Gluten And Wheat Free Fine Mixes Available Online

The following article was published in the Fremont Tribune of Fremont NE.

Couple creates gluten-free food mixes for people with Celiac Sprue disease

By Russ Krebs/Fremont Tribune   Thursday, Nov 06, 2008 - 10:54:23 am CST

It has been said that necessity is the mother of invention.  That couldn’t be more true for Mike and Kristy Johnson of Tekamah.
 

Our Kristy's Kitchen Vendor display at the Celiac Sprue Association's 2008 National Convention in Omaha/La Vista Nebraska in October.  It was a family endeavor with ( R to L ) son Kyle's wife Mary, Kyle, Kristy, Mike and son Cole.

“About five years ago, Kristy discovered she was celiac,” Mike said. “She had been ill and a friend suggested based on some of her symptoms that she eat gluten free. When she got off wheat, she got stronger.”

It took six to eight months on a gluten-free diet before her symptoms subsided.

“I developed severe rheumatoid arthritis and really couldn’t move,” Kristy said. “I just kept losing strength and weight and it was so scary.”

Celiac Sprue is a genetic, inheritable autoimmune disease.

People with the condition can’t eat foods containing wheat, oats, rye and barley or foods that have come into contact with those grains. If they do, it causes an autoimmune response that causes damage to the small intestine, making it lose its ability to absorb nutrients, leading to malnutrition and other complications.

“One day I was incapacitated and my joints were so swollen I couldn’t move,” Kristy said. “At the time, I really knew nothing about (the disease). It must have been developing for some time.”

 “The diet has definitely helped greatly,” Kristy said. “I still have flare-ups now and again, but not that often. The diet is the treatment.”

The reason Celiac Sprue is often misdiagnosed is because its symptoms can mimic other diseases.

The most common symptoms are abdominal cramping, bloating and distention, anemia, diarrhea, fatigue, unexplained weight loss and bone or joint pain. It is most commonly misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome.

Celiac Sprue occurs in approximately one out of every 133 people. Only about 3 percent of those have been diagnosed, or about 2.1 million in the United States.

“As my family prepared meals, we found out there are so many different unusual products you have to purchase,” Kristy said. “It is kind of difficult cooking, so we started making mixes to make our lives easier.”

That is how Kristy’s Kitchen became a reality.

“About 1 1/2 or 2 years ago we started through the Nebraska Food Cooperative,” Mike said. “It’s basically an online farmers market. It’s their way of helping local people.”

He said the family produced other food products in the past, but now the focus is strictly on gluten-free products.

“We manufacture our mixes in a state licensed facility (in Tekamah), and are a  completely gluten free facility,” Mike said.

That happened just in time for the National Celiac Sprue Convention two weeks ago in Omaha.

“Every five years it’s in Nebraska, so it really pushed us,” Kristy said.

They took their products to the convention to get more exposure.
“One of the things that have always been the biggest difficulty is to have a basic bread,” Mike said. “There were a handful of vendors who had bread products, but we were told ours was the best. We have a sandwich bread mix and we’re perfecting other products.”

Kristy’s Kitchen makes an apple cinnamon spice pancake and waffle mix, a blueberry waffle mix, a blueberry coffee cake mix and a graham cracker mix in addition to the bread mix. The products range in price from $5.75-$8.75.

Mike said the couple is also working on a basic flour mix.

“You have a new person diagnosed and they don’t know what to do,” he said. “It takes a while to establish how to make gluten free things. These are good to get when you need a quick something.”

The business will ship or deliver products and has sent the mixes around the country. The products also are available at the Fremont Hy-Vee Food Store and they hope to soon be in other Hy-Vee Food Stores and health food stores.

“If it’s within an area where we can deliver, we do,” Mike said. “Last Christmas, we had quite a few orders we shipped out around the country. They make great gifts.”

For more information about Kristy’s Kitchen or to place an order, visit www.kristyskitchen.com or call 374-1546.

To help people with Celiac Sprue and their family members a support group meets 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. the fourth Wednesday of every month in room 5 on the third floor of the Fremont Area Medical Center’s Health Park Plaza.

For more information about the Celiac Sprue Association, visit www.csaceliacs.org or call 877-272-4272.