Gluten Free Engineer - Making Gluten Free Easy

Navigating Dining Out: Gluten-Free Dining with Confidence

• Carrie Saunders • Episode 4

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Dining out can be one of the biggest challenges when you’re living a gluten-free lifestyle. Whether you’re celiac, gluten-intolerant, or just choosing to avoid gluten, eating out safely can feel like navigating a minefield. But it doesn’t have to be stressful!

Today, I’m sharing my top tips for eating out safely, so you can enjoy your meals without the fear of gluten sneaking in. These are the strategies I’ve used for over 12 years as someone with celiac disease, and I promise they can make a world of difference for you, too!


Mentioned Resources:

Find Me Gluten Free*

Gluten Digest Pills*


*Contains Affiliate Link


 This episode is brought to you by Find Me Gluten Free—your go-to app for discovering safe, gluten-free dining options wherever you go!
Get your exclusive discount for our listeners at theglutenfreeengineer.com/findmeglutenfree
Because dinning out gluten-free shouldn’t be a guessing game! 

Speaker 1:

Quick reminder before we get started on this episode. This podcast is based on my personal experiences and isn't medical advice. Dining out can be one of the biggest challenges when you're living a gluten-free lifestyle. Whether you're celiac gluten intolerant or just choosing to avoid gluten, eating out safely can feel like navigating a minefield. I know, sometimes for me it certainly feels that way, but it doesn't have to be that stressful. Sometimes for me, it certainly feels that way, but it doesn't have to be that stressful. And I'm going to give you some tips in this episode on what makes me feel very safe, what makes me feel safer when I'm in a pinch because sometimes we do have to choose a place that's maybe not the most ideal and we'll give you some tips on what we and our family and myself have been using for over 12 years to help us minimize getting gluten accidentally. So let's dive in. Welcome to the Gluten-Free Engineer podcast. I'm your host, keri Saunders.

Speaker 1:

In 2011, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, a moment that changed everything, but I was determined not to let it hold me back. With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer the gluten-free lifestyle, breaking down recipes, safety tips, travel hacks and everything in between to rebuild a life I love. Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply choose to live gluten-free, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we simplify the gluten-free lifestyle, make it fun and prove that you don't have to miss out on anything. Welcome back to the show.

Speaker 1:

Today, we're talking about how to dine out safely and with minimal risk to hopefully no risk and what I want to first encourage you is to do your research beforehand. This is something that has saved us so many times. When we're going on a trip whether it's just a weekend trip or a day trip, or whether it's a whole week's vacation's worth I will spend the time to research the restaurants near where we're going to make sure that I can find ones that seem to be very gluten-friendly. I want you to always check the restaurant's menus online ahead of time. We've done this since our kids were like in sixth grade and going on trips to Washington DC with their class. Talk about stressful when you're sending your sixth grader off to a trip in their celiac, because you know you're going to have to pack snacks, because many times it's the meals included in the hotel for breakfast, right and you know you're going to have to pack breakfast for them. But doing that research ahead of time is going to ease your worries so much more, and always talking with your kids. If you have kids with celiac or gluten intolerance or need to be gluten-free for other reasons, it's always great to talk to your kids about this too, so that they can learn as they get older. Now I feel confident that my kids that are now in their 20s two of them are in their 20s and one of them's almost 18, as the recording of this and I feel pretty confident that they can go somewhere by themselves and be relatively pretty darn safe. It's pretty rare that they get sick anymore. So I want you to be looking ahead at restaurants menus online.

Speaker 1:

I want you to look for gluten-free menu options or dedicated gluten-free sections. Usually, if there's a dedicated gluten-free section and or markings of gluten-free on specific items, that's usually a good indication that they're at least paying a good bit of attention to how they're preparing your meal and what they have in it. Now what I also want you to do is to ask around. If you know somebody that's gluten-free and lives in the city that you're going to ask around to trusted friends. And if you don't have any of those. Our free Facebook group is a great place to ask others as well. You can find the link to that on our website, theglutenfreeengineercom. Always welcome to join the group and jump in and ask questions like this. I have found in all the years asking trusted other individuals is one of the key ways to really helping yourself be a lot safer.

Speaker 1:

You can also read reviews from other gluten-free diners on platforms like Yelp or Find Me Gluten-Free, and as a bonus, I've actually partnered up with Find Me Gluten Free. It's something we once we found that I would say probably eight or so years ago. It has been a lifesaver when we're traveling and we just recently decided to get their family plan because it's actually pretty reasonably affordable for the year. And since myself and the three kids and we just recently found out my husband has not our husband, my husband has celiac as well it has really saved us when we are traveling and I have found that especially on Find Me Gluten Free. People who write reviews on there are pretty darn thorough. They let you know if they have celiac and actually find me gluten-free recently has created some other measures to help it be even more safe so that you can trust a certain reviews more than others. So there's trusted reviews now that they have, and what I've found is, whenever I'm reading those reviews on how safe restaurants are, they are really darn accurate. People who are celiac and savvy on it if you are celiac are really great at, you know, making sure that that restaurant makes them feel safe and then reporting back as to whether they actually got sick or not from it. And then those that are gluten intolerant also review on there and let you know how well they worked out on you know whether they got sick or not from it as well. So it's really great to gauge the level of gluten-free safety via reviews from others.

Speaker 1:

Obviously, it's not perfect. You know. We're all human and we can make mistakes and things can change at the restaurant too. So I want to encourage you to always call ahead. This is another point I want to have under here. When you're doing your research beforehand, always call ahead to ask about gluten-free accommodations and cross-contamination protocols, especially if you're celiac. You need to be asking about cross-contamination protocols and one of the things that I have found, too especially early on. I feel like it's less so now, but if you're at a restaurant and you have celiac and they don't. They look at you funny when you say I have celiac and I need to avoid gluten. Sometimes I use the words gluten allergy, even though I know it's not actually an allergy. It's a completely different system in your body that responds to gluten. That kind of clicks a bit more sometimes than celiac disease. So play with that, see if that helps you when you're eating out at a restaurant and you want to make sure there is no cross-contamination. If you're celiac and if you're very gluten sensitive, you also want to check for cross-contamination and I'll talk about that a little bit here later in this episode.

Speaker 1:

And then when we are choosing restaurants, when we go out to eat and a lot of people can't believe I can't remember the last time I ate in a fast food restaurant. I mean, it's probably been 12 years or more. I may have pulled into a specific restaurant that has golden arches and gotten a Coke whenever I was desperate for some calories, but I can't remember the last time I actually ate food in a fast food restaurant. And why I don't is because I find that restaurants that are sit-down restaurants tend to have a bit more cautiousness when it comes to cross-contamination. So places like steakhouse, seafood restaurants, farm-to-table type restaurants, local restaurants, many times like the local mom-and-pop restaurants, are excellent at servicing their customers and making sure that they are safe, no matter what kind of allergy they have or whether they have celiac disease or gluten intolerance. So I'd recommend avoiding high-risk cuisines like bakeries or pizza places unless they have a certified, dedicated gluten-free kitchen or they have, you know, very verbose measures on how they protect you. There's one restaurant chain, mellow Mushroom, that we actually can eat safely at, I would say 95% of the time or more. It obviously does depend upon the staff, but they have measures where they're protecting your pizza. They put a splatter shield on top and they cook it on a different sheet than they would the gluten pizzas. So, yes, it's going through the same gluten oven, but they do take these extra measures to make sure that you're safer.

Speaker 1:

Now what I will say, too, is what I found in over the 12 years of you know needing to eat out because you know it's just life. Sometimes you're on vacation and you need to eat out and dine out. I have found that there are gluten digest pills and I'll link to those in the show notes that, if I'm feeling a little iffy or unsure, maybe it's a new to me restaurant, maybe I feel decently confident, but still not quite sure. Or I can't even risk, you know, getting that gluten migraine that I might get or stomach issues that I might get or the brain fog that I might get. I'll take a gluten digest pill before my meal and after my meal and I have found that that actually really helps. And even if I find like maybe a couple hours later I'm like, oh, I really did get gluten and I didn't take the gluten digest pills with thinner, I'll go ahead and take them and it helps minimize my side effects. Obviously, you do not want to use these pills to purposefully eat gluten, especially if you're gluten intolerant or celiac, but you can use it to help mitigate any cross-contamination and it does seem to help for me and my family. So I'm hoping that this might be a great tip that might help you as well. Obviously, you know I'm not a doctor. Please consult your doctor if you have any concerns, but I have found that this does work for myself and my family.

Speaker 1:

And then, when we're getting to a restaurant, one thing I have found is you can't be shy. You have to be clear and very specific with your server, especially if this is a lifestyle that you didn't choose. You know you're celiac or gluten intolerant and you really need to eat gluten-free. And even if you choose to eat gluten-free, you know it may be very important for you to stay pretty darn clean off of gluten. So when you arrive, let your server know about your dietary needs right away, and many times I'll ask the host who will seat you beforehand to make sure that they have, you know, gluten-free, whether they have a gluten-free menu or gluten-free options or things like that. I'll even get a vibe from the hostess as well. And you want to be clear and say you know I have to avoid all gluten and all cross-contamination because I have celiac or, if you want to use the words, gluten allergy. If that seems like it resonates a bit better with that restaurant, then go ahead and do that, and then I would ask them to make a note on your meal ticket that you have to avoid gluten. Many times.

Speaker 1:

I find so many restaurants, especially the sit-down restaurants, are very cognizant of this and will want to do their best to help serve you and make sure that you're safe. And there are even restaurants I've been to that have told me no, you probably shouldn't eat anything here, and they're very honest with me and I absolutely appreciate that. And then, even if you're getting items that you think should be safe let's say grilled chicken for example make sure you're asking them is the grilled chicken cooked on the same surface as breaded items? There's a local restaurant here to us that would carry gluten-free buns, and so I could actually have a gluten-free hamburger or cheeseburger, whatever I really wanted to have. As far as the burger goes and it was wonderful to actually have a gluten-free burger that I didn't cook, right, I'm sure you can relate and I was finding that I kind of didn't feel quite right most of the time after eating it and it dawned on me and I asked the server next time.

Speaker 1:

She was super nice and always wanted to be super cautious and careful, so I knew she was communicating to the kitchen staff, but I asked her. I said, hey, is my gluten-free bun okay, toasted and grilled on the same area as gluten buns, on the griddle? Because I knew they did them on the griddle, not like in a toaster. And she was like you're right, they are. I said, well, that's why I'm getting a little bit sick every time I eat here. And so from then on, she just they made sure to not toast my bun.

Speaker 1:

So even something as simple as getting your buns toasted, you need to make sure where those are being toasted to make sure that you're not getting cross-contamination of gluten. And then also, if you're eating out, you need to make sure you're asking about things like French fries, anything that's fried, french fries, tortillas, anything like that. Many times people don't realize tortillas are actually generally fried in a fryer at Mexican restaurants. Tortillas are actually generally fried in a fryer at Mexican restaurants, and so you want to make sure they're not fried in a shared fryer with other things like onion rings or jalapeno poppers or anything breaded. So make sure it's a dedicated fryer, for sure if you're getting something that is fried.

Speaker 1:

And then, when in doubt, stick to simple dishes. Avoid complex or heavily sauced meals, as they often contain hidden gluten. I recommend going for naturally gluten-free items like grilled meats, roasted vegetables and salads, obviously without croutons or baked potatoes. Now, when we're going down the salad route, though, you need to be making sure that the salad dressing is gluten-free as well. Many times, wheat is used as a thickener in salad dressings, so we want to make sure that that is gluten-free as well. I can't think of any vinaigrette that I've ever had that had gluten in it. So vinaigrette is usually a really safe option if the server is unsure, and many times restaurants I find, make their own vinaigrette and ask to see the label. If they're using some common dressing that's in grocery stores, ask to see the label.

Speaker 1:

Don't be afraid, don't be shy. Be very clear with your server. Like I said, in all the years of eating out with celiac disease with myself and my kids, and all the years of eating out with celiac disease with myself and my kids, you know most of the time they're not annoyed. I know I felt in the beginning that I was being annoying and being picky and just being a pain, but I have found in all the years that servers really do want to help you. They're there to serve you. That's kind of part of their job is to be a server. They're there to serve you and help you and bring you of their job is to be a server. They're there to serve you and help you and bring you a delicious meal and make sure that you're happy and so and they want to satisfy that and want to make sure that you feel safe when you're eating there.

Speaker 1:

Also, obviously skip the bread basket unless they offer certified gluten-free bread. This should be a no-brainer, especially if you're celiac or gluten intolerant. But always ask if the soups or sauces use flour as thickener as well. Barbecue sauce is a great hidden place for gluten Sometimes. We already talked about dressings.

Speaker 1:

We also want to look at soy sauce. You can ask if things are made with soy sauce and then, if they say yes, you need to be asking if that soy sauce has wheat in it. Most soy sauces in the United States have wheat in it, also marinades and gravies. Also some spice blends. This can be kind of confusing sometimes, but spice blends can contain wheat as an anti-caking agent. So if you know there's some sort of spice blend or rub on it, start asking some questions as well. And also, we want to be looking for malt vinegar. Some people don't realize that malt is actually almost always made from barley and barley is one of those gluten grains. So if you know something might have malt in it, you definitely want to avoid that.

Speaker 1:

And then another tip that I've actually never used, but I found this tip when doing some research is you can use gluten-free dining cards. These are great when you're traveling abroad and you can bring a gluten-free dining card in the local language and that can really help your server understand your needs and they can clearly explain everything to the server. And it can be really a lifesaver when you're out traveling abroad, especially when you might have a language barrier Maybe you don't speak the language very well. It's a great resource to have with you if you do travel abroad. Although I have found in a lot of people's comments to me is, many of the other countries are really great at gluten-free and providing great celiac safe and gluten intolerant and just generally gluten-free items as well. But if there's a language barrier, grab one of those gluten-free dining cards that's in the appropriate language as well.

Speaker 1:

And then also trust your gut, and I mean this both literally and figuratively, because I've found many times I'll go to a restaurant and my gut is telling me, my brain gut is telling me I'm not so sure whether I should eat here or not, and when I don't follow that gut, I usually get sick. If I'm eating a meal and my you know and I've been gluten-free for over 12 years now as of this recording and when I'm eating a meal, sometimes my brain's like there's gluten in this and it basically literally tells me. I have no idea how it does. This might sound totally crazy, but my brain and my instinct will be like there's something wrong here. But think about it. We're meant to survive and our bodies are meant to survive, and my body has learned this is something that does not help me survive, and so I have found that there's sometimes I'll be eating and I'll be like there's something wrong with this dish and either I'll ask the server a question or, if I'm pretty sure it's a minor cross-contamination, then I'll take some extra digest pills. But sometimes I'll just stop eating it and back then I used to just give it to my husband because we didn't think he had gluten issues like the rest of us did, but now he does. So I'm not sure what I would do now, because we just recently figured that one out, but definitely trust your gut.

Speaker 1:

If something doesn't feel right, if you feel unsafe, then don't eat there. Or if your meal comes out and it looks like it might be gluten and they didn't actually mark your meal right, even if the restaurant's generally really good about it, feel free to double check with your server If you see that bun on your plate and you look at it and you go I'm not sure that that's a gluten-free bun and you think the cooks might have made a mistake. Ask there's nothing wrong with asking. Better than you getting really sick, right? And it's better to skip a meal than get that awful migraine and whatever other ailments you might get whenever you eat gluten.

Speaker 1:

And then finally, have a backup plan. I always have a gluten-free granola bar in my purse or with me, or some sort of beef jerky or nuts or something that are gluten-free. Always check labels, please, please, always check labels. There's many of those that are not, so you really have to check the label. But I always have some sort of portable protein and potentially with some carbs in it snack to go with me. So it is definitely important to always have a backup plan just in case you get stuck.

Speaker 1:

I remember one conference. I was stuck in Orlando, florida, and I didn't really have a good way to go anywhere and I was in this hotel and I literally lived on potato chips and peanuts for the weekend. I was starving when I got home but I didn't get sick and it was worth starving for a couple of days and being extra hungry, hungry, hungry than getting really sick. So always have a backup plan and just be prepared, all right. So some key takeaways is we want to make sure that we're eating out safely and we always want to be prepared. That's the best way to eat out safely. Make sure that you're talking clearly to your server, to the server staff. Many times restaurants and I didn't even mention this in the episode, but many times restaurants will even bring the cook out to talk to you, which I think is great and have confidence when you're talking about it. Make sure they understand that this is serious and that you really need it. And you're not doing this as a fad, because I find that most people who are celiac gluten intolerant or choose to have that gluten-free lifestyle, but they need it for a reason, and so just make sure you have confidence behind your questions and know that you're important, and if they can't accommodate you, that's okay. Use your backup plan and or find another restaurant that can accommodate you.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Gluten-Free Engineer. If you found value in this story, please share it with someone who might need encouragement on their own gluten-free journey. For more tips, recipes, resources and even links to my YouTube channel. Head on over to theglutenfreeengineercom. It's your one-stop hub to make gluten-free living simple, fun and full of flavor. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss out on an episode, and we will see you next week. The Gluten-Free Engineer podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I share my personal experiences and stories about living with celiac disease and navigating a gluten-free lifestyle. This podcast does not provide a medical advice purposes only. I share my personal experiences and stories about living with celiac disease and navigating a gluten-free lifestyle. This podcast does not provide a medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional for medical questions, concerns or advice specific to your health.

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Carrie Saunders

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