Accidental gluten ingestion

Well, it seems as though I've experienced my first accidental "glutening". I went to a restaurant (buffet style) and try as I might, I did not succeed in avoiding gluten. I may have been hooped by the salad dressing, or some eejit who put the pasta salad spoon on the greens, but in the end, it got me. The symptoms were very much like "the great cracker incident" where following my inconclusive intestinal biopsy, I got cocky and decided to try eating a cracker just to see what happened. I fondly remember that time as "crackergate". Perhaps "fondly" is too strong a word. I digress. So approximately 24hrs after my meal I began the eye-splitting phase where I succumbed gradually to the effects of a catastrophic migraine. After another few hours the phase involving new and surprising gastrointestinal delights soon followed (in case you are wondering, I am currently donning my 'sarcasm suit'). With that phase seemingly on its way out (frankly, I cannot understand how it could possibly still be happening other that the fact that I am now tapping into my supply of spinal fluid to enable it) I am now firmly ensconced in "the fog". This is the place where I appear to be awake and functioning, but am actually experiencing significant trouble stringing thoughts together and I mostly just appear to those around me to be an ignoramus who simply cannot be bothered to engage in any semblance of meaningful conversation. Frankly, I'm surprised I've even been able to string these sentences together but I think it can only be explained by the singular nature of my focus: I am sitting in a dark room with no noise or any other distractions. Put me in a room with children screaming and running in circles however and you'll quickly see me change into something with the mental capacity of cream cheese.

I do hope it passes rather quickly. Meanwhile I'll do my best to avoid most people and hope they somehow fail to notice the glazed look in my eye or the faint rumble of musical delights currently coming from my small intestine.

Accidental gluten ingestion

Restaurant owners: train your staff in safe food preparation!!!

So there's this salad place near work that I really like, and on the odd occasion I get take-out for lunch, that's my old stand-by. However, I decided to go and give Sushi Go a try and see what I could eat (incidentally, it seems Sushi Go is a chain restaurant of, obviously sushi, soups and loose leaf teas).

First of all, the place was JAMMED. I had to wait in a line that snaked around the room and began to feel that horrible sinking feeling that I would get to the cash after all that time only to realise there was nothing "safe". But as I made my way up, I noticed a red GF next to a number of the menu items posted on the wall. Could it BE? NAH, can't be!?!?! Yep- they actually name their gluten free products so they're easy to spot. Fantastic!! How excited was I at this point??

So I ordered a tom yum soup with edamame and queued up to wait for the dude to make it. I watched as he made the soup ahead of me, in the style of a lunch counter, kind of like a sub restaurant when certain foods are added from clear plastic bins inside a refrigerated counter. So, first off I noticed that there was only one set of tongs. Huh. Interesting. Then I watched him remove the lid from the udon noodles (wheat!!) and drip them through the rice noodles (which on the menu had the big GF on them) and then use the same tongs on all the veggie trays. When he began to make my food, I said "would you mind please washing the tongs and do you have a bin of rice noodles that have not been opened yet?" and he said "do you have an allergy?" and I said "yes. And when your menu says gluten free, people have the expectation that you're treating the items listed as such"[okay so I wasn't so eloquent, but he got the point...I stopped short of saying 'well DUH!']. He wasn't angry, but seemed frustrated. He did comply, but the whole scene was awash in cross contamination. I definitely lessened the chances of getting sick, but there was a good chance it still happened.

So please, restaurant owners: if you want to serve the gluten free folks out there (and there are many, so having a place to eat is AWESOME and profitable!) train your staff. Put the gluten free bins furthest away to make sure nothing is dripping on them, and just use a few sets of tongs. It's not hard. If in doubt, drop me a line- I'll help you. If it were peanuts, no one would bat an eye. They would get it. But because it's not death, but weeks of ill health a gluten intolerant person experiences, they don't treat the condition with the same respect. You say gluten free, we count on you to come through. Simple as that.

Restaurant owners: train your staff in safe food preparation!!!

Not a great choice: Mentos...made with wheat?!

It's not very often that I would buy honest-to-goodness candy for myself. In fact, I can honestly say that I haven't bought myself candy in over a year. But that tube of Mentos at the cash CALLED me...in a way I cannot describe. It called for a vestige of my old life. So I bought them. I had a few...they were okay. That was a while ago. I can't say I remember anything crazy, to be honest, so that's a very good thing: the violent reaction that some people with celiac describe when they've been "glutened" does not apply to me (if indeed I have Celiac- jury's still out on that one). I popped one in my mouth again today at work, then took a look at the ingredient list. D'oh. Wheat. What the heck??? Why would there be wheat flour in a mint? Where is the justice in this world?? Sigh. Anyways, I doubt it was that, because aside from the usual ebb and flow of my guts (which are prone to...not working well) I hadn't noticed anything peculiar the last time, but I am currently suffering with a feeling of hot discomfort right in my stomach and a terrible wave of nausea. Yuck. Whatever it was, I wish I hadn't eaten it...

K

Not a great choice: Mentos...made with wheat?!

Don't underestimate your server

I had two INCREDIBLY positive restaurant experiences lately. Seriously. Mind blowing.

Most times if I go out to a restaurant, I have to choose between a very "north American" type chain, in which I will have almost nothing to eat (because of the crazy amounts of wheat in everything) but they will likely have a chart listing all the allergens- including dairy and gluten. This is helpful, but meh- boring.

On the other hand, I LOVE a good curry, or an awesome bowl of Tom Kha Gai (sp?) soup or something else of that nature. LOVE it. However, in the past I've found that the servers either looked at me with disdain when I asked questions about wheat, or simply didn't know. I'd say that at least 50% of the time, soy sauce has wheat in it. The reason for the "only half" part, is that there would be the 1% gluten free tamari, and the 49% soy sauce like this one, which is essentially made of water, salt, sugar and MSG. No wheat, but certainly NOT good for you.

So although I love going to Asian, Indian, Thai restaurants, I am constantly fearing the soy sauce angle (among other contamination issues). I ate somewhere about a week ago at one place and ended up feeling like I was drunk for about 18 hours after I left...I am guessing it may have been something wheat based, or completely unrelated, but let's just say I have no desire to go back to that. Anyways, I also visited two Thai restaurants over the last week (unusual for me, but a welcome change from bringing my own lunch) and here's what the conversation looked like:

Me: Um, uh, I have a wheat allergy [this is the easiest way to describe it- otherwise people take you about as seriously as if you just said "mushrooms give me gas"] and...
Server: Oh, no problem. So any of the soups are fine, you just choose the rice noodles rather than x or y noodle.
Me: Um, but usually the soy sauce has wheat...
Server: Yes, but we have a gluten free one for your use, and those dishes are safe. We have someone with Celiac who works here so she makes sure....

Me: Dumbfounded. No speech.

Second restaurant experience:

Me: [thinking hey- why not] Um, I have a wheat allergy...
Server: Oh, okay, let me just check with the kitchen...
After pause - Server: Yes, that's fine. Totally safe.
Me: Wow, that's amazing, thank you!!!! What about the soup that comes with the lunch special?
Server: Hmm...not entirely sure. You might be best not to choose it.
Server 2 (emerging from kitchen): You Celiac?
Me: [again, simplifying] Yes! Yes I am. Do you know if I can have the soup?
Server 2: Soup is okay. No fish sauce, no oyster sauce, no soy sauce. It okay for you.

Mother of pearl. Honestly. This woman knew all the hidden sources of wheat. Bless her buttons!!!!
Later, after I receive my pad thai:
Me: Um, I noticed there were no peanuts on my dish.
Server 2: No, I afraid.
Me: [smiling] That's totally fine. Thank you so much.

As much as I hate to always be the one asking, sometimes it REALLY pays off. Some servers are conscientious, good workers and really know their stuff. Others have just been at the right place at the right time, and still others may have had similar gluten-free folks tread that path before. Moral of the story: stop assuming the server will a)be annoyed, b)spit in your food, and c)have no clue how to produce gluten free food. They just might surprise you, but it's certainly worth it to ask. :)

Don't underestimate your server

Ready to bake gluten-free foods? Get your lab coat.

Before you start baking "gluten free", you use one flour- wheat flour. Maybe you spice it up and have "whole wheat" flour also. Well, when you bake gluten free, it is a virtual science experiment each time. In the place of one ingredient "wheat flour", there could be any myriad of flours, starches, and of course, a binder like xanthan gum, guar gum, chia seeds, etc.

It is for that reason that as I make my way through countless recipes for bread, muffins, etc., I have trashed many an attempt. See, as I cook, I get to the stage that Mr. Pick it Up calls "throwing everything into the pot". I cook with an outline, but at the end, I start launching countless spices, veggies, etc into the pot and watch 'er fly. But, unfortunately, you can't do that when you're cooking gluten free. Flours and starches can be roughly interchanged based on their weights, but proportions must be very closely monitored or you will end up with something that doesn't cook through (like oatmeal inside and no amount of baking can ever fix it) something akin to golf balls (hard, dry) or something that doesn't rise. I wish I could give you more details on what you can interchange, but I just don't know it myself yet.

So every time I make something, I'm a step closer to become a gluten-free scientist- able to swap ingredients out as necessary (or when I run out!). Meanwhile, here's my advice to anyone who hasn't been baking gluten free for long: follow a recipe- exactly. Use a knife to level off your cups and tablespoons for an exact result. No horsing around, no ad libbing. Just follow it...and see if your hypothesis will translate into a yummy result.

In an attempt to organize myself, I have (in a very proud, Pick-it-Up moment) organized about half of my flours- ones that I use often. Have a look at what one cannister of wheat flour turns into:

Here you see: Sweet white sorghum flour, almond flour, potato starch, xantham gum, baking powder, all-purpose flour, baking powder, brown rice flour, garfava flour, flax seeds, chickpea flour, teff flour, amaranth flour, arrowroot flour, etc. etc. etc.

Yup. Wheat is pretty versatile, huh? :)

Ready to bake gluten-free foods? Get your lab coat.

Travelling and food allergies

When I am at home, or in a range of restaurants that are known to me, my various food restrictions don't cause me too much of a problem. I can't say Mr. Pick-it-up is happy about our small circle of available options for dinners we can both eat, but mostly he is the most patient and loving man in the universe and puts up with me and my "business". Case in point: said most-patient-and-loving man surprised me this weekend with a trip away. He told me on Thursday we were leaving Friday, but he kept the location a surprise. He'd already taken care of the kids, and got us all organized for a little mom-and-dad-only getaway. WOO!

So, my first thought: I can't believe you were able to keep a secret from me, because you never can. Second thought was: this is probably going to be a great weekend. Third thought: what am I going to do about food and will they have a Starbucks nearby?

This is the thing about food allergies/intolerances: when you can control everything, you're fine, but when you have to depend on others to provide food for you in a small range of options, it is nothing short of terrifying. So, remember that this is what I'm dealing with right now:
1) chicken and fish only (haven't eaten red meat since I was 15 or so)
2) absolutely no gluten-containing foods, or potential for cross-contamination; and
3) easy on the eggs, dairy and soy.

So, yeah. It sucks. Obviously when I am buying food in the best of circumstances, I have a greater desire for healthy options with no strange chemicals, organic if possible, etc., but when eating out, I am realistic and drop those for something...ANYTHING I can actually eat that won't make me sick.

The region we went to was about 2hrs away from home, and it is a more mountainous area that is heavily into wild game, and lots of red meat. As we strolled along the main drag while my husband waited for me to find a place for dinner that I could eat at (he litterally said "you know me, I don't care where we eat as long as you are happy"- yes, those words exactly to his wife who loves him to pieces) every menu had a myriad of dishes created from the following: veal, lamb, elk, seafood. You wouldn't believe me I'm sure, but I swear hardly anyone had a simple chicken dish! But of course, what I used to be able to do, which was to rely on a veggie pasta dish or pizza or chicken sandwich, I can no longer do. Sigh. Wheat is my kryptonite and it is blessed EVERYWHERE. So what does Miss Dropsie eat in that scenario? I'll give you a run-down.

Friday dinner: Table d'hôte included four courses- soup, then starter, then entrée then dessert. Okay, so soup? No, can't eat that. Menu included a smoked salmon salad for starter, and salmon for a meal. I had one choice either way that might work. I spoke to the waiter, (keep in mind this was a pretty expensive restaurant) who fixed me up a salad first instead of the soup, then got me the smoked salmon dish, then had the chef cook up a chicken breast for me (despite not being on the menu, they had some for a private function) that he served with basically steamed veggies and a few boiled potatoes. It was very bland, but okay. The waiter got the chef to make me a fruit cup for dessert (which as I mentioned previously, is a big no-no which causes very poor digestion, but he was so chuffed I couldn't say no).  3.5/5

Saturday breakfast: buffet breakfast at the hotel. Big buffet of fruit- ate lots. Big buffet of pastries, breads, meats, pancakes, etc. - had one small scoop of scrambled eggs (despite trying to avoid them, I was kind of desperate) and a few pieces of cheese. 3/5

Saturday lunch: went to a chain restaurant because I knew there were a few dishes I could eat. Tragically sad, in this beautiful region to eat at a chain restaurant, I know. Had? You guessed it: omlette with cheese and fruit. Eggs are the order of the day. 4/5

Saturday dinner: GORGEOUS 5* restaurant. Avocado and asparagus salad as a starter, then a BEAUTIFUL cedar-planked salmon (plank still kinda steaming- like having a campfire in my plate) with a side of phenomenal cooked spinach, and more asparagus. Didn't care about the duplication. RIDICULOUSLY good. 10/5 (seriously)

Sunday breakfast: I hate breakfasts out. Faced with once again, a veggie/cheese omlette. No potatoes, because it's a shared deep fryer with other bready things. Tomato slices. Filled the hole, but had virtually no taste. 3.5/5

Number of good coffees? 3. Where were they obtained? From the espresso-pod gadget in our room. With some coconut sugar and no cream even, they were amazing. Every other coffee I drank was terrible...weak. Region does not know a good strong cup of coffee. Even went to a place where coffee was roasted, and bought a coffee and a bar of in-house-made chocolate. Both were average at best.

Overall feeling after being out of my element? Feeling pretty bloated, some pain, but not much. Hopefully it passes quickly once I get back into my routine.

Despite walking ALL DAY on Saturday, going through the tiny shops that lined the main road, my only purchase was two loaves of gluten free bread I have never seen here. Will update on how I like 'em. :)

Highlight of my ENTIRE weekend away? Hmm...perhaps the ginormous bath that could have been a swimming pool ranks high, but the best part was going into the hotel bar Saturday night, to find two "wedding singers" playing and taking themselves very seriously, amidst a sea of drunken travellers. It made for some insanely funny visuals (including a young guy from what looked like a bachelor's party inviting a blue-hair up for a dance...and getting turned down).

Hysterical.

Travelling and food allergies

Look out for gluten-free saboteurs (and other info on reading food labels)

When you're working with wheat, it's easy to see that some products use the whole grain, and others do not. In the case of gluten free products, the wheat replacement is such a mix of several ingredients that it's really tough to identify which are "healthy" options and which are not. Some of the options for that ever-so-carefully engineered mixture, can include: bean flours (chickpea, garbanzo, fava bean), rice flours (white and brown), teff, buckwheat, tapioca flour, corn starch, potato starch, potato flour, sweet rice flour, almond flour, corn flour, amaranth flour, tapioca starch, soy flour, coconut flour and more. Once you figure out exactly the mix of flour, you must then add a "binder" like xanthan gum, chia seeds, or guar gum. Some mixes will produce products with a gritty feel and sour taste. Some will fall apart; others will be springy and dense (a hallmark of gluten free bread). Some (very few!) will be light and fluffy like wheat-based products.

As in the world of SAD (Standard American Diet), gluten-free foods have both healthy options and options that are void of nutrition. When choosing anything labeled gluten free, I always scope out the ingredient list. As with wheat-based products, you want to look for dead give-aways that the product is a health saboteur: hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils, glucose-fructose, dextrose and other sugars (if you're going to eat something with sugar in it, at least make sure it's near the bottom of the ingredient list, so it's not one of the largest components of the recipe). Now, with gluten-free products, it's not as easy as avoiding the dreaded enriched wheat flour (a.k.a. flour-that-once-had-nutrition-which-was-stripped-out-and-partially-reinserted), you must now learn a whole new way of scoping out the label.

Here's how I decide whether to buy a gluten-free product: first, I find myself scanning the percentages of daily nutrients. Normally, non-health-food-store foods will tell you the amount of vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, and a few other key ones. You will also see the amount of protein and fiber in the product. Sometimes a product you buy at a specialty shop like a health food store will show you a bit more- you'll get to see how much manganese it gives you, and other nutrients that don't get much fanfare. Of course the label will also give you calories and fat content, but truthfully, I don't worry about those. It's not how many grams of fat or calories I worry about—it's where they come from.

So right away, I can see that many gluten-free products have zero protein, fiber, and listed vitamins. Seriously! This is a HUGE red flag, which often means the product has been made with starches so that the mix is white, fluffy and crunchy. However, this also means it is completely VOID of nutrition. Nothing. Zilch. Totally empty calories. Totally NOT worth it.

So after I look at the % of daily nutrients, I look at how many grams of protein and fiber a serving size of something has (also look for the serving size too, you want to know how much you're dealing with- sometimes it's for half a bun, or 1/4 cup of pretzels, etc). Without any protein or fiber, I also question how much starch has been used in the product.

My next stop is on the ingredient list. As you may or may not know, the ingredients are listed by order of quantity in the product—from largest to smallest. What I don't want to see first on that list is a starch. First and foremost, I want to see a flour- brown rice flour is an easy one, but I also love chickpea (garbanzo) flour or other bean flour, and almond flour. There is going to be a starch. That's life with gluten free cooking. Just look at the order of ingredients and do your best to choose a product that has more flours than starches. What I'm trying to avoid here is eating something super starchy (akin to white bread- shudder) that will affect my blood sugar, cause an insulin spike (because starch is quickly converted into glucose in the blood) and leave me feeling low and bloated. Yuck.

Good luck on your quest for the perfect foods. Write to me if you have any questions and I'll try to help you find some answers. :)

Look out for gluten-free saboteurs (and other info on reading food labels)