How To Start Eating Gluten Free-Traveling

Eating out is the area I struggle most in with eating gluten free. Well, and not being able to eat Krispy Kreme donuts. Or Oreos. But I digress….

I am very sensitive to gluten and I just don’t trust other people not to accidentally contaminate my food. I am always afraid that they will put my hamburger on a bun and then remember I ordered it without a bun and just take it off and serve it to me. I always wonder if chicken nuggets or onion rings have been cooked in the same fryer as the french fries.

When I was in the hospital to have Doodlebug I was offered fried chicken and macaroni and cheese, neither of which was gluten free, even though we specified all food had to be gluten free. My salad arrived with croutons on it too.

All said, I am very suspicious and always concerned when I have to eat out. I have found a couple of tricks that make traveling a little easier though.

Before going on any type of a road trip I make sure I know a few things I can eat at several fast food restaurants. I know I can walk into any Wendy’s order chili and a Frosty and my food should be gluten free. If I know things I can eat at several places it give me, and those traveling with me, a lot more choices. Most fast food places have menus that list food allergens online and I check these to make sure I am up to date. I have also printed out a few and stuck them in the car so I have the information when I need it. Although it’s available online I have not had much luck in getting this information while actually in a fast food restaurant.

I also make note of chain restaurants that have gluten free menus. Bonefish Grill, Carrabas, Outback Steakhouse and P.F. Changs all have gluten free menus if you ask for them. I personally feel more comfortable eating in places that have gluten free menus as the staff seems to be more knowledgeable of gluten and how to avoid it.

My other traveling trick is to carry my own food. I don’t always need it, but if I get caught somewhere I feel a lot better knowing that I have something that is safe for me to eat. In a restaurant a plain baked potato or a salad without croutons and dressed with vinegar and oil is usually available and is enough to get me through the meal, but I will probably want a little something later.

In my view, eating out is generally not worth the risk and I almost always choose to eat at home instead, but there are a lot of people who do eat out on a regular basis and are much more adept at explaining how to handle their food to the restaurant in such a way as to not contaminate it with gluten. If any of my readers fall into this category and have tips to add I would love to hear them.

How to Start Eating Gluten Free-Medical Providers

***Disclaimer: I am not a medical profession. These are my opinions and experiences only unless indicated otherwise in this article. Do not use this information in place of doing your own research on these issues.***

Until recently, med students were taught that Celiac disease was very, very rare. General practitioners expected to see approximately one patient with it in their lifetimes. The education they received about Celiac and eating gluten free was minimal at best. Now, Dr . Alession Fasano with the Center for Celiac Research says As many as 1 out of 133 people in the US have Celiac Disease. Of these 3 Million people in the US who have Celiac Disease it is estimated that 97% are undiagnosed. It is way more than the medical profession realized. And then you add in people who are gluten-intolerant or following a gluten free diet as part of a treatment for Autism or eating gluten free for any other health reasons and the numbers multiply exponentially.

That said I have to say I have been seriously underwhelmed at the knowledge within the medical community at large about Celiac disease and eating gluten free. Why you ask? Oh, let me share some of my experiences. Where to start….

When I started having GI symptoms over a prolonged period of time, I knew I had developed Celiac. I had several of the more classic symptoms and my mom has it, and Celiac does have a genetic component. I went to my primary care doctor, told her about my symptoms and family history and requested a blood test to begin the process of formal diagnosis. At first she told me I couldn’t have the test, I did not have Celiac. When I pressed her she told me my symptoms did not match with Celiac and that family history did not really play a role. What???????? I finally insisted she give me the blood test. She was surprised it was positive. I was not.

Just before I gave birth to my son my nurse called down to get me a dinner plate for after the delivery. When she told them I had to have gluten free food they told her I could pick from fried chicken or macaroni and cheese. Neither of those were gluten free. I was also served toast, croutons and oatmeal before I finally told them to just stop bringing me food. Thankfully we had thought ahead and brought some food from home with us so I knew it was gluten free.

A physician assistant working in at my gastroenterologist’s office told me medication never has gluten in it. Actually she laughed at me when I questioned whether she had verified a medication she was trying to give me had gluten in it and then told me that no drugs contain gluten. She was wrong.

My son’s pediatrician and my pharmacist were shocked to learn some medications do contain gluten.

If you are diagnosed with Celiac or decide to go on gluten free diet for any other reason know that you are going to have to be your own advocate. Know that you will have to do lots of research. Know that you will have to ask lots of questions and educate many people, some of whom will be in the medical field. It is frustrating, and can be exhausting. Right after being in labor for 12 hours, up for over 48 hours in a row, having just had a c-section and trying to learn to nurse was not when I wanted to educate the head of the department that prepares all the patients’ food. But that’s when the opportunity came, so I did.

I have actually found that in questioning medical professionals about being gluten free I can learn quite a lot about them and how they practice medicine.

My son’s pediatrician, who is wonderful, was very receptive to me bringing him information on research studies on Celiac. He also did some research on his own after I told him that some meds contain gluten. When he prescribed meds to my friend’s little boy (who is gluten free) a couple months later he mentioned to her that some meds do contain gluten and to have the pharmacist double check before filling the prescription.

I gave my son’s former gastroenterologist a summary of a research report on introducing gluten to kids who may have the gene for Celiac and he glanced at it, shoved it back at me and told me he would get all the information he needed at a conference that fall. I was pretty surprised because the study was the same information I had asked him about on our last visit, and he had no answers.

The pediatrician listens to patients, learns from patients and does research on things he does not know about. The gastroenterologist does not think patients can bring him any knowledge and that he already knows it all. I know which doc I want to work with and which one needs to go.

How to Start Eating Gluten Free-Part Three-Medications

Make sure you check for gluten in medications. I have been told numerous times (from health care professionals who should know better) that there is no gluten in medications. This is not true. Gluten containing products are sometimes used as a filler. You can check this site http://www.glutenfreedrugs.com for some name brand medicines but your pharmacist will need to call for most generics. They may have to leave a message and these calls are only answered M-F during business hours. You can ask your pharmacy to flag your account that they need to verify all meds are gluten free.

A word of caution on the medications, unless you know your pharmacist well, always ask if they have verified the medication is gluten free from the manufacturer. Even though my account is flagged at my pharmacy a substitute pharmacist did not bother to do this for me. When I asked he did call the manufacturer and left a message for them to call him back. They didn’t. I had to call my regular pharmacist the next day to have him do it. It took me over 24 hours to get antibiotics for strep throat. Not fun.

How to Start Eating Gluten Free-Part Two-Baking

Let me just say that baking gluten free is much, much different than baking with gluten. The biggest shocker for me was the vast difference in the consistency of the dough for bread and pizza crust. With gluten you can roll the dough up into a ball. Gluten free dough is more like a thick brownie batter. My first rounds of gluten free baking involved many skeptical looks, deep breaths and cooking the stuff anyway. Usually it came out fine. Gluten free baking is also a lot more finicky than what you are probably used to. It’s really tempting to make substitutions in recipes and make things your own way, but I would recommend that you find a recipe that looks good and follow it. Once it comes out the way you want it to, then start to tweak it. By tweaking one thing at a time you will most likely avoid the scenario below. I pulled this from the comments section of a recipe I found posted on line.

After 60 minutes, the centre of the cake in a Bundt pan is mushy and I don't think it will improve. Nope: an hour later - bound for the garbage can Time and money spent, all for nothing. I made a couple of substitutes - 2C almond flour + 1C Red Mill 'all-purpose' gluten free flour vs. the suggested flour mixture; 2 Tsp vanilla, 2 Tsp almond flavoring, neither of which was gluten free; added 3/4 Tsp guar gum and 1/2 Tsp baking soda and 2 Tsp baking powder.

Here are the most likely culprits in her cake disaster. The substitution of flours. There are a lot of gluten free flours out there but many are not able to be swapped out cup for cup. If one of the flours is denser or holds more moisture it can drastically change the finished product. If you need to substitute flours do an internet search and see what flours will substitute well for the one you want to eliminate. Usually all purpose gluten free flours can be exchanged out cup for cup, with very little difference.

I’m not really sure why she added the guar gum, baking soda and extra baking powder. I am guessing that the guar gum was used as a substitution for the Xanthan gum in the all purpose flour recipe. Guar gum and xanthan gum are often used in gluten free baking. Gluten is what holds together traditional baked good and when it is removed from a recipe Guar or Xanthan gum are used to help bind the finished product. In this case, I would expect that it is already a part of the all purpose gluten free flour mix.

One other critical mistake was using vanilla and almond flavoring that were not gluten free. Even if the cake had turned out fine, the small amounts of gluten in the flavorings would have contaminated the rest of the cake.

The recipe being discussed above is the one I base my pound cake on.


And yes, I did make a couple of substitutions. I know, I know, I just told you not to do it. A classic case of do as I say, not as I do. I was fortunate and the recipe came out okay. Had it not come out okay I would not know what was to blame. Was it just a bad day? Did the flours change things? Was it the substitution of corn starch for an egg? Then I have to decide if I want to try that recipe again and see if I can figure out the problem, or just move on.

One final note about baking gluten free, it's really easy to get caught up in buying tons of different flours and baking mixes and that gets expensive quickly. I have tapioca flour, potato starch flour, corn starch, corn flour, white rice flour and brown rice flour. Those are some of the most affordable flours and I have founds I can make almost anything I need to with them. When I want to try a new gluten free recipe I hunt for one that uses only the flours I have in my cupboard. If I can't find a recipe using those, then I will buy a new type of flour. It helps.

How to Start Eating Gluten Free-Where to Start

It's really overwhelming when you are told you have to start eating gluten free. What is gluten? What is it in? What ingredients do I need to look for? My doctors office gave me almost no information and sent me on my way.

Gluten in a protien found in wheat, barley and rye. There is a lot of debate about oatmeal and whether it is safe. To me, oatmeal's just not worth the risk so I avoid it too.

Gluten is in a lot of foods. Pretty much everything in the bakery, cookie and cracker aisles. It's also in places you wouldn't expect like turkey, broth and soy sauce. It means you need to read the labels. And since formulations are changing constantly you need to read labels every single time you go shopping.

Here is the unsafe food list for gluten-free eating. I suggest printing it out and taking it to the grocery store with you, at least the first time shopping.

Plan some extra time your first few shopping trips. Reading all the labels and having to try 5 different chicken broths before you find one you can eat will take some time. Here's a couple of tips to get you in and out of the grocery store a little faster. The produce section is great. There's some debate over mushrooms (they are grown in a substance that contains wheat and could get caught in the gills) but pretty much everything else is good. Plain meat is pretty easy. Turkey is the most problematic since they often add broth to make it juicier and that is not always gluten-free. Occasionally you will see this with chicken too. Dairy is also pretty good. Yogurt and ice cream seem to be the hardest. Some yogurts, like yoplait, are labeling individual flavors gluten-free. If you don't go that route look for ones that are all natural. If there are only three or four ingredients it's much easier to make sure you can eat it. Especially if you can pronounce all the ingredient names.

Another great source of gluten-free foods is in the Asian food section. Just watch out for the soy suace. Most (not all) of it has wheat in it. Many dishes like pad tai and peanut noodles are made with rice pasta and they often have rice crackers too. I have been pleasantly surprised that these are often labeled "gluten-free" on the package.

I will continue this in another post. Still to come, gluten-free and medications, finding a support group, where to find recipes etc.

******************Disclaimer******************

Although I would not deliberately give out incorrect information about eating gluten free and everything on this page is correct, to my knowledge, at the time I am writing this post, I can't guarantee its validity. Food formulations change constantly and please verify that any food you eat is gluten-free before consuming it if you are on a gluten-free diet.