Touring - Special Diet While Touring?

Maybe not the right sort of place to post this message, but I'm just about to head off on a self supported 3-month tour of the States (starting next week) and was diagnosed last night with a condition called celiac sprue. My doctor said it is an allergy to Gluten, which is found in wheat, barley, and rye products (damn, there goes most of my favourite foods already) and is also in a lot of food additives. While I lived with it for years (diarrehea, bad gas, etc) I'd love the chance to finally manage it, but how possible is this to do while touring?

Just throwing this out there, maybe someone also knows someone that has a gluten free diet. These forums are great and have helped me a lot on making all my touring related decisions and purchases - Thanks to everyone !

Have you tried going to a dietitian or nutritionist? I bet they can give a LOT of different options for you to try and they can help you figure out how many calories you would need for the amount of exercise you'll be doing.

Koffee

My good friend has the same condition and while doesn't cycle at all and lives & works in NYC and has trouble finding gluten-free products and alternatives to gluten products (i.e. if it's difficult to find here in NYC it's gonna be extremely difficult anywhere else) he does manage his diet.

So the good news- you can do it.

The sorta bad news is- it's hard in a metropolis full of people with specific needs (religious and lifestyle included) so it's going to be really hard in other places.

The really bad news- nearly impossible while touring.

My suggestions...

1. Try and search out in advance areas & towns you'll be touring in and near and have print outs from your computer where whole food markets are located, call them in advance of leaving on your tour to see if they make their own products like baked goods... many do. When stopping at the market on tour purchase lots of items like yogurt based muffins and breads that are made with almond flour (or other suitable substitutes to standard wheat products). Buy lots, wrapped well in plastic and throw 'em in your panniers.

2. Be aware of avoiding as much wheat product as you can but don't be an Angel about it, not yet until you return from your tour. Knowing that you've lived with it for years take a nice supply of Imodium and some type of gas reducer (if the gas doesn't cause you physical pain ever and you're touring alone-or want to tour alone!!-don't use any gas reducers) if the gas causes you real pain and discomfort.

I say... Go about your tour, take the meds as needed, enjoy yourself and then when you return home... dig into the new lifestyle of eating wheat & gluten-free.

I think you would want to learn to focus on whole unprocessed foods rather than food "products".This would mean preparing your own meals more and avoiding resturant and convience fare on tour as much as possible and supplying yourself out of groceries or whole food markets where available.
I think the first thing you need to do is experiment with a diet eliminating those foods(gluten-based or other)that you do not do well on .This is where a knowledgable nutritionist could help you.Brown rice is an example of an extended energy carb that is gluten-free. Perhaps on tour you could prepare several days worth for convenience and grace on rice based meals or even find a homemade energy bar recipe using brown rice(or other gluten free carb) as the base.Another idea is you could use maildrops to send yourself packages of gluten free foods at cetain predetermined locations.I do not think you need to abandon your tour just get really strict and disiplined with your diet in fact the tour may be a good test as you will always have to deal with proper food selection when out of the house.

Hi,
get a book on backpacking from your local library. It should have a chapter on setting up food drops. Basically you jusy ship a box to a town, and then go pick it up. Works best if a friend ships them so they arrive just a few days before you do. You can get lists of health food stores off the internet, and from the phone book when you hit a town. A health food store will usually have some gluten free products. It will be a little more of a challenge; but you can do it.

i have done any long term touring. a couple of summers ago a close friend of mine pulled in our driveway straight off a tour from ontario to vancouver back to wisconsin. and he was telling me what he ate and found to be his best energy food. and eliminating gluten was a part of it. he ate tons of fruit in morning and afternoon. and a roasted chicken or large can of salmon or mackerel with a large bag of salad at night. no cooking. eight bananas at a time or a bag of grapes. gotta go, the library is closing.

First of all, I'm sure you will find that this forum is the right place to post any sort of question, especially one about a concern you have for a specific need while biking and touring. There are a lot of very considerate people here.

Secondly, I'm sorry to hear about your condition, it must be hard. RWTD had a good point that in your situation you will need to start focusing on whole foods rather than processed foods. I believe it can be done while touring, but obviously you will have to be very careful and plan ahead.

I wish I could help more, but unfortunately gluten and wheat are a staple in my diet. I'm sure that more fruits and vegetables will be your friend.

Good luck- keep us updated on your tour, and remember to post pictures!

Congratulations on finally finding a cause for years of dietary discomfort. I too was diagnosed with Celiac Disease (2002) and am an avid cyclist. From the sounds of your symptoms you may have a similar reaction as I do. Many get deathly ill after ingesting gluten, I am not one of them. I do have other problems and do avoid gluten at all cost.

I am working a cause called Tandem Tracks for Celiacs (see www.ttfc.org ) where I plan to ride, with one of my daughters from Canada to Mexico to raise awareness for CD. My plan is to eat out of groceries stores and fruit stands, etc. There I will puchase fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables, dairy products, beef jerky, etc. and other items that I know to be Gluten Free (GF). We will also eat in restaurants when possible, but take the time to educate the wait staff and the chef (or cook, depending on the quality of diner). My main purpose of this trip is to raise awareness so why not spend some time talking to the cooks, etc. I will also have a small card, like a buisness card, that can be passed to the cook in lieu of me talking to them. This card will have details about the disease, grains I must avoid as well as common places where gluten is hidden. You can order this type of card from the Gluten Intolerance Group (one of my sponsors) at www.gluten.net. They are a non profit that you should become familiar with anyway.

I could go on and on, but I believe that your trip is very doable. Right now you must feel overwhelmed, and rightfully so, but in time you should be able order food in a restaurants and/or purchase from a market with great confidence. If you want to visit further from one Cycling Celiac to another, feel free to email me at my website address that you'll find there.

Most of all....good luck.

Steve

Thanks everyone for all the comments. Have decided I'm gonna try to eliminate as much gluten as I can while on tour, but not be overly strict about it, as I've lived with it for this long. Will be eating plenty of brown rice and will have to stick to wine from now on, no more beer (aaaargh...sigh). Thanks for taking the time to give advice everyone, I really do appreciate it as I did really need to have someone to talk to about it.
Steve, great that you're educating the masses, maybe we'll even cross paths at some stage. Cheers and good luck to you all.
Leon

you could get a list of post offices for your route and have food that fits your diet mail dropped to you like hikers on the AT and other long trails do.

I'm not sure how much gluten ends up in beer there is a lot if leftover grain mash when brewing is done and protein(gluten is a protein) often causes coudy beer not tomention gluten isn't all that water soluble. If you shop at asian stores "sticky rice" aka "sweet rice" is AKA "glutenous rice" its used less for 'steamed rice' and more for snacks, sweets, and rice noodles; btw its not really sweet, it just hints sweet, it is sticky however. healthfood/naturalfoods/wholefood type stores tend to have a lot of good stuff, but don't fall for their hippy treatments, most(this goes for most herbs too) are based on anicdotal bits rather than double blind testing (note the tiny statement on the back of the bottle "food supplement: these claims have not been evaluated by the FDA").


Triticale is a new hybrid grain with the properties of wheat and rye, and is excluded on a gluten-free diet. The identity and the amount of the prolamine decides the kind of reaction that is likely to occur. It should be noted that there is considerable variability in the prolamine content of various foods made from cereal grains, and this variability is one of the many reasons why food reactions are not consistent. Spelt and Kamut, are gluten-containing wheat variants (despite claims to the contrary) and are likely to cause problems similar to other wheat varieties. this was from http://www.nutramed.com/digestion/gluten.htm
Spelt is one of those hippy fixes I was talking about.