Elisabeth Hasselbeck's Celiac Disease Inspires Cookbook with Gluten-Free Recipes

The View co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck suffers from celiac disease but she no longer lets it get her down. To help others with CD, Hasselbeck has a new cookbook Deliciously G-Free.

Hasselbeck struggled with fatigue, weight fluctuations and difficulty conceiving her children, but doctors were never quite able to determine what was wrong.

Finally, she was diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune reaction related to gluten intake.

Celiac disease is one of the most under-diagnosed autoimmune diseases, said Hasselbeck. Your body begins to fight itself when it encounters gluten.

Despite her physical ailments, once she pinpointed the disease and was able to take care of herself as someone with CD, Hasselbeck said, I have never felt more healthy.

Celiac disease is a lifelong inherited autoimmune condition affecting children and adults. When people with CD eat foods that contain gluten, it creates an immune-mediated toxic reaction that causes damage to the small intestine and does not allow food to be properly absorbed, according to Celiac.org.

Those who suffer from CD could have both internal and external symptoms such as blistering, intensely itchy skin and/or small bowel sensitivity. Those with CD must follow a gluten-free diet, which can prove to be quite limiting.

Hasselbeck said that it took her a long time to get back to the joy of cooking because those who suffer from celiac disease suffer for so long that they develop a food fear.

Her cookbook, Deliciously G-Free, solves this problem. Her gluten-free recipes find a way to bring celiacs back into the kitchen, so they no longer have to feel alone when they eat.

Hasselbeck's book includes delicious and popular recipes like egg sandwiches, French toast, crab cakes, chicken enchiladas, lasagna, blueberry cobbler and double chocolate brownies. She has transformed gluten-free food for all of those with CD.

The cookbook will be released Jan. 3, 2012.