Celiac Disease: worldwide travelers

Biomedal Diagnostics is happy to have Tina Turbin the multi award-winning children’s author of the acclaimed Danny the Dragon children’s series as a guest for our GlutenTox blog:

As celiac disease patients and worldwide travelers, where do you find it most difficult to keep a gluten free diet?
It is most difficult to keep a gluten free diet in most restaurants. When we grocery shop and cook for ourselves that is far easier. One always run the risk when eating out because that cross contamination can occur. Relaying we have celiac to a waiter or waitress in detail is very important

Is there any food you find while traveling abroad that you wish you had easy access to at home?
The desserts in Europe are to die for! They just don’t make them the same in the US. Also, we have never had such amazing espresso as we did while in Europe. Can we bring it all back?

When you are eating out, what can a restaurant do to assure you that they understand celiac disease?
When a restaurant offers to clean off their grill before cooking our food we feel a sense of relief. What doesn’t make us feel at ease is when our server says they understand celiac disease and then asks us if rice has gluten in it. This happens in the USA a lot, as the kids are not taught what gluten is in many schools or universities here.

Do you bring any sort of card, or phone app, or other written explanation of celiac disease with you? Does it help?
We do not but we have pretty good understanding of it and can easily explain it to others. If you can’t explain celiac disease we strongly advise you to keep a good laminated card with you at all times. Ensure the chef reads it and ensure your health situation is fully understood so you can eat a meal with no concerns.

When you are eating on the go, how do you choose where to get food and what to buy?
We really enjoy our local health food store, which has an amazing and full hot bar with many GF options. It has many protein and vegetable dishes to choose from which makes our busy lives easier. The gluten-free community where we live is pretty expansive so eating on the go isn’t too difficult. Many restaurants we go to these days even have a separate gluten free menu. This is a result of our many celiac groups’ efforts spreading the word.

Do you travel with some emergency-snack in case you cannot find anything that you can trust is gluten-free? If so, what do you bring?
Yes, yes and yes! We may have nuts & dried fruit, some sort of home made GF protein bar, fruit etc. in our purses in case we can’t find something close by. As a celiac preplanning is a way of life.

Tina, as a children’s writer, have you been tempted to turn one of your characters celiac?
In the Danny the Dragon series I have not as of yet. This does not mean that is cannot happen but that is not the direction these stories are going. I have other books in the works. I feel it is important to use my position to help get the word out about celiac disease, the importance of early detection, misdiagnosis and increased awareness. Children are very important to me. Due to the amount of writing Miranda Jade and I do on this area and on a monthly basis, we find ourselves pretty busy. Miranda Jade is taking over much of the research and writing so I can now devote more time to working in the kitchen on 100% grain free recipes and my own personal writing.