Many people eat out a lot on vacation and during the Holidays and my family is no exception.
Getting a decent restaurant meal that won’t give you a headache or make you feel sluggish the next day is challenging enough, but for those who are gluten-free, it can be nearly impossible.
While I personally do not eat gluten-free all the time, I make an effort to avoid conventionally prepared wheat in restaurants. I have observed over the years that while the organic wheat I grind fresh and carefully prepare traditionally at home by either sprouting, soaking or sour leavening causes me no trouble, restaurant pasta, bread, croutons, and other processed wheat items make me feel extremely tired and sometimes achy for a day or two.
So, when I discovered that a family gathering was scheduled to go to dinner at The Olive Garden a few weeks ago, you can imagine that I was not all that excited at the prospect.
The Olive Garden could aptly be called the “Pasta Capital of America”. The dishes are embarrassingly huge with pasta and bread flowing nonstop from the moment you sit down until you roll out the door a couple of hours later. Even if you order a nonpasta dish, you get an obligatory side of spaghetti that could feed two people by itself.
While the food at The Olive Garden tastes ok, how it makes you feel is quite another matter. My husband and I like to joke that those who eat at The Olive Garden likely collapse on the couch in front of the TV for 3 hours straight after getting home. Either that or an emergency stop at the 7-Eleven for a Big Gulp coffee would be necessary to stay awake!
I ended up arriving at the Olive Garden before the rest of my family, so I had the opportunity to chat with the hostess for a few minutes before getting seated. I was surprised to discover during our conversation that The Olive Garden has a gluten-free menu, complete with Penne Rigate and salad without croutons. Non-pasta dishes were served with gluten-free penne pasta.
After looking at the menu for a few minutes, I asked about the ingredients of the gluten-free pasta. I was thinking it was probably rice or quinoa pasta, which would have been fine with me.
I use arsenic-free rice or quinoa pasta (brand) myself at home occasionally, and a pasta meal once in a while is not going to be problematic within the context of a nutrient dense diet the majority of the time.
I really wanted to order pasta as ordering steak or fish at a pasta restaurant is not usually a good idea. Ordering the restaurant specialty is the way to go if you want to get a decent tasting meal.
Unfortunately, the news from the waitress was disappointing, to say the least. She told me the gluten-free pasta was made primarily from corn and not organic corn either.
While I don’t have an issue with corn, I definitely have an issue with genetically modified (GMO) corn which has been linked with all manner of serious health problems and was found to induce huge tumors in rats (this study was quietly retracted during Thanksgiving due to the messy public relations it was causing the biotech industry, not because of bad science).
Since basically all nonorganic corn nowadays is GMO, ordering a gluten-free dish at the Olive Garden was definitely a no go. However, the most disturbing thing about the GMO gluten-free menu was the children’s Penne Rigate with Marinara.
GMOs served to vulnerable, allergic children? Unconscionable.
I ended up ordering the parmesan encrusted tilapia that was absolutely terrible (it tasted like microwaved dish soap, no kidding). At least the asparagus on the side was good.
Eating Gluten-Free? Watch out for the GMOs!
My experience at The Olive Garden got me to thinking about the silent and very serious GMO problem that exists with supposedly healthier gluten free products.
Examination of typical foods stocking the gluten-free aisle at the supermarket and at the health food store in the days after my Olive Garden experience confirmed my suspicion that those who choose to eat gluten-free processed foods have unknowingly exchanged gluten for another ingredient that is much, much worse: GMOs.
Glutino, one of the biggest gluten-free brands, is prominent in both supermarket and health food stores. I checked the ingredients of 10 of their products and every single one contained GMO corn, GMO soy, GMO sugar and/or GMO canola.
I realize that Glutino has gone on record supporting the Non-GMO Verified Project Seal, but as of this writing, many of their products are still loaded wtih GMOs and dangerous to consume.
It is possible to make gluten-free items also free of GMOs?
Absolutely. Here are a few brands I checked that offer both gluten free and nonGMO options: Andean Dream, Enjoylife, and Pamela’s Simplebites.
If you have issues with gluten and have decided to go gluten-free even going so far as to make gluten-free flour at home, make sure you continue to read labels and ask about ingredients at restaurants! Even if a product proclaims itself “gluten-free”, it is not necessarily any better and might be far worse for your health.
I eat whole foods and Ezekial bread, but is it true or not that the gluten of today is nothing like the gluten in wheat of our ancestors, which is unhealthy whether one be gluten sensitive or not? Such a confusing topic.
I recently discovered that the cause of my fibromyalgia was gluten. It has been hard to give up my normal routine. I was mostly doing nourishing traditions but here and there I would eat bread not prepared right and eat pasta. It was horrible. I get heart burn, followed by stomach pain and bloating, followed by achy muscles and fatigue the next day. I have been reading labels like a hawk and found a lot of stuff I dont like in the gluten free products. Now it makes it even harder because of all the GMOS in stuff. I am so glad I garden and prepare my own foods. That has helped me a ton. I still miss bread though lol. I finally found a good bread recipe too… 🙁
What’s your bread recipe? Can you share?
Yes, like Petra, I too would be most interested in your recipe Eileen.
This is exactly the problem with gluten free. If you are NOT DIAGNOSED with a gluten intolerance, gluten free eating does absolutely nothing for you. But people still believe “gluten free is good”. It isn’t. It is big business, nothing else. Another fact: if you are not diagnosed with a gluten intolerance and you wean yourself off gluten there is a chance that you actually become gluten intolerant. There are many people who really are gluten intolerant. Let me ask you, do you eat strawberries? Peanuts? Tomatoes? You should not eat them. There are many people who are intolerant with these. So why do you eat gluten free? Only because there are some people who are intolerant? Gluten free only makes sense if you are either diagnosed with i.e. celiac disease or if you are a gluten free producer and make a profit.
Actually, this is not true. There are many people who have not been diagnosed with gluten intolerance, yet may have an “intolerance” to gluten (and other grains). The underlying cause is most likely related to the leaky gut syndrome that almost all of us Americans suffer from, due to our overuse of antibiotics, the processed food (and improperly prepared grains) we consume, and many other causes. Those with leaky gut syndrome and digestive troubles in general often feel better after eliminating gluten-containing (and sometimes other) grains from their diets. Look it up; grains are inflammation-causing, especially when not properly prepared. Eating processed, gluten-free junk makes people feel poorly, too, but that doesn’t negate the fact that eliminating gluten helps many people feel better. I agree with your point that “gluten-free” is not synonymous with “healthy”. We need to eat real, whole foods, not processed, nutrient-void, GMO junk, whether gluten-free or not!
It’s also true that the wheat we eat today is a far cry from the wheat that was eaten 50+ years ago. Modern wheat is engineered to contain several times more gluten. I suggest the book “Wheat Belly” for more information on the effects of gluten in the body.
When you remove gluten from your diet, you are also removing processed foods.
Processed foods are loaded with chemicals besides gluten that are foreign to your body.
What is causing the gut problems? Is it gluten (which has been added to many processed foods) or are the chemicals in the processed foods killing off our good gut bacteria? Or is it the antibiotics that are fed to beef, chicken etc. that we eat, killing our digesting bacteria causing leaky gut and also causing super bugs like TB.
The gluten thing is simplistic except for cileacs. a genetic issue. For them gluten is poison.
Wheat berries have not been changed by hybridizing. The stalk may have been made shorter or longer, but the berry is the same. The wheat berry is made up of bran, germ and starch and of course gluten, a protein. I had red turkey ancient wheat flour in my shop and put it side by side with todays wheat. There was no difference at all.
Wheat belly is talking about starch, then the author says to eat rice. Wheat is 56% starch and rice at least 80% starch. Excess starch or sugar which the body sees as equal is bad no doubt, rice is worse than wheat.
People who have wheat problems can often eat sourdough. The reason is the sourdough starter is a bacteria, it predigests the gluten. Which leads me to believe that
gut bacteria is the problem. I am 75 years old. When I was younger we did not have gluten digestion problems. We didn’t have processed chemical laden foods and meat either.
Peter, there are a large number of people who test negative for gluten problems but feel better eating gf. The medical system does not have a test for everything! If someone becomes gluten intolerant after weaning themselves off of it, they have a genuine problem with it that was going unrealized. I also don’t know of anyone who eats gf because others are gluten intolerant.
Is there a reason people can’t simply be free to eat however they want, even gf? Why is it your concern? If you don’t want to eat gf, then don’t! But let everyone else make their own decision.
I should have guessed it was corn. It’s the American filler known to kill. Glad that there is a push for actual health now.
I wouldn’t dream of eating at Olive Garden. If you’re gluten free you’d be an idiot to pick that place. Come to think of it, their food is so vile if you’re a human being you shouldn’t be eating that! Worst Italian restaurant in the world. Nothing tastes right there.
Agreed. I’ve been GF for four years, and in that four years, I have seen tremendous changes in the marketplace, which of course, is always suspect.
When I began the GF diet for my family (my oldest son has grandly improved autism at this point)-there was NO options. Now, every restaurant has options. Ever grocery and farmer’s market has GF. It blows my mind, really-coming from the awful rice bread I ate four years ago, shopping the internets and dusty health food stores…
Now, we eat out RARELY, and when we do, I smell the rancid vegetable oil in everything…
GMOs are huge problems in the GF foods, Sarah, you are spot on with that observation!
The mixed grill is the best item on the gluten-free Olive Garden menu – hands down. I can not eat tomatoes, dairy, or a number of other items, so the pasta’s are out for me anyway, but even my dh who can do so likes the mixed grill (steak and chicken kabobs interspersed with onion wedges and pepper wedges. Very, very good.
To bad eating GF doesn’t = eating healthy or safe!!
People with Celiac or gluten sensitivity should avoid ALL corn, not just GMO corn. There is a very convincing research that corn activates the same antibodies and inflammatory response in these people that gluten does. I have Celiac and am also really sensitive to corn.
Also, asserting that GMOs are more dangerous than gluten is not accurate for all of us. It is actually much more devastating to my health to eat gluten because I have Celiac disease. Sure, GMOs aren’t good for the gut, but gluten has an immediate and SEVERE effect on my entire body.
The local Olive Garden here has been seen buying regular pasta items & other items off the grocery store shelves. They do not look for GMO free or gluten free products. It’s a shame you can’t trust someone to do the right thing.