The Kiwanis Club of Swainsboro held its weekly meeting Tuesday, March 19, at the Rustic Grill at 7 p.m. With President-Elect Paul Cerpovicz presiding, they had 14 in attendance including three guests, Joelle Romanchik-Cerpovicz, Ashley Fisher and Rebecca Sharron. The banana nut cake, donated and baked by Jim Clapham, was won by Dianna Wedincamp and the Domino’s pizza donated by Domino's was won by Jeff Palmer. Dianna Wedincamp won two jars of pepper jelly and David Gribbin won the third jar of pepper jelly. The program was hosted by Paul Cerpovicz who turned the program over to Dr. Joelle Romanchik-Cerpovicz. She introduced her Georgia Southern University graduate students, Ashley Fisher and Rebecca Sharron, who are pursuing a master’s degree in nutrition and food science at GSU. Fisher discussed gluten in carbohydrate-rich foods, the effect it can have on people suffering from gluten-intolerance or Celiac Disease, and how to adjust diets to avoid gluten. She also talked about food safety concerns when dealing with people who are very sensitive to gluten. Sharron talked about avoiding irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by developing a low FODMAP diet that includes foods that are fermentable, oligosaccharide, disaccharide, monosaccharide, and polyol rich. By eliminating all FODMAP foods until IBS symptoms disappear, then reintroducing these foods one at a time to see which ones can be tolerated, a person can personalize his or her diet to avoid IBS and lead a healthier life.
