Am I Really Putting Myself At Risk By Eating Out?

[jasonD2]

I finally came to terms with the gluten issue and am no longer afraid to speak up at restaurants to wait staff. A year ago i was "assuming" certain things were gluten free and now im making specific requests for gluten free meals when i eat out. I am also more selective as to where I eat. Thing is what if im still getting gluten in my system? as some of you may or may not recall I dont get severe symptoms when eating gluten...i do occasionally experience certain physiological reactions but to date am not positive if they are gluten related...i do have multiple sensitivities so its hard to single out gluten as the culprit all the time. for a few months i was easting out with no noticeable problems - i few weeks ago i bought some coconut bliss ice cream and ate half the container over the course of a few days...my IBS then acted up and i have been having lower GI discomfort ever since so i am watching what i eat until i stabilize. i just ate out tonight at Mitchells seafood and requested a gluten free dish...immediately after i started bloating up but it then subsided...was it gluten? was it my IBS? nerves? I just never know what causes what and its really gotten to the point where i just dont care. my stress levels have been at an all time low and i dont dwell on my health and spend hrs on the net trying to find more things wrong with me, but i do occasionally worry that im taking too much of a laid back attitude and that i should be more obsessive to prevent any problems... i guess its all about finding a balance and doing what works best for you but i just hope i am not doing more harm than good. i may ask for gluten free meals but my fear is that gluten still slips thru and that it will continue to compromise my health. i really have been feeling better but you just dont know whats going down on a microscopic level. How do you guys deal with this? i refuse to live in a bubble and never eat out...its an awful thing and really messed me up mentally for a long time and now that im eating out again i feel good about myself.

thanks

Jason

[psawyer]

Despite your best efforts, you will get some gluten

It may come as environmental contamination (you press a button on the elevator which was pressed by someone eating a donut); there may be some in your gluten-free food (the worker at the bakery had a burger for lunch and there were crumbs on his shirt); there may be cross contact in a restaurant or deli.

Tiffany (tarnalberry) put it this way: You need to keep the amount of gluten you ingest low enough that your body heals faster than the damage it causes. I like that view. It is realistic.

You can't retreat into a bubble, and if you eat at places where other people prepare your food, you are taking a risk. If you communicate your needs (and reasons) clearly the risk will be less. Some restaurants are more celiac-aware than others. Outback is high on that list, since the founder has a family connection to celiac disease.

I know that there are risks out there. I try to take a practical approach, striving to make servers aware, but not getting bent out of shape.

[jasonD2]

But will these little exposures from time to time increase ones risk for cancer or other diseases? i would hate to think that I will spend the rest of my life avoiding gluten and still get cancer...i may as well just eat whatever i want if its gonna happen anyway

[psawyer]

As I said, you will get some gluten in your life. The key is to keep the amount under control as much as possible.

I will repeat Tiffany's argument in other words:

Your body reacts to gluten, producing antibodies that cause damage. Your body continuously heals itself, despite the damage. As long as your body can heal at a greater rate than the antibodies can cause damage, you are winning the race.

Accept that, despite your efforts, you will encounter some gluten. The amount DOES matter--do not think that because you survive a couple of mgs of gliadin that you can eat Wonder Bread by the slice.

Being 100% gluten-free is a target that none of us will ever achieve. That does not mean that we should ever stop trying.

[TaniaR]

I've been living with Celiac disease for quite sometime and every person is different when it comes to sensitivity. I know people who can eat out and hardly get sick and then I will go and eat out and my symptoms will kick in immediately. The only problem is that if you are continuously ingesting gluten your intestines will never fully heal which results in vitamin deficiency. However, like the man above me did say it is hard to elimate gluten completely and like i said it does depend on how sensitive you are and you can usually figure that out by seeing how many parts per million of gluten are in the food you are eating - that may be difficult at a restaurant though.

[Skylark]

I know exactly how you feel, only I do get pretty obnoxious symptoms from the gluten. I don't want to live "in a bubble" but I hate getting run down and sick when I get CC'd.

If you're really worried, maybe you can see whether your stool antibodies have gone away. Doesn't Enterolab say you can repeat the test to check your diet?

[Gemini]

Despite your best efforts, you will get some gluten

It may come as environmental contamination (you press a button on the elevator which was pressed by someone eating a donut); there may be some in your gluten-free food (the worker at the bakery had a burger for lunch and there were crumbs on his shirt); there may be cross contact in a restaurant or deli.

Tiffany (tarnalberry) put it this way: You need to keep the amount of gluten you ingest low enough that your body heals faster than the damage it causes. I like that view. It is realistic.

You can't retreat into a bubble, and if you eat at places where other people prepare your food, you are taking a risk. If you communicate your needs (and reasons) clearly the risk will be less. Some restaurants are more celiac-aware than others. Outback is high on that list, since the founder has a family connection to celiac disease.

I know that there are risks out there. I try to take a practical approach, striving to make servers aware, but not getting bent out of shape.

I like your thoughts on this, Peter,and think this the best approach. Unless you choose to live in a bubble and put up walls, nothing is guaranteed in life. I was just reading about this issue in Peter Green's newest version of his book on Celiac Disease and his thoughts on this were very common sense.

He made the point that very small amounts of CC will NOT elevate antibody levels and therefore, will not cause damage to your small intestine. They have done the research, as best they can, and have proven this to be so. I have to take what the leading researcher in this country, and a practicing physician, say as the most up to date, correct information. What you do is be as careful as possible but live your life normally. All Celiacs will ingest some amount of gluten over their lifetime and you pick up and move on. This does not increase your risk of cancer, either. Most cancers related to Celiac Disease are diagnosed before the Celiac Disease is discovered and not the other way around. He adds that the risk of someone being diagnosed with an intestinal cancer is still very low, overall.

Patronize the restaurants which do a good job, limit the amount of times eaten out to a reasonable level and not what the rest of America does and move on and enjoy life.

[sandsurfgirl]

Jason I was wondering about you and how you were doing. I am so happy for you with the changes you have made. It's really apparent in your post that your stress level is lower and that you have come to terms with this disease in many ways. You seem much more at peace. Good for you!

I think what you're getting at is the crux of this disease. How do we manage our disease and still lead a full normal life?

I think what Peter quoted is very true. We have to accept that some gluten will get into our food supply but a tiny amount is always much easier to deal with than a large amount. So we have to give our bodies the best food supply we can so it has a strong arsenal to rebuild if we accidentally get glutened.

[GlutenFreeManna]

All of life involves some risk. If you drive or ride in a car anywhere you risk getting in an accident. Does that mean you should never get in a car? No, it just means you are careful. You don't drive in really bad weather if you can help it, you don't drive the wrong way down a one way street, run red lights or speed excessively. Eating out at restaurants gluten free is sort of like driving in a rain storm, you should always be on your guard, take precautions, etc. However no matter how careful you are, someone else can drive recklessly and crash into you. No matter how many questions you ask at a restaurant or how well you think your server understands your need for gluten free food, someone else in the kitchen can always slip up or be careless preparing your food. Everyone has to decide what level of risk they are comfortable with in regards to eating out. That is life. Most of us would not drive the wrong way down a one way street because that increases our risk of getting in an accident. By the same token, we don't PURPOSELY ingest gluten or order something with gluten because we "could end up getting cancer anyway". You can't know the future and there are no guarantees, but you can take steps to be safe and healthy.

[Fey]

Yes, it's a risk eating out-- or eating in. Any meals prepared by other people could contain sneaky gluten, and even food we prepare could have traces still.

I went gluten-free due to a month-long migraine that wouldn't quit... it quit after 24 hours of being gluten-free. Last Friday I wasn't able to pack my own lunch, and decided to order a gluten-free meal from one of the 15+ restaurants in a mile-radius from my office. I went with a pricier place, figuring they'd have a better-equipped staff to handle food allergies. Looked at their gluten-free menu (they had one online), ordered a salad per their specifications, and put "ALLERGIC TO GLUTEN" in caps with my online order.

Picked it up, checked to make sure the meat had no marinade, made sure it had no fries, etc. Poured the dressing, ate a couple of bites, and realized the chunky stuff in the dressing was gorgonzola-- the gorgonzola their gluten-free menu stated possibly contained gluten.

I didn't really feel sick Saturday, figured maybe the gorgonzola I got was a gluten-free version of the glutened dressing, and I was home free... until the worst migraine of my life came around Sunday. Stomach issues, fibro flare, migraine that didn't improve with anything (ice, darkness, rest, migraine meds, painkillers, I tried everything)... had to take a day off work on Monday. All because of one salad

On the bright side, it makes the cravings and the little devil on my shoulder shut up. Every time I miss Oreos, or whenever I'm tired of spending my days off cooking and planning out meals for the week, I remember just how miserable I was this weekend. And my boyfriend, who hasn't really dealt with a full blown glutening since I went gluten-free seemed to realize just how important it is for me to stay the course on this... and why I now have my own utensils/cutting board/etc.

[vbecton]

I was wandering the same thing about getting glutened. I just spent 4 days on a river trip and the very 1st night we were out I was glutened. UHHH. Made for a very long trip away from my bathroom. I chose the restaurant based on their gluten free menu and helpful manager, but it's always a risk. I was willing to take the risk, but then seriously regretted that risk once the symptoms kicked in. But, my girlfriends now know what I mean when I say I've been glutened. They were so sweet and bought me an entire box (economy size) of matches for our tiny cabin bathroom! The next night we (they) went out for BBQ and I brought my own pre-made dinner and even ate it cold for fear it would be CC'd in their microwave. But, better safe than sorry....my poor cabin mates got a first hand look at a glutening in the worst way!!

I don't want to live in a bubble either, but things like this make me very anxious about traveling out of my comfort zone.

[T.H.]

There's a gluten free blogger - who I'm afraid I have forgotten the name of - who wrote a lot about eating out. It was something she loved and didn't want to give up. She said for her, she cultivated certain restaurants, so that they learned what she needed, and knew about celiac disease, and she could be safe there. She also said that sometimes it took a while to build up the relationship. She'd call ahead, learn the chef names, go at non-busy times so she could make sure and talk to the manager/chef and work out exactly how careful she could be.

And usually, she had a wonderful time.

Right now, the honest answer about 'is it really putting you at risk' is that no one knows. They don't know how much damage gluten does to us as it seems to vary from person to person. They don't know exactly what complications can develop, they just have guesses and some good theories, but they wonder what might be an issue they don't know about, and what isn't the issue they think it is. Kind of ends up with us having to decide for ourselves what we're comfortable with, yes?