Living with Celiac, a gluten free lifestyle

Celiac disease. What is it you may ask? Celiac is what someone has when they say “I can’t eat, cake or pizza.” In other words they can’t eat gluten.

So what is gluten? Gluten is a protein found in most grains including: wheat, barley and rye to name a few. Gluten is what gives bread it’s elasticity and makes the final product chewy.

For those with celiac disease they can’t eat gluten or it can destroy the villi lining in your intestines making it so you can’t absorb any nutrients.

A gluten free life may sound like a nightmare to those who have grown up eating foods with gluten in them. For Elana Barrow it’s been hard having to change her lifestyle to gluten free after living half of her life eating gluten.

For others it’s easier. Andy Cochrain was diagnosed in his junior year of high school. Living with celiac for 6 years he’s been able to accommodate his life to his condition earlier.

More and more people are being diagnosed with it with many others going undiagnosed. To learn more and hear what Elana and Andy have to say about their experiences watch this brief video.

The idea for this story came when my teacher used it as an example. After he mentioned it I thought about an article that was written in our school newspaper about how the campus should be more accommodating to those with celiac disease. I decided to interview Andy who wrote the article and is on the newspaper staff with me.

Also my husband’s grandfather and uncle have celiac disease. I would talk with grandma explaining how I made a quiche crust with potato skins in place of the flour and gluten. My mother-in-law was just diagnosed with celiac disease about two months ago. My husband and I were with his parents fro Thanksgiving and it was fun and interesting talking with his mom about the changes she’s going through with having to live a gluten free diet.

I’ve really enjoyed learning about celiac disease and it’s given me a positive perspective on a gluten free life style. With my husband having celiac in his family I’m worried he may be diagnosed with it one day. But now that I know more about it I’ll be more prepared to change to suit our needs.

Related links to story:

http://www.celiac.org/

http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac/

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/celiac-disease/DS00319

The Blessing of Children

Elder Neil A. Anderson gave a talk in the 2011 General Conference titled "Children."
I was inspired by a fellow students blog post where she took a talk by President Thomas S. Monson and put it to music with clips of other students holding signs of what they were thankful for. I did the same and put music to Elder Anderson's talk with clips of my 2-year-old niece and 10-day-old nephew.
I hope you enjoy the video and remember what a blessing children are in our lives.

Gingerbread Men

The holiday season brings families together and what a better way to spend time with your family then by making gingerbread men! Over the Thanksgiving weekend I gathered with family to decorate gingerbread men and we had a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy watching us decorate the cookies and have fun listening to the little kids tell their stories about what they made with their cookies. Happy Holidays!

Make Jewerly at Wendy's Beads

Wendy’s Beads is a small in-home business located in Rexburg, Idaho. Wendy is a wife and mother and started making jewelry with the help of friends. Wendy started out doing craft fairs making more of the paper crafts until she and her friends saw the need for more jewelry crafts.

Wendy started out small in her garage but has since moved to a larger garage where there is more space for shelves of beads and places to sit for her customers that come in. The business started with making watchbands and evolved into necklaces, earrings, and more. Wendy even sells purses, scarves, and flip-flops in her shop.

At first Wendy’s husband was unsure why his garage was turning into a craft place but even he was joined in with the fun. Wendy’s husband helps at the store by making jewelry to sell. Wendy said that some of her regular customers prefer that Wendy’s husband make the jewelry they order.

Even Wendy’s children join in by knowing how to make the jewelry and helping customers who come in know where things are in the shop.

The business has grown so much that Wendy doesn’t go to as many craft fairs as she use too. Because there is so much to take with her Wendy will only go to the big craft fairs around town or to a Super Saturday event.

Some of Wendy’s original customers and even her friends are now apart of the business. They help in the shop, at craft fairs, and make premade jewelry to sell.

Wendy’s Beads is a place where people can come and buy premade jewelry or get help from Wendy to make their very own creations.

Behind the Scenes:

I met Wendy through my husband’s IBC group for BYU-Idaho. My husband was making jewelry before I was at Wendy’s. After I went with my husband and had fun making jewelry I took my sister for her birthday and she was able to make a pair of earrings cheaper than I would be able to buy her some.

Apple Pie Cupcakes

Welcome to the first of many food blogs I will create. This week I am making apple pie cupcakes. Brian had the great idea that instead of making a big apple pie we make individual apple pies using a cupcake dish. I hope you enjoy and can make your own apple pie cupcakes to enjoy this holiday season.

Come to work with me

Ever wonder what an editor does? I am an editor for BYU-Idaho's newspaper Scroll and this week I'm taking you to work with me showing you the basic work of an editor. I recently spent about 13 hours at work this weekend. I hope you enjoy the video!

Spudnuts

At the McGrath house every Halloween it is a tradition to make spudnuts. Spudnuts are doughnuts make with potatoes. My husband and I (the Barrow family) helped my sister and brother-in-law make them this year. Also my niece Audrey was old enough to help. Enjoy this fun step by step video about how to make spudnuts!

Military Wife deals with Husband's Deployment

The title “military wife” is nothing new but Natalie Sleight was someone who never thought she would have that title. When Natalie met Justin she knew the role of a military wife from watching her siblings who were in the military or married to someone who was. She said there was a warning signal going off in her mind when she found out about Justin’s military activity but fell in love with him anyway.

Not only is she a military wife she is the wife of someone who will be 6,827 miles away in Afghanistan in January 2012. Natalie and Justin have not been married over a year yet and will soon be parted for the second year of their marriage. So far during their marriage Justin has been gone almost as much as he has been home. Training and other military duties take Justin out of the home frequently leaving Natalie alone, but they have learned to love the time they do have together. They try to make the most of their time and do little things like going to the store, visiting the farmers market and just being together and being happy.

Only months after being married they soon found out that they would be expecting a new addition to their family, a baby boy. With Justin’s departure announced in June this made things even more difficult knowing that Justin would be gone for the first year of the baby’s life leaving Natalie alone to take care of him.

Changes have come and gone for their family and they are learning to rely on each other and the Lord.

Behind the Scenes

I met Natalie and Justin when they moved in next to us as our new neighbors. We where both going to BYU-Idaho when the moved in and we found out that my husband was Natalie’s team leader in a group on campus. Natalie is lots of fun to be around and we would always chat in the laundry room. Through our friendship I found out about Justin being in the military and was gone a lot so I would try to help her out when he was out of town for training. I was there when Natalie started to question if she was pregnant before she went to the doctor and knew for sure. Back in September Natalie and Justin moved to a new apartment but we still talk and see each other at church on Sundays.

Related Links:

http://www.militarywives.com/

http://www.milspouse.com/

http://www.militaryfamily.org/

Beauty Everywhere

Do you ever notice the little things in life? The landscape, the colors of leaves, or even the loan flower growing from a sidewalk crack? My video shows the simple but beautiful things in life. I hope you enjoy it and stop to enjoy the scenery and smell the flowers in your own life.

Cleaning with Mary Poppins

For my video this week I decided to use "magic" to clean my living room. I had a lot of fun putting this together so I hope you like it. I also invited Mary Poppins to come and help. ;)

Vox Pop, Oh Snap

Weclome to Me!

Get to know me in less than a minute.

Affects of Media with Pictures

Different ways the media has affects society are through television shows. The Food Network has become very popular making the culinary arts look glamorous, easy and that anyone can do it and get their own cooking show. It hides the fact that only few and very far between ever really get a chance to be seen on television. Also the shows add in the drama making the jobs more exciting when it might not be like in a real case scenario at all.

Also the things we buy can affect the way we think about ourselves and view our bodies. A big one for girls is the Barbie doll. The Barbie doll is the perfect woman, she has the perfect body, lips, skin, eyes, hair, clothes the list goes on. This can affect the way a young girl thinks she is suppose to look like. In the book “The Body Burden, Living in the Shadow of Barbie” by Stacey Handler she goes on to explain more about the affects Barbie has and can have on girls.

Another way women and girls are affected by the media via their bodies is celebrities and models. These people have perfect figures, wear the perfect clothes and they can shape the styles of clothing as well. In the 80’s and 90’s wearing high cut shirts so you could see your mid-drift was very in style. I remember getting handy-me-down clothes with shirts that were high cut and I didn’t like it because I was afraid they would creep up and someone would see my skin. Women tend to shape themselves after the styles that are the new hot thing on the market.

Although the world hasn’t focused so much on men and how they should look, this is starting to increase in society. Now in movies men who are suppose to play teenagers in high school films have the perfect bodies with huge muscles which is unrealistic because you’re still growing and developing those muscles while in high school. There may be more pressure on boys in the future to have the perfect body, be the best athlete, be super strong or look like the men on the WWE.

Welcome to the first and only edition of My Friend Media with your host Erin Barrow

Sounds

Media is everywhere and can affect us in many different ways. Sound is a major part of media and the way that sound is used ether through music or verbal communication can effect the way we feel, think or even act.
This is a video by Julian Treasure entitled: The 4 ways sound affects us. I found it very interesting and insightful to how the human body and mind react to sound. I hope you enjoy it and that it helps you identify the way you feel next time you 'hear' media.