durum, Einkorn, Emmer, Kamut, Semolina and Spelt and any other type of wheat (any member of the genus Triticum). Be wary of any claims to the contrary.

Our parent organization, the Celiac Sprue Association, has a web page outlining the different gains and their gluten-free status.

Gluten-Free School Lunches

The diet.com blog recently posted an article on school lunchs and making sure they are gluten free. The include suggestions on how to ensure that your child receives gluten-free meals at school. There's also a good article from the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness on gluten-free lunch guidelines and how to navigate the requirements of your school.

Tucson Cel-Kids (formerly R.O.C.K. Tucson Chapter)

Cel-Kids - For assistance with a newly diagnosed child or just to connect with families that have celiac kids, contact Diana, 520 574-0777.

Collecting Ideas on a living facility with a gluten free kitchen

Suppose you could no longer live independently, had no relative, friend, or group able to share housing, food preparation, etc.
Suppose there were a facility featuring a gluten-free kitchen. that was affordable to you, had room/apartment that would accommodate you where the staff were knowledgeable about GF food prep.

Suppose there were *NO* facility featuring a gluten-free kitchen available to you.

Would you like to add your name(s) to a list of others who have expressed interest in locating or creating such a facility? If so, contact Pat Hirsch at (520) 971-9595, patriciahirsch1@aol.com or Phoenix Wheeler at (520) 751-2332, fenx23@cox.net.

Contact Us

Your comments and requests for information are welcome. Contact us at info@southernarizonaceliacsupport.org, use our online form or you can call us at 520 219-7076.

To join or renew your membership, download and print the membership form in PDF format.