Customer Rating:  
Summary: UNLESS YOU HAVE $34 TO BLOW....
Comment: ... I'd avoid this magazine like the plague! I gave this as a gift last Christmas and to date (Almost Dec., 2008), we've only gotten 2 of the four issues! When you call their number, they are rude and say that "the editor wants everything to be perfect" and will not refund my subscription!
This was the worst gift I ever gave anybody. There are many published books that have all the information you need if you need to follow to gluten-free lifestyle without the aggravation this magazine subscription will provide you.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Excellent research by Gluten Free Living
Comment: I have been subscribing to GLUTEN FREE LIVING since it's inception. I have relied greatly on the research into various important gluten-free issues for people with celiac disease and gluten intolerance, including the questions about vinegar, modified food starch, ingredients, hidden gluten, food labeling, etc. These issues have been thoroughly researched, in my opinion and experience with the GF diet for about 19 years. Although there have been some glitches in mailings, they are a professional group with proven editorial skills. This magazine is an important resource for the whole celiac community. The editor is first-rate and the board members are excellent. I definitely recommend your getting GLUTEN FREE LIVING magazine for newbies and old-timers alike. -- Janet Rinehart Chairman, Houston CSA chapter
Customer Rating:
Summary: You'll want to read the ads too!
Comment: Educational articles, and I read all the ads to see if they list new websites where I can buy gluten-free foods.
Customer Rating:
Summary: kind of worth it
Comment: the advertisments in the magazine were helpful to me, not the articals.
when dealing with this lifestyle anything informative helps!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disappointing service and extremely questionable information
Comment: I subscribed for two years/ 8 issues and as someone else mentioned, it comes about twice a year. The last issue which I received in February was the Fall 2006 issue and had a diatribe printed in it about the expense of the post office and how prices will only continue to rise for them as their subscriber base grows, not reduce as MOST other magazines experience. Since I have worked for a magazine, I know this is a crazy argument - magazines want higher circulation to sell ads! I also, as a paying and patient subscriber, don't appreciate having the argument brought to me as to why they can't get the magazine out when promised.
Also, I have been disappointed by the advice given. In the most recent issue (fall 2006) there was advice given regarding having food in restaurants involving shredded cheese. The letter writer asked since shredded cheese *could* have flour on it, but that she'd never found any in the store, should she avoid shredded cheese in restaurants or have to ask about that as well? The response from the editor was that while there are shredded cheeses that could have wheat flour as an anticaking agent, the amount is so small and the letter writer doesn't likely eat shredded cheese out very much, so she probably shouldn't worry about it. Also, that it's impossible to be perfect, so that she shouldn't stress herself out. I was appalled at that advice! This is a DISEASE, not a diet, and a breadcrumb is enough to cause problems! It's impossible to be perfect? I suppose it is. However, based on that, it's no excuse to be lax about food choices.
There are at least two items per issue that get my blood boiling, such as this one. I should have cancelled my subscription, however it comes so infrequently, I often forget I even get it! It's only because this subscription came up on my Amazon page that I thought to comment.
In a previous issue, the magazine decided to stop carrying the ads for Gluten Free Savonnier, which is a soap maker that includes no gluten ingredients. Their reasoning is that you cannot be glutened by things you do not eat. However, there are many people who have rashes and problems due to using gluten products on their skin and I am one of them. And while I don't *eat* my soap, there are many times that soap, shampoo, etc, has gotten into my mouth in the shower, due to overzealous shampooing, etc. It happens. When they wrote the article explaining why they were not carrying those ads anymore, they wrote in a tone and with words that indicated such product providers were simply bilking a gullible gluten free crowd. There was definitely no need at all for that kind of attitude.
I have found some information in the magazine to be useful and appreciate seeing advertisers so I can see what's available for me to eat, so for that reason it gets 2 stars. But that's it for this terrible publication.
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