Monthly Archives: September 2010

Turning the clock to gluten-free cereal

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Every day at Custom Choice Cereal is different, and some are clearly better than others. But hey, that’s entrepreneurship – much easier on paper than in reality! Those of you who have started their own business know however that the highs make up for the troughs a thousand times over.

Turning the Clock BackAnd a simple word of appreciation can make a “high”. That’s why I am excited that Diane reviewed the gluten-free cereal that she created on her blog Turning the Clock Back through our “amazingly simple” ordering process.  She knows first hand how challenging a gluten-free diet can be because her mother-in-law has celiac disease and Diane hast to stock up on gluten-free food whenever she visits. Her feedback on Custom Choice Cereal couldn’t be any better:

“I chose a tasty combination of raisins, pears, pineapple, flaked coconut, and almonds in a granola base. I really enjoyed the flavors and there was a wonderful hint of Cinnamon and a light sweetness to it as well. Overall, a great combination but if you have other ingredients you would rather put in, go ahead! The great thing about this cereal is that you design it the way YOU want it!”

It’s all about the experience! Tastes are different, and because nobody knows what your like as much as you do, we put YOU in control! Enter the giveaway that we offer in cooperation with Diane for your chance to win your personal gluten-free cereal. If you can’t wait (which I can sympathize with) you can also go ahead and cerealize your gluten-free breakfast now!

Why you are living gluten-free

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It is both fun and interesting for us at Custom Choice Cereal – and hopefully for you as well – to see the results of our 3-second-polls here on our blog. A big thanks to the 69 of you who answered our last question

What’s your main reason for being gluten-free?

We are pretty thrilled about this best participation rate in any of our 3-second-polls so far because it helps all of us get more representative results. So please help us promote our newest poll (How long after going gluten-free did you feel/see first results?) to get even more answers. Here are the detailed results of what you said:

  • 52.9% (36 out of 69) responded that they have celiac disease
  • 27.9% (19 people) of you said that you are intolerant to gluten
  • 10.3% (7 out of 69) of you just feel better on a gluten-free diet
  • 7.4% (5 of you) are gluten-free because of a family member
  • 1.5% (one person) replied that they have a wheat allergy and want to be on the safe side
  • No participant was an athlete following a gluten-free diet

The results make sense, but the Custom Choice Cereal team was still impressed that more than 3/4 of all respondents had either celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity. This show that eating gluten-free might after all not be the fad diet that many make it out to be. Or our readers are the people who understand why they should be gluten-free.

Since Hajo insists on a graphical depiction of our 3-second-poll results you can find an easy-to-read chart below:

3-second-poll results: Why gluten-free

What would you like our next 3-second-poll to be? Let us know in the comment section!

Custom Choice Cereal and 31Projects

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I must admit that living in North Carolina I sometimes miss the busy streets of a bigger city. But then again there are only very few places I’ve been where the people are as friendly as they are here. They clearly looooove their BBQ, are passionate about their beautiful State (for good reasons!), and have a pretty strong entrepreneurial spirit.

This passion for entrepreneurship was the main reason for me to launch Custom Choice Cereal in the Triangle instead of one of the bigger cities. At the same time, there are many great ideas coming to life here, and the entrepreneurial community is really well interconnected. Once you’re fellow entrepreneurs even the rivalries between Duke, UNC, and NC State fade to the background ;-)

31ProjectsHere is proof: Jon Reifschneider, founder of 31Projects, went to Duke, while I graduated from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. His idea is to let companies and students get to know each other risk-free through short-term projects and competitions. Students get real-life experience while the companies can crowdsource the best talent – a classic “win-win” situation.

Jon’s venture was covered on ere.net with Custom Choice Cereal mentioned as an example of how it will work. I am pretty excited to have Custom Choice Cereal be a part of the launch next week with a competition for a viral marketing plan.

Our gluten-free cereal a dream come true

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It is just a little thing, but I truly makes my day when people who cerealized their gluten-free breakfast and tell me how much they enjoyed the experience. At the end of the day, that’s what Custom Choice Cereal is all about!

The Nutritionist Reviews Healthy Gluten-free CerealNutritionist and soon-to-be-dietitian Amanda (does it get more qualified than that??) reviewed the cereal she created on her blog The Nutritionist Reviews, and for her it is “pretty much a dream come true”. She goes on by saying

“Oh, you want to know how it tastes? Well, it tastes great. The flakes have a pretty mild flavor but the fruit and nuts make it loaded with flavor. I like the contrast between the crunch of the flakes and the chew of the fruit. I would HIGHLY recommend this cereal to anyone, even people without a gluten sensitivity. Thanks Custom Choice Cereal for the awesome breakfast treat!”

Isn’t that cool? If you decide to create your perfect healthy cereal with your favorite ingredients, please don’t forget to let me know your feedback!

1st Wednesday = Gluten-free Q&A day

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Dr. Stephen WangenIt’s the first Wednesday of the month again, and that means that Custom Choice Cereal in cooperation with our advisor Dr. Stephen Wangen offers you another Q&A session.

You are encouraged to ask this renown expert who has celiac disease himself anything you always wanted to know about following a gluten- or wheat-free diet. Feel free to have a look at the Gluten Free Doctor’s impressive resume and expertise on our Custom Choice Cereal people page.

But now to the important things, here is how it works:

1. Post your question as a comment to this blog entry
2. We’ll send all questions to Dr. Wangen
3. Dr. Wangen’s answers will be published in reply to your comments
4. Key: First come – first serve. And we have to keep it to 5 questions

We at Custom Choice Cereal are excited that Dr. Stephen Wangen agrees to provide this great service to you. Please understand that he has a busy schedule that we therefore have to limit each session to 5 questions. Thank you very much!