Updated Content – I am a member of a lot of Celiac Facebook groups. It never fails. The rash of “I’ve been glutened and how do I feel better fast” posts every Saturday and Sunday morning can be counted on like my kids waking me up for breakfast too early.
Something must happen on Friday and Saturday nights to people. Do they just forget they need to eat gluten free? Does the alcohol get to them? Are all of these people hung over? I don’t know.
I had a tough week and drank a whole bottle of wine all by myself. We had people over. I had my own bottle that nobody shared. I drank the bottle without help from friends. I did it. I had an Udi’s gluten free pizza for dinner cooked in my own oven – all safe stuff.
I haven’t been imbibing much alcohol since I started this Nexvax trial. Early on I was getting a flushing reaction when consuming alcohol so I pretty much stopped. Lately, the flushing reaction has stopped, so I feel like I’m in the clear to consume adult beverages again. Anyway, I felt awful on Saturday morning. Yep, probably hung over a bit. I had a headache, was a little nauseous, and very tired. But I knew there was no way I was glutened.
Or is it going out to dinner and getting hit with cross contamination? Cross contamination is tough and almost impossible to avoid, especially at restaurants. Mostly high end restaurants can manage cross contamination. But if you are eating at a less expensive joint that isn’t gluten free, I think the chances to get sick increase exponentially.
The bottom line is – why are people complaining more about being glutened on Saturday and Sunday mornings? I think its the weekend – the general idea of holding it together all week, then turning loose on the weekend. Letting your hair hang down and maybe not being quite so careful. I’m not sure. Its just my theory.
Update
Researchers did a study that said that people actually do get glutened more on the weekends. They looked at stool and urine samples from people for four weeks. According to the study, they found that,” 91 percent of study participants had gluten exposure on the weekend, possibly because they ate away from home more often.” They also found, on average, people get glutened once every four weeks.
Don’t be one of those people that is sick after a fun weekend. If eating out, make sure to ask the right questions and make good choices.
- Do you have a gluten free menu?
- Please let the kitchen know this is an allergy/Celiac disease rather than a preference.
- Has the protein been marinated? Can they make it without the marinade? (Note here, I don’t care what it is marinated in and the server probably doesn’t know. Just ask if they can do it without the marinade to be safe.)
- Do you fry your french fries in the same fryer as chicken nuggets or onion rings? (Look at the menu for the other fried items and ask specifically about those items.) Asking if the fries are gluten free is not enough and you will probably get the pat answer of Yes.
- Gluten free pizza and gluten free pasta are the least safe, most contaminated items to order on a gluten free menu.
- Be kind and polite – you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.