Cheating...

No, I’m not talking about your spouse or your taxes, I’m talking about your diet.

This post topic was particularly hard this weekend because my boyfriend and I drove down to the San Diego County Fair. Now, I’ve never been particularly keen on fair food, but it’s like the very fact I CAN’T have it makes it more appealing. I grew up in Texas and all my family lives in the South, but fried food never really appealed to me… until this Saturday. I just looked around at all the food booths and sighed.

Now, just like all cheating, emotions play a strong part in wanting to cheat by eating gluteny goodies (like deep fried Oreos). You feel left out, you crave the food, you want to be nostalgic, you are tired of having to think about food all the time, but none of these are good reasons! So there are some tips I have for being reducing the temptation to cheat.

On the road – Bring plenty of snacks with you, both sweet and savory (very important to grab both, attack the cravings from all sides). Do some research before you go for that area. If you are going to a large city, chances are that you will be gluten free support group there and they will have information on good restaurants to eat at. Also, familiarize yourself with some foods that you can grab at a ‘normal’ grocery store that are gluten free (Check out Kraft foods and Frito-Lay since they both have a large selection of gluten free products). Prepare lunches to take with you, don’t rely on fast food (exceptions are Chic-a-fila, Chipotle, and Subway that have gluten-free options but don’t have menus of them in the store, look online before you leave).

At home – Don’t leave gluten options around the house if you can help it. Just don’t buy food with gluten in it and you won’t have it around to munch on. I’m just not as tempted to eat my roommate’s food as my own. ;)

At other people’s homes – If you are going over for a dinner at someone’s house, let them know plenty of time in advance of your food restrictions and have a list of suggestions available to them for menu ideas. You should always inform your host before you go for food that you have food-restrictions. One dinner I went to, didn’t tell the host that I was gluten intolerant and it turned out that her sister was so it would have been easy for her to accommodate me, but I didn’t ask. I just went not planning on eating. If it’s a casual visit, make sure to always bring snacks with you and eat before you go to reduce food urges.

My favorite general tip that has saved me many a time: always have a stash of food in your car. No matter where you go, you always have something with you in case of emergency temptation. I have gum, trail mix, dried fruit, and a non-refrigerated microwavable food product that just needs water. Those basically cover any scenario that I need, plus it gives you something to do during traffic. J Just make sure to keep yourself stocked at all times.

And, if it makes you feel any better, more and more people are learning about gluten. In the short time that I’ve been gluten free, there have been a huge increase in gluten-free products available. I’ve also met more and more people who know about it. So, think of it this way: the longer that you are on the diet, the more options you will have. This will probably be the worse it’s going to get. It’s only uphill from here!