Marilyn Geller, Chief Executive Officer of the Celiac Disease Foundation (CDF), joins Mike and Cam, candidly sharing her own personal story. Marilyn connects how her experience has led to her life's mission of creating a better world for people with celiac disease. We hear about all that the CDF is doing to support advocacy and an update on the search for new treatments and a cure for celiac. She also shares how you can get involved to make real systemic change for the better for those with CD and gluten intolerance.

Fellow Celiac, Julie Morgenlender, joins Mike and Cam to discuss her new nonfiction anthology, "The Things We Don't Say: An Anthology of Chronic Illness Truths."  In the book, Julie shares her own health journey among a compilation of at times jaw-dropping stories from other sufferers. She explains why giving the medical community and the general public a better understanding of what living with chronic illness looks like is so important.  Julie also talks about some of the biggest challenges people with chronic illness face on a day to day basis.

You can purchase the book on Amazon:

https://amzn.to/3i1rtyJ

For part 2 of the Spring Mailbag, Mike and Cam share one listener's amazing journey to diagnosis that they found to be highly relatable. They also talk about a possible correlation between schizophrenia and celiac disease. Plus, an update on The Celiac Project Documentary. Keep sharing your stories and comments with us and you might just make it on an upcoming podcast.

Mike and Cam dig down into their mailbag to share questions and comments from you, our amazing audience! Topics included in part 1 are a new listener who shares her road to diagnosis plus emails about pregnancy and child rearing with celiac disease.

The FDA has made some changes to labeling laws during the pandemic to make things easier for manufacturers to "tweak" their "lesser" ingredients without reflecting these changes on the label. Mike and Cam explore these new regulations and give their thoughts on the ramifications it can have on the gluten free and allergen free communities.

Before the pandemic, we interviewed Maureen Basye just after her very successful Celiac Cruise in January.  After much discussion with her, we ultimately felt it would still be great to share the adventure. So, we recorded an updated intro including a short discussion with Maureen on cruising in the future and what it might look like. After that, you'll hear the original podcast from January--with all of the sheltering in place, you can come sail away on this truly one-of-a-kind gluten free adventure!

Mike and Cam are happy to welcome back Dawn Scheu, owner and trainer at Willow's Service Dogs. Dawn discusses the final stages of Cam's journey training his dog Lacy to be a gluten detection dog and some of the challenges they faced. In addition to talking about what a person should take into account before thinking about the process of a gluten detection dog, Dawn talks about the things you need to think about before getting a pet in general and specifically during the pandemic.

Advocacy for celiac disease comes in all shapes and sizes. This is clearly apparent with two of our favorite young guests, Mike's daughters, Jessica (11) and Melanie (8). On the occasion of Melanie's 8th birthday she shares her experience of what it's like to be the only non celiac or gluten intolerant member of her household. Mike and his family have employed unique strategies to make sure Melanie can still enjoy a little gluten while keeping the rest of the family safe.

This year we do a new twist on our annual Celiac Awareness Month "State of the Union" podcast. We wanted to get an expanded view of what life has been like during this pandemic, so we brought in Aaron Bull, who is located in Virginia, to share his perspective on living with celiac disease during this unprecedented time. Mike, Cam and Aaron share their takeaways and tips that they have each used to get through life with celiac under quarantine.

To learn more about Aaron and the work he does:

https://www.bullcm.com/

It's Celiac Awareness Month and we want to make it special despite the continued need for social distancing. Today our guest, Andrea Tucker of Baltimore Gluten Free, shares what she is doing to help advocate for and educate young adults and their families who are making the transition from high school to college. This can often be a rocky road due to the fact that there is a vast range of support levels from school to school. Andrea helps guide families with the right tools to make the best decision of where to attend.

Here is the link to Andrea's GF College101 Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/glutenfreecollege/?ref=share

Here is her list of "Must Ask Questions Every GF HS Student Should Have When Looking at Colleges":

https://mailchi.mp/fd9f9db44444/mustaskquestions