How to be Gluten Free and Keep Your Friends

I don’t know why I haven’t shared a book review on here before. With all the cookbooks I’ve used, you have my word- I will get more consistent with my thoughts on recipes and usability. So let’s talk about a book that caught my eye on a side street in Oakland. How to be Gluten Free and Keep Your Friends. I have some fun things to share from this book. To learn more, I’d suggest also getting yourself a copy.

I was visiting a friend in Northern California last month. We decide to walk off the pancakes we enjoyed a few blocks away. Luckily, the restaurant we ate at had a g-free (short for gluten free) pancake option to which I was very excited about. For me that meant no bloating and no brain fog (Yay!). This isn’t to say I have celiac disease, because I don’t. I do have issues with wheat regarding my skin (hello eczema), tummy inflammation, and a bit of lethargy. I totally own my vanity first on this decision to live mostly gluten free.

So back to this book that caught my eye. It was in a cute little store with an Anthropologie type feel; an establishment you could tell was of that “whimsical mom and pop” charm. I wish I could remember the name of the shop, because I adored it!

How to be Gluten Free and Keep Your Friends is sitting in the window and I beeline past the cute rugs and wonderfully scented candles for it. I crack it open and quickly acknowledge it is one of the best cookbooks I have seen on living gluten free. The title itself is intriguing, but what’s inside is far better.

As a fitness and nutrition coach, my main mission with clients is help spark creativity in their lives when it comes to living more healthily. It doesn’t have to be a drab existence. With the right ingredients, the right recipe, and the right cooking method, all can be good in the world. This book addresses that. As a tough as being gluten free sounds, How to be Gluten Free and Keep Your Friends gives solid lists that are user friendly (types of G-free flour, knowing what to avoid, etc.).

It also shares mouth watering recipes that are simple to make. You won’t spend hours in the kitchen trying to “un-gluten” your favorite cheat meal. Picture a breakfast loaf made almost entirely of nuts and seeds, or making a Japanese style pancake consisting of egg and shaved sweet corn and whatever other vegetables you’d like to add. O.M.G. I think the recipe that most blew me away was the parmesan waffle made from g-free flour and topped with Confit tomatoes and burrito cheese!

As a coach and writer, what I most want to share with you is this:

It doesn’t have to be about what you can’t have; celebrate what you can have. That’s what will keep your friends. Celebrate and share all the yummy foods you can eat. Have a potluck and bring one of these recipes; you may convert a friend or two once they taste it. So cheers to focusing on what you can enjoy that is gluten free:

All the Veggies and Fruit

Beans/Pulses/Lentils

Polenta

Potatoes

Quinoa

All rice including rice noodles and rice pasta

Meat

Fish

Cider

Wine

Most yogurts

Fruit juice

Most chocolate

Cheers to all of what the author Anna Barnett shared with us in How to be Gluten Free and Keep Your Friends.

Hope you love it too,

XOXO Natasha Maxwell