Jennie Bragg is an Editorial Producer in CNN’s Money Unit. Previously - When did G-free get all...sexy?

Where I come from, baked goods only happen on birthdays and other such special occasions, and they come with a little help from Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker. Many critics would agree that my mom makes the best brownies in the world and if anyone is still wondering about her big secret, they come from a box. So, it was slightly out of character that I baked chocolate chip cookies this weekend - from scratch.

Why stray from tradition? Because gluten-free baking mixes taste like cardboard.
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Christine Romans, host of CNN's "Your Bottom Line," recently caught up with Top Cheffer Angelo Sosa at his new restaurant Social Eatz to talk about what spices spicez make his food sing.

Jennie Bragg is an Editorial Producer in CNN’s Money Unit. Previously - Gluten-free and well-fed: the sneaky stuff

Fashion week has come and gone here in New York, but with all the models, designers and wanna-be fashionistas roaming about town just a week ago, I got to thinking a bit about trends. Like shoulder pads and last season’s romper, diets tend to go in and out of style.

So what’s hot right now? You guessed it: the gluten-free diet.

Popularized by celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the G-free diet is all the rage. Once a solution for those diagnosed, like me, with celiac disease, now 93% of gluten-free interested dieters have never been diagnosed with celiac, according to research by the Hartman Group, a consumer research group.

So if you don’t have a gluten allergy or intolerance, why are you eating gluten-free?
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Jennie Bragg is an Editorial Producer in CNN’s Money Unit. Previously - Celiac? To heck with that!

When it comes to food - and pretty much everything else in my life - I have always been a creature of habit. This gets me into what I refer to as food ruts; I eat the same thing for breakfast or lunch (or both) for days, weeks, even months at a time, until I wear myself out completely and decide I can’t stand the sight of said food anymore.

Such was the case recently with almonds. I loved them. I couldn’t get enough. I put them on yogurt, oatmeal, salads, and ate ‘em by the heaping handful. Then, out of nowhere, my almond joy vanished.
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Jennie Bragg is an Editorial Producer in CNN’s Money Unit

My very first word was cookie - raisin cookie to be exact. Family legend goes, it came out something like, "raymee cook cook." The details are trivial. The moral of this story is that shortly after I left the womb, I discovered my first true love: carbs.

As I grew older, my meal of choice became quite obvious: the basket of bread. Who needs to order at all when the best part of a meal comes at the very beginning, for free?

And so it was, for 24 years, that I lived the life of a glutinous gluten monster - until that fateful day. After about two years of terrible stomach issues and running from doctor to doctor, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. That's the no-carbs-for-the-rest-of-your-life disease (or at least not the good carbs).
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