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Do you have a child who can't eat wheat/gluten?
Girl Scout Cookies are off limits -- not a single variety is gluten-free.
It's that time of year again, we are selling girl scout cookies and can't buy ANY. Girl Scout Cookies are back on sale, at an office, supermarket table or family event near you. And you're going to be hit up to buy a box or two, maybe TEN. If you are gluten sensitive you won't be able to eat ANY!
I have a 6 year old daughter who is in her second year of Daisy's, Girls Scouts starting out division for young girls, and she has gluten intolerance. She can't eat gluten, wheat, rye, barley or oats. We try to keep my daughter’s life as normal as possible. However when the world is FILLED with gluten and we have lack of education regarding gluten sensitivity, it's hard.
One would ask why I send my daughter to Girl Scouts (Daisy's).
Well, it's very important to me that my daughter live as normal as possible. It's hard keeping her free of gluten in a gluten filled society. With gluten being in birthday cakes, school parties, and the class room. We are fortunate to have a great school district and amazing teachers who help keep our daughter free of gluten, however gluten is everywhere.
The Girl Scout mission is 'Courage,Confidence and Character'. Three 'C' words I want my daughter to be a part of.
Girl Scouting build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the world a better place.
I believe and so do many other parent one thing: Girl Scouts truly need to follow their own mission, and introduce a cookie that is safe for the many, many people with food allergies and food intolerances; not just gluten.
Here is a quote from Girl Scout FAQ:
'Why don't you offer cookies that are whole-wheat, wheat-free, non-dairy, dairy-free, vegan, sugar-free, gluten-free, organic, low-carbohydrate, low-calorie, low-fat, non-fat, fat-free, etc.?
A: The demand for specialty cookie formulations is simply not great enough to make it economically feasible to offer a variety of specialty types. Of all the different possible formulations, sugar-free seems to be the most popular, yet in the past, even the sugar-free Girl Scout cookies that have been offered have had to be discontinued due to lack of demand. Our bakers continue to experiment and develop formulations that balance the best tasting cookies using the healthiest ingredients.'
AYFKM? The demand is not great enough?
Food allergies and food intolerance is on the rise.
Today, food allergies/food intolerance are becoming more and more common. The number of people who have a food allergy or food intolerance is growing at a very concerning rate.
Consider these facts:
- Millions are allergic to wheat - it is, after all, one of the top eight allergens.
- Nearly 3 million people have celiac disease (although sadly, most don’t know it and probably never will). It’s the most common genetic disease of mankind (yet for every person diagnosed, 140 will go undiagnosed).
- Remarkable numbers of autistic kids (including Asperger’s and others on the PDD-NOS spectrum) are showing improvement on a gluten-free/casein-free dietary protocol.
- Many autoimmune diseases other than celiac disease show improvement in symptoms on a gluten-free diet.
I started a poll, located in top left hand corner of this blog, and I want parents, friends, family and anyone reading my blog to please vote and share it with others. Also, share your story in the comment section, and maybe we can pull together and let Girl Scouts know an allergy "friendly" cookie is needed.
