My twenty-something daughter and I both have celiac disease, although it’s much easier for me to manage since I have virtually no social life compared to her. I’m not complaining as the thought of going out partying until all hours of the night borders on horrifying to me, but when you’re young and living in a groovy city like Chicago, maintaining a healthy (and fun) gluten-free lifestyle can be a challenge.

I just spent the past few days in Seattle at the Gluten Intolerance Group’s national conference. Part of the professional track focused on the pathology and treatment of celiac disease and what’s in the future for drug therapies. I’m passionate about increasing awareness and am thankful for the research taking place and the new product development that has made GF living so much easier now than it was a decade ago when I started on this path.

Having said that, the photo above sums it all up for me. Eat real food – wholesome nourishing food – and not only will you heal and thrive, you won’t have to stress yourself out reading cryptic food labels or risking gluten contamination.

Tevis (my daughter) took this photo last week to prove to her nutritionist mother that she’s eating well and taking good care of herself. I was thrilled with her food choices until I heard she was carting all this stuff home from the market on her custom-made bike. Winding around in city traffic. While wearing work clothes. Knowing her, she probably had on a skirt and her Jackie O sunglasses.

When I was younger, I always wanted to raise colorful, creative, adventurous kids. That’s all well and good until you actually have kids like that.

Kids who email you stuff like, “Guess what mom? I’m in Berlin right now. I’m gonna be an “extra” in a scary movie.” Or, “We’ve changed plans, we may backpack through Tasmania before going back to New Zealand.” Or, “The steelhead fishing is amazing up here, but the weather’s bad and so are the grizzlies.” Or, “The surfing here in Costa Rica is amazing, mom. You can’t believe what we’ve been doing.”

Probably not. Thank God I don’t know. And where is up here?

They owe me big time, even though I have a good idea where some of this behavior came from. My mom says I got exactly what I deserved.

But when it comes to the food part, I’m not too worried about what they’re doing. They all have a fairly good idea of what makes up a healthy diet and how to create nourishing meals. As you might have noticed, there are some random bottles of alcohol in Tevis’ photo above. Beer and cider — at least they aren’t bottles of tequila or whiskey. (Don’t even tell me.)

Here’s her picks for the best gluten-free beer and cider options. What are your favorites?

Tevis’ GF beer and cider picks
Green’s Gluten-Free Beer (pictured above)
Bard’s Tale Gluten-Free Beer
St. Peter’s G-Free Beer
Samuel Smith’s Organic Cider (pictured above)
Doc Smitty’s Cider (pictured above)
Original Sin Cider

Tevis’ favorite Chicago bars/restaurants that serve GF beer and cider
Map Room
Blind Robin
Simone’s
Twisted Spoke
The Small Bar
Handlebar

Cheers,
Melissa and Tevis (scroll down the list of DJs to find her)
P.S. Be safe and make smart choices (my “mom” mantra).