For example, there is an entire chapter about cooking at home. While I had thought about the do’s and don’ts of WHAT to cook, I never thought about the HOW. And by this I mean how to avoid cross-contamination. It never dawned on me how easy it would be to contaminate what was a gluten-free meal by the utensils used or strainer the GT was dumped into. For example, you have found a great GF bread and go to make yourself a yummy sandwich alongside of your husband and you decide to make PB&J using a GF peanut butter. He has wheat bread and you have GF. He sticks his knife in the PB and spreads it on the bread and then goes back for a little more. Your PB is now contaminated. As you know it doesn’t take a lot of gluten to cause damage to your intestines so while you think it may not be a big deal, it is. One dip might not be so bad but think about how many times that knife goes back into the jar after being used on wheat bread! Elisabeth doesn’t recommend having a completely separate kitchen by any means but does give a great list of kitchen items that it is probably best to have two of to help prevent cross-contamination, such as a strainer as you and I both know those little holes can be a beast to clean.
Another chapter that I thought was great was the chapter on G-Free beauty. I had not even thought about gluten being in my beauty products but when I checked my can of hairspray sure enough there was wheat protein and who doesn’t end up with a mouth full of hairspray every once in a while? I will admit, I am not completely sold on every beauty product needing to be GF (such as eye shadow or even foundation) but things like lipstick and lip gloss are definitely on the list. I read a statistic this week that the average woman will eat 4 lbs of lip stick in her life. YUCK! So while experts are on the fence about the issue, it doesn’t hurt to at least be aware of GF in our beauty products. Elisabeth provides a great list of product companies that are GF as well as a list of ingredients to watch out for.
I think the thing I liked most about the book, besides it being completely easy to read and her great tone in writing, is the abundance of references that are provided. Seriously there are lists upon lists of great references for products, recipes, and restaurants in this book! All in all, I give this book 2 thumbs up! You can buy the hardback version at Amazon.com for 16.49 or the Kindle edition for $11.99. It is definitely worth the money! Stay tuned for more reviews as I discover yummy (and sometimes not so yummy) GF products!
***Disclaimer: These opinions are all my own. I was not paid or in any way compensated for reviewing this book.***
