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Last night we went out for mother's day at a Pan Asian restaurant and after looking at the menu before arriving I knew I would select the sushi. I do fine with rice and figured it would be the best option and also the tastiest! I even brought my own Tamari because I found that most places don't offer wheat free soy sauce. I chose the Sushi Love option which was a selection of a special roll and a regular roll with 4 pieces of chef’s choice of sushi. For the special roll I chose their Fantasy Roll which was described as Spicy tuna inside with a whole eel filet on top and the salmon roll for the regular roll.

When the delicious looking sushi arrived I immediately dug in not thinking that there would be any gluten involved since I requested no "sauce" on top of the special roll and none of the descriptions included anything that resembled gluten. After about the third piece of the Fantasy roll I noticed a crunchiness. As I examined the roll I immediately realized there was some fried tempura batter sprinkled inside the roll, just a small enough amount that unless you really examined it you would have no idea. So I asked the waiter about it and low and behold he told me they added it to the roll for texture. WTF...I know we Americans have to Americanize everything, especially our sushi, but do we have to add fried gluten to EVERYTHING to make it taste good!!!! After I explained to the waiter that they really should add that to the description on the menu, I realized the suffering I would go through over the next 2-14 days, depending on how my body reacts. I don't have celiac, but I am pretty sensitive to gluten. Last night I took some extra magnesium, ALA, and other anti inflammatory supplements and drank some homemade chicken broth this morning.

My question is, since I had immediately (within 5 minutes) realized that I had ingested gluten is there something I could have done? I know this may sound extreme, but considering my typical reaction, could I have tried to quieting gone to the restroom and attempt to regurgitate the devil out of my system!?!? Again...I know this is extreme and I am not trying to justify bulimic behavior, as I don't even know if I could get myself to do this, but I am just curious if the short term uncomfortableness and stress on the esophagus would alleviate the potential 2 weeks of digestive distress. Or are you pretty much screwed once it touches the saliva glands?

Additionally, what is your protocol (supplements, food, training, fasting, etc) do you use for gluten exposure, unintentional or otherwise?

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I had the exact same thing happen to me, even after making a big deal to the watier that I needed all gluten-free food and having a discussion about tobiko containing gluten. He comes out with it and says "I talked to the chef, no gluten, I made sure." I bite, and crunch. I maintained my composure but gave them the riot act and never went back. I'm sorry I have no good answer to your question besides, take it easy for the next few days, but I sympathize. – Kelly May 14 2012 at 19:51
My advice to you, though, is to make Very Clear to the staff that you need gluten-free. The menus often are not comprehensive and there is soy sauce in many of the ingredients. Eel, tobiko, seaweed salad (sometimes), mushrooms, sauces/glazes. Unless I know I can trust the restaurant, I generally stick to plain sashimi and nigiri. Few surprises that way. – Kelly May 14 2012 at 19:54
I try to avoid things like "spicy tuna" at sushi restaurants. You never know what they mix in. These days I order just plain salmon and avocado rolls, or even just sashimi. I miss spicy tuna and stuff like that but gluten exposure is not worth it. – Violet9 May 15 2012 at 16:16

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If you're sensitive enough to gluten to get a reaction from a small amount in sushi, then vomiting it back up probably won't help. You'll most likely have plenty left inside to do you harm. I also assume that vomiting is a major stressor that will jack your stress hormones for a while. Not good.

Is fried batter an American addition to sushi? I always thought tempura was authentic Japanese.

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I realized tempura is authentic Japanese, but they usually describe it as such, not just add it to every roll for texture. – hemanvt May 14 2012 at 19:39
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You actually thought about purging? Really? Put down the koolaid! Gluten is NOT poison, it is a plant storage protein.

You don't mention if you're truly celiac or just gluten-sensitive because paleo tells you so. I can see getting worked up if you're really celiac. You're likely not celiac, so you're just in that gray area of gluten-sensitivity. If that's the case, you're likely not going to experience any negative reactions outside of some psychosomatic response.

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 Neither one of you obviously has any sort of gluten senstivity. – Kelly May 14 2012 at 19:49
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 I do question a lot of folk's responses to various things. I, too, for some time, was convinced I had a perceptible reaction to gluten. I've since called bullshit on myself and, lo and behold, the reaction went away. Maybe I've "cured" my gluten sensitivity through a healthier gut, I don't know. But I'm betting more on psychosomatic effects. – Matt May 14 2012 at 20:01
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 Um....I may not have celiac (meaning positive test for a gluten allergy) but when exposed I have all sorts of debilitating digestive issues. Gluten IS poison to me and not because paleo told me so but because I spend the majority of the next week in the bathroom. And I will be happy to drink any koolaid that relieves these symptoms so if you have some your serving let me know!! – hemanvt May 14 2012 at 20:02
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 "you're likely not going to experience any negative reactions outside of some psychosomatic response." Your smug attitude here is really shocking. Celiac disease is only one symptom of gluten enteropathy, which is one of the reasons that so few people actually get taken seriously by the medical establishent when they present with symptoms. While I agree that the mathematical "majority" of people have not been diagnosed with (or made the connection to) gluten sensitivity, to diminish those who do is extremely uninformed. – Kelly May 14 2012 at 20:05
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 I'm certainly not so much in favor of the dogmatic paleo position on gluten. I'm more of the opinion that gluten sensitivity is a symptom rather than a disease. Healthy guts are not gluten sensitive. – Matt May 14 2012 at 20:12
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Tempura is rice flour. Rice has no gluten. Tempura is not Americanized, it is traditional.

Quit worrying so much, you'll raise your cortisol levels c:

Side note: the danger of tempura flakes is the omega 6-rich oils in which it is fried.

EDIT: Looks like I'm wrong about tempura: it's poison after all! At least the preparation seems to attempt not to activate the gluten. I wonder: does this change the body's reaction to gliaden in any way?

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Traditional tempura is made with wheat flour, as it was a Portuguese style before it was Japanese. – air_hadoken May 14 2012 at 21:56
I've had several sushi places tell me their tempura is made with wheat flour. – raney May 14 2012 at 22:13
It seems the two of you are right on both counts. I worked in a Japanese restaurant years ago that used rice flour, and I just assumed it was traditional :/ – interrobung May 14 2012 at 22:33
Pfft, omega-6 fats… You're probably consuming more oemga-3s in sushi than you're getting omega-6s in the greasy batter. – Matt May 15 2012 at 1:03
Tongue firmly implanted in cheek, Matt c: – interrobung May 15 2012 at 1:19

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