So. About that gluten bloat….

On my last full day in Vermont, after the race and the cheering, I was starving. It was nearly 2:30 in the afternoon and I could feel a headache coming. I needed to eat fast!
Luckily, another Cabot Fit Teammate, Deanna, was also hungry. So she and I ventured out looking for the closest restaurant. Since our hotel was right in the middle of the marathon madness, we had to walk a few blocks before we found anything without a huge line.
We ended up at The Ice House Restaurant on Battery Street in Burlington. It was a seafood restaurant, but I spotted quite a few salads on their menu and I was starving – so we ordered.
I ordered a starter of guacamole with corn tortilla chips, and then started asking the server about the garden salad with salmon.
Is the salmon marinated?
It was. But the marinade was simple: olive oil, fresh dill, lemon, salt.
Do you know what’s in the dressing?
We have a few different choices, but a simple olive oil vinaigrette would be good.
So I ordered the Ice House Garden Salad with no dressing (his explanation of dressings just didn’t cut it for me) and I added the grilled salmon.
I explained at the end that I’m gluten free. I’m highly allergic, so could he let the kitchen know.
And here’s where I now know the first mistake was made. After looking up this restaurant online, I have found out that THEY HAVE a gluten free menu! At no point in explaining that I was gluten free did the server mention that they had a gluten free menu.
And you know what IS NOT ON THE GLUTEN FREE MENU? The guacamole and the salmon! The salad is on the menu, but you do not have the option to add salmon or chicken.
Ugh.
Deanna and I waited for a bit and honestly had a fabulous lunch just chatting away on the water. We were seated on the outdoor deck, overlooking Lake Champlain. It was beautiful.
When our food arrived I still felt pretty confident.
Honestly, if I hadn’t been traveling – if I hadn’t ran a race that morning – if I hadn’t been out in the sun all morning cheering on my teammates – if I hadn’t had a tiny hunger headache – I wouldn’t have added the salmon. But I felt like I desperately needed the protein, so I added it.
I ate the entire thing. The salmon had clearly been grilled, and I’ll admit that that did make me feel a little uneasy. Cleaning grills isn’t easy, and I worried for a minute about the potential for cross-contamination.
After eating, my headache had passed and Deanna and I walked back to the hotel. I laid down to take a nap but within thirty minutes of laying down…..
the diarrhea started.
And I knew. I knew that I had been glutened.
There is nothing quite like Glutened Upset Stomach. It is violent and feels never-ending.
The diarrhea continued for 4 hours. 1 hour in I developed a KILLER MIGRAINE. 2 hours in my stomach had quadrupled in size.


I felt nauseous. My entire body ached. I couldn’t believe it. I was SO MAD!

And sad. I stayed in bed the whole night. I drank as much water as I could muster, hoping to help everything pass through quickly.
I woke up constantly throughout the night. The migraine raged until 5am and my belly was SO TIGHT and hard.

I didn’t have access to ginger ale, since I honestly couldn’t get out of my room due to that light sensitive migraine, but I wish I had had some. That may have helped with the nausea.
The next morning I finally got out of bed at 5:45 – I had a flight that morning. My bloating had subsided a bit…

but not all the way. I still felt bloated but I was just HAPPY that my migraine and diarrhea had passed!
In fact, I was bloated for 5 days total. Definitely a record long period for me. Actually, I think that bloat may be a record too. I ALWAYS get bloated when I get glutened, but I think this may be the biggest I’ve been in a long time.

You guy left me so many sweet comments and sent me tons of kind emails. Thank you so much for that. I was amazed by how much great and different advice you all had for helping the symptoms pass.
So let’s share them here!
How do you deal with getting glutened? Leave your advice in the comments, and I’ll compile them in a list for everyone.