So there I was. . . I had not traveled for 10 years AND I was eating gluten free back then. I had a LOT to figure out. If you have food sensitive or allergies you know what I am talking about.
Eating out is always dangerous; I mean here in Canada where we speak the same language and people are familiar with celiac and gluten intolerances and I still eat gluten and have reactions. For me, eating out is scary. Now I was heading for a Spanish speaking country (Huatulco, Mexico) and I had no clue if anyone would understand my questions.
I needed a plan.
We were staying in a condo so I could take some comfort foods with me. My thought was that IF it got too risky to eat out then I needed some options at the condo. But I knew that I would not be able to eat all my meals at the condo. What is the fun in that, lol.
Here was my plan:
-Take some food with me
-Google the local grocery store for potential food I can buy and prepare at the condo
-Accept that I may have a reaction and take things to help me if it does
-Gauge my servers English when asking questions
-Find dishes that will be on most menus that are safe
-Find a way to translate Spanish to English - an app
-If there was nothing that looked safe, I wouldn’t order and eat when we got back to the condo
-Know that I will trust heavily and hope for the best
Well, it worked! Yes, I had some bad indigestion but that was about it. I consider myself lucky. I found my menu items: ham and cheese omelette, quesadilla (sometimes with chicken) and for supper a bacon cheese burger with no bun. Sometimes I would have fries. I would have loved to have some sea food but I could never tell if it was breaded or if there was a sauce that I didn’t know if it was prepared. Salads were iffy anyway because I didn’t know what water washed the veggies.
I was so happy that brought food from home, about 10 pounds in my suitcase. Pasta, Mac & Cheese powder, spices to make dips so that I could have flavour. All of this was from Epicure and I was so thankful to eat food I could trust.
There was one night that we went out for a fancy diner and our server spoke English really well. So asked my questions and she knew about celiac! She gave me some menu suggestions and I took my chance, I ate stuffed chicken that night AND I had an appetizer! It was amazing and it was the most confident in anything I ate in Mexico.
The morale of the story is that you CAN still have adventures if you are gluten intolerant. Planning, creativity and I slightly heavier suitcase will get you there.
If you want to here more of my gluten free stories join me on our FB Group: www.Facebook.com/groups/Lifemadeeasiercleanerhealthier
PS
Some people ask me what I take IF I do accidentally ingest gluten. I will carry 3 products from Young Living. Digize essential oil helps me with heartburn and indigestion as well as diarrhea. I always have Essentialzymes-4 in my purse, it is a digestive enzyme for immediate and for slow release, so it goes farther in my digestive tract. I will also take Allerzyme WITH a double dose of Essentialzymes-4 if I get that gut wrenching pain. I also have Advil on hand for the joint pain that is coming. If you have questions about these products let me know. If you want to check them out with Young Living here is my link. https://www.youngliving.com/vo/#/enhanced-enrollment?sponsorid=12709228&enrollerid=10957836&isocountrycode=CA&culture=en-CA&type=member
I also have a link for Epicure if you want to check out some of their gluten free products.
Let me know if you need any suggestions, it is all so yummy.
Happy eating:)
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