Best State To Live In For The gluten-free Diet?

[crayola]

I feel like I wouldn't care nearly as much about the disease if I was in a big city with many options for food around. As it is I'm two hours away from any real eat out food that's gluten free. Are there any states, or more particular cities which provide the most options for us?

I graduate college in 2 years, and this could definitely be a big factor as to where to move if there is one key city out there.

[Sweetfudge]

Definitely not Utah!!!! My family all lives up in Oregon and Washington, and my sister says they carry so much gluten-free stuff in all the grocery stores in Seattle. My mom always sends me gluten-free goodies she sees at the grocery stores in Portland too. There seem to be a lot more restaurants that are accomodating to a gluten-free diet up there as well. Kinda makes me wish I were still up there. I'd imagine that anywhere near a big city is good. I've had good gluten-free eating experiences in Vegas and San Diego, and I told my husband I wanted to move to Orlando (just so we could eat out at Disneyworld every day!).

[celiac-mommy]

Portland Oregon/Vancouver Washington for sure!!

[elonwy]

I'd say the SF Bay area and New York are the two places I've had the easiest time being gluten free.

[Takala]

It's not the restaurants, it's the groceries that should concern you the most, whether or not you can purchase staple products that are gluten free, relatively close to where you live. Restaurants and their policies come and go, but most of your eating at home needs to be safe.

I will stick around here in CA (north of Sacramento) because I seem to be in a demographic pocket of enough gluten free people that I can find things readily.

[miles2go]

Honestly, it's not bad here in central Maine. If you want to cook for yourself, especially so, but if you want to eat out, it's doable as well. Maybe it's our proximity to Canada. Mind you, we don't have a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods up here, but our Hannaford grocery stores made the top ten of some grocery store list that I saw recently and there are plenty of health food stores around to take up most of the slack. That, and we have AWESOME farmer's markets.

Margaret

[Alima]

Colorado has been so wonderful for me. Missouri has been a nightmare.

Colorado, especially Denver, is constantly growing in their usefulness with coming up with new gluten free foods. A company called Udi's has come out with a ton of new stuff in the past year that absolutely could be mistaken for gluten-filled. There are restaurants everywhere that have gluten-free friendly menus or are willing to work with you. There is a lady up in Longmont who has a bakery where you can buy the most amazing pizza crusts and hoagie rolls and cookies and everything amazing.

Living 8 months of the year in Missouri is way too hard. It's getting easier with stores like Dierbergs but it's nothing compared to Colorado. Every day I miss being able to eat Udi's sandwich bread and eat like a normal human.

I strongly suggest Colorado in general because it's amazing but also it is a fabulous haven for gluten-free people.

[Jestgar]

Seattle/Cali/Oregon

We're all sorta off the beaten track to start with and gluten is just one more thing that's unhealthy and should be watched.

Avoid eastern WA, and maybe even eastern OR. Your dairy free meal comes with cheese.....

[ravenwoodglass]

Anyplace with a Wegmans. They make gluten-free shopping easy and unlike many other companies they consider distilled gluten grains to not be safe, for those of us who are sensitive it makes telling if we can really eat that pickle or BBQ sauce easy.

Wegmans is NY state home based but has markets in other states on the East Coast.

[JennyC]

Portland Oregon/Vancouver Washington for sure!!

I second that! We have lots of restaurants and shopping available. I have three gluten free pizza places within a 10 minute drive from my house! The best part is that in Vancouver Washington there is a little store that is entirely gluten free!

[luvs2eat]

I'd have to agree w/ Portland, too. There's this really neat little bakery that looks like a Gingerbread house w/ the most yummy gluten-free stuff.

I moved to Arkansas where there's NO gluten-free stuff in stores, but I can order anything I need from Amazon and if I buy $25 worth of stuff (so I just wait till I need a few things)... shipping is free and buying a "case" (for example 6 packets of Pamela's bread mix or 12 packs of Tinkyada spaghetti) ends up costing me way less than it did when I could find it in stores (w/ the exception maybe of Trader Joe's which seems to have really reasonablel prices!

Eating out is a problem anywhere. We just don't go often anymore.

[SalmonNationWoman]

California, Oregon and Washington provide good overall access to gluten-free shopping and have the widest variety of fresh produce in my experience. My experience in Colorado has been hit-and-miss depending on location. British Columbia, even small towns, have markets and healthfood stores with gluten-free products.

Right now, my planning concerns for travel are a 5-day professional symposium in Las Vegas. I've resigned myself to schlepping everything I eat to avoid exposures, so my travel has been drastically cut back if it's a fly-in location.

I'm currently in Shawnee, KS (KC metro area) and it's not too bad with a several Whole Foods, larger healthfood stores and Hy-Vee Markets (midwest chain). Gluten-Free Life Bakery has been the best bread for me personally as it's made locally. I order the minimum $49 and have it delivered right to my front door the day after baking.

SOY is such a problem for me that even when I've found gluten-free dining, soy ingredients prevent partaking of virtually the entire menu. To further complicate things, I'm allergic to beef, pork, lamb, venison, bison and other mammal meats. I've been to a few gluten-free baking classes that have used gelatin instead of xantham gum and gotten sick . The explanation I've received is that gelatin is cheaper and widely available. After some "wasted" tuition I make sure in advance if the demos use gelatin. Gelatin is another one of those sneaky, "hidden" ingredients that can make shopping for dairy, turkey, chicken and seafood a nightmare.

That said, I order from Amazon and have received prompt, reliable service. I haven't tried GFMall yet as I'm on a very restricted budget at the moment.

Bottom line, gluten-free eating isn't cheap but is your health really worth cheaping out by cutting corners or making convenience a priority over safety?

[msmini14]

I'd have to agree w/ Portland, too. There's this really neat little bakery that looks like a Gingerbread house w/ the most yummy gluten-free stuff.

I moved to Arkansas where there's NO gluten-free stuff in stores, but I can order anything I need from Amazon and if I buy $25 worth of stuff (so I just wait till I need a few things)... shipping is free and buying a "case" (for example 6 packets of Pamela's bread mix or 12 packs of Tinkyada spaghetti) ends up costing me way less than it did when I could find it in stores (w/ the exception maybe of Trader Joe's which seems to have really reasonablel prices!

Eating out is a problem anywhere. We just don't go often anymore.

I never thought of looking on amazon, you have to buy in bulk but you save so much money. 1 bag of pamelas baking mix is almost $18.00 when you can get 3 for $36.00, amazing! I will buy in bulk just to save money lol. Plus it is an hour drive just to get to wholefoods and the place in a mad house, not worth it to me lol

[Jamie]

NY is good... I was just diagnosed a month ago and I have done a lot of research. Long Island has a lot of restuarnts that have gluten-free menus ,including cafe baldo, which is a completly gluten-free resturant. I havn't even been to the city yet since I have been diagnosed. I can't wait though because I heard there are some excellent restuarnts and bakerys there.

I don't know about upstate.

http://www.glutenfreeli.com/gf_restaurants.htm

[SacGFGirl]

I feel like I wouldn't care nearly as much about the disease if I was in a big city with many options for food around. As it is I'm two hours away from any real eat out food that's gluten free. Are there any states, or more particular cities which provide the most options for us?

I graduate college in 2 years, and this could definitely be a big factor as to where to move if there is one key city out there.

I live in Northern California and I find that it's slowly becoming easier and easier to be gluten free. There's a great store downtown, The Gluten Free Specialty, this is 100% gluten-free and they'll order anything you want, if they don't already have it in stock. You can check out various cities on urbanspoon, as they have a gluten-free section. There are about 30 places listed for the greater Sacramento area, and the bay area is pretty close and they have a lot of gluten-free dining options. I also hear that NYC is very progressive in being gluten-free friendly, so anywhere along either coast would be best in my opinion.

[purple]

From what I have heard...Oregon and Washington are very healthy states to live. They really care.

[NicoleAJ]

I actually had a very easy time being gluten free both in State College, Pennsylvania, and to some extent in Miami, FL. Surprisingly, I now live on the Central Coast in California, and I find the knowledge of celiac and the access to products to be the worst I have ever experienced anywhere that I've lived. It's nice to have a Trader Joe's around, but the local health food store has the smallest selection, and an Amy's gluten free rice crust pizza is $14, which just isn't worth it. I make frequent pilgrimages up to San Francisco to stock up on my gluten-free needs, but 6 hours round trip is a long way to go for some gluten free food, particularly with CA gas prices.

[mushroom]

I actually had a very easy time being gluten free both in State College, Pennsylvania, and to some extent in Miami, FL. Surprisingly, I now live on the Central Coast in California, and I find the knowledge of celiac and the access to products to be the worst I have ever experienced anywhere that I've lived. It's nice to have a Trader Joe's around, but the local health food store has the smallest selection, and an Amy's gluten free rice crust pizza is $14, which just isn't worth it. I make frequent pilgrimages up to San Francisco to stock up on my gluten-free needs, but 6 hours round trip is a long way to go for some gluten free food, particularly with CA gas prices.

Unfortunately on Central Coast you are kind of 'twixt and 'tween. Neither the liberal, anything goes freewheeling of SF Bay Area and North Bay, nor the hubbub, glitz and zing of SoCal. At one point we thought of retiring to Cambria, but hey, we just wanted to retire, not go to sleep! Sorry, didn't intend this to sound derogatory, but Central Coast is kinda like neither fish nor fowl and still trying to find its way, despite Cal Poly and SLO being a pretty good center of activity. (There's also getting to be some pretty good wine down there, says she who came from Sonoma.) I guess you will have to be the one to educate them on gluten free living (maybe educate a couple of the docs down there on how to diagnose celiac and the rest will follow).

[WW340]

Tulsa Oklahoma is a great place for celiacs. One of the best restaurants in town is owned and run by a chef with celiac. More than half his menu is gluten free. Almost any restaurant you go into there has a gluten free menu. Plus, there is a PF Changs, Pew wei, and all the other national chains that have a gluten free menu. They have 3 large food stores which cater to gluten free customers, including a whole foods. There are also gluten free bakeries close by.

I don't live there, but I go there often to stock up on things. My GI is there and he said that Tulsa is a hot bed for celiac, so most of the restaurants are aware of gluten free.

[Judyin Philly]

Relocating to Temecula CA

Know Jennifer had lived there and sent me some great info

anyone else other there familiar with that area.......it's South of Long Beach and more inland.

thanks Judy

[beanpot]

I think the Boston area is good. There are a lot of health food stores, and even the regular grocery stores carry gluten-free stuff. Some restaurants have gluten free options if you call ahead. And there are a lot of support groups. We have lots of Irish people here, who are in the high risk group for celiac, so manybe that's why there's so many resources.

[Takala]

On traveling- What surprised me about Las Vegas was when ordering food at the big Casino restaurants, the wait staff actually understood what I meant and it was possible to get plain, unseasoned meat and vegetable and rice and potato for dinners. My fellow conventioners were sort of amused that I was thrilled to see a request of plain rice come from the restaurant kitchen as ... plain rice. I felt so grateful. I don't normally do Casino types of things so this was a surprise. There was also a breakfast bar where I stayed that had a lot of fresh fruit and that really helped.

You know how this can go in the midwest. They are determined to put gravy or sauce on every thing no matter what.

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

Top places I have personally been to and experienced:

1. Seattle

2. San Francisco

3. Las Vegas

4. Phoenix

5. San Diego

and Columbus Ohio is getting there! Every year I go back and it gets better and better!

[Poppy Cat]

I second that! We have lots of restaurants and shopping available. I have three gluten free pizza places within a 10 minute drive from my house! The best part is that in Vancouver Washington there is a little store that is entirely gluten free!

Jealous!

[blueeyedmanda]

I have to agree wtih Raven, anywhere that has a Wegmans near is celiac haven. I would not have had such an easy transition without that store.