My Personal Dining Out Rules

For anyone who has been newly diagnosed as a Coeliac or even just wheat-sensitive dining out can be a daunting prospect, it is terrifying wondering whether or not this one night out will cripple for you days. I'm not sure if this will be of any help but here are some of my tips for dining out.

 Preparation is the key!

• Always be prepared before dining out

If someone else has planned the event and hasn't informed you of the venue kindly ask them where you'll be dining so that you can plan ahead.
If the event is organized by work, a planner or any other type of organization, where you aren't paying for or specifically paying for your meal (eg. an entry fee that includes food) make sure you call them and ask if there will be a gluten free option available.

• Check out the menu

Once you are aware of where you are dining, or someone has provided you with the meal options for the night, the next step is to check the menu. Some restaurants, venues and caterers will mark any gluten free meals or meals that can be made gluten free with a G, GF or the general wheat stalk in a circle with a line through it.

If the menu is unavailable or does not have any clear gluten free markings, or if you just want to double check the ingredients before hand, call the restaurant up. If they don't have any gluten free options available most places are happy to make something special for you. It can be unnerving calling up and asking them to make something that isn't on the menu but you'll feel better about it afterwards.

If at the end of your preparation stage, you are still unsure if the restaurant you are going to or event you are attending will have a gluten free option always eat before hand, this will prevent any food envy later on.

A good idea is when a friend or group is organizing a dinner or outing suggest places you already know are gluten free. I personally have a small list of gluten free eateries in areas my friends and I live/enjoy dining out in so that I can always suggest a gluten free available restaurant.

At the Restaurant

Sometimes you have a spurn of the moment outing and the preparation stage flies out the window. Hopefully you're in an area where you know the restaurants and can find a suitable restaurant however if that fails I have a few steps on dealing with that scenario, because it does happen.

• When the menu has no Gluten Free markings

Ask the waiter/waitress if there is a separate menu for allergies or if they know of any items on the menu that are gluten free. DON'T always trust the waiter/waitress although I have known some very knowledgeable wait staff they are not all diligent. I have had the occasion when they just suggest anything off the menu to try and sate me. If you feel that this is the case, ask if it is possible to speak with a manager or the chef. I have on occasion had a chef come out and ask me how severe my allergy is and if certain ingredients will affect me. As a rule most people will be open to helping.

If you feel that you are annoying the waiter/waitress or keeping people waiting, a few simple ways to cut down on the chatter:

• Choose one or two specific dishes to ask about being gluten free. It's a lot easier to find out if "The chicken and vegetables" can be made gluten free then checking the entire menu.

• When there are Gluten Free markings on the menu

It is always good to confirm that the meals are still Gluten free, some places can change their ingredients but forget to change the menu. Sometimes there are iffy ingredients in the meal and you will want to confirm these with the staff.

ALWAYS confirm and repeat that your meal will need to be gluten free. Have the waiter/waitress say it back to you.


When the meal arrives

If anything on your plate looks amiss then check with the staff, I once had someone else's order brought to my table, we had both ordered pasta. Thankfully they had ordered seafood and I had ordered chicken.

Education is the key in any person or establishment understanding and catering for the needs of Coeliacs, if they are lacking in the knowledge and you don't confirm and discuss it with them you and the next Coeliac who eats there could end up glutened.
Always be vigilant and you'll hopefully avoid becoming sick.

I hope this insight can help you in your future dining experiences.

Please stop, you’re ruining my life!

No I’m not talking about my coeliacs, I’m talking about the mass wave of fad dieters.

A world becoming obsessed with eating healthy and clean eating is supposed to be a good thing, isn’t it?

To me and the many other coeliacs around the world it is ruining our lives. I’ve done many rants like this on my personal Facebook, they always end up with people telling me I am over reacting, but I’m not.

Being a part of an active community, I have several ‘health nuts’ let’s call them on my Facebook. For the past year I have had to see them put up posts and photos about their new Gluten free diets and I have to bite my tongue. I make my position on this subject extremely clear and am finally writing this post to explain in further detail why the gluten free fad diet is ruining my life.

I’d like to say before I start that I have nothing against those who are trying a gluten free diet for medical reasons. I personally know that you don’t have to be medically diagnosed to know something doesn’t agree with you. I can’t eat too many apples, they make me feel sick but I don’t have a fructose intolerance.

I also am not having a go at anyone who wants to live a healthy lifestyle. Eating right and exercising daily is important to your wellbeing not only physically but mentally as well. My problem is with those who treat gluten free like the next biggest weight loss secret, or a miracle diet that will keep them alive longer. It’s not; it is a horrific upheaval of lifestyle for most people.

Coeliacs, gluten intolerance and gluten-sensitivity are a life challenge that we have to get up and face everyday; it’s simple, we eat any amount of gluten and we end up incredibly ill. It costs us hundreds of more dollars than ‘normal’ people for us to eat. I pay $6AUD for a loaf of bread when my partner can buy one for $1AUD. I pay an extra $5AUD for pizza and on average have to pay an extra $3AUD in a restaurant for gluten free pasta. We can’t just go to the bakery and get a muffin. I have to travel across town buy meat pies, which cost $7AUD each!

The fact is that the Gluten free fad dieters belittle and hinder the problems we have to face.

You are probably asking how does it do that? Or  if more people are eating gluten-free, doesn’t that mean that a larger amount of gluten-free products will come out on the market, making it easier for you to eat?

Yes, yes it does but it creates its own whirl wind of problems; It’s simple. As the number of people cutting gluten out of their diet as part of the latest diet trend, thanks to celebrities and healthy living personalities increases, people forget that coeliacs is a larger issue. They forget that cross contamination like chopping my bread and normal bread on the same chopping board will leave me in bed for days because they don’t take me seriously anymore! When I ask for a gluten free option at a restaurant most waitresses roll their eyes believing I’m one of those fad dieters. How can I be sure that they aren’t just going to give me a normal meal and claim that it is gluten free? I’ve once had a chef when we complained that there was pasta in our GF rice dish tell me to take my complaint about my make up disease to some one who cares. This is what you are doing to us!

It has become so much harder to eat out at restaurants now then it was three or four years ago. Our gluten free options are being stuffed in the same display windows as the wheat filled food, sometimes touching meaning we can’t eat them due to cross contamination.  All  because no one thinks of Coeliacs as a life threatening allergy. It’s true that we don’t need an epi-pen and that our symptoms may not be instantaneous but our disease or allergy is serious. We are being belittled in the face of those wanting to be on trend and I’m sick of it.

Another result of these fad diets is that my bread is becoming harder to buy, the fad dieters are snapping it up because they think it is healthier for them. Please, I beg you to stick to the whole wheat breads instead of taking away the product that myself and others rely on as our only available option.

There are healthier ways to live and trust me it isn’t a gluten free diet because I am no super model and I have to eat that way. Please stop helping creating the illusion that coeliacs is a joke and help myself and the others out there that medically need to avoid gluten at all costs stay safe in the world.

This was a bit of a longwinded post but it is something that I am extremely passionate about. I am sorry if I have offended anyone but we can’t live in a world where our allergies are made a laughing stock.