It will not surprise you to hear I gave up my GF diet after four days in France.I did my research carefully and had given up gluten for four weeks.It was a pain reading all the labels.I found myself staring at an empty plate a lot of the time,it made me constipated for the first time,lots of time spent hovering over french toilets and producing rabbit pellets,I was going to friends in Brittany so I didn't want to be a pain.
Besides I wasn't going to let my husband eat all the croissants and pain au chocolates.
I am going to start again with new vigour on Saturday.
I learnt from my travels through France to look for a disabled toilet-take plenty of paper with you as the french don't always provide it and you don't want to shout for help in a foreign language while trying to balance over a filthy toilet seat.
They eat plenty of bread with every meal so not so good for the gluten frees.
There is not much for breakfast without gluten and there isn't much in the french supermarkets unless you are used to going gluten free.
The french like to eat at lunchtime startrng about 12- try and get the lorry drivers or working man's lunch if you can-good value but basic not touristy.
French motorways are very good.You can avoid paying tolls if you have a good sat nav.
Fresh fruit and local veg is good but needs to be weighed first in the Supermarkets-saves some embarrassment when faced with small pictures of your purchase in a foreign language.
The rain is the same in Brittany and England!!
Hope this helps some of you before you travel with ataxia.
I hope that you had a great time while visiting there in France! How great is that that you got a chance to go?!
My husband and I also went to Paris lastOct/ Nov. I found it a bit of a challenge at first for many reason's but found my exsperiance a bit diffrent. I think since we rented an appartment with a kitchen it was easy really to stay Gluten free. I couldn't believe the fruits tasted so great there! I mean everything is organic there too, but for some reason everything seemed bigger and more flavorful. I wish ours tasted so great here! I don't think it was because of being on vaccation, but I don't know. :0)
I think for me the secret was to rent someplace with a kitchen so we didn't have to have all that bread offered or in my face. There were people walking the streets getting bagets etc.But since I ate at home or packed snacks to eat I never felt deprived. We had a local point out to us a quite a few markets that were wonderful! In fact that was the first thing we did was load up on food when we first got there.
What helped me was I typed out a card in French saying I was Gluten intollerant before I left to visit there. I don't speak french (I tried and really buchered the language:0) ) A friend of my husband here speaks and writes french so she spelled everything out for me and she suggested that I just present the wait people with a card before I order. So when I handed it to them telling them I was Gluten intollerant, I couldn't believe the service we got. They were exstemly attentive and made things special for me. I thought that I wish we got this kind of attention at home when I tell the wait person that! :0). I guess they don't have that many people allert them in Paris, because even some of the cooks came out to ask specifics. I felt like a queen! :0)
The only thing that I found that wasn't as great was some of the streets didn't have wheel chair ramps yet. They were working on putting some in then, so that I found a challenge.
My husband really did his homework before we left and looked up on the internet "Traveling Europe by wheel chair" http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/easyaccess.htm . It's a program on T.V. here and he had a segment For Diabled people (because I couln't walk far and would tier really easy then). I really resented having to be in a chair while there but did what I had to do because if I didn't then I never would have been able to see 1/2 of what I saw and my husband wanted to see as much as we could pack in everyday ;0) (that is my motivation to work my core and legs so I don't have to use a chair. It wasn't fun having to be in one so we made the best of things because I was in one. We found a few perks too. Like every musem makes people in chairs go to the front of each line and they really attend to you when in there.
The streets were a bit bumpy because of the bricks. So what I did alot because I felt strange being one of the only people in a chair anywhere where we stayed, and I would bounce around alot is, I would make the sound of Ahhhhhhh really loud so others could hear.It sounded like a record skipping, it made people look and snicker and some laughed out loud(I think sometimes people didn't know if they should laugh or not :0) ) We laughed and my husband pushed me around. We acted like little kids while there! Thanks for bringing this up, and having me re-live it all! :0)
We had such a great time there!
Did you get to the Effil tower in Paris at all? That to me was once in a life time! :0) I'd love to go to France someday but doesn't it include alot of hicking? I'm getting stronger but not sure I could last that long the way my husband loves to run around and see everything! :0)
Hi Marie - I love me some Paris! Before my AVM bleed, I went to Paris with a good friend and ate plenty of bread and cheese and drank plenty of wine...great memories...and great food and drink, so I totally understand the Gluten diet "vacation".
I think Jeannie brought up the Eiffel Tower, my friend and I went there after hanging out in that big park across the street (it's famous, but I forgot the name of it) drinking wine and translating and singing "Red, Red Wine" into French into the digital recorder that I brought just about everywhere we went. So we wanted to make sure that we made it to The Eiffel Tower - and I REALLY had to go - obviously too much Tarte Tetain and not enough cheese - so "having a layover" in The Eiffel Tower is a favorite story of mine.
I didn't know about the Rick Steeve's thing for people in wheelchairs...I'll have to check it out - I would love to go back.
I ment to say several of the other countries in Europe that I'd like to see and visit!
Jeannie Ball said:
Hi Marie,
I hope that you had a great time while visiting there in France! How great is that that you got a chance to go?!
My husband and I also went to Paris lastOct/ Nov. I found it a bit of a challenge at first for many reason's but found my exsperiance a bit diffrent. I think since we rented an appartment with a kitchen it was easy really to stay Gluten free. I couldn't believe the fruits tasted so great there! I mean everything is organic there too, but for some reason everything seemed bigger and more flavorful. I wish ours tasted so great here! I don't think it was because of being on vaccation, but I don't know. :0)
I think for me the secret was to rent someplace with a kitchen so we didn't have to have all that bread offered or in my face. There were people walking the streets getting bagets etc.But since I ate at home or packed snacks to eat I never felt deprived. We had a local point out to us a quite a few markets that were wonderful! In fact that was the first thing we did was load up on food when we first got there.
What helped me was I typed out a card in French saying I was Gluten intollerant before I left to visit there. I don't speak french (I tried and really buchered the language:0) ) A friend of my husband here speaks and writes french so she spelled everything out for me and she suggested that I just present the wait people with a card before I order. So when I handed it to them telling them I was Gluten intollerant, I couldn't believe the service we got. They were exstemly attentive and made things special for me. I thought that I wish we got this kind of attention at home when I tell the wait person that! :0). I guess they don't have that many people allert them in Paris, because even some of the cooks came out to ask specifics. I felt like a queen! :0)
The only thing that I found that wasn't as great was some of the streets didn't have wheel chair ramps yet. They were working on putting some in then, so that I found a challenge.
My husband really did his homework before we left and looked up on the internet "Traveling Europe by wheel chair" http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/tips/easyaccess.htm . It's a program on T.V. here and he had a segment For Diabled people (because I couln't walk far and would tier really easy then). I really resented having to be in a chair while there but did what I had to do because if I didn't then I never would have been able to see 1/2 of what I saw and my husband wanted to see as much as we could pack in everyday ;0) (that is my motivation to work my core and legs so I don't have to use a chair. It wasn't fun having to be in one so we made the best of things because I was in one. We found a few perks too. Like every musem makes people in chairs go to the front of each line and they really attend to you when in there.
The streets were a bit bumpy because of the bricks. So what I did alot because I felt strange being one of the only people in a chair anywhere where we stayed, and I would bounce around alot is, I would make the sound of Ahhhhhhh really loud so others could hear.It sounded like a record skipping, it made people look and snicker and some laughed out loud(I think sometimes people didn't know if they should laugh or not :0) ) We laughed and my husband pushed me around. We acted like little kids while there! Thanks for bringing this up, and having me re-live it all! :0)
We had such a great time there!
Did you get to the Effil tower in Paris at all? That to me was once in a life time! :0) I'd love to go to France someday but doesn't it include alot of hicking? I'm getting stronger but not sure I could last that long the way my husband loves to run around and see everything! :0)
Marie you did what you had to do. You did what you did to enjoy your vacation as much as you can with Ataxia. You were GF for 4 weeks. If you felt better. It would of been something you would have continued. GF is not for everybody. You should pat yourself on the back for doing it for 4 weeks! Hope you ended up enjoying your beautiful vacation!
Realised I have put this comment in the wrong place as it should really be a blog but I have put it in the questions.Determined to start the gluten free diet this week wit no temptations and complications in the way.