The G-Free Diet on The View

Starbucks aside, this is turning out to be Elisabeth Hasselbeck week at Gluten-Free NYC. I hope you don't mind—it's just that she does have her book out, and it's getting attention, and it's interesting to see the messages that she's getting across. It just shouldn't be ignored: The G-Free Diet has even made it into Amazon's Top 10 Bestsellers in Books, right up there with the Twilight series.

So here (below) is footage from Monday's The View, where Elisabeth shined a spotlight on her dietitian, Ashley Koff, and talked about her diet with co-host Sherri Shepherd while co-host Whoopi Goldberg scarfed some samples. It reminded me of the olden days of January 2007, when Elisabeth and Rosie introduced much of the world to Anheuser-Busch's gluten-free Redbridge beer!

In this segment Elisabeth and her producers manage to give props to a number of friendly vendors, including Utz, Outback, Wendy's, Blue Diamond, Amy's Kitchen, General Mills, P.F. Chang's, Uno Chicago Grill, and (to my surprise) flax-containing pasta from Hodgson Mill, which Elisabeth seems to swear by even though I don't think it's been on the market very long.

She's certainly raising awareness of celiac disease and making a gluten-free diet seem fairly easy and worthwhile to follow, though I fear that she understates the importance of getting a medical diagnosis before going on the diet and overstates the health value of the diet for those who don't have celiac disease or similarly diagnosable conditions such as gluten ataxia. I note, however, that Elisabeth does say that she will get her kids tested if they show symptoms, so that's a sign that she does believe in medical diagnosis and also doesn't have her kids on her strict diet, though they do seem to like her foods.



Source (6:44)