Discover how to navigate life as a gluten-free traveler with tips from UCLA Health experts. Plan your next adventure without worrying about gluten!
Navigating Gluten-Free Dining on the Go
In this video, Janelle Smith, a registered GI dietitian at UCLA Health, shares valuable tips and considerations for individuals with gluten-related disorders who are traveling. She provides insights on how to navigate food choices and stay safe while on the go, particularly for those with celiac disease or other digestive diseases.
The Digestive Diseases Nutrition Program and the Celiac Disease Program at UCLA Health are highlighted as resources for individuals seeking specialized care and support for their conditions. Janelle’s expertise in the field of nutrition and gastrointestinal health shines through as she offers practical advice for managing gluten-related disorders during travel.
Going Gluten-Free Globetrotting: Tips for Travelers with Celiac Disease
Hi thank you for joining us today for a presentation on traveling gluten-free I’m Janelle Smith I’m a registered dietitian with UCLA health the Digestive Disease nutrition program and the celiac disease program when talking about traveling gluten-free we’re going to discuss several considerations that you’ll need.
To keep in mind when planning your travel um and lots and lots of tips and ideas for accommodations that may help you to really enjoy your travel so ultimately we want to highlight that there are so many joys of traveling even with a gluten related Disorder so first off let’s talk about travel how we get there the length of.
Time of travel as well of the mode of transportation is really going to affect a lot of things as will the logic such as will you have access to preparing your own food will you have access to Refrigeration or any cooking supplies are they shared cooking supplies or can they be dedicated so you can ensure that they’re safely.
Gluten-free what is the location you’ll be staying in are there grocery stores nearby are there local restaurants what are the local labeling laws what even is the cuisine of the place you’re visiting and how flexible can that be to a gluten-free diet and absolutely if there are any language differences that can be one of the most important parts to.
Navigate so if you’re traveling by Road in the car maybe a road trip these are some tips for where to stop along the way to ensure that you are fed many coffee shops will have naturally gluten-free snacks like string cheese dried fruit fresh fruit I also really like a latte or a smoothie um if they can just ensure that they have rinsed.
The equipment that they are using many bagged chips are naturally gluten-free and some bars are also glutenfree then again you could always make sure that you have your own snacks by packing a cooler to have with you you could pack your own sandwich tuna salad pasta salad additional fruit even cut up fruit would be nice uh crackers and.
Hummus cheese or eggs and deli meat are all really easy to bring in your cooler and put together a nice meal sometimes it’s possible to navigate fast food while on the road although not always so it’s good to investigate before you head out at some places you may be able to ask for a protein style burger that has no bun as long as you.
Can ensure that the grill can be cleaned so it’s free of cross contact with gluten many milkshakes smoothies and beverages will be naturally gluten-free or perhaps a salad if you can bring your own dressing that you ensure is gluten-free or you can discuss with them what ingredients are in their dressing there’s even a fast food.
Restaurant that has baked potato and chili that is naturally gluten-free so that can be a nice option remember that french fries that are fried in a shared fryer are not considered safely gluten-free for people with celiac disease then we have mini Marts with a lot of snack and convenience food options as well as a Roadside Diner.
Which may also be likely to have a baked potato a salad or fried eggs the reason why I don’t recommend scrambled eggs is that some pre-prepared uh liquid egg mixtures may actually have flour added them to thicken them so if you’re concerned about navigating that situation always choose just a fried or OV easy.
Egg then if you’re traveling by train or tour bus or Cruise you’re a little more subject to the rules of of that vehicle that you’re traveling on so it’s very important to do research before you leave in many places in the US you can bring your own food onto trains and tour buses and unfortunately many of the main train companies do not offer gluten-free.
Options so it would be difficult to navigate ahead of time and show up and not be able to eat anything so I always recommend bringing your own food on a cruise there often are a lot of glue free options so be sure to discuss this prior to booking as well as once you arrive and check in most have many safe dining options such as a.
Dedicated kitchen space uh gluten-free pancakes pasta baked goods and bread uh just be mindful of navigating and communicating a lot with your host on the cruise when we’re flying by plane we’re also limited by what we can bring with us and currently security rules very much dictate the type of food.
And the quantity of food that we may be bringing with us so be very mindful of not bringing on larger quantities of foods that may be considered liquids gels for example yogurt and peanut butter occasionally will be confiscated ated or tested or challenged in Flight passengers however your medical provider could offer you a letter of medical.
Necessity to provide to TSA that will help you to bypass this restriction and here’s an example of such a letter some that we provide for our patients here at the UCLA Celiac program provides uh resources for accessing accommodations with disabilities when traveling many major airlines do offer.
Gluten-free snack and meal options however some of them require pre-ordering uh so it’s important to request it when you book the flight as well as when you check in for your flight to confirm that they are in stock and that they will be on the plane during your flight here are just some of the options that several major airlines.
Currently have available many snack foods that are naturally gluten-free and occasionally um some gluten-free starches like gluten-free crackers or cookies the next step in our journey is the lodging so once we’ve arrived at our destination what kind of accommodations should we be asking for to ensure that we can have a really enjoyable.
Trip I’d recommend choosing places that do have designated gluten-free menus whether it’s at the hotel the lodging or the nearby restaurants be sure to communicate before during constantly about your needs and about uh making sure that your lodging area is able to take precautions to prevent cross contact with gluten.
It’s even best if the hotel or other lodging space has a dedicated preparation storage space and equipment for their gluten-free items to really reduce the risk of cross contact with gluten containing items in their space I guess if this isn’t an option um could you request your own personal food preparation and storage options such as.
A mini fridge a separate part of the kitchen um or can you work with the coner to help coordinate some local dining recommendations so here are some ideas for various types of lodging and many of these I have done myself so let’s say you’re staying in a hotel room with no option for a microwave or a fridge well.
Guess what you can use that coffee maker to make hot water and fill your gluten-free oatmeal cup that you’ve brought from home you could also clean the iron uh put in a barrier and use that to warm up some toast or make a grilled cheese and we can buy toaster bags that provide a barrier in between our.
Gluten-free bread and any shared toaster that maybe could be used at a continental breakfast at Continental breakfasts which are often included in the price of the room you may not have as many options but some naturally gluten-free options include hard-boiled eggs yogurt fruit and peanut butter be sure to bring your.
Own gluten-free bread muffins oatmeal Etc as well as a toaster bag if you’d like some hot bread now let’s say you staying in a hotel hotel room that does have a mini fridge and a microwave now you have a lot more options for example you can keep perishable items like similar to what.
You would take on a road trip or keep in a cooler such as cheese sticks deli meat yogurt fruit vegetables and eggs again bring your own gluten-free starches to make sure that you can turn these snacks into a more complete meal here are just some examples of prepackaged non-p perishable items that you can bring while you’re.
Traveling we’ve got everything from snack foods the bars to tuna brown rice and uh even beans that are microwavable so you really could make a meal out of some of these finally we want think about the cuisine of the location where we’re visiting as many Cuisines can be very.
Easy or very difficult to modify to be safe for someone with celiac disease be sure to research this a lot ahead of time and come prepared where you’re going so many Southeast Asian countries for example may have naturally gluten-free rice noodles fish sauce or coconut based sauces rice and chickpeas and curry sauce are.
Often completely glutenfree Seafood meat proteins that are not marinated however if they are marinated be aware of soy sauce in most Asian countries avoid any noodles which are made with wheat when traveling um in South America rice beans corn tapioca based products even plantain are uh very easy to enjoy in.
Africa and the Middle East we have naturally gluten-free foods like te Millet lentils and cassava some European Cuisines can be very challenging to navigate but many of these countries actually include allergen labeling on packaged foods and in restaurants making it easier to identify products that contain gluten.
So be sure to do your research so that you can still enjoy here are some tools that some people use to make sure that they’re able to communicate uh their dietary needs wherever they’re at um so online you can purchase or you can make your own travel advisory card which includes.
All the information about celiac disease or your diet restrictions and then translate into the language wherever you’re traveling a newer option is Google translate which is so convenient and can really help you to translate both from English to another language as well as for you to help to understand product.
Labels menus that may be written in a language that you don’t understand using the tips that we’ve talked about in today’s to’s presentation I really hope that you can ReDiscover the joys of traveling with a gluten-free lifestyle there are many pre-plan trips travel blogs and guide books specifically designed for the.
Gluten-free diet and using those it can actually be really exciting to discover new places a couple other resources I wanted to mention are two apps find me gluten-free and atly that can help with locating local bakeries and restaur resturants wherever you are as well as this online guide to worldwide dedicated gluten-free.
Restaurants I’d love to hear from you in the comment so share them below where do you recommend traveling where have you had a great experience dining gluten-free thank you so much for joining us
