If you're a faithful blog reader you already know I'm in the process of going g-free. I bought Hasselbeck's book with a giftcard I'd received for my birthday back in September and committed to read it over the holidays in prep for a gluten-free experiment phase in 2011. I hope to begin this journey soon but I feel I still need a little more time to research and prepare my kitchen, it's a pretty huge undertaking.
That being said, Hasselbeck's book allowed me to get my feet wet with the concept. She shared her story to discovering that her stomach trauma was a result of Celiac disease. This part of the book wasn't particularly relavent to me, so Celiac is not my issue. But having a good friend, Melina, who does battle Celiac disease and just being an insanely curious person by nature, I was rather fascinated with all the info about Celiac disease.
I found Hasselbeck's suggestions for eating out, how to be g-free without killing your social life, and the recipe section most helpful for what my version of going g-free. Not having Celiac, her excessive discussion of cross contamination got a big tiresome for me. I was ready for her to move on to the more relavent about 3 chapters before she did.
As far as a survival guide, I think she was a little generous with that title. Reading that book wouldn't give you everything you need to know to live G-free. Not even close. I put down the book after finishing it and thought - I've only scratched the surface of what I really need to know. It was also short on testimonies, real-life experiences from other people who have gone g-free. For me, that would have been hugely encouraging. There were a few tidbits but could have been more if she hadn't over-done-it in other areas.
If I were rating the book on a 1-10 scale I'd probably give it a 4. It was interesting. Somewhat insightful. Somewhat informative. But sorely lacking in a few key areas. It was a surface scratch - not a survival guide as far as I'm concerned.
Love,
B
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