College Athlete With Celiac Disease

Posted on March 9, 2011 by customchoicecereal

Living with celiac disease is quite a challenge for anyone but it’s especially tough for athletes who need to maintain their weight – through grueling workouts and a high metabolism. Examples such as Cincinnati Bengals’ Running Back Cedric Benson, UFC’s Dennis Hallmann, LPG star Sarah Jane Smith and quite a few others show us every day that it is absolutely possible to be a top performer with celiac disease in various sports.

All these guys are full-time professional athletes though. I was therefore very impressed when I read how Utah’s women’s basketball player Diana Rolniak learned to cope with celiac disease as a college athlete. Diagnosed just before her senior year in high school in July 2008, Diana was trying to play basketball while dropping below 100 pounds – which is clearly not a healthy weight for the 6-foot-4 forward!

What I find most encouraging is the support she gets from the team. Interim head coach Anthony Levrets said that “On the road, we’ve figured out the restaurants that cater to gluten-free … that she’s comfortable with. And all of the hotels we stay in, we make sure they’re able to prepare gluten-free meals to go along with our pregame meals.” That’s pretty awesome! But Diana has also developed a few tricks that I think are worth sharing:

set up specific living arrangements in order to prevent cross-contamination and living by herself
preparing all of her meals and learning to cook
having two bowls of cereal, two yogurts, eggs and a homemade sandwich for breakfast

I have a great suggestion how Diana can add unrivaled variety to her daily gluten-free cereal bowl But besides this, I was wondering if you know someone in college who has celiac disease or lives gluten-free? How do they manage? And do you have any advice to share from their experience?

Celebrate National Cereal Day 2011 Gluten-Free

Posted on March 7, 2011 by customchoicecereal

We’re still celebrating UNC winning the ACC season title in a great 81-67 victory over archrival Duke this weekend. And yet the next reason for celebration has already arrived: TODAY IS NATIONAL CEREAL DAY!

Celebrate with us at Custom Choice Cereal gluten-free style by creating your perfect breakfast mix: We give you 10% off all orders placed today with code “NatCereal”!

What ingredients do you love to have in your cereal? Let us know, and in case we don’t have them yet we’ll find them for you!

Gluten-free Creativity At Its Best

Posted on March 4, 2011 by customchoicecereal

Happy Friday, everyone! I am getting pretty exciting (and nervous) because my beloved Tar Heels will face archrival Duke in the Dean Dome tomorrow. I can only hope that UNC will play both halves as well as it played the first half before falling apart in the second half of the last game on February 9th…

But now to our good tradition of recognizing your creativity in naming your gluten-free cereals this week. It’s been a close race!

5. Hawaiian Dream (mix ID 9d88f4 ). Someone is in Spring mood already.
4. Ellen’s Belly Better Mix (mix ID 51e0f5). Better belly AND great taste
3. Good Morning Happy Stomach Granola (mix ID e7c950). Recognize the pattern…?
2. Breakfast of Champions (mix ID 5dcf80). You ARE the champions!
1. I know it’s very biased but in the spirit of tomorrow I had to choose Carolina Crunch (mix ID 049cf9) as this week’s winner!

Have a great weekend and please consider connecting with Custom Choice Cereal on facebook! You’ll spend some time there this weekend anyway so why not swing by?

Gluten-Free Dr. Wangen Wednesday

Posted on March 2, 2011 by customchoicecereal

It’s Dr. Wangen Wednesday! As on every first Wednesday of the month, our friend, advisor and celiac disease expert Dr. Stephen Wangen will answer your questions about celiac disease, gluten intolerance, living without wheat, and whatever else want to know!

Stephen has celiac disease and has the exact same concerns that you might have. From both his personal and professional experience, he understands the challenges of a gluten-free diet, and is very passionate about helping you. Similar to us, his passion was a call that he answered by co-founding The IBS Treatment Center in Seattle, WA, blogging as The Gluten Free Doctor, and serving on the Board of Trustees for the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America. We invite you to read more about Stephen and his books in our introduction to our advisors.

Dr. Wangen is going out of his way to provide this wonderful service, and we appreciate your understanding that out of respect for Dr. Wangen and his time we have to limit each session to 5 questions on a first-come, first-served basis. Please join us at Custom Choice Cereal in thanking Stephen for taking the time off his busy schedule to address your concerns.

Asking your question is easy and can be done in just 4 simple steps:

Post your question as a comment to this blog entry
We send all questions to Dr. Wangen
Dr. Wangen’s answers will be published in reply to your comments
To check for the answer to your question you can either subscribe to our blog or simply check back in a few days

Wondering what tests you should have taken? What areas do you have difficulties with? What kind of (unusual) symptoms do you have? Any concerns about the constant “are oats gluten-free” debate? He can help so don’t be shy and ask away!

Custom Choice Cereal In Local Newspaper

Posted on February 28, 2011 by customchoicecereal

What a weekend and start into the new week this has been! I am excited that on Sunday, the Durham Herald-Sun featured an article about Custom Choice Cereal and our custom gluten-free cereal. For me as a small local entrepreneur, it is always a great feeling to be written about!

Author Keith Upchurch actually has celiac disease, which I thought was a very interesting coincidence. He had not previously heard of us and really liked our concept. This being said, the reason why he wrote his article was because of our recent partnership with gourmet retailer Dean & DeLuca in New York City.

But I don’t want to repeat everything from the article about Custom Choice Cereal. Instead, I encourage you to check it out! I’m just thrilled to have a newspaper write about my little gluten-free company and help at least one more person on a gluten-free diet enjoy a variety of tasty breakfast again!

Great Names For Gluten-free Cereal Munchies

Posted on February 25, 2011 by customchoicecereal

The weekend is coming but for the time being it’s still Friday. That means that we at Custom Choice Cereal live up to the good tradition and recognize the creative names your gave your gluten-free cereals this week! Once again you didn’t make the decision easy on us but we tried our best…

We have to admit that this list is subjectively chosen but think that this week’s best gluten-free cereal names are:

5. Healthy heart (mix ID ba0375). Delicious and good for you. Does it get any better??
4. North American Fruit Mix (mix ID 061964). Gotta love it!
3. Morning Magick (mix ID cafe05). Mix ID almost spells the complementary drink. Awesome!
2. Are we there yet? Are we there yet? (mix ID a505e8). We hope you are!
1. And this week’s winning name is Man That’s Good Flakes (mix ID 4151e4)

Have a wonderful weekend and please consider to also connect with Custom Choice Cereal on facebook! We know you’ll spend some time there this weekend, so swing on by

Delectable. Wonderful. Gluten-free Cereal.

Posted on February 17, 2011 by customchoicecereal

Time has flown by during the past two days! I have been working from Bull City Forward, a local organization dedicated to support social enterprises in Durham, NC. The spirit of many passionate entrepreneurs working in the same office is awesome and super motivating!

Besides this, there has been some other pretty good stuff happening at Custom Choice Cereal this week. Obviously I am still stoked about our partnership with gourmet retailer Dean & DeLuca, bringing gluten-free cereal to their stores in New York City. But what always excites me most is the awesome feedback we get about our cereal, so I had to share another one with you.

Rita designed her own cereal and reviewed it on her blog One 2 Try and starts out by saying that “I wanted to create even more cereal, it was so much fun”. When her concoction arrived conveniently at her doorstep she thought that it “looked delectable. There are big cherries and lots of coconut flakes. It smells wonderful. I could not wait to taste my creation. The corn flakes are delicately crunchy while the cherries and blueberries add a nice chewiness to the cereal. The coconut adds even more crunch. The berries add the sweetness. This is really good. I am enjoying munching right from the bag. I had some with milk too and it was my perfect cereal taste sensation.”

You know what I thought when I read this review? Even if I tried I couldn’t come up with better feedback. So what are you waiting for? Design your perfect gluten-free breakfast and experience what Rita describes as “The fun comes in the creating exactly what you want in your cereal. It is your Custom Choice Cereal. Munch Munch Munch… it is so good!”

Custom Choice Cereal Available At Dean & DeLuca

Posted on February 14, 2011 by customchoicecereal

We are very excited to announce that Custom Choice Cereal has partnered with Dean & DeLuca!

The expansion into the retail channel represents a logical step to give you better access to a great-tasting gluten-free cereal right when you crave it. You know that it is our goal to making living gluten-free a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone, so bringing Custom Choice Cereal even closer to you is what we regard a part of our customer service. Having been able to partner with gourmet retailer Dean & DeLuca is at the same time another great confirmation of the exceptional quality of our products.

If you live in The City, you now have another option to surprise your Valentine with a unique gluten-free gift! As of today, our cereal is now available for you on the shelf at the following Dean & DeLuca stores:

Founded in 1977 by Joel Dean, Giorgio DeLuca and Jack Ceglic with the opening of its flagship store in SoHo New York, Dean & DeLuca quickly grew into a multi-channel retailer of gourmet and specialty foods, premium wines and high-end kitchenware with operations throughout the United States and abroad. Dean & Deluca specialty products are sold through its 14 retail stores and cafes in select U.S. markets (New York, Washington, D.C., Napa Valley, Charlotte, and Kansas City metropolitan area). Today, Dean & DeLuca stores serve as “purveyors of fine food, wine & kitchenware”.

Great Cereal Names, Baby!

Posted on February 11, 2011 by customchoicecereal

It’s Friday, and according to good tradition we at Custom Choice Cereal recognize the most creative names for the gluten-free cereals you customized this week. We can only hope that it’s as much fun for you naming your cereals as it is for us reading what you come up with!

This week’s best names (in our book) are:

5. Strawberry Mango Margarita Mix (mix ID bdc628). Best served with the umbrella.
4. I hope chia seeds taste ok… (mix ID d46277). We like ‘em. And they’re incredibly good for you!
3. GLUTEN FREE MORNING SURPRISE (mix ID ef4fc8). CAPS LOCK, ANYONE?
2. Bahama Mama Berry Swirl (mix ID c2bc90). Simply. Awesome.
1. Congratulations to our winning name Katie’s Booberry Crunch – HANDS OFF (mix ID 7227e1)

Don’t forget the special 10% Valentine’s Day coupon “VALENTINE” VALID TODAY ONLY! Have a great weekend!

Gluten-free Valentine's Extravaganza

Posted on February 10, 2011 by customchoicecereal

We at Custom Choice Cereal learn again and again that those who designed their own cereal give better feedback than we ever could! That’s why we’d like to start with a quote from from Maureen about the custom cereal that she reviewed on her blog Simply Stacy:

“It was delicious and my kids just loved it. I enjoyed it with almond milk as a cereal and also as a topping to my yogurt with both being equally ‘yummy’. I especially appreciated that it includes a nutritional label specifically for my mix so I can portion this correctly for my lifestyle.”

Maureen also makes another great comment in her review because she starts out by saying that even though she does not follow a gluten-free diet she “still found the concept of creating my own cereal intriguing and I would highly recommend this for everyone”. That’s exactly the point! We never fully understood why so many foods that are naturally gluten-free (duh, they’re called corn flakes) have gluten added to them during processing. But that’s just something you learn as one of the first things when going gluten-free – that stuff is literally everywhere!

We especially appreciate that Maureen also highlighted the fact that you can get really creative in naming your cereal and couldn’t have said in any better:

“Once your mix has been created it is hand packaged to ensure freshness and arrives with your own personalized label which was a really neat feature that my five year old son thought was brilliant.”

Maureen really is brilliant because she immediately discovered the potential, saying that “this would make a fantastic gift idea for Valentine’s Day”. So true! And the naming option is perfect for a personal message that your Valentine will see bright and early. Add some cranberries or goji berries to the cereal to give it the appropriate color and it’s a surprise that can’t go wrong! By the way, if you order by tomorrow, February 11th, you’ll receive 10% off with the coupon code “valentine”!

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