Eating out and traveling with food allergies

I went on a mini vacation just last weekend.
I went and had an awesome time at Universal City Walk, Disney, Downtown Disney, and Bok Sanctuary.

Now here is the million dollar question.... Is it possible (without any planning whatsoever) to get food and stay on this diet if you have food allergies?
The Answer: Depends on how far you want to go (both travel and bringing your own), how much you want to spend, how accommodating the particular place you go to is, and maybe how much salad you want to eat.
First I should say that I am a little tired of salads so if I wanted salad, I could get it just about anywhere so long as it didn't come pre-made/mixed with ingredients that I could not eat.

What was my approach?

• I didn't call ahead
• I was trying to eat something other than lettuce
• I wanted some different yet good for me
• I wanted to see how easy this was to do
• I wanted to see how easily restaurants/fast foods places would handle my request
• I wanted to see if places like Disney / Universal etc could help me find what I needed
• I assumed that I would not be able to bring/store my own food anywhere (hotel did NOT have a fridge)
  

Places I went to:

• TGIF :
  
• Wal-mart
• Animal Kingdom(Guest Services)
• Magic Kingdom(,Guest Services)
• Epcot (Japan, China, USA, Guest Services)
  
• Universal City Walk (Bubba Gump's, Latin Quarter Express, Piaganno's)
  
• Wolfgang Puck cafe
• IHOP
• Sizzler's

You are probably wondering which ones were the easiest to get food at that tasted good and was different?

• TGIF : It was ok. I got a Pecan Encrusted chicken salad and though the server got a little nervous when I told her I have food allergies she still listened and got the order right.
  
• Wal-mart: All the hot food is near /made with things I cannot eat. Pre-made salads had too many little things that I could not eat and I had no place to refrigerate a bag of regular salad so I had to walk away from there.
• Disney: They disappointed me the most because there was no consistency when you went from one park to the next. Also the general consensus here was that I should go to the actual restaurants and not do fast food but in truth, I didn't want fast food every time I ate.
  

Animal Kingdom(Guest Services): Guest services here gets an A++ because not only could they name what foods contained what ingredients BUT they also had a list that I could take (but was dumb enough not to) of what restaurants in Disney had what items. I used it to lunch at a really cool restaurant where I was taken care of very well by the manager (his tag said he was from King of Prussia, PA)


Magic Kingdom(Guest Services): Took them almost 10 minutes to get something and it wasn't the same list. This List also didn't have the list of which restaurants I could go to.


Epcot (Japan, China, USA, Guest Services) Japan and China were out because they use soy sauce which has wheat. The two places I went to, I found that they were not very friendly or helpful with trying to help me. When I went to the USA area, they messed my order up so I had to shake the cheese off.

• Universal City Walk (Bubba Gump's, Latin Quarter Express, Piaganno's)

Bubba Gump's: I didn't read the menu well enough and ended up with rice on my plate. All they did was remove the rice but there were still grains that I ended up eating.


Latin Quarter Express: Awesome service. He gave me more beans and I had no rice with my yucca with meat.


Piaganno's: Not much I could do there all the salad was pre-made.


• Wolfgang Puck cafe: well all I can say is DUH. Their staff was awesome and though my wallet is somewhat poorer, the food there nonetheless was very good. What did I have? Nice THICK piece of steak (medium), green beans, brocollini, and carrots. Can't go wrong there and I now have a NEW favorite veggie.
  
• IHOP: Fried potatoes, fruit, cawfee. There is really nothing on their breakfast menu that I can have
  
• Sizzler's: Fruit and potatoes and cawfee. Staff was ok but looked at me like I grew horns because I said I had food allergies.

So all in all. It was a learning experience worth having. I know when traveling:

• Try to get a fridge
• Call call call ahead
• Dont expect fast food places to have what I want
• Buy some snacks

Stay tuned for my next chapter... on the dining a la food allergies

So what do you do when your food options are more limited?

So I walk into Publix, Wal-mart, Winn Dixie, or Albertson's ...
I go and look at the different displays with aisles and aisles upon stuff. I'd say 80% of what you find on the shelves is stuff that I cannot eat. They contain the dreaded food starches, corn-something, gluten, wheat, etc stuff. Something as SIMPLE as um peanuts can contain corn syrup if you are not reading the label. Chocolate is also another bad one because even if you get dark chocolate it can contain milk fat and or corn syrup.'

So what do you do when your food options are more limited?

Get more inventive and try things you normally wouldn't eat is the answer. This means actually looking at what's on those shelves and really looking at what's offered and thinking outside of the box when it comes to preparing or choosing a meal. It's also about being willing to try things and combos that you don't eat everyday.

Is this Normal?

Ok. So now I am doing this diet about 90% - 100% of the way. I've been asked several times either:

• Have you noticed a difference?
• Do you think it's helping?

Good questions. The answer to these questions is not so simple though...
Have I noticed a difference : Yes I have noticed a difference. I don't feel as tired and sick as I felt before. My skin is looking/feeling a lot better. It seems now that I am getting into the first month of eliminating everything (I'd like to call this detoxing), I am noticing that now I am getting a different variety of symptoms. These are still skin related but not the same type of eczema symptoms as before and I cannot really guarantee that these are totally eczema related per se. Now it's like I am getting acne type symptoms on the back of my head and face and from the neck down to the pelvis. They itch but after taking something, like benadryl, (in some cases) go away.

Is it helping?: I think so but it's a weird sensation that I feel atm. Body feels better and is starting to look better but it seems something is not exactly right. I've been a lot more moodier and on edge. I've been feeling down and depressed but I think part of that is normal as I get used to the new diet(?) . Granted there are other things going on in my life but between the moodiness I've been feeling tons more um frustrated (more so than my usual).

Leaving out everything

So here it goes... I've got food allergies. Lots of them. The short list of what I cannot eat:

• Eggs
• Dairy
• Pork
• Wheat
• Rice
• Barley
• Oats
• Gluten
• Corn
• Tomato
• Cashews
• Food starches
• Crab
• Lobster
  

What Can I eat? Anything not in the above list...Or so you think. Did you know that there are tons of things the contain some of the above items? OMG! This means that I am screwed when walking into almost ANY store. Pick up a can, box, or bag of your favorite food and you will see one or more of the above items listed. *eye roll*
Add to this that I have to be careful with anything I ingest. In reality, no more sodas, or non-natural beverages. Vitamins are somewhat of an issue because they may contain food starch (which I have noticed I do react to). I have to get my calcium now from tons of other sources (almonds, salmon, spinach).
How am I doing so far? Ok I guess. My body is totally feeling a little haywire almost like this is more than just giving up food but even more like I am detoxing . Now that's scary!
I feel anxious jittery depressed and just plain cranky.