Did I Screw Up My Diet?

[Denise121]

So I've been extremely diligent with my diet since I started it about a week ago. Well, as much as possible. I read all labels and mostly stick to veggies, fruits and meats. Carbs are potatoes or rice, so I think I've been okay. After about the third or fourth day, I noticed I don't get the bloating or horrible cramps anymore. Still have issues with GERD, but I'm trying to wean off the PPI I've been on for the last 9 years. I am starting to see a huge difference. I still feel really moody, but I'm trying to be patient and see if that goes away.

Anyway, my kids wanted to go to out yesterday so we went to Bob Evans. I figured I should be okay with breakfast food as long as I stayed away from breads. I explained to the waitress about avoiding gluten and she spoke with a manager who basically was clueless. They couldn't offer any suggestions, and I guess Bob Evans won't allow their gluten free items to be published for some reason so I was on my own. Everyone else had already ordered so I just did my best and got eggs, sausage and hashbrowns. I requested that the biscuits be brought on a separate plate and gave them to my kids.

Two hours later, I am doubled over in cramps, nauseous, and just feeling awful. This lasted all night, and today I am doing better, but have had pretty bad heartburn. Is it too soon to get a reaction like this? I was really starting to feel better, but part of me wonders if I'm just imagining all this. I was only a week in, isn't that a little soon to be feeling a difference? If I did ingest gluten, do I have to start all over from square one (in regards to withdrawal and feeling better again and all that)? I still don't know what would have done it. Everything I got should have been free of gluten.

[psawyer]

If you are just one week into the diet, the healing process has only begun. The fact that you had a reaction does not necessarily mean the cause was gluten.

[kareng]

Sorry you feel bad. Looks like you learned the first rule of eating out:

Thou shalt not eat at a restaurant that doesn't not know what gluten or wheat free means.

Many places put pancake batter in the scrambled eggs to make them fluffy. The shredded type hash browns can have a litle flour added to get them to stick together. If you got fried eggs, they could be cooked on the grill where they just cooked pancakes. The waitress could have taken the biscuits off of your eggs and put them on the separate plate. The possibilities are endless.

If you had had this reaction eating these foods at home, I might have said that, when you are healing, odd pains, sleepiness, etc can happen.

[Skylark]

You need to learn a little defensive Google mojo! Here's the Bob Evans gluten list. Always go to a restaurant's website and print out the allergen info before you go. Also, chances are very good they would have provided you this same information if you asked for "wheat allergy information" rather than asking about gluten. (Running across hidden barley or rye is relatively unusual.)

Open Original Shared Link

The turkey sausage is NOT gluten free. Eggs and hash browns aren't on the list so they're probably OK as long as you are not sensitive to minor CC from the griddle.

[AVR1962]

I would suspect the sausage had dairy. Sauage is tricky and I do not eat it unless I see what it is made with. And unfortunately unless your meal was cooked in a seperate pan it could have been sitting on the gridle where panckaes had been cooked. I worked in a kitchen many years ago. They scape the gridle but that well enough to get every crumb off. Be patient. I made so many mistakes like this without know what I should ask or what I should expect or look for. It's a learning process.