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Hello all:
Last weekend I had a bad restaurant experience. Here is the gist of my
previous post and summaries of the responses I received from people.
This is a lengthy email, because I think this is a subject that warrants
attention. There is some really good information here for new celiacs like
myself. Until now, I had not realized how serious these food allergies
and/or intolerances can be. This is all extremely important stuff to be
aware of. I really want to thank every one who replied; they don't know
how much I appreciate their concern and advice, and I hope this
information helps someone else avoid a problem like the one I had.
My previous post:
"I have been really, really, really, really sick the last two days, after
eating at a Mexican restaurant. I thought I had food poisoning; hurt a lot
all over, almost barfing several times; severe diahrrea, nausea, and I was
so exhausted I slept for over 30 hours straight.
"I had ordered the combo plate with tamale and tostada; both made with
corn. I told the waitress I couldn't have wheat. The cook made a mistake
and sent me the plate with an enchilada on it, which I asked them to
remove. But, I remembered that they had a notation on their menu that said
some sauces used peanut butter. (I have a peanut allergy). I called the
restaurant just now, and guess what: The enchilada sauce uses peanut
butter! I'm sure if they scraped it off the plate, some sauce remained
behind. Mystery solved. No wonder I was so sick, couldn't seem to stay
awake or alert, couldn't eat anything until just now, and still feel
queasy! This peanut allergy is frightening. I am lucky; it could
have sent me to the hospital, or worse. And, what have I learned from this
is: ask lots of questions in restaurants. Actually, it is probably not a
good idea for me to eat out unless I really, really trust the cook. I was
so worried about not eating wheat that I didn't even think about the
possibility of ingesting peanuts."
Five days later, my stomach is almost back to normal. I was very, very ill
for over four days from this meal!
And here are summaries of the replies I got:
"Never, never, ever let them just scrape something off your plate or take
croutons out of a salad when there's a mistake. You need a whole new meal.
Even without the peanut problem, that enchilada left behind gluten that
you also ate. As you discovered with the peanuts, your whole meal was
contaminated. When a restaurant makes a mistake, you MUST demand an
entirely new meal."
"You have just described how I feel when I get a little wheat gluten
accidentally. It is horrible. I never heard someone with a peanut
allergy describe the reaction like this. There is still a possibility
there was wheat contamination on your plate. Wouldn't it be nice if we
could ever be 100% sure about exactly what caused the problem? My very
first celiac reaction was from eating peanut butter on gf bread. It was a
jar of peanut butter that had been in the refg. since before my
diagnosis. I ate the last little bit. Just imagine how many times a
knife had been dipped in, smeared onto wheat bread, dipped back into the
jar, etc. I was new at this game, and still didn't know how dangerous
contamination could be. I never thought of that in advance, but boy, did
it punish me! Sorry you had to suffer. Get well soon."
"I feel so much for you. Although I don't' have a peanut allergy, I travel
a lot up to 3 days a week and must eat in restaurants. In my experience I
NEVER ever go to chain restaurants with the exception of Outback and Tony
Romas. They are not equipped to cook to order. They get their stuff from
headquarters and more or less just warm it up. Those chains often employ
untrained young people who could care less or don't know how to avoid our
stuff, I go without exception to good restaurants where the kitchen has
a 'real' chef, where they cook to order all the time, and I have never had
an accident in 4 years now. I talk to the waiter/tress and ask them to ask
the chef what s/he can recommend for me to stay safe. It always works. The
downside is I don't get to eat sometimes what I would like because it is
too difficult for them to adjust to me. I eat gf, lactose and dairy free
and eggless. But I neverget sick either."
"Just a note as you recover from your incident. It has been my sad
experience that Mexican restuarants pose the greatest threat to anyone
with CD or allergies. I can't eat wheat, and have found that most Mexican
places here even put wheat flour in their refried beans! (why on earth
would you do that?) I think that there is a great deal of inconsistencies
with the food and it may even vary from time to time in the same
restuarant. Bottom line is that I don't think we can trust Mexican food
places at all. They seem to have a lack of concern over special diet
problems. As one big chain told me by phone when I asked what I could eat
at their restuarant that would be safe for my CD/wheat allergy, he said "
we have nothing that you can eat here. we put wheat in everything"
"YUK! I'm so sorry you were so, so, so, so sick. That's miserable. I've
reduced the severity of food reactions several times with bufferred
vitamin C. You can buy this stuff at any health food store. There's one
brand called "Emergen - C" that comes in handy little packets you can
carry in your purse. I've used it before eating something questionable
(contained dairy), and after ingestion of questionable foods. It helps to
minimize the reaction. I've also heard marvelous rave reviews about a
homeopathic product, something like veratrum alba or some such, that is
effective at stopping GI reactions dead in their tracks. I've even heard
from one person who said it stops the headaches & body aches that
accompany a gluten reaction. I don't get severe GI reactions to gluten
like that so I've never tried it."
"So sorry that you had this bad experience. I've made is a practice not
to accept any food that has been altered in any way after it is presented
to me -- For example, I don't accept a salad that has been presented with
croutons and, after I explain that I cannot eat it, they take it away to
remove the croutons. I always explain that I can only have a salad with
no croutons, period. That happened to me this weekend. You had a close
call that isn't worth that sort of worry. Print up some cards to keep
with you to present to a server to indicate how important safe food is for
you. Do you wear a bracelet with your peanut allergy on it? I didn't
think it was important until I had an anaphalatic reaction to sulpha one
time -- scarey experience and life threatening, too."
"If you feel like it, you might explain to the restaurant that they should
note 'contains peanuts' under their enchilada listing, since people can
have severe complications from that: like you, for instance. I'd
certainly let them know how ill you were over their snafu. Also, it would
be nice if they'd note: "contains gluten" where appropriate. They could
feel enlightened and be ahead of the pack in doing so."
"Thought I would pass along a little advise that I have received from
Mexican chefs. In 'good' Mexican restaurants, the red sauce prepared to be
used on enchiladas is made with a "rue". This tells you it contains "wheat
flour". The problem is that them make a lot of it at one time because it
takes a lot of cooking. So if they are busy and you don't want to wait
awhile,don't ask them to make the red sauce with cornstarch. I got this
info from more than one 'chef' ".
Addendum:
I have since learned that one good way to deal with toxins in the gut is
to take activated charcoal tablets. The charcoal binds with toxins and
sends the poisons into the toilet where they belong! One website says
every household should have a bottle for each child in case of accidental
poisoning. I found abrand by TwinLab that does not contain any gluten. I
took a couple with each meal for three days and I think it was the single
best thing I did to get overthis poisoning incident. Thanks for reading!"
Deb
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