Enjoy Life(R) Foods Teams with Gluten-Free Girl to Offer Tips and Recipes for Delicious and Safe 'Free Of' Holidays

SCHILLER PARK, Ill.-- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- If you’re not among the three million Americans with Celiac Disease, or the more than 30 million who suffer from food allergies or intolerances, odds are you’ll celebrate the holidays with someone who is.

Enjoy Life Foods, the country’s leading allergy-friendly and gluten-free food company, collaborates this holiday season with Shauna James Ahern -- author of a popular blog and a new book, both titled gluten-free girl – to offer some practical tips and recipes for celebrating a delicious and safe “free of” holiday season.

“With Shauna’s help, we’ve come up with some great tips for celebrating the holidays with special diets in mind,” says Scott Mandell, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Enjoy Life Foods.

“No matter how good a pumpkin pie recipe with a gluten-free crust, it will never taste like the pie you ate as a child. It might taste even better. But it won't taste the same,” Ahern says in her new book, gluten-free girl.

Ahern and Enjoy Life Foods offer the following guidelines for both entertaining people with dietary restrictions and for celebrating safely if you follow a “free of” diet yourself:

If you’re entertaining people with dietary restrictions…

• RSVP, Please. If you’re hosting a holiday celebration, chances are someone you’re inviting will have special dietary needs. Simply include a note in your invitation requesting "Please RSVP with any dietary restrictions." Or, if you call with an informal invitation, simply say, "I haven't set the menu yet; remind me, is there anything you're not eating?" Special dieters will be relieved to have the opportunity — no one likes to offend their host by not eating the food that is served.
• Label foods that are “free of.” Plan a buffet and clearly label dishes that are “free of” problem ingredients so your guests immediately know which foods are safe for them to eat.
• Focus on foods that are naturally gluten-free and/or allergy-friendly. Do your homework and discover all the foods you can offer that are naturally “free of.” You’ll be surprised how many favorite dishes are perfectly acceptable to serve your guests. Some may just need slight adjustments such as substituting olive oil for butter in your mashed potatoes.
• Learn about cross-contamination. Learn about the dangers of cross-contamination and cook with a new sensitivity. Ask your “free of” guests to teach you how to cook safely so that they can enjoy your meal without worry.
• Mix up traditions, new and old. Don’t insist on creating “free of” versions of all your traditional holiday dishes. Try new foods and feast on what feeds us. Who says that the meal must include roasted turkey with bread stuffing? Why not curried carrot soup? Black cod? Roasted duck? Seared tofu?

If you follow a “free of” diet…

• Offer to host the holiday. If you’re the one with Celiac Disease or food allergies, and your friends and family simply don’t understand, offer to host the holiday yourself. It might feel like a lot of work, but it will make everyone in the family happy, and you will be assured of eating delicious and safe foods.
• Find a way out, if your family won't help. Hopefully, your family will choose you over traditional Beef Wellington. However, if you encounter difficulties, host your own holiday celebration. Gather all your most supportive friends — the family you chose — and cook a huge “free of” meal together. Hopefully your family will celebrate with you next year.
• Allow your sorrow. You may be mourning the loss of traditional dishes at the holidays and, at times, feel left out of the celebration. That’s part of the process. Feel it, and then remember that eating healthy is so much bigger than your grandmother's lasagna.
• Just say no to foods that aren’t “free of.” 'Tis the season when people are tempted to cheat. That spoonful of stuffing just isn't worth three days of feeling sick. Just one chocolate covered nut could send you straight to the emergency room. Make a new tradition of staying well throughout the holidays. You owe it to yourself.
• Remember, it’s not all about the food. Try to remember that there is far more to the joy of the holiday season than food. Focus on the pleasures of being together with close family and friends instead.

Enjoy Life offers 21 delicious allergy-friendly and gluten-free products including soft-baked cookies, snack bars, granola, bagels, nut-free trail mixes and semi-sweet chocolate chips, all of which are made in a dedicated nut- and gluten-free bakery. Each product is free of the eight most common allergens(1), certified gluten free (by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization), casein-free, all natural, trans fat-free and certified kosher. All Enjoy Life products are vegetarian and many are also vegan.

Enjoy Life products can be found at natural food and select grocery stores throughout the United States and Canada. For store locations and additional information, visit www.enjoylifefoods.com.

About Enjoy Life Foods

Enjoy Life Natural Brands, LLC (d/b/a Enjoy Life Foods, LLC (ELF)) was founded in 2001 with the mission of making great-tasting allergy-friendly foods that most everyone can eat freely. The company launched the Enjoy Life brand in 2002 with a broad product line that is free of the eight most common allergens(1) and gluten-free. All Enjoy Life products are also casein free. Today, ELF offers 21 different Enjoy Life products that are sold in natural food and grocery stores throughout the United States and Canada. Recently Enjoy Life Foods was named to the 2007 Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing privately held businesses in the U.S. For more information, visit www.enjoylifenb.com.

(1)The eight most common allergens are wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish or shellfish, which account for 90 percent of all allergic reactions in the United States.

for Enjoy Life Foods

Susan Schneider

(847) 438-4465

prwhiz@aol.com