This post contains a comprehensive list of books about celiac disease, gluten sensitivities, and the gluten-free diet. If you’ve been newly diagnosed with celiac disease, getting one or more of these books will help to accelerate your knowledge and healing process. Please note this post contains affiliate links. Please see my disclosures.
Do you need to go gluten free due to a celiac disease or gluten sensitivity diagnosis?
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by all the information online and information from well-meaning and sometimes opinionated friends.
However, if you want to truly learn, step-by-step, what it’s like to live with a gluten disorder and to truly learn why gluten is so bad for you, it’s time you invest in a book or two.
A book allows you to quickly get up to speed without having to dig and scroll through article after article and source after source.
The following list of books about celiac disease and gluten sensitivities contain important information about how to survive without gluten and make sense of the information floating around out there.
Best Gluten-Free Diet Books
If you’re new to the gluten-free diet, invest in one or all of the following books to help you get started.
Please note these are not recipe books or cookbooks. These are informational books about celiac disease, the gluten-free diet, and what it’s like to live with gluten and wheat disorders.
(1) Dear Gluten, It’s Not Me, It’s You
I may be biased, but Dear Gluten, It’s Not Me, It’s You (2020) by Jenny Levine Finke, is the most current and comprehensive source on gluten-free living available today. It includes all the latest information and research on gluten disorders.
If you’re looking to understand why gluten is in the wrong, how to get gluten out of your life, and how to heal both physically and emotionally in the aftermath of your break up with gluten, Dear Gluten will give you all the information you need.
The book is authored by a patient of celiac disease and credentialed certified integrative nutrition coach. It offers not only practical, well-researched information, but also emotional support and personal stories from the author.
It also includes personal stories from famous people in the “trenches” of gluten-free living, including Olympic gold medalist, Dana Vollmer, Israeli marathon champion, Beatie Deutsch, and NASCAR rising star, Patrick Staropoli, among others.
Dear Gluten is written from a patient-expert perspective, allowing you to not only learn the how and why of gluten-free living, but also enables you to relate to the author’s personal stories, challenges, trials and triumphs.
(2) The Autoimmune Fix
If you suffer from autoimmune disease (celiac disease is an autoimmune disease) or gluten sensitivity, Dr. Tom O’Bryan, the author of The Autoimmune Fix (2016), will make sure you feel heard and supported.
Dr. Tom is the leading gluten sensitivity doctor in the world (he also wrote the foreword to Dear Gluten), and takes readers on a journey to understanding the studies behind gluten disorders, how gluten is adversely affecting your body, and what to do about it.
This eye-opening book will have you ditching gluten and reclaiming your health one bite at a time, sans gluten and all wheat sources of course.
(3) Wheat Belly
Wheat Belly (2014) by Dr. William Davis, was the first book to expose just how bad wheat is and how it contributes to a slew of diseases including but not limited to autoimmune disease, cancer, diabetes and most pervasively, heart disease.
In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Davis shares what’s wrong with wheat and makes a strong case for ditching the addictive grain for good. His strong case against wheat makes Wheat Belly one of the most impactful books about nutrition in modern times.
If you’re ready to lose the weight and shun conventional diet wisdom that pushes an outdated low-fat diet agenda, this New York Times bestselling book is mandatory reading for you.
(4) Gluten Freedom
Gluten Freedom (2014) is an introductory book to the gluten-free world written by one of the leading celiac disease researchers in the world, Dr. Alessio Fasano. Dr. Fasano shares studies he’s been a part of along with patient success stories. Please note, however, that Dr. Fasano does not live a gluten-free lifestyle and does not have first-hand knowledge of the ups and downs of living with a gluten disorder.
(5) Jennifer’s Way
Jennifer’s Way: My Journey with Celiac Disease–What Doctors Don’t Tell You and How You Can Learn to Live Again (2015) is a memoir written by actress, Jennifer Esposito, about her life-long health struggles, her struggles to get work in Hollywood because of her “condition,” and how she created a gluten-free bakery to help others suffering from celiac disease.
This is a great book for anyone who has been told their symptoms were “just in their head” and are looking for validation from someone who has been there, done that, and come out better on the other side.
(6) Gluten Free Buyers Guide
The Gluten Free Buyers Guide (updated 2020) is a great book to help you decode what products are worth investing in. It’s also a great introduction to the world of gluten-free foods and a fantastic way to get to know the variety of gluten-free specialty brands.
(7) Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic
Dr. Peter Green is the author of Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic (updated 2020). The book offers a good overview of celiac disease and gluten-free living and is a great read from a leading doctor in the trenches of it all.
(8) Gluten Is My Bitch
You may have seen Gluten Is My Bitch (2015) by April Peveteaux on a bookstore shelf. If you don’t mind swearing, and you’re ready to make fun of yourself and the gluten-free diet, this book is for you, albeit the style of writing is not everyone’s cup of tea.
(9) The G-Free Diet
One of the first celiac disease survival guides of its kind, The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide (2011), was written by celebrity Elisabeth Hasselbeck, former Survivor contestant, co-host of The View and Fox News personality.
This book is part memoir, part survival guide, and part personal look at what it’s like to live g-free.
(10) The First Year
The First Year: Celiac Disease and Living Gluten-Free: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed (2008) is written by gfJules flour founder, Jules Dowler Shepard, and offers a step-by-step look at how to transition to a gluten-free diet from a patient perspective.
(11) From Crappy to Happy
From Crappy to Happy: The Naked Truth About Living With Celiac Disease is a self-published ebook by the blogger known as the Gluten Dude (he doesn’t share his real name). If you’re looking for an anonymous “dude” with celiac disease to guide you through the process of transitioning to a gluten-free diet, consider this book.
(12) Celiac and the Beast
This book, Celiac and the Beast: A Love Story Between a Gluten-Free Girl, Her Genes, and a Broken Digestive Track, is written by social media influencer Erica Dermer and is part memoir, part guidebook to understanding celiac disease and part look at what it’s like to be misdiagnosed and misunderstood by those we trust most with our health.
Other Books about Celiac Disease?
Do you know of another book about celiac disease, gluten sensitivity or the gluten-free diet that should make this “must read” list? Please send me a note or leave a comment to share.
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