The G Free Diet by Elisabeth Hasselbeck

The G Free Diet by Elisabeth Hasselbeck is about her journey to discover she has celiac disease and how she dealt with it. If you or someone you know has this disease or are gluten intolerant, this is really a book you should buy to learn more about it.

Book Description
“For years, Elisabeth Hasselbeck couldn't figure out what was making her sick. She asked doctors and consulted nutritionists, but no one seemed to have any answers. It wasn't until spending time in the Australian Outback, living off the land on the grueling Survivor TV show, that, ironically, her symptoms vanished. Returning home, she pinpointed the food that made her sick -- gluten, the binding element in wheat. By simply eliminating it from her diet, she was able to enjoy a completely normal, healthy life. But that wasn't all. Hasselbeck discovered the myriad benefits that anyone can enjoy from a gluten-free diet: from weight loss and increased energy to even the alleviation of the conditions of autism.

In this all-inclusive book, Hasselbeck shares her hard-earned wisdom on living life without gluten and loving it. She gives you everything you need to know to start living a gluten-free life, from defining gluten - where to find it, how to read food labels - to targeting gluten-free products, creating G-Free shopping lists, sharing recipes, and managing G-Free living with family and friends.” – The G Free Diet


My Thoughts
The G Free Diet is a book that I’ve wanted to read for over a year. I actually saw The View one day when Elisabeth was talking about celiac disease. At the time, I was going through my own battle with my digestive system and when I heard more about celiac disease from her, I decided to do some research about it too. Turns out, she and I are quite similar and I self-diagnosed myself too.

Doctors in our country don’t want to diagnose it, and I wasn’t ever sure why they wouldn’t even run the tests for it (even when I had great insurance). Apparently, there is no money to be made for it by the pharmaceutical company, so they instead tell us we have IBS. I knew that was BS long ago too because not one of those medicines helped me. It just hurt me – and my wallet. So, I suffered for years without knowing why. Luckily, I saw that show on The View to start the push to figure out what was wrong with me. Aren’t shows like that just great?

Elisabeth explains 1 out of 133 people in our country have it, or about 1% of the population. Chances of having it also go up if someone in your family has it (even if they aren’t showing symptoms). Yet, doctors think it is extremely rare. Something really should be done about this because the dangers of continuing to eat gluten if you have celiac disease are not something to take lightly. It could lead to cancer and other autoimmune diseases too.

The G Free Diet helps to explain some of the symptoms of celiac disease and also which tests to ask for when going to the doctor if you are experiencing these symptoms. She also explains what gluten is, and what to avoid when buying at the grocery store, and even what to do or say when going to a restaurant or at a party (which is perhaps the most stressful part of eating when you have celiac disease).


As part of Elisabeth’s job, she has to wear many beauty products, and yes, gluten can show up even in lipstick and hairspray. I found this out years ago about the lipstick, and have avoided wearing any at all and stuck with lip balm. However, Elisabeth gives lists of where to buy gluten free makeup and other beauty products too.

Overall, The G Free Diet by Elisabeth Hasselbeck is really a must buy book if you have celiac disease or if you know someone who does. It will help you to get a better understanding of the disease, what gluten is, what cross contamination can do, and much more. I highly recommend this book.



* Thank you to the publisher of The G Free Diet, Center Street, for providing me with a copy of this book for review. All opinions expressed are my own.