Last month the summer Olympics took place and you may have heard these athletes mentioned: Jenn Suhr, Dana Vollmer and Jeff Spear. Jenn won a gold medal in PoleVault, Dana won 3 gold medals swimming including setting Olympic and world records and Jeff competed in Fencing placing out of medal contention. What do all of these athletes have in common? They are all gluten free and are all featured in the book, The Gluten Free Edge.
But before you dive into the stories of these and other amazing athletes and how living gluten free has changed their life and their ability to compete, start at the beginning and read the personal stories of Pete Bronski (No Gluten, No Problem) and Melissa McLean Jory (Gluten Free For Good), the coauthors of this book. I’m guessing there will be some familiarity in them for you as there was for me. But Melissa’s journey began out of love for her father and is an amazing story. Don’t skip over these stories on pages 8 and 13.
The rest of the book is filled with amazing information about our health, our bodies, the food we put into it and how to achieve peak athletic performance and an active gluten free life.
The book includes:
- Inspirational profiles of athletes who are gluten intolerant, or who simply feel gluten inhibits their performance and recovery
- Sport, gender and age-specific advice for athletes of all kinds
- Principles for training and advice for dealing with accidental gluten exposure
- A thorough introduction to the basics of nutrition and how the body uses food for energy
- 50 simple, high-octane recipes that won’t leave anyone missing gluten
The Granola-Style Energy Bars and the Cherry Cabbage Recovery Smoothie taste amazing! But besides the smoothies and on the go snacks and trail food, you can find recipes for breakfast, salads and savory dips, lunches and dinners and yes even desserts.
The amount of information in this book is just amazing. It will be a resource that I will recommend to anyone and everyone who lives gluten free. You will discover answers that you may have been searching for a long time to find.
I want to give you a copy of this book. I actually have two I can give away. If you would like a chance to win this amazing book here is what you need to do. Pay close attention because this is a little different. You must do both #1 and #2.
If you can’t wait to see if you win, you can order the book on Amazon, The Gluten-Free Edge: A Nutrition and Training Guide for Peak Athletic Performance and an Active Gluten-Free Life
This giveaway is now closed. Thank you to all who participated.
Here’s how to enter to win a copy:
2. Leave a comment here telling me if you have an active gluten free life or if you are an athlete, what is it that you do? Or, maybe you are in transition and you would like to move into a more active life. Tell me what you will be trying. Is it yoga, walking, Zumba, tennis, hiking, or anything else?
I will draw two winners from the comments but if you are not signed up for the newsletter you won’t win. So go back to step number 1 and sign up for the newsletter then leave your comment here.
Good luck to all. Deadline for entries is Sunday, September 9th at 10pm ET. I will notify the winner via email to obtain the address and them mail it out before the moving van shows up at my house. You will want to get your hands on this book ASAP!
I am trying to get more and more active and am gluten free. I do yoga, bootcamp, walking, and chasing kids and dogs : ) Because I have a sedentary job, I need to increase that all more. I am even more interested in this for my almost 13 year old son who is very athletic and currently in AAU basketball as well as travel soccer.
My family and I all lead an active gluten free life, with varying levels of gluten intolerance to celiac. My husband and children all play sports, and I teach yoga. Providing everyone with the right nutrition can be a challenge.
Thanks for the giveaway!
I am an active GF cyclist and my GF teenage daughters are in gymnastics and dive. Protein smoothies are a great way to start the day and sustain energy. Fresh fruit and nuts are always easy grab and go snacks. And I think once we make the chocolate chip and bacon cookies (iI say yuck but my daughter thinks yum!!), those will be there fave snack any time of the day 🙂
Thx 4 the giveaway!
We are in transition, but we joined the local YMCA and they have free Zumba classes, so I am very excited to start there. Signed up for the newsletter.
Diane,
Thank you so much for helping us get the word out about "The Gluten-Free Edge." Peter and I are grateful for your awesome review and willingness to do a giveaway! We're excited about the release of the book and thrilled that so many athletes are finding an "edge" by going gluten-free. The sports performance connection with gluten is fascinating.
Again, thank you! So glad you like the book!!
Peace, love, and an active GF life!
Melissa
Signed up for the newsletter. I’m active with Pilate, water fitness and am staring a dance regimen. I find myself needing lots of protein and smart carbs. Hoping this book will be enlightening.
I am not an athlete but I do have Celiac disease along with osteoporosis and arthritis.I enjoy walking, hiking thru the woods, gardening and playing with my grandchildren outside. I am much healthier following a strict gluten free diet. I have also have more energy than I did in years. My new life started at age 41 in 2008 when I was diagnosed with Celiac. After being sick on and off throughout my life it finally all made sense when reading information of Celiac disease. I have found 90% of gluten free information online. I look daily online for new information and love to find new recipes and gluten free food.
I am currently struggling with this issue and have started working with a personal trainer, seriously, for the first time in my life. He promotes eating healthy and naturally which I am struggling to make myself do. I really notice how much more difficult my workouts are when I have consumed gluten!
Before I got sick I did bicycling, rock climbing, running, hiking, pilates, yoga and dancing and some weight training, now I have so little energy I have not been able to do much more than walking in three years. I want to move back into a more active life and start yoga, Pilates and dancing again.
I am signed up and receive your newsletters
in transition – hoping to start taking Zumba classes & get back into yoga & Pilates
Growing up I as very active – I was a dancer for 9 years, played soccer for 7, and surprisingly was even a cheerleader (don't judge, ha). Sadly over the past few years my activity level has been pretty low. I would love to try Zumba, but just can't afford to to join a gym…know of any great zumba videos by chance?? 🙂 I just wish I had the money to join a gym or go to a local zumba or pilates studio to take classes. I'm not happy with my weight right now. After my SI started healing and I started absorbing all the nutrients I had been lacking all these years, I put on some weight and just haven't worked hard enough to get it back off. This is one of my goals.
I am subscribed to your newsletter. :o). I can not have gluten, among other things. I have always been very active until the last year or so. I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and this and the chemo greatly affected my exercise and getting around in general. I am in treatment for two more years but it is now every eight weeks, I just started walking on the track at my gym and the next step will be yoga. Hoping to get back into a routine soon! Would love to read this book, thank you for the giveaway!!
Moving into a more active life and !00% gluten free life for about 8 years now.
New to gluten free, looking for all the info I can get
I signed up to get the newsletters & I am so glad I found your site! About 2 months ago I found out I have several food allergies including wheat & gluten.
I have been on a quest to get healthier for 2 years and never could figure out why nothing was working.
It has been hard on me learning all the new information, but I am determined to do this and get on the right path. It will also help my asthma and allow me to do a bootcamp or learn a new sport that I never got to play.
I am very active…currently training for a mini-triathalon, and a tough mudder. My whole family is currently gluten free, and love how it's changed our health! This book looks amazing!!!
I am in transition. I just found out in February that I have to be wheat/gluten free! Looking back the symptoms have been going on for 20-25 years. Over the years I have been active off and on, but never quite where I thought the energy level should be for someone in their 20's, 30's and now 40's. This summer I joined an exercise boot camp and I am going to start doing yoga classes again. I feel so much better being GF & I know I would not have been able to do the boot camp if I wasn't GF.
My daughter and I started eating gluten free but I would love to have more information about the subject. We also started to go to the gym, and I would like to loose some weight which I know is possible with this diet.
I have an active GF life for almost 11 years 🙂 My first diagnose was Diabetes type 1 and than two months after Celiac disease. At first it was very difficult to change the prior habits in my everyday life, but when u don't have a choice, u have to accept the changes and move on. 🙂 So that's what I did. From then I've started to like the sports <3 and I feel much more happyer and helthyer!! 🙂 🙂
Currently I'm in love with cycling and running 😉
I have been gluten free for just over a year now. The difference in how I feel is amazing! I am gradually getting back into being active. I have Fibromyalgia so have to be careful of overdoing. I have gotten up to walking a mile each day and will gradually increase that as well as add some weights. Gluten free is great.
I'm transitioning to a more active lifestyle after a difficult pregnancy left me 30 pounds heavier and quite out of shape. Right now my plan is walking and tennis with my hubby, but eventually I'd like to train for a 5k and possibly go up from there.
I do lead a fairly active life because it makes me feel so much better. I wouldn’t consider myself an athlete though!
Living the GF life and (finally) loving it! Now well enough to start walking again and enjoying yoga. Keeping the family active as well, and looking forward to some fall hikes.
I am active and gluten free. I started my journey to better health July 19, 2010 and haven't looked back. I lost 40 lbs and over 50 inches by eating healthy and working out. I have been told I look younger and I know I feel great 🙂
I just got a copy of this book, and have it packed for my mini-vacation this week. I can't wait to read it! And definitely won't skip those beginning stories.
Hi, I have Celiac's Diseasa (aka- Gluten Intolerance/ Gluten free). I've had it since 2003ish and I have been gluten free ever since I can remember. I have been keeping myself healthy and I go running/walking 5 times a week and I absolutely love it! I am now training for my first half marathon in my life. It will be coming in a year, but between now and then I will do 5k's and 10k's and I hope to do more. I am super excited to be healthier and to be looking dang good. I have lost a ton of weight and can't wait to lose more and to keep it stable. I'm definitely not perfect in being the most healthiest person but I am learning and can't wait to do more. And living gluten has helped me understand more about my body, health and what I have to do to take care of myself, its been a long AWESOME road. =)
I subscribed to the newsletter
I need to return to gluten free. My daughter is GF. I feel better when I am GF.
I'm here because of my 18 year old daughter. She ais in the process of getting a diagnosis for PCOS. I have been gluten free for 6 months and am working toward bringing her on board more fully. She swims competitively on her high school swim team AND plays competitive water polo. She has health issues including a stubborn inability to lose weight even with all the very strenuous training. She works her butt off. I am SO proud of her. I would like her to have access to information that will assist her in her training and struggles to level off her blood sugar, achieve a healthy weight and stave off diabetes in her future. We are struggling to keep her fed on a gluten and sugar free diet both at school and during her practices and meets. I am hoping this book will offer her some ideas to address these problems. Thank you for making this information available.
What a great giveaway, congrats on such a great website and blog so far! I am very active – primarily a runner, running ~40 miles per week, with lots of cross-training (strength training, circuit training, cycling, yoga, aerobics). I love the active lifestyle, but have had some painful and annoying GI issues the past 6-8 months. I am just now starting the process of going gluten-free, and would love some inspiration!
I'm a competitive age-grouper triathlete training for a half-Iron distance race next year. I bring GF snacks with me during training and to races. There are almost always a ton of GF options at the races. Since competing I have met vegan athletes, other GF athletes, paleo athletes. There may not be one perfect diet for everyone but athletes know they get they get the best feedback right from their own bodies.
I am an active celiac. My kids keep me busy and I also run an in-home daycare so I'm always chasing after the munchkins! We love going on walks & to the park. 🙂
Lived GF for couple months..and then got off track a little..I walk for exercise..
I do Zumba with my 13 year old daughter and we are in a Gf diet.sign up for the news letter
I am in transition kind of. I just started running again slowly, but I have been active since going gluten-free in late January of this year. It's because of going gluten-free that I was able to become more active so I love it and I really want this book. I also signed up for your newsletter.
Hi Diane! Just signed up for your newsletter…so excited, thank you! Well, I'm not the athletic type, but after a recent shoulder surgery, I haven't been able to work or hike like I used to…SO, I've gained a little weight and have been gluten free for the past 10 months…not easy, but I'm learning. Since I can't really do much upper body with the bad shoulder, I've been walking up our hill and doing 30 min a day on the elliptical (it's a start). But, if I can learn of more "tips" through the book, that would be awesome! 🙂
I went gluten free 4 years ago and now at age 55, for the first time in my life, I am working out at Get in Shape for Women gym. Inow consider myself an athlete! Looking forward to reading the book.
I keep meaning to buy Melissa's book so it would be fun to get an extra nudge in the form of winning a copy. I am a former competitive athlete, current non- althlete, but I do walk about an hour a day.
My husband and I started a gluten free life Nov. 18, 2011 and remain so today. We are pretty active, we attend kickboxing 3 times a week and a workout boot camp 2 times a week. Trying to become toned before 60.