Edible Options

Shirley Hartung is a best-selling author in specialty diet cookbooks, having sold over 35,000 copies to date, of No Grain No Pain, Muffins from the Heart and Cookies Naturally.

What sets Shirley apart, is her deep knowledge about health and nutrition and an unfailing passion for healthy, but still delicious eating. Taste is never sacrificed, and her recipes quickly become cherished favourites, prompting many re-orders over the years due to worn out original copies! Shirley is well known at nutrition shows all over North America, speaking and counseling on celiac disease, diabetes, and food allergies or sensitivities such as nuts, bananas, milk, grapefruit, alcohol, MSG, tea or coffee- the list goes on.

Shirley spent the first 20 years of her career teaching health and nutrition, but left the field so she could share her specialized knowledge with many more- through the gift of her cookbooks. Her recipes and ingredient choices and substitutions are meticulously researched, tested, and re-tested with variations. Her readers know they can trust her advice, and the accolades and reader stories and testimonials have poured in for many years.

Today, Shirley continues the work of outreach, having re-launched with a new website in 2009, and transforming from years of newsletters to faithful readers to a brand new Edible Blog, where she hopes you’ll drop by, share your own stories, inspirations and recipes, and join the conversation.

Having a child with multiple allergies, as a mom, I learned very quickly the emotional stress, not to mention the cost in terms of time and money that goes with not being able to eat a so called "normal" diet.

As a result of having to cope with such a diet on a daily basis, I came to have an understanding and empathy for others in a similar dilemma. As a result of this, I decided to take on "diet dilemmas" as a challenge, and to do what I could to help others with similar problems.

The result being hours of research and experimentation in the kitchen, culminating in a series of cookbooks specifically geared for specialty diets.

I encourage other moms who are frustrated and don’t have the time, energy or desire to do the leg-work required in keeping up with the latest products and information which can make life better by offering a wider variety, being made aware of unsafe choices because of a hidden offending ingredient, etc.

I often think of the saying "if you get a lemon make lemonade", (unless your allergic to lemons or sugar!), and illustrate this attitude in my work, giving people not only help but a message of hope.

Having written "Cookies Naturally", a book dedicated to those with food allergies, I decided I wanted to include other diet dilemmas in my next book – Celiac Disease being one of these. I knew that this would be very challenging, yet I felt strongly about including it as an important part of the book because of the experience that my friend Linda had been through before being properly diagnosed. Not only was her body physically assaulted by the disease, but emotionally she was devastated. When nothing was working in terms of making her feel better, people started telling her that it was all in her head and she started to believe it. No wonder she reported feeling "very alone".

Meanwhile, she was dying from malnutrition, losing 5 pounds a week, going from a Size 10 to a Size 6, and at 46 years of age, when she was finally properly diagnosed as having Celiac’s Disease, she weighed a mere 70 pounds. Strict adherence to a gluten-free diet was prescribed and although Linda’s health began to improve, she also discovered that she was dairy intolerant so had to avoid milk based products as well. In addition, nuts, bananas, grapefruit, alcohol, MSG, tea and coffee have to be avoided because of migraines which they triggered. Linda, now healthy once again weighs 120 pounds (the most she has ever weighed) and can look forward to continued good health as long as she stays on a gluten-free diet for life.

This alone is no small feat as absolutely NO gluten in any form is allowed. Gluten is found in all grains we commonly use and know best – wheat, rye, oats and barley as well as their derivatives. Gluten is also often found in unsuspecting places such as medicines, etc.

I decided that I would do my best to help Linda and others like her by including 38 recipes that can be made gluten-free, as well as substitutes for a variety of ingredients such as milk, corn etc, as often people with celiac disease have allergies to deal with in addition to their gluten intolerance.

In writing No Grain No Pain, a book dedicated exclusively to those requiring a gluten-free diet, I chose to let those with celiac disease tell the way it really is. In giving them a voice, I hope not only will the public become more educated to the realities of the disease, but that this book will give hope especially to those who are newly diagnosed.

In the past, celiac disease has not been well understood.Yet, as of 2009, there are more than 6000 members who belong to the Canadian Celiac Association, with almost 100 new members joining monthly. Still, there are many people who have never heard of this disease. It is my prayer that No Grain No Pain, will be a tool that will a helpful source of information for medical practitioners,as well as for friends and family of those with celiac disease.