GALA (Gluten Aware Los Angeles) Announces Inaugural Picnic At Griffith Park

GALA (Gluten Aware Los Angeles), a newly created Meetup Group is having it’s first Meetup. All gluten-free people of Los Angeles are invited to join, and to meet each other for the first time at a gluten-free picnic this coming Saturday at the Griffith Park Observatory in Los Angeles, at 1pm. For further information and to join GALA go to meetup.com/GlutenFreeLA . Continue reading →

Apr 07, 2014 /prREACH/ -- Los Angeles, CA

GALA, or Gluten Aware Los Angeles, a newly formed Meetup Group for the gluten-free crowd in L.A., will be having their first ‘meetup’ this Saturday afternoon in Griffith Park.

The purpose of GALA is to create a community for people in the Los Angeles area who live gluten-free, so that they can meet, share with, support and enjoy others who similarly experience life without gluten.

For those unaware, gluten is a protein composite found primarily in wheat, barley & rye. Secondarily, however, it rears itself in a great many not so obvious ways and places that make being gluten-free less simple than it might sound at first. There are a great many people that have had to adapt to living a gluten-free life in a world that is increasingly flooded with gluten. On one end of the spectrum there are those who have been diagnosed with Celiac disease. In very simple terms, an autoimmune disease that damages parts of the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients. There are many people known to have Celiac disease, and a great many more that have it but are as yet unaware as it commonly goes undiagnosed or mis-diagnosed. There are also a great many other people who though not having Celiac, do have some variety of what may commonly be labeled as gluten-sensitivity; gluten-intolerance, or gluten-allergies. This can cover a wide range of symptoms and severity. Lastly, there are people that have made the choice to be gluten-free as a result of a variety of health beliefs that have led them to this way of life.

Everybody that tries to live gluten-free has some common experiences and challenges. Ones reasons for being gluten-free may cause them to experience the lifestyle differently than others with differing motivations, but there is a commonality to the many challenges and frustrations among all who make the effort.

As a gluten-free person in GALA, people will meet others who understand what they have been through and deal with on a regular basis. Through GALA, the intention is to be able to have many of the fun, interesting, growing and relationship building activities that many other ‘groups’ enjoy, whether eating out for brunch/lunch/dinner, potlucks, dinner parties, picnics, cooking classes, happy hours, movies, hiking, beach days, bike rides, camping, skiing, Disney, or any other activity ideas Members express an interest in. The difference will be that all activities will be among people with the shared needs and common understanding of how staying gluten-free plays into almost any activity people do together. Within GALA people will be able to eat in a safe, fun environment, and may find it to be a support system, as well as a way of making new friends and about learning more about anything related to being gluten-free.

GALA Founder Samira Weprin is very excited to welcome new Members. "This is THE group in the Los Angeles area to find gluten-free friends, connections, support, resources, restaurants, recipes and fun. We all know living gluten-free can be really hard sometimes, whether it's new to you, or you've been gluten-free for years. Wouldn't it be nice to have a group of friends who share and understand a gluten-free life?"

To get more information, join GALA, or to get details for this Saturday's picnic, go to meetup.com/GlutenFreeLA .