Traveling Gluten Free or "Why Do I Feel Like I've Been Hit By a Truck?"

What am I even eating?

I admit it. I have been sleeping around a lot lately. Not THAT way! I am no party girl, (anymore). Those days are a long time gone.  Actually, I had a weekend getaway in the desert with my husband and then promptly headed to my sister's on the central coast for a little tax preparation/sister bonding, then to L.A. with hubby for one night to see the best Neil Young concert EVER.  For the most part, I
enjoy traveling, as long as it's not for too long, but I am finding it a bit challenging to stick with a Gluten Free, healthy diet. Again, I am not GF to lose weight. My weight is pretty much ideal.  The reason I don't like to eat gluten is because it makes me all puffy and sore and damages my intestines.  So I try not to eat anything with gluten in it, which is difficult when I cannot prepare my own fresh meals and when I don't know what is in the meals others are preparing for me.

Dinner is usually not a problem. A main protein with a side of veggies and a salad is perfect. I find myself eating a lot of salads when I travel.  But salad doesn't seem right for breakfast, so I eat fruit.  I can also get away with eggs, although most places don't serve organic eggs and the frozen image of beak-less chickens in cramped cages with their little feet dangling makes it almost impossible to eat non-organic eggs anymore either.  I can eat potatoes, although anything on a grill can get cross contaminated with gluten containing ingredients, like pancakes or grilled bread.  So I eat a lot stuff from the garden.

A great way to make sure you can eat a special diet when you travel is to plan ahead, which I did NOT do for the trip to the desert.  Luckily, they had reasonably priced room service and many items on the menu that seemed fairly benign.  I had eggs, potatoes and chicken sausage for breakfast, salads for lunch and, as I said, dinner is pretty easy.


When I traveled to my sisters, I made sure to let her know I was on a special diet and she was kind enough to shop for it. One of the meals she made was OFF THE CHAIN! It was spaghetti squash with organic chicken sausage in a mixed vegetable, pesto medley.  It was sooo tasty that I recommended we make a frittata out of the left over veggie/sausage mixture the next morning, which was equally as delicious.  I spent several days there and her conscientious shopping made it a successful and enjoyable visit.  Another tip I got from her was steaming veggies in the microwave using a three piece veggie steamer. This is a fast and healthy way to prepare just about any sort of vegetable.  This is what it looks like:

 I use mine all of the time and it's super convenient. After cooking, you can drain the veggies and toss them with olive oil or butter and some herbs and spices and, voila!  You have a side dish literally in minutes!