Eating Out - Asian Food

[rain]

I've been almost a year gluten free and this week I cheated twice this week with soy sauce in my food. And right away I've been sleeping 12 hours a night, both times the night after eating the soy sauce. And today I have peripheral neuropathy - numbness and tingling all over my body!! I hate that!

Please tell me how to manage eating out. My primary restaurant diet is Asian food, and I'm not doing a good job of eating out at all.

I'm so annoyed right now, I should be at the gym getting my body back after falling apart the last two years (sick for many more but the last 2 were ROUGH).

Today i go in for blood testing to see where my antibody levels are. I think that's partly why I've been slipping... makes no sense but I think I wanted to push my body to see what shows up.

Anyway, I know I'll get back together. It will probably only take my body a few days to sort itself out. But I seem to have lost my gluten-free focus....

Thanks for listening. I need a pep talk.

[Dee777]

I've been almost a year gluten free and this week I cheated twice this week with soy sauce in my food. And right away I've been sleeping 12 hours a night, both times the night after eating the soy sauce. And today I have peripheral neuropathy - numbness and tingling all over my body!! I hate that!

Please tell me how to manage eating out. My primary restaurant diet is Asian food, and I'm not doing a good job of eating out at all.

I'm so annoyed right now, I should be at the gym getting my body back after falling apart the last two years (sick for many more but the last 2 were ROUGH).

Today i go in for blood testing to see where my antibody levels are. I think that's partly why I've been slipping... makes no sense but I think I wanted to push my body to see what shows up.

Anyway, I know I'll get back together. It will probably only take my body a few days to sort itself out. But I seem to have lost my gluten-free focus....

Thanks for listening. I need a pep talk.

Good morning!

I'm newer to the whole gluten-free way of life than you are by a long chalk, I was diagnosed January 25 this year. What I do when I go out is bring my own sauces in small containers. I feel like a dork when I start hauling out my goodies but on the other hand I know I am not glutening myself with unknown sources and I don't have to eat my meals in restaurants without the condiments!

I hope you are feeling better soon. I can imagine I will be getting to that stage where I will lose my focus too as I have been sick for so long and nothing is helping. Good luck!

[gfkikamonster]

Depending on where you live, there may be a PF Chang's or a Pei Wei (they are connected). PF Chang's has a very large gluten-free menu (they started marinating most of their meat with a marinade that has gluten-free soy sauce so we can have it!) and I've never had a problem there. Pei Wei is more of a "fast food" type Asian place, and they have a much smaller gluten-free menu, but they have some tasty food nonetheless. The food is very Americanized but it helps me get my Asian fix. (For whatever reason, Asian food is almost a comfort food for me, so I had to figure out a way to get it at a restaurant!)

If you have a favorite restaurant, you could always go and try to talk to one of the chefs and see if you can figure out things you can have, but for Chinese at least soy sauce is in almost everything. Now if you like Thai, I've heard they put soy sauce in a lot less, and they tend to use rice noodles in noodle dishes, so you could scope that out!

And finally, I know it's not a restaurant but I have learned to make a few of my favorite dishes at home, because that way I can get them when I desperately want them! Many online recipes can be easily made gluten-free just by substituting gluten-free soy sauce for regular.. just watch out because there are a few other "sauces" that can contain soy sauce (and hence wheat) in them. There seem to be subs but some of them can be REALLY hard to track down.

I hope you can find a way to feed your craving without making yourself sick, one way or another!

[MBK]

I am right there with you on the Asian cuisine being a comfort food of sorts. I love me some sushi, hibachi sytle Japanese, any Chinese, etc....I love it! Soy sauce has always been a staple in my fridge!!

when I was told a couple weeks ago that Soy Sauce, Teryaki sauces and any other Asian based sauce was OUT!....I flipped. I am so new at this, being 2 weeks diagnosed, that I am on fire with trying to figure this out. I know at home I am safe, we have lots of gluten-free choices for those same sauces...but the going out is what's hard.

I do agree though that PF Changs has a nice gluten-free menu and after talking to the manager when I visited last week, he informed me that all PF changs recognize the kitchen practices to prevent cross-contamination. It was a truly a blessing to hear!

I know there are going to be tough days ahead for all of us restricted eaters but if you want a list of restaraunts with gluten-free menus locally, just go to glutenfreerestaurants.com and put in your zipcode. Its pretty handy.

Now, if anyone can figure out how to successfully go out for SUSHI, let me know. I have been warned that white sticky rice could potentially have gluten fillers/binders in it. Along with overall threat of gluten on utensils, cutting boards, etc. All suggestions are welcome!

Rain,

If going out is a big part of life for you, as it is for me...I love good food, good wine and even in home entertaining, just get back on the wagon and remember that there are a lot of ways to accomodate your socail life. It will take the online research and maybe even calling the restaraunt ahead of time to make it work, but be strong! I mean, shoot sounds like you have already got a full year headstart on this than me and a couple temptations and slipups are not the end of the world. You can do it! Just remember how you feel when you do dip into the prohibited foods...that will probably make you think twice.

As is with any food plan and sticking to it...its all about Preperation!!

Good luck!!

[Strawberry-Jam]

any Asian restaurant worth its salt would never put anything in sticky rice but steamed rice! adding wheat binders etc. would be a sign of being CHEAP. It's the species of rice that determines if it's sticky or not, not additives or something.

I can't have soy myself, as well as gluten. I tend to get sashimi when I go to Japanese restaurants... can't go wrong with raw fish and no sauce. Then I'll have pickled veggies, white rice, and salad (no sauce). Or california rolls with no fake crab in it.

You should not only be careful of soy sauce, but also wasabi and "imitation" (fake) crab. Those both have wheat ingredients too. And I've been told I'd gotten a "totally wheat free" plate when they used imitation crab... they had no clue...

But I second the PF Changs recommendation. I got good service there the one time I went. At a regular place you could also get things like egg drop soup or miso soup (fermented soy), or things made without sauce on plain white rice (all fried rice is fried with soy sauce).

Or you can experiment with cooking your own asian food! Fried rice is really easy... you could make it with gluten-free soy sauce or even just sesame oil, and you can put whatever you want in it. Teriyaki meat/fish is easy too... Teriyaki is only soy sauce, sake, and mirin (sweet rice vinegar), so you can make the sauce from scratch. Sushi is hard, but fun, with sheets of seaweed and the little bamboo roller thingy... Miso soup is easy, you just dissolve the miso paste in fish broth (or I guess you could use chicken or veggie broth) and add tofu or green onions or wakame or whatever. Ha, I lived in Japan growing up (Army dad) so I have a lot of exposure to Asian cooking. If you wanted any recipes or ideas you could just PM me.

[anabananakins]

Please tell me how to manage eating out. My primary restaurant diet is Asian food, and I'm not doing a good job of eating out at all.

It's hard. I used to eat out a few times a week, and mostly asian food. Not any more. All the places I know here are small family run places and I know they are using the same woks over and over. I think the cross contamination is too likely.

PF Changs is a good option though. I felt very safe eating there. I also at ate Ben Pao in Chicago and they were very helpful and it was a good meal. I'm not sure if they are a chain though.

Good luck! And use this experience to draw a line in the sand with your experimenting. No more, soy sauce isn't worth it. Much better to learn to cook yourself. I have missed singapore noodles so much but I experimented recently and since by then it had been 9 months since I'd eaten the 'real' version, I thought mine tasted pretty good.

[rain]

Many thanks for your replies.

Does anyone eat at indian restaurants? Does that work out ok?

And what about Burmese or Caribbean - are those ok? I figure if I don't eat soy I'm better off..?

[lynnelise]

So far I have always managed to have sushi safely. I usually order King Crab california rolls (make sure you stress it has to be real crab!), tuna and salmon rolls w/ avocado, and the philly roll. Nothing with tempura crunchies on top. I get miso soup to eat with it because I confirmed with the staff that it is free or wheat and soy sauce.

Indian food is often safe. Be sure to ask if they use asofoetida/hing because this can be a source of gluten! Also take your normal precautions with anything fried as it is likely to be CC.

[Shani GFTJs]

Definitely go out and buy a bottle of San-J Tamari/Gluten Free sauce - it is basically gluten free soy sauce. Buy some little containers and bring it along with you when you go out.

A lot of people have recommended sushi, I mostly do pretty good with that, every once in a while I have problems. Make sure you order it without any sauce on it (and use your tamari), no sesames (I've heard that they sometimes use a wheat flour base), no roe (i.e. fish eggs as sometimes they marinate them in soy sauce), no wasabi, and no imitation crab. I usually just get the tuna avocado roll or or nigiri (fish on rice).

Another asian style food that I've had a lot of success with lately is Vietnamese. They use rice noodles and rice paper for a lot of their dishes. Again, bring along your tamari.

In regards to Pei Wei and PF Changs, I nearly always get sick there!

Maybe they have improved, it has been at least a year, but every time I have ordered from their gluten free menus I have gotten sick, so I avoid it now.

[lovegrov]

Ditto on the sticky rice. No wheat there.

richard

[ked85]

Simple sushi rolls (tuna, salmon, yellowtail) or nigiri/sashimi are usually fine. Just bring your own soy sauce for dipping! As mentioned above Thai rice noodle bowls are a favorite of mine (thankfully the Asian delivery place we order from in D.C. has an excellent noodle bowl with nothing except fresh veggies and un-marinated meat). Also, I know Noodles and Company does a gluten-free Pad Thai, and you can use their rice noodles in any number of their dishes.

[Menic]

Indian restaurants are doable, but be wary. The main dishes and rice should be safe, barring any ingrediants that stick out. Avoid the nan and anything deep fried. Although pakora (fritters) can be made with chickpea flour, they probably wind up in the same frier as the samosas and anything else. Follow all the usual restaurant caveates. I'm not sure if buffet-style is more dangerous than normal ordering, but at least you can see what you're getting ahead of time.

[rain]

Thanks all! Just came back from dinner at Sushi-ko and so far I feel completely fine! I was much more aggressive (yes, aggressive is the right choice of word - it was necessary too) about making sure my meal was gluten free and because there are so many of us, they had gluten free tamari so it was easy.