For many, long years, I was intolerant to Fodmap foods. For those unlucky enough to now know what this means, examples of the food I had to avoid are: onions, garlic, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, peaches, dairy and gluten.
This list is very abbreviated – the list seemed endless. Eating out was a nightmare, and only very brave friends cooked for me. Having found a forward thinking gastroenterologist I was diagnosed with SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) and treated. The symptoms didn’t improve, until a friend recommended kinesiology. I found a kinesiologist and he changed my life – overnight. This sounds like an exaggeration, but I literally went from having a long list of foods to avoid, to only having to avoid gluten. My first apple in 7 years was such a treat.
Recently I was somehow poisoned with gluten. 2 days later, I was still feeling dreadful, and had no idea where the gluten came from. I was bloated, my trousers were digging in, I felt sick, anxious and drained of energy. It doesn’t feel or look pretty and often happens when I have no idea how when I try to be so careful.
The symptoms would normally ease, but sometimes they take their time to do so, so I then hope for an appointment with my wonderful kinesiologist to sort it all out. The recent occasion got me thinking about the trouble with intolerances on the road and health in general.
We are very lucky to be fit and healthy, so our medication lists are small. We have a great GP, and didn’t want to change practice, so we use a friend’s address in the area and we qualify to stay with the same practice. The practice is aware of our lifestyle and is really helpful, allowing us to order 4 months of medication when travelling outside of the UK and sending repeat prescriptions to pharmacies across the country, when we are in the UK. They are also very good with online and telephone appointments, a bonus for us.
In addition, I see my kinesiologist when we are back in Hampshire, whether I have symptoms I need help with, or just for an MoT.
If I am unwell it is almost always due to gluten. The van is a gluten free zone. Neil has to endure gluten free bread and pasta, to prevent any crumbs cross contaminating my food. The space is too small to risk bread crumbs. Luckily gluten free products are widely available in the UK, and have improved a lot in recent years. Eating out in the UK is also generally a good experience. The choice can be limited, but most restaurants appreciate the dangers of coeliac disease so, while I do not have coeliac disease, I benefit from this. Cross contamination does occur, which is why I am feeling unwell now, but it is infrequent.
We spend a lot of time in Ireland. We had 3 months travelling the Wild Atlantic Way, and visit family there as often as possible. Ireland is great for travelling with an intolerance. The supermarkets were well stocked and even in the middle of nowhere, cafes, pubs and restaurants were really helpful. I can’t recall being poisoned once.
France was so bad. I did not find any gluten free products in the 2 weeks we spent travelling in France, and I am sure we tried every supermarket chain. Clearly, I didn’t starve, but I did miss bread, cakes and cereal. Next time I will know to stock up before we go. The cafes and restaurants were also very unhelpful. We asked politely, in French, time and time again, if they had any gluten free options. The answer – “no”. Nothing added, no effort to help, just “no”. The one time we it was a yes, the choice was steak or salad. I don’t like steak so ended up with a very expensive tomato salad. Surely tomato is just a salad ingredient, not a type of salad.
Germany was so much better. The main supermarkets stocked gluten free products and, although pricey, I could buy bread, cake and cereal again. My favourite discovery was DM Drogerie and the delicious gluten-free seeded coconut biscuits. I ate far too many of them.
Even the little village in the Black Forest, where we visited friends, stocked gluten free bread. The restaurants and cafes were helpful and most offered a good choice. They also had the best range of gluten free Christmas goodies I have ever seen, so I stocked up on Lebkuchen, Spekulatius, cinnamon biscuits and many more treats before coming home.
Whilst in Germany, we popped into Czechia for a few days – and found a Tesco’s.
Before you disappear on me, I love foreign supermarkets. They are one of the joys of being abroad, but after 2 months without all the gluten free products I take for granted, we had to have a look. I only noticed there was a Tesco after we had left Cesky Krumlov and were heading back towards the border. Neil refused to go back, but then realised he had been driving for an hour in the wrong direction – I took my chance and as we were close to the Tesco, I insisted we go for a look. I expected a Czechian version of Tesco but it was just like being at home. There was a full gluten free range, and I stocked up on bread, cereal and biscuits.
I also found my hair dye – as I use a German brand, SchwarzKopf, I didn’t take any with me. I assumed it would be easy to get. I was wrong. It seems the Germans do not like permanent dye or purple hair. Thanks to Tesco in Czechia I was able to banish my grey roots.
So, while a foreign supermarket is still the highlight of any trip (we even have t-shirts from Bonus in Iceland), this unexpected Tesco made me very happy. I promise we only bought gluten free products and the hair dye, and did the rest of our shopping in a Czechian store.
Lessons learnt:
- take plenty of gluten free cereal, bread and cakes with me when leaving the UK or Ireland
- Don’t expect to eat out very often in France
- Also take hair dye – never assume
- Have an appointment set up with a kinesiologist on your return to undo any damage done by gluten poisoning.
- McDonald’s fries are always gluten free
And while, to date, France has been by far the worst place I have travelled as someone who is gluten intolerant, they have champagne, so all is forgiven.
