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Alice Bast Interviewed on Just Talking Podcast

September 14, 2016

Alice Bast Interviewed on Just Talking Podcast

Alice Bast, CEO, speaks with theJust Talking Podcast about Beyond Celiac and her personal celiac disease journey.

The Just Talking Podcast interviewed our CEO, Alice Bast, about celiac disease this month. Alice shared stories about her personal diagnosis, how the gluten-free diet began to overshadow celiac disease, working with Anheuser-Busch as they developed a gluten-free beer and the process of rebranding celiac disease as a serious, genetic autoimmune disorder.

We highlighted some of the conversation below, but you can listen to the full episode of the Just Talking Podcast here.

  • It was ultimately a veterinarian, recognizing that animals sometimes have trouble digesting grains, who suggested that Alice be tested for celiac disease. “I credit my diagnosis, after an eight-year journey, to the family veterinarian,” Alice says on the podcast.
  • Diagnosed 23 years ago, before the wide availability of gluten-free brands we see today, Alice had to order gluten-free food from Canada along with her support group. Even the podcast host, Christopher, was surprised: “Wow, I was not ready for Canada to give you an assist on that one.”
  • When Alice founded Beyond Celiac in 2003 (then known as the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness), there was a real need to increase the accessibility, availability and affordability of gluten-free foods for people living with celiac disease. “Our goal was to make gluten-free food mainstream,” says Alice. “We didn’t realize, 10 years later, that the gluten-free diet would overshadow the seriousness of the disease.”
  • Alice believes that there is a great deal left to be done for celiac disease patients: “We have a lot of work ahead of us to really educate and empower the celiac disease patients to get properly tested, to actually work with the medical community and to be publishing research so that celiac is seen as a serious, genetic autoimmune disease.”

To read a full transcript of this interview, click here.

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