Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.




  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):



    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):


  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Most Gluten-Free-Friendly City


kdonov2

Recommended Posts

kdonov2 Contributor

Originally posted in travel, but I thought it would get more hits here.

Anyone know what cities (U.S.) are the safest for Celiacs? This includes safe options in restaurants, products offered in stores, labelling laws, public knowledge (of the disease), acceptance of the public/medical community, and promotion of general healthy living. I am sure I am missing something, but you get the idea. I am considering moving from my native Chicago. I am not happy here.

Thanks


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



DougE Rookie

It's not the U.S. but I think my home city of Halifax in Canada has to rank near the top. But the absolutely best Celiac-friendly city I ever visited was Boulder CO.

bartfull Rising Star

I don't blame you for wanting to get out of Chicago. The traffic alone is good enough reason!

From what I've seen here, San Diego is another celiac friendly city. I used to live there many years ago, long before I was hit with celiac, but I can tell you that San Diego is a beautiful city with the best weather in the country. It's a lot more crowded than it was when I lived there, but it's still beautiful.

mamaupupup Contributor

Hawaii! Our vacation there was amazing (Maui). Loved it, found all the foods we needed, the chefs at restaurants were great...so many fresh fruits and veggies!

I think Boulder and San Diego are also good choices (though less tropical!).

YoloGx Rookie

Portland, Oregon is another great celiac aware city. Very good for the arts, health and all things progressive. Community oriented. Lots of biking and excellent rapid transit. Cosmopolitan population. Beautiful landscape and lots of bridges -- two rivers with the Columbia and the Willamette. Wonderful parks. Lots of celebrations. Its an affordable, down to earth, progressive city. It rains, but considerably less than Seattle. The ocean too is within easy driving distance, as are the desert and mountains. Smaller cities like Eugene are nice too, but its harder to get jobs in Eugene, plus Eugene is more lilly white.

Salax Contributor

I live in Vegas and although we have alot of places to eat, the doctors here suck. ;)

I traveled to Seattle last summer and they have alot of gluten free places there as well...I wanna move there myself...maybe one day. :D

ravenwoodglass Mentor

Upstate NY is pretty gluten freindly. Rochester is good midsized city and there are smaller cities that as long as they have a Wegmans you would be able to shop with ease. The owners of Wegmans have celiac in the family and they are very good at labeling their store brand items. The Finger Lakes area is really pretty and has a pretty low cost of living if you want to get away from big city life.


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



GottaSki Mentor

Great thread!

I'm a native San Diegan - San Diego is becoming much more gluten friendly - my daughter lives in Santa Rosa (hour north of San Francisco) - our family finds that the entire Bay Area is much more gluten friendly/knowledgeable in comparison with San Diego.

sa1937 Community Regular

My daughter (also celiac) lives in Denver and it sure sounds like a gluten-free haven to me. She has no idea how fortunate she is.

BTW, Denver is the home of Udi's, Rudi's is located in Boulder and Canyon Bakehouse is in Loveland, CO.

mamaupupup Contributor

And I think WOW bakery is also in Colorado...and our pediatric GI said there is a higher incidence of Celiac in the Denver population than other places!

mamaw Community Regular

University of Chicago is very celiac friendly... New York City has many dining/bakeries... Denver has many bakeries.....

sa1937 Community Regular

And I think WOW bakery is also in Colorado...and our pediatric GI said there is a higher incidence of Celiac in the Denver population than other places!

Actually WOW Baking Co. is in Kent, WA. I've tasted their Oatmeal Cookies and they're really good.

Huggenkiss27 Rookie

I'm actually from Loveland but living in Houston right now. I had no idea all those bakeries were from Colorado. It's intersting that Denver has a higher rate of Celiac too; wonder why? Maybe more doctors diagonosing?

kdonov2 Contributor

Thank you all for your input! I have some research to do. I did not even consider Boulder before.

RonSchon Explorer

I'm actually from Loveland but living in Houston right now. I had no idea all those bakeries were from Colorado. It's intersting that Denver has a higher rate of Celiac too; wonder why? Maybe more doctors diagonosing?

I wish my doctor of 15+ years in Denver had diagnosed me, or even suggested the possibility.

I developed several of the symptoms while living there - bloating, constipation, joint pain, other unexplained pains, inability to absorb nutrients.

I assumed my body simply couldn't handle the altitude, but maybe there is something to the environment if it has a higher diagnosis rate.

kareng Grand Master

My son goes to CSU in Ft Collins. CO. The dorms do a good job of gluten-free food. The school has a professor who studies gluten-free grains and cooking. They offer gluten-free cooking & baking classes to the community.

mamato4 Rookie

I live in San Diego. I am new to this, but I am not finding it hard at all to find gluten-free products in stores or gluten-free restaurants. I think SoCal is an excellent place to live with any kind of food restrictions. In general, people here are very health conscious and there are LOTS of resources for fresh foods of all kinds.

Cara in Boston Enthusiast

Boston is getting better. Many local places offer gluten-free food (and actually train their staff to keep it safe) and on a recent trip to Fenway Park, my son and I enjoyed a hot dog on a gluten free bun. They had a separate Gluten Free cart that sold hot dogs, cookies, brownies, etc. We also have a few bakeries that are 100% gluten-free in the area. On the Cape, there is a place in Chatham that fries everything using a gluten-free batter. We can finally get fried clams and good french fries when on vacation. We also have the Celiac Center at Beth Israel and one for kids at Children's Hospital Boston.

People from Chicago seem to fit in well in Boston . . .

Cara

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Donate

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Recent Activity

    1. - Florence Lillian replied to Jay Heying's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      5

      Celiac friendly probiotics

    2. - slkrav posted a topic in Introduce Yourself / Share Stuff
      0

      Gluten free beer ?

    3. - cristiana replied to Colleen H's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      16

      Ibuprofen

    4. - Mari replied to KathyR37's topic in Coping with Celiac Disease
      5

      New here

    5. - Colleen H replied to Colleen H's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      16

      Ibuprofen


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):



  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      131,881
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    Dan Bryst
    Newest Member
    Dan Bryst
    Joined

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):


  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.4k
    • Total Posts
      1m

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):





  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):



  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Florence Lillian
      In response to your questions regarding probiotics.  I have had Celiac for 40 years.  Stomach issues: digestion, IBS to chronic constipation, bloat after eating anything.  I was unable to eat a healthy variety of foods, tried probiotics supplements - some made me worse, others made no difference.  After reading about people with Crones, IBS, etc, who made their own probiotics I started making Milk Kefir: not water Kefir. There are 10 probiotics in milk KEFIR. After 3 weeks I was able to eat more, no gas, no IBS.  If you have a computer just ask for videos on making milk Kefir. I branched out and make my own Kombucha for even more probiotics. I do not make my yogurt because there are only about four probiotics in that. I started this when I was 82 and I still make my own Kefir and Kombucha. My stomach issues were fixed with the Milk Kefir alone. If you decide to try making it, make certain you order MILK GRAINS. The finished product tastes a bit like Buttermilk. I hope this helps in your journey to good health.
    • slkrav
      Help me out here. Lauren Dam gluten-free beer from Spain is listed as gluten free. Yet its made from Barley Malt. I thought barley and any form had gluten. Anybody have any more information about it?
    • cristiana
      Ferritin levels.  And see what your hemoglobin looks like too, that will tell you if you are anemic?  You can have 'low normal' levels that will not be flagged by blood tests.  I had 'low normal' levels, my lab reading was. c12, just over what was considered normal, but I had small benign lesion on my tongue, and sometimes a sore mouth, and a consultant maxillofacial ordered an iron infusion for me as he felt my levels were too low and if he  raised them to 40, it would help.   Because you are not feeling 100% it might be worth looking at your levels, then discussing with your doctor if they are low normal.  But I stress, don't supplement iron without your levels being monitored, too much is dangerous.
    • Mari
      Hi Katht -  I sympathize with your struggles in following a gluten-free diet and lifestyle. I found out that I had Celiac Disease a few months before I turned 70. I just turned 89 and it has taken me almost 20 years to attain a fairly normal intestinal  function. I also lost a lot of weight, down to 100 lb. down from about 140 lb. What Trents wrote you was very true for me. I am still elimination foods from my diet. One person suggested you keep a food diary and that is a good idea but it is probably best just to do an elimination diet. There are several ne and maybe one for celiacs. I used one for a while and started with plain rice and zucchini and then added back other foods to see if I reacted or not. That helped a great deal but what I did not realise that it would only very small amounts of some foods to cause inflammation in my intestine. Within the last few years I have stopped eating any trace amounts of hot peppers, corn and soy(mostly in supplements) and nuts, (the corn in Tylenol was giving me stomach aches and the nuts were causing foot pains). Starting an elimination diet with white rice is better than brown rice that has some natural toxins. In addition it is very important to drink sufficient plain water. You can find out how much to drink for your height and weight online. I do have difficulty drinking 48 ounces of water but just recently have found an electrolyte supplement that helps me stay well hydrated, Adding the water and electrolytes may reduce muscle cramps and gag spams you wrote about. . Also buy some anti-gluten enzyme capsules to take with meals. I use GliadinX advertised here. These are a lot of things to do at one time as they reflect my 20 years of experience. I hope you do what you can manage to do over time. Good luck and take care.
    • Colleen H
      Yes thyroid was tested.. negative  Iron ...I'm. Not sure ... Would that fall under red blood count?  If so I was ok  Thank you for the detailed response..☺️
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.