“Hot” authors like Elisabeth Hasselbeck make news. The resulting publicity the gluten-free world has received from her new book, “The G Free Diet,” is welcome but for one glitch. Elisabeth Hasselbeck does not always know what she is talking about when it comes to gluten free. Still I respect her diligence, her sincerity, her ability to cope and her success in becoming a TV personality. So I was glad when Amy Ratner, our associate editor, said she was going to publish a book review. I even bought the book myself and labored through about half of it.
I say “labored” because the book did not hold my interest. There is nothing in this book that you can’t read elsewhere or find more accurately stated. If you are a new celiac, this is not necessarily the book you need to cope with a gluten-free diet. It might make you feel optimistic, as you should now that you are going to return to health, and that is a good thing. It might make you feel “hot” and that might be a good thing, too.
Informed is another matter. For that, I refer you to Peter Greens book, The Hidden Epidemic, and of course our magazine, Gluten-Free Living. I will take the opportunity here to note that we have a sterling history and reputation for getting things right. You can check that out. Dietary myths were exposed in the pages of Gluten-Free Living. We beat everyone to the punch – the national support groups, the dietitians, even the medical establishment, which still shows a remarkable ignorance of the diet itself.
Alas, we have yet to make Access Hollywood, but that has not been our goal. Our mission is to provide reliable information to help you cope with the demands of gluten-free living. Trust me, it’s not at all sexy or glamorous but we like what we do and we keep on going without the acclaim and with the knowledge that we bring some good into the world.
Amy’s review is now on our site at glutenfreeliving.com. We are posting it because there has been a great deal of concern about the extent of Ms. Hasselbeck’s misinformation and the unintended consequences of making people think they can just adopt the diet like they might a new hairstyle, lose weight on the gluten-free diet so they look better in their bathing suits (not!) and live a happier life.
Nothing is that simple!
Ann
3 comments:
And now she's being sued for plagiarism over her book...
To be fair, the charges seem extremely weak, as I've written here.
I gave her book to my aunt and uncle and now they FINALLY get what I mean when I say the words, "cross contamination." They used to say I was paranoid, but seeing it in print made all the difference.
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