We all know the moment when a co-worker brings cake into the office for his or her birthday, someone offers me a piece and I sadly say no thank you. Many of those times I get asked "oh yeah, you can’t have cake because you have diabetes..." that’s when I answer "umm…the only reason I can't have cake is because it's not gluten free..."
Life with T1D can be stressful enough without any other health problems on top on it. However, the truth is that individuals living with one autoimmune disorder are at higher risk to get another autoimmune disorder. Within the T1D community, I have learned that it's very common that many T1D either have Celiac disease, which is a genetic autoimmune disease, or a gluten intolerance. As I mentioned before, life is more difficult as it is and let's be honest way more expensive than someone without T1D, and now we must add the cost and time of finding gluten free (GF) options on top of everything!
About over 6 years ago, I was told that I had a slight gluten intolerance and that I should stick to gluten free food. Well, 6 years ago the only GF options weren't only extremely limited and expensive but also, they weren't so tasty. Since back then I only got bad migraines due to eating gluten, I decided to just deal with the migraines rather than dealing with the hassle of finding GF options. However, a couple years later my intolerance increased rapidly, and I could no longer stomach gluten. Within the past couple years, I have noticed that there are more and more GF options; so, I started to try some brands and see if I could get used to a GF lifestyle on top of trying to find GF vegetarian proteins to keep my bg under control.
With every year that comes, we see more technology and more products that try to make living with T1D maybe not "easier" but definitely less stressful at times (Hello Dexcom!) I also have seen this with the increase of GF options in both restaurants and grocery stores! Sadly, the cost of these products are usually way more expensive and sometimes you don't want to spend the $7 to try out a box of cookies that might taste like cardboard. However, I do find myself always looking at the GF section at grocery stores to see what new products there are, hoping they are on sale to try and always find myself wondering and wishing there was a GF convention where I could see and try many different GF brands, sort of like going to a T1D technology class and seeing the options out there.
After many years of wishing and researching this, I saw there was one; however, it was always on the week I was super busy. This year I was determined to see if there was a Gluten Free Expo in the summer that I could go to and after googling Gluten Free expo I saw something called #NourishedFestival.
NOURISHED FESTIVAL!
THE GLUTEN FREE, ALLERGY & SPECIALTY DIET FESTIVAL
The Nourished Festival is made for those living a gluten-free, allergen-friendly or specialty diet lifestyle! Traveling to ten cities per year, Nourished Festivals allow attendees to sample and purchase new products, meet brand ambassadors, receive coupons, and attend educational classes. The Festivals have five zones to visit: Gluten-Free, Nut-Free, Paleo, Keto & Plant-Based. All products in all zones are gluten free!
After looking at their website I was grinning ear to ear- THIS IS WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!
I am so happy to share that I will be attending this year’s festival in June as an official blogger. I’m so ready to investigate all the different sections and share my favorite brands and my overall experience with all of you! I specifically am looking forward to the Plant-based Gluten Free Section, since I’ve been a vegetarian for many years and find it very difficult to find vegetarian gluten free proteins!
As an Official Blogger of Nourished Festival, I am given a bunch of free passes to give out to my readers and followers!
I will be attending the Chicagoland Festival in Schaumburg on June 1st and 2nd. If you are interested in winning a free 1-day pass to this awesome festival, please comment below and also follow me on Facebook- on which I will be posting a contest (within the next 2 weeks) and picking the lucky winners! There are also tickets available to purchase online, I will be posting some discount codes as well as the website below!
Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to this blog so that you will be notified about the upcoming contest!
For additional general event info (date, time, location, directions), visit the festival page: https://nourishedfestival.com/expos/chicago
