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I want to share my positive experience of eating out as a celiac and
travelling around the USA. It can be done!!

I have just returned from a 6 week vacation, road trip involving 8,600
miles which included 16 States. Starting in Washington and reaching as
far East as Indiana, and then back again.  Normally the thought of
eating out is a bit scary, although I cope very well with the occasional
meal out as I always choose somewhere that I know has food I can eat!
So the idea of being out on the road for this length of time was
worrying.  However, I only once got really sick, and that I believe was
due to something bad in the food, not wheat ingestion!  My sister ate
the same thing and she too was sick....

I must admit to not wanting to see another McDonalds chicken salad (no
croutons, no dressing) for a very long while though!  Despite the
McDonalds list which says their fries and hashbrowns are wheat free, I
discovered the hard way I react badly to them, so guess they are NOT
gluten free!  After that I simply ate the chicken salad, which was
always fresh.  Wendys baked potatoes was another very good easily
available meal too.  Mostly breakfast was eaten at a truck stop and
varied between ham and cheese omelette or eggs and bacon....forget the
toast, hash browns instead (these were always 100% potatoe).  Lunches
tended to consist of a quick meal, finding a baked potatoe or salad
without dressing is so very easy as so many restaurants do supply them.
I also discovered that many places offer 100% beefburgers, forget the
bun, and even places that advertise their fries fresh from potatoes.
Alot of steak, salad and baked potatoes were consumed for dinner, which
of course adds to the expense but ensured that I at least got a really
good meal.  Corn on the cob was another good addition.  I managed to
purchase the EnerG bread along the way by looking up Health Food stores
in the yellow pages, and phoning around til I found one that supplied
it.  And that as a back up with honey, peanut butter or jam was a very
good, quick easy filler when no suitable food was around.  I also used
Ensure liquid, Vanilla as additional nutrition.

Yes, I got frustrated.....throwing the menu down in disgust in Vegas
because it was full of the most wonderful foods I so badly wanted to eat
and all I could have was yet another salad!  And yes I missed my own
foods that I would normally have at home. I also missed out on some
carbohydrates, but in fact lost no weight at all on the trip.  The best
meals were at a relatives house who is also a celiac....suddenly
everything was safe!  I gorged there on fresh baked gluten free bread,
cake and other stuff, even taking some with me!!

I knew the risks of contamination were going to be relatively higher
than during my normal life at home, but this I dealt with pretty well.
No serious sickness.....just a slow build up of aching belly which
luckily kept itself to a minimum til I got home!  Now I am trying to be
super careful and give my gut time to heal from the accidental damage it
most likely has received.  But I had a truly great time and did not
allow my diet to spoil any of the fun!  In fact I am really good now at
going to virtually any restaurant, bar with food or fast food place and
saying.....
"This may sound like a strange request but please can I have this meal
without the wheat bun, dressing or croutons because I cannot eat any
wheat!"  and I found only ONE place that actually refused to follow my
pleadings.  There we simply turned around and walked out, found another
place instead.

So, it does show it can be done!  Its more a matter of attitude - and
this trip was not planned around places with known celiac food and yet I
always managed to get something to eat, just had to be less picky in
what I ate!  I hope this encourages other people....it is not necessary
to let the celiac diet dictate to us, rather the other way
around...think positive. Okay yes its a pain at times....but not
impossible to deal with!!

Chris Hawkins
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