Stores increasingly offering gluten-free products

Staff photo by Jeff Pouland
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Shyla Spear of Fairfield stands in a section of gluten-free products at Uncle Dean's Good Groceries in Waterville on Friday. Spear is planning to lead a support group for people who suffer from celiac disease, a condition in which people cannot digest gluten.

Gluten-free bread? No problem. You can find that product at most natural food stores these days along with dozens of other foods boasting no gluten on their packaging.

For those who suffer from celiac disease, the food industry has come to your rescue.

"My message is this is a good time to be a person with celiac disease," Shyla Spear said. "We have places to eat and food to buy. Things are moving after years of nothing. It is just wonderful."

Spear views the current situation with the perspective of a someone who figured out she had celiac disease 30 years ago.

At that time, she said, you were on your own as far as finding foods that were gluten free.

If you wanted to eat bread, you had to bake your own. The same with any other baked good.

And good luck finding any celiac support groups or cookbooks offering gluten-free recipes.

Today the Internet abounds with Web sites filled with information about celiac disease, listing symptoms, offering recipes and providing the latest research on the disorder.

Allie Smith, a junior at Madison Area Memorial High School who has celiac disease, said she has found gluten-free bread and pizza that she enjoys.

"There are a lot of good gluten-free things," she said, "and then some stuff that is a little shaky."

Allie said some of the gluten-free foods can be found at traditional grocery stores. For a greater selection, she goes to Spice of Life, a natural foods store in Skowhegan.

Uncle Dean's Good Groceries in Waterville devotes a whole section of its store to such products, while Donna Webber of Farmingdale, another celiac sufferer, goes to Harvest Time Natural Foods in Augusta to buy celiac-friendly foods.

Spear each year buys a booklet several inches thick that lists all the gluten-free foods available on the market.

Yes, the celiac community has a wealth of choices, but those choices come at a price -- a high one.

In general, any celiac-friendly version of a food that normally contains gluten will be at least twice as expensive.

For most who have the disorder, though, that added expense is a small price to pay.

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