[Gobbie]

Hi, I have a number of food allergies and intolerances but gluten & grains (rice*) seem to be the worst off for me judging from my reactions and available food.

Gluten I heard takes around 80% of our dish and the alternative to that or in Asia the main source of meal is rice.
So... you can guess what my problem would be.

My symptoms have worsened since last year so I began my gluten free diet from then on.
I was on holiday to South East Asia last summer but the symptoms were not as bad plus I was given Chinese herbal medication to heal the poorly tortured stomach. Although since everything there evolved around wheat, gluten, grains, red meat, heavy seadoned food, deep fries, unhygenic stuff... I fell ill quite often but with no alternative foods available I had to feast on them anyway.

But this time around, I CAN NOT.
I am fed up of falling ill as especially in the recent month my life has been GREATLY effected by it.
My work is being slowed down, social life on the rocks, family has become my enemy, etc
plus with all the work stress and all I NEED A SUMMER HOLIDAY.

I would LOVE travelling to Europe, somewhere with the SUN!!
Like Spain.. but are the foods safe enough for me to eat?

I know there are translated dietry cards available on order via online but they cost too much plus are not available in ALL languages.

Plus there are countries with NO KNOWLEDGE or awareness of food intolerances.
I don't know what to do.

Can anyone help?
Are there any countries that is quite updated on food intolerance system or just naturally has lots of 'safe' fresh foods. Even places like Costa Rica, I saw someone's holiday photos of the place and it seemed to have unmodified, straight from the nature like dishes..

I just want to go abroad where it is sunny and has friendly foods!

x
x

[tarnalberry]

Read the travel section - lots of people still travel.
I certainly do, though I tend to do the same thing my husband and I have always done (because we're a bit cost-efficient this way): we find places with kitchens and do some of our own cooking while there. Europe is one place you'll find a lot of reports on here about plenty of successful travel. Celiac does not in any way have to prevent you from travelling.

[mtn. rose]

tarnalberry, on May 13 2009, 10:01 AM, said:

Read the travel section - lots of people still travel.
I certainly do, though I tend to do the same thing my husband and I have always done (because we're a bit cost-efficient this way): we find places with kitchens and do some of our own cooking while there. Europe is one place you'll find a lot of reports on here about plenty of successful travel. Celiac does not in any way have to prevent you from travelling.

[mtn. rose]

We have traveled all over the world with little trouble. We usually pack some basic items (we even invented a kind of 'just-add-hot-water-type-gruel' for my husband). We also travel where possible with a tiny camping stove & 1 tiny pot which makes life easy in difficult countries. If you are going to buy a travel stove, I suggest a multi fuel one.
Can you eat potatoes & millet? If so these are the staple carbs of Nepal & trecking there is wonderful.

[Cookie_Monster]

Dont be fooled with buying the language cards!! This site does them for free in 48 languages... http://www.celiactra...rant-cards.html

As for Spain, Ive been there twice (Alicante)and also to Fuerte Ventura and never had a problem. Most of the food is plain and fresh with no sauces. Such as fish, potatoes and salad, and I even took a couple of pizza bases which the chef was prepared to use for me. I'd recommend taking some basic bits, such as crackers and bread for if you get stuck, but when I was in fuerte ventura (I mention this because they speak Spanish) the supermarket had a gluten free section.

I'd recommend making note of key words and carrying it with you (as well as the language cards), such as wheat = trigo, so that you know what to look out for on the packets.

Hope this helps! I realise this is a late reply but might help others!