Mary Jo Eustace’s passion for celebrating food was triggered at any early age after one-too-many pork chop dinners thrown on the table by her time-starved mother. Luckily, her father, a gourmet chef, introduced her to a culinary wonderland on the weekends–fresh lobster, truffles, Baked Alaska and her favorite pastry encrusted escargot. Mary Jo has just released her new book, Scared Wheatless, and appeared on ET Canada recently to chat about it:

Celebrity chef and TV personality Mary Jo Eustace got the scare of a lifetime in 2013 when her daughter Lola, now 10, had begun to lose her hair.

“We actually noticed a little bald spot on the top of her head, and I didn’t take much notice of it, but a couple of days later it got a little bigger,” Mary Jo tells ET Canada.

Soon, Mary Jo and Lola were shopping for a wig.

“I was freaking out kind of,” says Lola. “I was like, ‘What is happening to me?'”

What was happening was alopecia, an auto-immune disease that attacks hair follicles.

“We got into doing the Donald Trump combover for the hairdo; we had all sorts of powders, tricks,” says Mary Jo.

But the best trick came at the advice of a nutritionist about going gluten–free. Being a chef, Mary Jo came up with some irresistible recipes which she’s since compiled into her latest cookbook, Scared Wheatless.

“It’s about health and feeling good,” says Mary Jo as Lola gives a big double thumbs up.

Scared Wheatless is available now in stores and online.

Watch Mary Jo’s interview on ET Canada here.