March ARB sergeant writes gluten-free cookbook

  • Published
  • By Chaz Hill
  • 452nd Maintenance Group
MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, Calif. --  Master Sgt. Cheryl Hart is an award-winning cook from the Inland Empire who is about to add the title of author to her extensive resume.

Sergeant Hart has been cooking since she was a little girl. From an early age, she says she was able to open the refrigerator and figure out how to get into the cupboards. She was raised in a family rich in heritage and the love for cooking and celebrating life through food. Among her fondest memories as a child was the discovery of the cultural importance placed on food.

"Those years gave me the balance; and my deep respect for food," she said.

When Sergeant Hart was 15 years old, she accepted her first summer job, which was at a bakery in Olympia, Wash. That's when she knew she had the cooking bug. By age 18, she had honed her cooking skills working at fine restaurants throughout the state of Washington and had won multiple awards and received numerous accolades for her cooking, including best veggie burger and best potato soup.

Sergeant Hart then started her own catering business and began teaching. She has been teaching for more than fifteen years, including cooking classes for children, gluten-free and fat-free cooking and healthy lifestyle cooking classes. She also taught at The Cooking Store in Riverside under the guidance of Chef Robert M. Sevaly.

Sergeant Hart's journey into the culinary arts was not always bright lights and award winning statues, however. In 2000, she was diagnosed with celiac disease.

According to the New England Journal of Medicine, celiac disease is precipitated, in genetically predisposed persons, by the ingestion of gluten, the major storage protein of wheat, barley, rye and similar grains. Originally considered a rare malabsorption syndrome of childhood, celiac disease is now recognized as a common condition that may be diagnosed at any age and that affects many organs. The individual's immune system responds by attacking the small intestine and inhibiting the absorption of important nutrients into the body.

Sergeant Hart has spent the last 10 years studying the disease. Like most people with this disease, her discovery was challenging. She learned that everyone reacts differently to the disease: some may be allergic to wheat, while others are gluten intolerant; some may simply have another disease that requires wheat and glutens to be eliminated from their diet altogether.

A study by the Celiac Disease Center at the University of Chicago found that celiac disease affects at least three million Americans. That is between 1 in 100 and 1 in 133 people, with 97% going undiagnosed. The average length of time it takes for a symptomatic person to be diagnosed with celiac disease in the United States is four years, and this type of delay can dramatically increase an individual's risk of developing autoimmune disorders, neurological problems, osteoporosis and cancer.

At present, the only effective treatment for celiac disease is a life-long gluten-free diet. No medication exists that will prevent damage or prevent the body from attacking the stomach when gluten is present. Strict adherence to the diet allows the intestines to heal, leading to resolution of all symptoms in most cases and, depending on how soon the diet is begun, can also eliminate the heightened risk of osteoporosis, intestinal cancer and, in some cases, sterility.

Facing this adversity and new change of lifestyle, Sergeant Hart has taken her passion for cooking and transferred it into helping others by self publishing a book, entitled "Gluten Free For the Glutton: A book for the Celiac who wants to indulge." With this book, she helps other people suffering from the same condition through a collection of organic, preservative-free and equally appetizing recipes.

"In this book, I want to show you how to make a meal with easy-to-follow recipes containing recommended gluten-free substitutes that would allow anyone to create and indulge in the same dishes," she said. "I want to help make the lives of sufferers of this disease easier, knowing that they are not alone and simply believing it is a healthy lifestyle change and not the end of the world."

Sergeant Hart said the transition to a gluten-free lifestyle can be smooth and easy, even for a servicemember who is always on the go with deployments, alerts, TDYs and technical training. Even so, Sergeant Hart--a knowledge operations manager for the 452nd Medical Group--said celiacs must be cautious at military dining facilities.

"We need to be more cautious about what contains wheat. Always ask what kind of cooking oil is being used on the grill, because PAM contains wheat," she said. "MREs are a definite no-no and, when you're TDY, it is best to stick with fresh foods, vegetables and fruits and stay away from fast foods."

Sergeant Hart's recipes have been printed in numerous publications, including The Tillamook Cheese Cookbook and Gourmet magazine.