I had fairly good success eating gluten free while traveling for 2 1/2 weeks. I prepared ahead of time and checked out websites of restaurants, and made a list of edible items-it's limited, but there is fast food I can still eat.
Some examples of fast food that I ate:Taco Bell: taco salad (minus the tortilla)- kinda gross, but I'm not a fan of taco salads to begin with (give me a chalupa any day!).
Wendy's: mandarin chicken salad, no noodles or sesame dressing (I used a little ranch)- quite good- I'm a sucker for mandarin oranges.
Wendy's: baked potato and chili- also pretty good. It was way too hot to be eating chili, but it tasted pretty good. The baked potato with sour cream and chives and broccoli (if you can find broccoli, it's not available in all markets) is good, but the bacon and cheese potato (also not available in all markets) is kinda gross- the bacon and cheese sauce both tasted kinda funny. I had a sour cream and chives potato and chili while everyone else ate Pizza Hut pizza, and didn't feel deprived.
McDonalds: fruit and yogurt parfait (no granola), apple dippers, and side salad- were ok, but I would have preferred some protein. Those 3 items are pretty much the only gluten free items, other than ice cream, at McDonalds. Very sad.
Burger King: had a tender grill chicken sandwich minus the bun- it was ok, but it was just the chicken, some lettuce, and a tomato, no condiments. It came with a bun, so I had to go back and tell them I couldn't eat it because of the wheat. One of the girls working there said it was cornmeal dusted, there was no wheat. Umm, I'm pretty sure it's made of wheat. Maybe she was thinking of sesame seeds? They fixed it without any further problems, though.
Carl's Jr.: low carb burger and fries- pretty good. I ordered the criss cut fries because I thought they were ok, but when they arrived, I realized there was some coating on them. I ate them anyway, but I shouldn't have. The natural cut fries are ok, though. The low carb burger is very messy.
Food while camping:
I brought gluten free pancake mix and mixed up a few pancakes for myself every morning and cooked them in my own pan (avoiding contamination). I also brought gluten free noodles for spaghetti night and gluten free crackers to eat with meat and cheese or tuna for lunch.
I've noticed I have a lot fewer blood sugar problems since going gluten free. I can eat less protein without feeling crappy, which I haven't been able to do for years. This is a good thing, since I didn't eat as well as I should have on the trip, but I still felt pretty decent.
Despite not eating as well as I should (too many Ghiradelli chocolate peanut butter squares (yum!) while traveling and too many gluten free s'mores (carefully tear a marshmallow in half, place a square of chocolate in the marshmallow, close, carefully skewer, and verrry carefully toast- yummy!), I still managed to lose another 3 pounds. Now that vacation time is over, I need to buckle down and eat more fruits and veggies and exercise more regularly so I can lose more weight more quickly.
