Food Saved Me: My Journey of Finding Health and Hope through the Power of Food

by Danielle Walker

Overview

• National Bestseller •

You can live a full, happy, and healthy life without ever feeling excluded or deprived.

When doctors told Danielle Walker that food didn’t cause her autoimmune disease and couldn’t help control it, she set out to prove them wrong.

Diagnosed with an extreme form of ulcerative colitis at 22, Danielle was terrified she’d never be able to eat all the wonderful, great-tasting foods she loved growing up or host warm, welcoming gatherings with family and friends. So when the medicine she was prescribed became almost as debilitating as the disease itself, Danielle took matters into her own hands, turned her kitchen into a laboratory, and set to work creating gut-healthy versions of the foods she thought she’d never be able to enjoy again. Three New York Times bestselling cookbooks later, Danielle has become a beacon of hope for millions around the world suffering from autoimmune diseases, food allergies, and chronic ailments.

Now for the first time, with stunning transparency about the personal toll her illness took on her physically, emotionally, and spiritually, Danielle reflects on everything she’s learned during her decade-long journey toward healing—including the connection between gut health and overall well-being, the development of her favorite recipes, and the keys for not simply surviving her autoimmune disease but thriving despite it. Through her resilience, Danielle tells a story that provides hope—hope that despite your ailments or hardships, you can live a full, happy, and healthy life without ever feeling excluded or deprived.

Food saved Danielle Walker. And it can save you, too.

Includes six fan-favorite recipes and the stories behind them!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496444745
Publisher:	Tyndale House Publishers
Publication date:	09/14/2021
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	265,020
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.60(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Danielle Walker is the author and creator of the popular Paleo-food blog Against All Grain (www.againstallgrain.com). Having to deal with a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease at only twenty-two years old, and unable to alleviate her symptoms with conventional medicine, she eventually came to the conclusion that she had to remove grains, lactose, legumes, and refined sugars from her diet.

Table of Contents

A Note from Me to You ix

Prologue xiii

Part 1 Love Well 1

Part 2 Eat Well 79

Part 3 Live Well 165

Epilogue 269

Another Note from Me to You 273

A Special Note to Caregivers from Ryan 277

How Do I Get Started? 285

Acknowledgments 293

Grain-Free and Paleo Lists 295

Starting Grocery List 299

Recipes 305

Endnotes 313

About the Author 315

What People are Saying About This

Melissa Urban

People will pick up this book and their lives will be changed. Danielle has touched so many people’s lives and helped them achieve a new level of happiness, health, and peace. She was willing to be the one to go first and share her journey. Her story helps normalize the fact that conventional medicine can be so incredibly helpful and life-saving while not minimizing the enormous impact of food. This gives everyone else permission to create a treatment plan that works best for them. Everyone can learn from what’s inside the pages.

Michelle Tam

Food Saved Me is truly an inspiring and motivating book. It teaches you how to be resilient, even when you have setbacks. Thank you, Danielle, for writing this so that others can see they are not alone in their struggles. You are a gift to this community.

Editorial Reviews

09/13/2021

Walker (Against All Grain) follows her grain-free and gluten-free cookbooks with this unflinching chronicle of dealing with an autoimmune disease and her path to discovering food’s “amazing power to heal.” At 22, Walker was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory disease that attacks the colon. A simple blood test revealed a long list of food sensitivities including oregano, green peas, potatoes, and watermelon, with grains and dairy at the top. “It was not just the food itself,” Walker writes, “it was what was in it, how it was digested, and how it was prepared.” This set her on a yearslong trial-and-error quest to fashion a diet that required minimal digestive processes, which she details in inviting, conversational prose. To replace wheat- or rice-based noodles, she made her own by cutting strips of coconut flour crepes; instead of sugar, she swapped in honey. While juggling life as a busy mom, Walker researched and developed almost 1,200 recipes and published two bestselling cookbooks, gaining unintended celebrity as a health advocate along the way. Ever the optimist, she writes, “If you’re new to grain-, gluten-, and dairy-free living, I want you to know that you’re not alone.” Full of delicious recipes and positive affirmations, this is sure to offer hope to many. Agent: Curtis and Karen Yates, Yates and Yates. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Cookbook author and health advocate Walker (Against All Grain, 2013) offers this prime example of a conversational memoir. It reads as if a friend is sharing a deeply personal story, and in this case readers will be all ears. Walker is an absolute health cheerleader, and her enthusiasm catapults off the page: she is on a mission to spread the news that diet can indeed improve wellbeing. Walker shares her experiences with severe gastrointestinal issues that threatened her life. Her journey has not been an easy one, and there are losses and frightening moments along the way, but ultimately this is a story of loving food and family, accepting support, and understanding self-worth. Resources toward the end of the book include a note, written by Walker's husband, for caregivers; an index of grain-free and Paleo foods; and a grocery list to start readers on their journey to a happier gut and therefore a happier life. Anyone who has struggled with balancing their diet will benefit from this inspiring memoir.

Booklist