A story about a man named Paul Graham and how he struggled with being ill until he was diagnosed with celiac disease. What I did not know are what can happen if it is not treated. You can eventual have any or all of these happen to you diet is not changed, there can be serious neurological consequences such as diabetes, MS, epileptic seizures, dementia. The author takes you through an honest journey when first given the diagnosis and still tries to eat some of his favorite food but either in small amounts or different bread. This does not work, and when he goes through this part of his journey he had me. I felt here is someone giving you all of the facts and he is even telling you he did not believe what the doctor was saying because he had never heard of it before. Now, of course, we hear of it all of the time and I think some people have changed the diet for health reasons. I don’t think all have the true celiac as is described by this man and what he had been going through. (Not to say it is not true what people are feeling, my personal belief). He shares his feelings about not being able to eat cake, birthday cake, and other things. These are being taken away from him and I could relate because I love food as well. I know what it is like when you can’t eat a portion of food anymore for whatever the reason is. His wife bless her supports her husband and does so by giving up the same items as him and she explains what she went through as well because we do not know that we have certain likes until it is taken away. I found this book to be really helpful since my daughter was diagnosed with celiac and I have started supporting her changing eating, my wife had done so already, I had by cooking and baking different but now our home is like that as the book. A very eye-opening book and very honest look into this man’s journey.

Being a gluten-free foodie, I thought this book was going to be fantastic and that I'd connect with the author and understand where he was coming from. Now that I've read it, I have mixed feelings.

The book is very informative, providing the history of wheat, from the paleolithic era when grain wasn't a dietary staple to present time when gluten is in nearly everything we consume, and how the processing of such a grain has changed over the years as demand has grown. Paul Graham did a lot of research when writing this book/migrating to his own GF lifestyle.

That being said... Paul is one of those cliches about people with dietary restrictions. The one whose life is consumed with his new restriction. He cannot go to restaurants, eat at a friend's dinner party or breathe without making sure everyone knows he is gluten-free.

I, personally, can understand the struggle of enjoying food and being told some of what you love is harmful to your health and will make you miserable if you consume it. I know how hard it is to give up some of your favorite dishes. I get it. Graham does a lot of dwelling on it in the book. One thing I've learned after having been forced to live this lifestyle, is you make alterations to your diet to accommodate your restrictions and you move on. If you enjoy eating fried food every day but your doctor tells you that your arteries are 75% blocked, you have to make changes in your diet or suffer the consequences. In other words, it's your problem to deal with, not the restaurant that doesn't cater to the dietary needs of that 1-2% of people with restrictions and food intolerances.

This is a memoir of someone who is grieving the loss of food. If this is your first encounter with the gluten-free lifestyle, all the research will be very helpful but if you are looking for an instruction manual, this might not be the book. I give it three stars. Middle of the road for me.

*I received an advance reading copy from the publisher in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.*