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?

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!

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?

Back in July, we talked about UFC fighter Dennis Hallman having celiac disease. He had a great win this past weekend and credits it to God and his diagnosis with celiac disease in May. It struck us that even for such a highly monitored athlete it can take a while to find out what’s wrong. Dennis says that “after numerous doctors I finally found a good one”. Familiar story? Hopefully (at least) the first part of his following statement about his well-being after switching to a gluten-free diet is as well “It’s a night and day difference. I can train as hard I can possibly train without getting tired.”

It is great to see Dennis talk about celiac disease in such detail in the interview after his comeback in the octagon, and we at Custom Choice Cereal wish him all the best for the future. Check out the entire video interview below, he starts talking about his diagnosis 2:00 minutes into the interview.

On October 10th, arena football kicker Craig Pinto will kick field goals from 40 yards out for 12 hours straight to raise awareness for celiac disease. He also aims to set a new world record in his Kicking4Celiac event by making over 500 good kicks. Craig says on his website that

“Kicking footballs for this long seems physically challenging, but so is living with Celiac Disease everyday, and both can be done successfully.”

So true, and those of you who live gluten-free know all too well about this daily challenge! We at Custom Choice Cereal are super-excited to see Craig raise awareness for celiac disease and ask you to please support Craig and his great cause! Visit his facebook page and leave an encouraging comment, help spreading the word about Kicking4Celiac, and maybe even donate to this great cause. All proceeds will benefit the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University.

Chrissy mentions that the Garmin-Transitions cycling team, golfer Sarah Jane Smith and Saints quarterback Drew Brees all follow a gluten-free diet during their athletic seasons. However, she does not specify the very different reasons:

• The Cycling team wanted to speed up their recovery time & boost performance
• LPG star Sarah Jane Smith has celiac disease
• New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees is gluten intolerant

The author also talks about why a gluten-free diet can actually be performance-enhancing and gives the following argument:

“The rationale behind why many athletes follow gluten-free diets is basically to ease unappealing digestive symptoms during competition. Improved digestion leads to improved absorption of nutrients, which can then translate into improved performance. “

Since getting the much needed carbs to fuel the athlete can be a challenge, Chrissy recommends – and we at Custom Choice Cereal fully agree – to consume quinoa, tapioca, rice, organic corn, amaranth, flaxseeds, potato, tofu, nuts, and beans instead. It is important to note that a gluten-free diet also relaxes the body’s immune system, thus helping repair muscles more efficiently, and helps to maintain a stable blood sugar level during exercise. A great resource to follow in this context is Erin Elberson’s blog Gluten-free Fitness.

What’s your experience with sports on a gluten-free diet? Do you have any advice or tips? Please share your story or any recommendations you might have!

Since I learned in January that celiac disease and type 1 diabetes often occur together, Custom Choice Cereal decided to support Type1Rider in his mission to raise awareness for diabetes, educate about it, and support and encourage those who have it. You can show your support for Tony by getting an awesome Type1Rider t-shirt or hoodie with the logos of all his sponsors!

Tony founded Type1Rider as an organization “dedicated to both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetic athletes”. He uses “racing and cycling event participation as a vehicle to convey information and data about daily management, training, riding, techniques, and technologies available in order to improve their health”. One way for Tony to improve his health and boost his performance is by creating the perfect gluten-free cereal for his training and races! He particularly appreciates the automatically updating nutrition label as it provides him with vital information for his diet,

Check out the Type1Rider blog or follow Type1Rider on twitter.

Dennis Hallman said in an interview with MMA Junkie Radio that he never understood why he was so exhausted after training or why his cardio failed him in the octagon. When doctors diagnosed him with celiac disease they found out that for him it meant that his body was unable to produce testosterone and cartisol because of the gluten in his diet. Both these hormones are essential to the performance and recovery of an athlete.

Since going off wheat (and we might add: hopefully going off gluten alltogether!) in May, Dennis has immediately noticed the difference, most strikingly in his recovery after training and fights. He now feels like a “new man”. Here is what struck us at Custom Choice Cereal most about this story: when the Garmin-Transitions pro cycling team went on a gluten-free diet they noticed the exact same effect – better recovery – even though none of them have celiac disease or are intolerant to gluten.

Even though we are not qualified to give medical advice these stories seem to indicate that reducing the gluten intake cannot be bad. And what better way to start than with a tasty gluten-free cereal with exactly the ingredients you love?

Custom Choice Cereal congratulates the German national soccer team on an awesome performance in the quarter finals against Argentina. We’d be millionaires if we had bet on this result…

We at Custom Choice Cereal are wondering what Mike has for breakfast and think he should try customizing his personal gluten-free cereal some time. In any case, we will pull for Bob and Mike Bryan and hope they can make their dream come true by setting the new record of all-times ATP doubles titles!