Medical/Health Archives - Page 3 of 7

Can You See My Scars?

My Unexpected Journey with Trauma, Burns and Recovery

by Samuel Moore-Sobel

Inspirational memoir about a burn victim’s recovery. The author was a teenager when he accepted what seemed like a mundane job- helping someone move items from a garage into a rental truck. The job kept dragging on as the man who’d hired him changed his mind about where items were going- and it ended with him on someone else’s property, where he accidentally got splashed with sulfuric acid that had been improperly stored. He was severely burned on his face, neck and arms. Luckily didn’t loose his vision, but the healing process took a very long time regardless. He tells about the accident in detail, the pain and confusion. The anger, frustration and shock his family had over the incident. The many treatments to his skin and surgeries over the years- to help it heal, lessen scar tissue and improve his breathing, which was impacted by a scar under his nose and damage where the acid had splashed inside. Aside from all the pain and discomfort, there was the mental toll- insecurities about his appearance, facing the reactions of strangers and other kids at school, worry that he’d never find a romantic partner in the future. Symptoms of stress and depression that turned out to be PTSD, also recurrent panic attacks that happened with no warning, and how he finally sought help, went through therapy. Being a religious person, he struggled with his faith, too (ie: how could God let this happen), and in the end, after many many years of wading through the difficulties of recovery, one of the best parts of the story is reading how he attended a conference for burn victims. Meeting other people who had been through the same kind of experience gave him a feeling of acceptance, and a new outlook. It was a vivid read. Very honest and well-told. Although a bit odd that the chapters are all so incredibly short- most just a page or two each- but I got used to that format after a while. Reading it is like having someone sitting right there telling you their story directly.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5

282 pages, 2020

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads, Inspirational, Medical/Health

Accidental Health

A Memoir of a Unique Journey to True Health

by Dee McGuire

I found this book browsing. I picked it up out of curiosity- how could health be accidental? The blurb on the back gave me no indication of what health issues the author struggled with, or how she overcame them- it sounded inspiring, but vague. Oddly none of the reviews online mention the conditions that were debilitating the author’s life, so I will tell although with a note of spoilers if you want to be surprised. Because I didn’t see where this story was going, and then it sure made me sit up and take notice. (And this post gets a bit personal because of how I related to it).

She suffered acute back pain, for many many years. It became more severe with pain in other joints, skin problems, difficulty concentrating and lots of other symptoms that just seemed to pile up. Visits to doctors and specialists, multiple surgeries on her back, neck and knees, pain medications and physical therapy- none of it really did any good. In the middle of all this was a frightening time, suddenly learning she had breast cancer, getting surgery, and just as suddenly told it was completely resolved. Really I was appalled to read how callously and brusquely the doctors treated her, with her concerns about conditions that were undermining her whole life they seemed to think unimportant. Unless she was leaving something out, I can’t imagine meeting doctors who give you so little actual consideration.

I started to suspect one of the major answers she found to her health issues, when I read that after a certain proecdure, she was unable to eat for a number of days, and her body aches and some other complaints instantly disappeared. Only to return later. I skipped ahead to see if gluten was mentioned in future pages and stared at a sentence in the beginning of chapter thirteen: My goal was to avoid wheat, rye and barley, the grains containing gluten. It was celiac disease (or a gluten intolerance?) Discovered when she noticed a friend at work avoiding certain foods, and asked about her diet- the friend was gluten-free which sparked McGuire’s interest. She decided to just try eating differently for a few days, and was amazed at the difference in how she felt. Her pain was gone.

I know exactly this feeling. I’ve been there: so delighted in the flexibility and ease to move my body that I laugh out loud to my family: “look, I can touch my toes! I can walk barefoot and my feet don’t hurt!” It’s just so shockingly wonderful to have that chronic pain gone that you’re stunned at how good you feel- it’s like a miracle, and yet that’s how you ought to feel every day, ha. So I could relate well to this part of her story. Her frustration in trying to make new food selections in the grocery store (yeah gluten-free on the label doesn’t always mean what you hope it does). Her quest to figure out what other foods bothered her digestive system and caused flareups. She moved on to visit a fuctional medicine doctor. (I had to look that up- seems to be another kind of alternative medicine) and then did a detox. To be honest, I’m skeptical about detox, and some of the other measures the functional doctor recommended (not to mention the staggering expense, and all those tests!)

But this story resonated with me because I could relate to all the stuff about how gluten had affected her autoimmune system and caused her joint pain. I’ve had those moments, when suddenly my wrist hurt so acutely I’d drop something, or my knee so I’d have to stop walking and hold onto something, or my lower back so I’d need a cushion or heat pad behind it to drive. I’d wake up in the morning with my body hurting and have to roll out of bed and lever myself up from the floor, because I couldn’t just sit up in bed. At one point I could barely bend to tie my shoes. I was on the verge of going to the doctor to find out if I had arthritis or some joint issue when I stumbled on the idea that gluten could be causing another chronic issue I had (insomnia) so I tried going gluten-free for a few days. Just to see. It was a shock and delight, to find that my insomnia, joint pain and many other symptoms disappeared. Most have never come back, except for the few times I accidentally have gluten exposure again.

So I’m there with the author on all this. The need to clean out your kitchen, to be super careful in restaurants, to ask people about ingredients if they make you food, to read labels on food packages more discerningly. I’ve found cross-contamination and trace amounts really do affect me. I appreciated reading the particulars on how her family found ways to eat healthier and avoid the foods that gave them problems (her kids had minor issues that were resolved when they avoided gluten too).

The whole book is kind of a wake-up call, that the things you put in your body really do matter. That having good health could be as simple as giving your body the wholesome foods it needs to maintain itself properly. Not all the author’s health issues were resolved when she went gluten-free, cut individually problematic foods and did her detox. But the worst ones dissipated and she felt increasingly better as time went on. I’m glad she was determined to keep seeking for answers, and that she shared her story.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5

201 pages, 2021

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Bios / Memoirs, Gardening / Food, Medical/Health

On the Move

by Oliver Sacks

This book, following Uncle Tungsten, was fascinating to me just because of how much I didn’t know about the man. It starts when he was about fourteen, tells about his young adult years, univeristy education, how he figured out his career, his experiences writing books, his intellectual family (and schizophrenic older brother), many lasting friendships with colleagues, his compassion and concern for neurologic patients, and so much more. I would have had no idea (apart from the cover image) that Sacks was very much into motorcycles as a young man, and loved to travel the country on his bike. That he was seriously into weight-lifting. That he was gay, fell in love a few times, it never quite worked out. That he wanted to do research but was kind of a “walking disaster” in the lab- loosing items, breaking things, etc- until he was politely told to leave (this during university years). His passion was people- learning about their lives and how everything interacted with or influenced their neurological disease. He was vividly interested in the case histories his mother would tell (she was a surgeon) and put this same passion into telling stories, only in book form- and after gaining the consent of patients, many whom wished their stories told, because they felt forgotten and ignored. These were often patients who lived in long-term care facilities or hospitals. Sacks tells of his writing process, his many frustrations in bringing books to press, his travels and the thrill of new discoveries in the field. It was wonderful to read the “backstory” as it were, of his books that I’m familiar with, and has fired my interest to read all the others. The last chapters of this book were difficult for me to get through- they go into more detail on the workings of the brain, which I struggled to understand. But this one’s staying on my shelf, maybe I’ll comprehend more with a re-read someday.

Rating: 4/5

398 pages, 2015

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads, Medical/Health

Bald in the Land of Big Hair

(a true story)

by Joni Rodgers

This book is also about cancer. It has a completely different tone than the last one. The author’s personality is pretty much a polar opposite, she was an actress (teaching children theater classes, doing voices on the air, commercials, etc) married in a loving relationship with two children when cancer struck. It’s so similar to the last read in terms of describing the shock of diagnosis, the difficult treatments, the awkwardness of people not knowing what to say, absolute drain of being so ill for so very long. The strangeness she felt when it seemed to finally be over: she’d made it, she’d survived, but fighting off cancer had consumed her life for so many years- nothing felt the same. Unlike the prior read (I can’t help compare the two so closely)- which seemed to take place in solitude and hospital stays, not much family present in the book- this story is permeated with the author’s family. How terribly hard it was for them. How confused her young children were about some things, totally accepting of others, angry when she was unable to care for them, and so on. All the ups and downs, how they made it through. Especially with her husband. I admit, some of the parts about how cancer treatment affected their love life was told a bit too intimately for my taste! And for such a very long time her relationship with food was affected afterwards. What it’s like to go through this illness and survive it is described in such brutal detail, it can be hard to read- but it’s all lightened by her humor. Jokes everywhere. They didn’t always make sense to me (or make me laugh), but still I think this book might be a keeper, to stay on my shelf, just because it’s such a contrast to the other. Something else took me by surprise- her exploration of faith didn’t bore or exasperate me (my usual reaction nowadays to reading someone’s religious effusions). What she said made sense, I respected and appreciated how she worked her way through re-evaluating life, and also explored some alternative ideas and views along the way (once consulting a shaman, another time visiting a naturopath, for example). It’s a very candid, forthright story about one woman’s journey through the black gulf of cancer and out the other side.

Parallel read: Autobiography of a Face

Rating: 3/5

253 pages, 2001

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads, Medical/Health

Autobiography of a Face

by Lucy Grealy

Lucy Grealy suffered from cancer in her jaw as a child. It was treated with surgical removal (an entire third of her jawbone), chemotherapy and radiation. She survived the cancer but her face was forever disfigured. It sounds like she spent most of her childhood and young adult years in and out of hospitals, or convalescing at home- years and years of reconstructive surgeries that failed, when the grafts were reabsorbed by her body. It’s difficult to read about the loneliness and pain she endured (including a family that rarely discussed things). But to her those were almost nothing, compared to the mental and emotional suffering by how people saw her afterwards. Such was the internal life of a child, for a long time she didn’t even realize how sick she was, she had no idea what chemo and radiation would do to her body. She found comfort and security in the sameness of the hospitals, being surrounded by other patients, not seen as someone unusual or unattractive there. It was when she returned to school and other kids cruelly made fun of her, that she finally understood how her appearance differed. For a long time after she always hoped that the next surgery would be the one to restore her face, to make her look normal again. She was baffled by women in a plastic surgeon’s office who were there to alter their noses or breasts- thinking she’d be happy to have just regular features like them. College years followed, where she finally found friends who saw past her appearance, where she cultivated an air of otherness, honed her writing skills as a poet, and longed to be loved by someone.

There were also horses. She worked in stables, briefly owned a horse when a friend moved and couldn’t take him (it died suddenly), then had another years later when her parents were able to buy her one. She talks a lot about how comforting it was to be around the animals, to work closely with them. And how restorative the non-judgemental attitude of her co-workers in the stable, people who like her just mostly cared about the horses. On another note, she also found comfort in words, philosophers and poets, explored Buddhism, existentialism and even Christianity. I admit sometimes I didn’t quite get what she meant, her thought process was occasionally obscure to me, but her musings on the nature of beauty, the importance of knowing people for who they are, really struck me. So many painful words, insightful and beautiful ones too

She was friends with Ann Patchett, who wrote about their relationship in a memoir Truth and Beauty. However reading accounts like this makes me have some reservations on reading it or not.

There’s an interview with the author here.

Rating: 4/5

223 pages, 1994

More opinions:
Books on the Brain
Draft No. 4]
anyone else?

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads, Medical/Health

Lighter than My Shadow

by Katie Green

Such a hard book to read- but I couldn’t put it down. One sitting, last night. It’s a graphic novel memoir about eating disorders and sexual abuse (from a trusted adult who was supposed to be helping the girl). The artwork is simple yet poignant, the story very expressive and honest about mental health issues. I can only imagine how difficult -and perhaps cathartic- this book must have been to write. She girl had so much to deal with. Body image issues. Skewed thinking. Obsessiveness over rules and restrictions. Hurting family that wanted to help but their efforts weren’t always helpful. Muddling through years of therapy until things finally start to get better- but even when she feels like she’s recovered, old habits and thought patterns recur- again and again. Flashbacks from the trauma. Is it ever really over? I was afraid that when she went off to college the story would take a bad turn, but she had good friends even if they didn’t always know what was really going on, or what she’d been through- and she had to find her way to be healthy. Then there’s the whole issue of this alternate “healer” guy who took advantage of her- just awful. That was another thing to overcome, to let time pass so she could feel distant from it and whole again. Painful story, but hopeful at the end and important to be told.

Brought to mind some other graphic novel memoirs I’ve read: Spinning, Stitches, Hey Kiddo and Blankets, also the book Wasted. Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 4/5

510 pages, 2013

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Bios / Memoirs, Graphic Novels, Medical/Health, Young Adult

Wheat Belly

Loose the Wheat, Loose the Weight and Find Your Way Back to Health

by William Davis, MD

When I started this one a week and half ago (listening to the audiobook version), I’d already been gluten-free for months, and have no plans of changing that. So I didn’t seek out this book to convince myself of the benefits of a gluten-free diet, rather I noticed it on a shelf and was curious to learn more. I agree with a lot of what this doctor says, simply because it validates my own experience. Other parts I had difficulty following- the details about LDL particles, for example- or was puzzled by. Some things he talks about took me by surprise, but the problem is I don’t know enough to judge. If some of the things the book says are wrong or mistaken, that doesn’t mean all the info is wrong? So how can you tell. I would say: read this one with a heaping grain of salt:

First the doctor (a cardiologist) goes through the history of the wheat plant, stating that it’s been changed so dramatically by selective breeding that it’s no longer the same. And that the changes, specifically in the proteins, cause health problems for some people. I kind of thought this book was going to be all about gluten intolerance, but it’s not, although that is a big focus. It’s also about how components of wheat affect the appetite and spike blood sugar. As you might expect from a book about a specific diet, there’s lots of amazing-sounding stories of people recovering from lifelong issues when they eliminate wheat. And not all heart problems, which is this author’s specialty. Diabetes, brain functioning, skin rashes, joint pain, overall body pH (which admittedly I did not understand), etc. He doesn’t mention the affect on sleep patterns- which was the most significant thing for me- but other symptoms I have experienced that disappeared with wheat elimination are explained here.

At the end of the book there are suggestions on how to avoid wheat- much of this was already familiar to me. But then it takes an odd turn. I thought this book was about how wheat is bad for you, why, and how to get rid of it in your diet. At the very end the author suddenly starts going on about avoiding nearly all grains, eating very little fruit (too much sugar) and having unlimited nuts and healthy fats in the diet. Lots of meat and vegetables he says. I don’t know- that starts sounding more like a paleo or Atkins diet (which I don’t know much about). This threw me off. And I’m not going to follow that. I did listen through to the end, although the pages naming foods to avoid (hidden wheat gluten) and those that are healthy, including sample menu for a week- were kind of difficult. It’s hard to not drift off when listening to a list. I’d rather skim with my eyes. This audiobook included a disc with a PDF at the end, that has recipes. I didn’t look at them.

I found the reader’s voice okay, it was Tom Weiner. What did start to annoy me were the author’s attempts at humor or connecting with his audience (so I assume) by using popular cultural references- comparing things to famous people, movies or songs. That just never works for me. And the snide criticism towards both advertising and health agencies that encourage people to eat wheat products felt a bit much, too.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5

292 pages, 2011

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Medical/Health

Crashing Through

A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See

by Robert Kurson

Part casual biography, part scientific explanation about how vision works, what it’s like to be blind, and to regain sight. Mike May was blinded in an accident at age three. He did not let lack of vision slow him down- hence the title of the book- plowing headlong through life as an inventor and entrepreneur, seizing opportunities and delighting in new experiences. As a teenager, he once tried to drive a car by listening to the sounds of traffic passing (on a very quiet street, but still!) He learned to downhill ski and held a world record in the sport. He once built a radio tower in his backyard. And that’s just mentioning a few of his accomplishments. Got around just fine with a cane and a seeing-eye dog, never felt that life was anything but great. Then he chanced to meet a doctor who told him about a new type of stem-cell transplant that might restore his vision. He decided to try it, even though the chances of rejection or risks of cancer from the medication he’d need were high.

I thought these were the best parts of the book, descriptions of what it was like to see for the first time- it was really interesting what things leapt out to him as novelties or worth study, that nobody had ever described to him, or that he just wasn’t aware of as a blind person. For example, he was surprised to see that carpets have patterns on them, and really bothered at seeing a homeless person on a sidewalk, that everyone else just walked past. (Less interesting for me, was reading about how much he wanted to ogle women, his constant and rather juvenile obsession with female bodies). He had to learn all over again to identify things he’d only known by touch or sound, to retrain his brain with his new perception. Fascinating the explanations of how the brain interprets vision and learns it categorically in infancy- for some (of the very few) people like Mike May who received their sight again as an adult, parts of the brain have literally forgotten how to see and have to learn all over again. Sometimes they can’t and the adjustment to receiving sight after a lifetime of being blind can cause stress and severe depression. In his case, May was able to see and understand some things, not others (very specifically- he couldn’t read or visually interpret faces). For months he hoped the ability would just come back to him, then decided to learn it by rote memorization. To the point where he could more or less see automatically instead of having to puzzle out what he was looking at over and over again. A thing which the doctors had told him would probably be impossible. Amazing story.

All that aside, this book was a new and uneven experience for me, because I thought I was getting a paperbound copy, but it came to me as an audiobook. I was initially annoyed. This was my first experience with an audiobook. With an older, used CD-player my kid didn’t want anymore, and an obviously used set of CDs that are the book itself. I missed large sections of the first few chapters because the CD kept skipping. The rest of the set was more or less okay, though it had lags or skips here and there so I’d miss a word or sentence. It was also hard to navigate where I was- the player couldn’t “remember” where I’d paused (like the one in my car does) so I’d have to skip through from the beginning to find the closest location to start again when returning to it- with a lot of overlap, listening to many parts over again. Sometimes I couldn’t get close at all- not sure if this is a flaw in how the player is functioning, or the CDs themselves. I should try at least one more audiobook, to see if the player was at fault or not.

I found it odd to listen to one person’s voice for so long. Definitely not something I could do while driving (too distracting) but it was kind of nice to listen to while doing simple chores around the house. I usually listen to music or a podcast when doing jigsaw puzzles, but now think it might be nice to do two things I enjoy at the same time- listening to a book while puzzling! However the voice really did drone on. Depending on my mood, sometimes I found it irritating, other days I was able to just focus on what the voice was relating, and get lost in the telling. It is such a different experience though, I find it hard to say “I read that book” when I listened to someone tell it to me. I’m game to try another few, but don’t know if this will become a regular pastime for me.

I did really like a special feature at the end of the audiobook, where the author himself interviewed Mike May, seven years after the book was first published. It was kind of awesome to hear the subject of the book talking about his personal experiences.

Rating: 3/5

336 pages, 2007

More opinions: RA for All
anyone else?

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Bios / Memoirs, Medical/Health

Gluten-Free Girl

How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back

by Shauna James Ahern

This book is kind of scattered but I was enthralled with it anyway. Because for the past three months I have been trying my best to be gluten-free, and the different in my life is astonishing. I saw myself so much in these pages, it was really nice to be able to relate (more so than the first book I read about being gluten-free). Even though her writing is repetitive- the same anecdotes come up multiple times, the same food memories from her childhood, and so on- I didn’t mind because I was sinking into the words, absorbing the reality that what I’ve been going through, other people have too. I suspect the repetitive nature is from the book being based on her blog (which I would really like to read but can’t access- I arrived too late!) and it was confusing how the chapters kept switching back and forth, from describing how she ate and felt before realizing gluten was an issue, and after. I just do so much better as a reader when things stay consistently chronological. What I like most about this book, is how she delights in her new relationship with food. Her period of anger and disappointment at having to stop eating anything with gluten (this is far more than just avoiding bread btw) is markedly short, or at least she doesn’t dwell on it. Instead she revels in how wonderful it feels to not be achingly tired all the time, to not feel constantly sick and run-down, to eat food that tastes good and makes you feel energized and alive and healthy. And now I know exactly what she means.

I can’t afford all the fancy foodstuffs she dives into, but I’m definitely willing to try new things. Yes I’ve omitted one pervasive grain from my diet, and two minor ones (wheat, rye and barley) but on the other hand I’ve added eight new ones (and still have the old standbys of corn, rice and oats – though have to be picky about the oats). This doesn’t feel like a deprivation anymore. Because it’s just so nice to feel good. I’ve figured out how to make biscuits, banana bread and piecrust that have the taste and texture I like, am working on learning pizza dough, sweet buns, bread, tortillas from scratch, etc. I’m still shocked at how many decades I lived with all these pervasive symptoms, that I was so used to, they just felt like normal. Don’t have to feel that way! Changing the way I cook and eat is so very worth it.

This turned into much about me, ha. I would really like to find more books about the experience of adjusting to living gluten-free (as opposed to just books offering advice or recipes). Any suggestions?

Borrowed this one from the public library.

Rating: 4/5

276 pages, 2007

More opinions: Sophisticated Dorkiness
anyone else?

Tags: 4/5- Great Book, Bios / Memoirs, Current Reads, Gardening / Food, Medical/Health

The G-Free Diet

A Gluten-Free Survival Guide

by Elisabeth Hasselbeck

I was looking for cookbooks at the library and came across this on the shelf. It was a quick read, and the first I’ve done that gives me a perspective of someone else who’s “been there.” I don’t know anything about the celebrity author except that she was on “Survivor” (which I didn’t see). It was that experience that made her realize she had a serious health issue- she’d always suffered from severe stomach pain and digestive problems, but they disappeared when she was on the reality show. Afterwards she realized she hadn’t eaten any bread or wheat products during that time- and pretty soon she got diagnosed with celiac disease (with difficulty). She wrote the book to provide information and give tips on how to navigate living “G-free”- everything from cleaning your kitchen to food shopping and what to do in restaurants or attending dinner parties. The forward is written by an actual doctor, and she quotes him a few times, but most of it is just written from her own personal experience.

I had mixed feelings about it all. On the one hand, I don’t think I have celiac disease, but I am becoming more certain that I have a gluten intolerance. I don’t experience the same symptoms this author did, but mine are significant enough that I feel like I never want to go backwards- I’ve been mostly gluten free for a few months now, and the few times I do make a mistake (didn’t know there’s gluten in soy sauce- oops! or probably in the barbecue my husband brought home once) I can definitely tell. Like her, it takes my body exactly three days to get back to normal- or what I hope is now my normal! I appreciated that she was honest about how hard it is to be gluten-free at first, about her personal slips, the moments when she just caved and ate things she knew would make her sick, or felt embarrassed to explain it to people, etc.

Well, so her book has a lot of descriptions and lists of what to avoid, how to read labels, how to tell friends or restaurant waiters what you can’t eat, and strategies for travel or eating out. Some of it affirmed what I have already learned, other details were new to me. I didn’t realize there’s gluten in many lotions and shampoos, for example. I knew to avoid teriyaki and soy sauce (there are gluten-free versions) but just realized the imitation vanilla I bought last month because the store ran out of the real thing (there’s still a lot of blank spaces on shelves here probably due to covid-related supply chain issues- and it’s totally random- one week there’s no milk, the next it’s cream cheese or onions or all the fresh green produce) well, the vanilla maybe has gluten (could be in the caramel coloring which is made from malt which is from barley which has gluten). It gets complicated you see. I don’t know for sure unless I call the manufacturer (a thing this author apparently has done repeatedly for many products) but I’d rather have real vanilla on my shelf again anyway so I’m just going to replace it.

What I found surprising was how fanatical she is about avoiding contamination. Maybe because I seem to just have an intolerance which is less severe, but I haven’t gone so far as to avoid touching bread crumbs on the counter, or washing my hands after fixing bagel for my kid, for example. I do wonder now though, if the nights I don’t sleep quite as well, or the days I have joint pain again, are following an accidental contact. It certainly doesn’t take much in terms of ingestion to trigger my symptoms I’ve found. (I have learned to avoid possible cross-contamination from walnuts in products I buy- having reacted to something that the only possible reason is that it was “made in a facility that also processes tree nuts”).

In terms of strategies- I thought I would learn something helpful here but I was a bit disappointed. I can’t picture dropping on the floor a cookie someone insisted I eat to avoid refusing it- or putting my plate in front of someone else at a dinner table while eating energy bars out of my lap. Her biggest one seems to be eat as much as you can before leaving the house, so you’re not hungry if you can’t eat where you go. This book is older, I’ve found many food items at the store are labeled “certified gluten free” now and most restaurants I’ve been to (the very few times we’ve eaten out recently) have things marked on the menu that are gluten-free (or can be made so upon request) so I don’t think I need to carry a special card around explaining what that actually means for restaurant staff (but I was annoyed that she stated in the book a copy of her diet card was provided in the back- and it was not there). The entire chapter about going gluten-free as a way to eat healthier was also rather off-putting to me. Yes, it might make you make healthier food choices because you simply have to avoid so many processed foods- but I do not think it’s an automatic way to loose weight and I was annoyed that she kept touting this as a weight-loss diet.

I’m sure there’s much better books out there about being gluten-free and I’ll probably look for some.

Borrowed from the public library.

Rating: 3/5

234 pages, 2009

More opinions: So Many Precious Books, So Little Time
anyone else?

Tags: 3/5- Good Read, Current Reads, Medical/Health

Tag: Medical/Health

My Unexpected Journey with Trauma, Burns and Recovery

A Memoir of a Unique Journey to True Health

(a true story)

Loose the Wheat, Loose the Weight and Find Your Way Back to Health

A True Story of Risk, Adventure, and the Man Who Dared to See

How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back

A Gluten-Free Survival Guide

RATINGS / SUBJECTS: