In a great article from Nation’s Restaurant News, the benefits to a restaurant for offering a well thought-out gluten-free menu or outlined. The steps to understanding the commitment of a gluten-free menu are also outlined. Thanks to author, Anita Jones-Mueller for such an informative “how to” guide.

Understand the commitment
It’s not as easy as a burger without the bun. Even a speck of gluten, as small as the size of a grain of sand, can contaminate a gluten-free item and cause havoc to someone with celiac disease. Therefore, if your restaurant commits to offering and promoting a gluten-free menu, you must commit to all the way.

Identify and/or develop gluten-free options
Beyond the obvious bread and pasta, gluten is found in a wide variety of products. Gluten can be hidden in seasonings, sauces, flavorings and other ingredients. Restaurateurs will need a gluten-free expert to help develop or identify potential items for a gluten-free menu. A thorough analysis of all ingredients, including all sub-recipes and purchased and prepared items, is need to assess whether there are any traces of gluten present.

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Photo credit: Fit Bomb

IN-N-OUT Burger has long been a favorite of the gluten-free community for its no-nonsense menu and the limited potential for cross-contamination in the preparation of their food. While eating a Double Double “protein style” is a wonderful, healthy (or healthier) and rare option to have at a fast food restaurant, we’d be so overwhelmingly happy to see the additional option of a delicious gluten-free bun. With so many great dedicated gluten-free bakeries to choose from, outsourcing a great tasting gluten-free bun would be easy.

If you happen to be an IN-N-OUT fan, please leave a comment here and let them know that you would be interested in having a gluten-free bun. If we can get up to 5,000 people requesting the gluten-free bun, I’ll pass this on to IN-N-OUT management. Share this with all of your gluten-free friends and let’s hope for the best.

Note: The petition software we were using previously wasn’t functioning properly — please use the comment form below instead.

Chipotle has long been a favorite of many newly diagnosed celiacs for their seemingly celiac friendly menu. According to Chipotle, everything on the menu with the exception of the flour tortillas is naturally gluten-free. They do recommend skipping the lettuce and the cheese as it is handled by gloved hand along with the flour tortillas increasing the risk of contamination. They also recommend being cautious of the red tomatillo salsa as it contains distilled vinegar. Lastly, they warned that it’s possible that their corn may have a small amount of gluten from potentially co-mingling with gluten-containing grains in the field.

So with no lettuce, no cheese, no red tomatillo salsa, no corn, and no flour tortillas, what is a celiac to eat at Chipotle? The answer is that there are still quite a few ingredients that are available to make up a reasonably satisfying meal. You can still eat any of the meats, pinto beans, black beans, rice, fresh cut tomatoes, Tomatillo Green-Chili Salsa, fajita vegetables, and of course the guacamole. This sounds like the makings of a pretty good meal if you ask me.

Also, in an effort to clear up some misinformation out there, none of their meats are marinated in soy sauce (soy sauce contains wheat), this has been a rumor that has been floating around on more than a few Websites and is not true according to Chipotle.

For a restaurant that does not offer a gluten-free menu, Chipotle does have a menu that can be adapted to the needs of a celiac quite easily. Options abound and the risks for cross contamination are relatively minimal (but still possible). On top of that, their commitment to sustainably raised food and locally sourced produce makes them a far better option than most other fast food restaurants. While a lot of the sustainability talk is most likely marketing language used in their advertising — if it’s happening at all — it’s definitely better than what most of their competitors are doing.

Have you had a good (or bad) experience at Chipotle? I’d love to hear more from celiacs who have been successful (or not) with Chipotle.

I recently had the opportunity to try the new gluten-free burritos from Amy’s Kitchen. While I love to cook and be experimental in the kitchen and I try to make as much as I can from scratch, like most working adults, there are times that I need something quick and easy to get me through the afternoon or a simple and healthy snack that my kids can enjoy after school. Amy’s Gluten-Free Burritos fit that bill perfectly.

I tried both the Bean & Cheddar Cheese and the Bean & Rice — cooked one in the oven and the other in the microwave and both were very tasty, had a great texture and consistency, and were very filling. For obvious reasons, the one cooked in the oven turned out better with a crunchier tortilla, but the longer cooking time made it much less convenient than the microwave version.

Amy’s has been offering gluten-free packaged food for quite some time now, everything from pizza to mac & cheese to enchilada’s (and so much more). They do have a disclaimer on their package that states the following:

Individuals with Food Allergies: This product is manufactured in a facility that processes foods containing wheat, milk, soy, tree nuts and seeds. Amy’s Kitchen does not use any peanuts, fish, shellfish or eggs.

While a statement like this would usually bother me and make me avoid a product all together, I’ve had good luck with Amy’s and have never had an adverse reaction. I contacted Amy’s and asked a lot of questions about their manufacturing process and kindly received this response.

Through the Celiac Handbook Facebook page and other online forums, I’ve heard some people bashing Amy’s (as well as many other gluten-free food retailers). One mistake that I see made so often with the gluten-free diet is that they automatically assume that the ill feelings they have after eating are always associated with consuming gluten. Truth is, people with celiac disease tend to develop allergies to things like dairy, soy, corn and just about every other known allergen which can cause some adverse reactions as well as discomfort — they will then immediately attribute this to gluten contamination and then go on the rampage against a particular product.

My mantra has always been that if something works for you, use it — if not, don’t use it. You can use this philosophy in just about every part of your life and expect a great deal of success because of it.

I’d love to hear your feedback and see what you’re experiences with Amy’s Kitchen gluten-free products have been like. Additionally, if you’d like a FREE PRODUCT COUPON from Amy’s, be the first, third, and fifth comment on this post (one comment per person please and please no frivolous comments like, “first” — please comment with something meaningful :) and Amy’s will send you the coupon directly. If you’d like a FREE AMY’S TOTE BAG, be the 10th comment on this blog post and Amy’s will be sure to get one out to you.

I’ve been writing about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet in various ways since 2004. Mostly through the Celiac Handbook Website and more recently, this blog. I was diagnosed with celiac disease in 1999 and have seen a revolution in the amount of gluten-free products available, both online and in the supermarket. This is what I’ve spent the bulk of my time writing about.

It’s rather funny, every time I write about a new product (especially a mainstream company offering a gluten-free version of their already popular gluten-filled food), I get a flood of emails and comments lambasting me for promoting junk food. While I can appreciate people’s intentions and their belief in the power of food — I personally don’t like to stand on a soapbox and tell people what they should be eating. I like to present both naturally gluten-free items as well as the countless new gluten-free products that seem to come out on a near daily basis. I want to let people make up their own minds about what they are going to eat. Learning to eat in any particular fashion is a journey that every person makes (willing or unwilling) and it is something they must do on their own. As we all know, when someone is “telling us” what to do — we will quickly ignore them as just another bag of hot air.

I have personally tried many different ways of life; vegan, vegetarian, aquatarian, paleo and of course, gluten-free. My weight has been all over the map — as low as 145 lbs. (I’m 6’ 2”) at the height of my undiagnosed celiac disease and as high as 260 lbs. a couple of years ago (way too much eating and sitting at a desk). I now weigh in at a very comfortable 190 lbs. and do my best to eat a diet rich in whole food — my overall health is proof that this is working. Trust me, I do still eat the occasional gluten-free cupcake or brownie, but I try to think of it as a treat and not an everyday “must have”. I do get my fair share of samples to try and there are times when I find myself indulging just a little too much — but, that comes with the territory of what I do. Call it an occupational hazard. This is what I do — and it works for me. I’m not implying in any way that it should be what you do. It’s up to you and you alone to find your path to wellness. You will hear many different opinions from people (both solicited and not) and hopefully armed with good information,  you will go down the path that is right for you.

In the mean time, I’m going to keep on reporting what I find — some of it will be healthy (in my opinion) and some of it will no doubt be junk food — but the good news is that it will all be gluten-free.

One final thought: Always, always remember that just because something is gluten-free doesn’t mean it’s healthy.  This is a mistake that is all too common.