How To Handle Eating Out With Cc Risk?

[Melstar23]

I have been Gluten free for about 4 months and have been having significant improvements with my digestive system. One thing I have noticed is that now if I am accidently glutened by CC, I am having much worse reactions. My partner and I are getting much better at managing CC risks at home, but it seems like if I am going to eat food that someone else prepares, I will be risking CC, even if the food preparer is really trying their best to do the right thing. For example, this Christmas, my Mum and Auntie really went out of their way to make Gluten Free foods. Both are very supportive of my change in diet, both are very knowledgable about food, reading labels, and both have worked as cooks in the hospitality industry. But I was sick the next day (still having pain 3 days later). I would only have had a crumb of gluten. I know that they were trying to be so careful. Similar happened when work provided a lunch and included a Celiac option. The meal was packed separately to the gluten meals, but I was sick the next day. It was made at the same place that made the gluten meals, so they must have got a crumb on it.

I am well when I control my own food preparation, but sick when I put my trust in others. I want to know how I can ever eat out safely again? Even restaurants here that advertise as being Gluten Free seem to have small print on the menu that they don't garruntee their food to be 100% Gluten Free. My Dr said that I should not even risk 1 crumb and that Gluten Free diet has to be 100% compliance, but is that even possible? How many times a year do others risk letting others prepare their food at a restaurant or someoneelse's house. I'm not saying that I will always be glutened by others, but the risk will always be there.

I would really appreciate anyone's advice.

[eatmeat4good]

I am gluten free 3 months and I am coming to the humbling conclusion that I won't be ever risking my health to another food preparer. I ate out 2 days ago and carefully ordered and the chef and waitress were very helpful and tried to make a safe meal...just meat and veg. Well, I got sick. I have the DH and am very sensitive and get sores and migraines. That is a big price to pay for one meal. Now I am thinking it is impossible to educate food preparers to be as careful as I need them to be. I'm sorry that it is true, but I think you are absolutely right about CC and I won't be risking it again unless I first set aside a whole week to be sick. Sad but true.

[SGWhiskers]

You're right. Anytime you let someone else prepare your food, you will be risking cross contamination. Fortunately, there are some ways to mitigate that risk.

I will first say that I always recommend being in control of your own food for the first 3-6 months while you figure out what your body needs and while you heal. I wish I had taken my own advice when I first was diagnosed. Instead, I tried to manage the cooking of others while I was still learning myself. I'm very sensitive to trace cross contamination, and used to have a 50% glutening rate when eating out. I'm lowering that rate with the following rules.

1) Eat at restaraunts that are either GIG certified, or have a chef (not just a cook).

2) Don't go out to eat during the dinner rush. Kitchen staff and waitresses are more likely to do something without thinking that will make you sick. I try to sit down between 10:30-11:15 and between 2:00-4:45.

3) Tell the waitress right away that you have food allergies to wheat and flour.

4) I ask her to wash her hands before she gets me my water and let her know that a tiny crumb from left on her hands from bringing bread to another table will make me sick. I'm nice about it and do this to let her know how sensitive I am.

5) The first time I eat at a restaraunt, I try to talk to the chef or cook (if it is a GIG restaraunt).

6) I order plain meat, potatoes, veggies the first time. The more expensive the restaraunt and the more competent the waitress/kitchen staff seem, the more likely I am to risk gluten free sauces and the garlic mashed potatoes that some GIG restaraunts have.

7) I ALWAYS ask for my meat prepared in a clean pan with clean utensils instead of on the grill. (The one time I forgot, I got sick).

8) I never order salads. I usually ask for an extra side of veggies instead. When I waited tables, the salads were either in a salad bar in the back that the waitresses prepared from with a high risk for cross contamination, or were prepared on plates before the dinner rush. We just pulled the onions or tomatoes off for people who didn't want them.

I take the view that gluten is impossible to completely eliminate from our lives, but that there are lots of things I can do to reduce the risk of getting glutened. I continually ask myself is it worth the risk? The answer is almost always NO. For me, no fast food, no diners, sports bars, no catering, no friend/family cooked meals. Over time, my mom has watched me prepare my food at her house using her ingredients. She is learning that it is not just the food that needs to be gluten free, but the preparation as well. I would probably trust her to make my food at this point (2.5 years later), as long as I was watching what she was doing. In the beginning, I was barely figuring out how to avoid CC myself.

[Gemini]

You're right. Anytime you let someone else prepare your food, you will be risking cross contamination. Fortunately, there are some ways to mitigate that risk.

I will first say that I always recommend being in control of your own food for the first 3-6 months while you figure out what your body needs and while you heal. I wish I had taken my own advice when I first was diagnosed. Instead, I tried to manage the cooking of others while I was still learning myself. I'm very sensitive to trace cross contamination, and used to have a 50% glutening rate when eating out. I'm lowering that rate with the following rules.

1) Eat at restaraunts that are either GIG certified, or have a chef (not just a cook).

2) Don't go out to eat during the dinner rush. Kitchen staff and waitresses are more likely to do something without thinking that will make you sick. I try to sit down between 10:30-11:15 and between 2:00-4:45.

3) Tell the waitress right away that you have food allergies to wheat and flour.

4) I ask her to wash her hands before she gets me my water and let her know that a tiny crumb from left on her hands from bringing bread to another table will make me sick. I'm nice about it and do this to let her know how sensitive I am.

5) The first time I eat at a restaraunt, I try to talk to the chef or cook (if it is a GIG restaraunt).

6) I order plain meat, potatoes, veggies the first time. The more expensive the restaraunt and the more competent the waitress/kitchen staff seem, the more likely I am to risk gluten free sauces and the garlic mashed potatoes that some GIG restaraunts have.

7) I ALWAYS ask for my meat prepared in a clean pan with clean utensils instead of on the grill. (The one time I forgot, I got sick).

8) I never order salads. I usually ask for an extra side of veggies instead. When I waited tables, the salads were either in a salad bar in the back that the waitresses prepared from with a high risk for cross contamination, or were prepared on plates before the dinner rush. We just pulled the onions or tomatoes off for people who didn't want them.

I take the view that gluten is impossible to completely eliminate from our lives, but that there are lots of things I can do to reduce the risk of getting glutened. I continually ask myself is it worth the risk? The answer is almost always NO. For me, no fast food, no diners, sports bars, no catering, no friend/family cooked meals. Over time, my mom has watched me prepare my food at her house using her ingredients. She is learning that it is not just the food that needs to be gluten free, but the preparation as well. I would probably trust her to make my food at this point (2.5 years later), as long as I was watching what she was doing. In the beginning, I was barely figuring out how to avoid CC myself.

As a highly sensitive, diagnosed Celiac who was suffering from severe malnutrition, I do agree with some of your advice given and think they are good overall guidelines. However, I think eating out is hugely dependent on where you live and education level of the restaurant in question. I am lucky to live in the Northeast, where the amount of gluten-free awareness and restaurants that offer gluten-free food is quite large. I have also been glutened more often at a restaurant with an official gluten-free menu than the high end places I normally go with no set menu but a chef and staff with a higher level of education and training in food matters.

I do not eat out often but when I do, I always go now to those places where I have developed a relationship with them and know the meal will not be messed up. I do not agree with you on the notion of never ordering salads. I live on salads and have never been glutened by one, in 6 years. I know it differs for everyone but salads are, by far, the safest thing I have ever ordered in a restaurant. You cannot generalize on what one place does being the norm for other places. All you need to do is ask how they are plated and where to get a feel for what is safe.

Striving to live gluten-free, as best as possible, is always the goal for anyone with Celiac but you have to realize that it cannot totally be avoided. I think most who put effort into it do so successfully but if it does happen, you will recover and life will go on. You will not be damaged for life if you take a hit once a year. No one sets out to be glutened but if you want to live a normal life and not feel like a leper, chances will occasionally be taken. Measured chances, like eating out and not taking huge risks on what is offered. It can be done successfully, though!

[dilettantesteph]

It depends on how sensitive to low levels of gluten contamination you are. Some of us are sensitive to lower levels than others. I am one who needs to live in a gluten free household. I got glutened every time I ate out. I realized that if we couldn't do it in our own household with all our extensive knowledge of the disease, how can I ever expect restaurant workers to be able to do it? Even if they have celiac, they are unlikely to be as sensitive as I am, or they wouldn't be able to work in a restaurant.

I don't eat out anymore. Now I have more money to buy ingredients for nice meals at home.

[T.H.]

When I started out, I risked it a few times, but like you, my reactions were much worse after going gluten free, I got sick every time, and I eventually simply stopped. Yeah, I could risk it, but even under the most careful conditions, it has failed.

However, I haven't stopped going out. My friends, when we get together, choose a restaurant very carefully, so no big 'poofs' of flour in the air, like at a pizza place or something. Then they order, and I bring my own food. I've called ahead to talk with the restaurant, and usually they are pretty good about it.

I simply say that myself and friends would like to have dinner at their restaurant but one of the party has severe allergies and so would have to bring her own food to be safe. Would they have any difficulty accommodating that?

Admittedly, it's not allergies, but it's the easiest, fastest way for them to understand that a person coming CAN'T eat their food. Usually, they're good about realizing that if they have no problem with this, they will be getting all my friends' business, ya know?

I bought some bento boxes, because they are small, nice, and unobtrusive. It works out well for me. :-)

[sandsurfgirl]

Four months is still relatively new to the diet and the withdrawal/healing process.

Everyone has to handle this issue differently. For me, it's worth risking CC to have freedom and the ability to go out and socialize. That being said, I have only gotten glutened a handful of times when I'm out and I'm very sensitive to the smallest amount of CC. I eat out many times per week.

It think it's far more dangerous at other people's houses because in restaurants they are trained to deal with cross contamination issues. However, I am not going to miss out on family gatherings. My parents try very hard to accomodate me. I still got glutened on Christmas. I think it was cracker crumbs that got into stuff. But I had a great time with my family and I ate with everyone. I did bring a gluten free pasta dish to share with everyone.

Is it possible you are reacting to something else they are cooking with? Many if not most of us have other food intolerances because of the damage to our intestines.