Book Review: The G-Free Diet

In this adventure that is Celiac Disease, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have too much information. Since the diagnosis, hubby and I have been sponges when it come to Celiac info (hubby more than me than me thanks to lots of crummy brain fog issues). Recently, I soaked up Elizabeth Hasselbeck's book, The G-Free Diet. Elizabeth Hasselbeck is a co-host on The View. I never would have known that she had Celiac without some of my co-workers in Kentucky telling me. She was sick for about 10 years before her diagnosis... ugh. I thought a year was terrible. She realized she had issues when she was on Survivor, eating a completely different diet than she ate here, she felt so much better. So she came back to the US and went on the hunt for what that terrible food was. She figured out for herself that it was gluten. It took her a very long time to get any doctor to test her for Celiac (Sidenote SoapBox: This is ridiculous!!! If a patient tells you "This is what is going on with my body, I seriously believe this is the issue, nothing you are doing is working, give me this test" and you say no, you are making a bad choice. People aren't all hypochondriacs. Some people listen to their bodies. Furthermore, if you don't know about Celiac and you have a patient who thinks she has Celiac... you BETTER learn about it real quick.) So anyways, EH has done a lot of this Celiac adventure on her own. She is one of the brave ones who still allows gluten containing foods in her house. That was a really interesting part for me to read. It gave me a little hope for once hubs and I have kids... maybe they can be normal. I just have to get me under control and get out of survival mode first. The G-Free Diet was a book full of seriously helpful tidbits of information. From what to do at dinner parties to lists and lists of products that do not contain gluten. I think I gained some confidence in my Celiac journey from reading her book. She has it down. She knows what she needs to do to protect herself and she does it. One of my favorite parts was when she was talking about how she deals with dinner parties or weddings where it would be an insult to not eat the food. Her and her husband have an agreement that she would just sort of push the food around her plate until he was about half done or a little more with his plate. Then they would swiftly trade plates. No one would have any idea that she didn't eat the food in front of her! Brilliant!
So when it comes down to it, this book was very helpful! If you are just beginning your G-Free diet, I totally recommend this book. If you have been on it a while but still have some questions, I totally recommend this book. If you are an old pro but what some fresh G-Free ideas, I totally recommend this book. If you have friends or family with Celiac disease, I totally recommend this book.
Enjoy!

New Beginnings...

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. So, I eliminated all grains for 2 and a half or 3 weeks... I kinda forget which. :) I was still not feeling great but I was feeling better. I went to the GI. He was great. Really helpful. He answered all my questions (oh yeah, there were a lot of them!) and he recommended me to a dietitian. I'm pretty excited to go see the dietitian. I'm hoping for some new good ideas and some professional help with this gluten free thing. This past week I began reintroducing my most common grains. Quinoa first, then rice, last corn. All fine... but I was still getting sick. Then it dawned on me. I referred to my handy dandy food journal to confirm the culprit. Lactose. I've been lactose sensitive for a long time; drinking only lactose free milk but still eating cheese, ice cream, etc.. No longer. I am full blown lactose intolerant. It's no fun but it is what it is. So, this too I will embrace in order to make myself a healthier person. My body continues to heal... hopefully... and I continue to strive to be 100% gluten free. The doc did a Celiac blood panel so I'll see how I'm doing with that any day now when I get the results. Hopefully I'm not failing... Gluten is sneaky. It sticks to manufacturing equipment and gets in my otherwise GF foods. Flour can travel through the stinking air!! This is rough. It takes a whole lot of trusting that companies are following safe manufacturing techniques and labeling the products correctly. We shouldn't have to take leaps of faith like that when it comes to things that could totally destroy our bodies. It is time for the FDA to set strict regulations and to make sure that companies are following them. The health of thousands and thousands of people with food allergies and intolerances are on the line. -- End rant. :)