What Did I Eat?

[one more mile]

I went to a dinner, my second time out since going gluten free. I had scrambled eggs, home fries and a double order of bacon. 40 minutes later I had to find a bathroom, 25 hours later my gut is hard as a rock. I am in a little pain but not much.

What did I eat? I thought those were all safe foods?

ONE MORE MILE

[ShayFL]

They are safe if you cooked them yourself and confirmed that all ingredients were gluten free.

If the fries were dropped into a fryer, it is likely a "shared" fryer with other gluten coated foods. The eggs could have been scrambled in a pan or on a hot surface that was also used to make pancakes or such. Some places actually add pancake batter to the eggs to make them "fluffy". The bacon could have malt as an ingredient or even some type of gluten that they add. You have to read the ingredients on bacon t make sure and sometimes you even have to call the manufacturer just to be certain. Applegate farms makes some that are marked gluten free.

When you eat out, you have to ASK A TON OF QUESTIONS to protect yourself. Calling ahead is a good idea. Or if they have a website. Best to stick to restaurants that actually have a gluten free menu.

If you are invited to someone's home, bring a dish that is SAFE for you to make sure you can eat.

[GlutenFree2]

I would have to say that it was the fries. When the fries were fryed, they were most likely in the same fryer with the evil gluten.

[babysteps]

where I live "home fries" are usually cooked on a grill or in a skillet, not deep-fried. But many food service home-fries may not be gluten-free (way before I was gluten-free I had a reaction to home fries and thought maybe it was msg, now I'm pretty sure it was gluten).

Basically, for safe dining you have to tell your restaurant & server that you are a gluten-free diner, and remind them what that means (I say something like "no wheat, including flour, bread, pasta and most soy sauce. no barley, including miso and anything malt. no rye. I can have everything else, including rice and corn"). There is so much hidden gluten, especially in 'food service' type food (vs. fine dining). It does help to try to choose items that the restaurant doesn't have to change to make it gluten-free, but this is *not* a substitute for self-identifying as a gluten-free diner.

One example of a restricted diner's (gluten-free and also no fish, no nuts, no dairy...) protocol for dining out is Open Original Shared Link

It *is* possible to eat out gluten-free, it's just a little more involved, especially when you're getting used to giving 'the speech'.

[Juliebove]

Not all home fries are gluten free. If the potatoes came frozen, they might not be. Some bacon is not gluten free. Did you eat at a chain restaurant? If so, they likely were not safe. We can not eat at Denny's because there is so much crap in their food it's unbelievable. I think the only safe choices there are a green salad and applesauce.

[purple]

My undiagnosed dd is trying to go gluten-free/vegan. She works after school at a restaurant, got hungry and ate fries. The next morning she had 2 gut aches before school. She said they deep fry everything in the same oil. She has Ritz sometimes and they don't bother her...yet. The restaurant also deep fries wheat tortillas for taco salad bowls. She can tell when she eats right and when she doesn't. I am glad she wants to do this all on her own. My other dd is gluten intolerant.