ATTENTION!! CLEAN AND GLUTEN FREE EATERS! I need your help!!

determined_01

So I have taken some time to think and I really want to eat 100% clean and gluten free. I have been tinkering with a date and since I have no clue what I'm doing I feel like I need some major prep time. I will be starting Insanity on July 27th and want to start maybe a week before then to get a solid understanding so I don't fall back or hit a point of "well what do I do now?" How did you start? What are some great resources? Books, cook books, web pages? I need guidance so I can get started right and avoid any issues along the way! Thank you in advance!

allshebe

You might do better "easing" into cleaner eating. Look at what you're eating now. Maybe rate the foods from 1-5, with 1 being the most processed/full of empty calories and 5 being the least processed and either nutrient dense (but not necessarily high calorie) dense or "calorie light" (but still unprocessed). Try and get rid of the "1's" first - look for healthier things you could replace them with (like french fries could be replaced with a plain baked potato or even a baked sweet potato). Work your way up through the ranks, at least until 80% or so of what you're eating is category 4 or 5. Occasional "1"s" are still OK - as a "rare" treat. The most sustainable program is probably about 80% "clean" and 20% eaten just because you really want it and like it.Very few people can stick to 100% clean in the long term, for a variety of reasons.

Confuzzled4ever

Why gluten free? There is no health benefit unless you are allergic or sensitive to gluten. Clean eating it's that hard.. you just need to make the time to cook from scratch and check all the labels if you buy something premade. You can take almost any recipe and use it for clean eating. just make it yourself and use whole fresh ingredients. I've also switched to organic but that's a personal choice. Clean eating is whatever you decide it should be. Basics of it is, no pre processed foods, no chemicals or additives. Fresh, whole raw foods. It's not has hard as it sounds. Just have to make the time to cook.

I'd put myself at about 85-90% clean. That's only because I I like to go out to eat, i use protein powders and bars.

dsalveson

I've been 100% gluten free for ~8 months and I eat very clean 90% of the time. For me it has been the perfect eating plan and it got me the results I wanted faster than I expected. I felt like I had tried everything and I couldn't make anything work for an extended period of time but this plan is very easy to live by and very versatile. Two books that really changed my way of living are Eat to Live and Wheat Belly and I would recommend both if you are interested in gluten free/clean eating. Both books promote nutrition and a lifestyle, not some sort of fad or crash diet. Once you completely cut out refined grains and sugars and instead fill your body with nutrient dense whole foods, you won't crave the bad stuff any more which makes this way of eating so easy to stick with because you won't feel like you're depriving or restricting yourself. Good luck!!!

epie2098

Clean, yes. Gluten-free doesn't really need to happen unless you have a true allergy or intolerance (gluten-free eating is very trendy right now, similar to how no one ate a carb in the early 2000's). The best thing to do for getting started with clean eating is to get Tosca Reno's book The Eat Clean Diet. Be warned - her writing style is atrociously awful, but the information to get you started is in there. It should only set you back $20 or so, or scour second-hand stores. You don't need anything else to get you started. There are sections in the expanded edition to help with gluten-free clean eating, too, should you decide to go that route.

While leading up to the start of clean eating, use the time you have now to get rid of processed grains, higher-fat dairy, and sugary things. Nom! I get them once in a while, but overall, my cupboards, fridge, and freezer are full of clean things.

The other thing to be aware of is that clean means different things to different people. For some, it means all organic. Others associate it with primarily raw foods. Some don't see protein powder as being clean. Figure out which foods make your body happy. For everyone, it's different.

Good luck

bound4beauty

That's they way I eat 90% of the time. If I'm eating outside of the house, I'll eat something that isn't gluten free but I'm not intolerant so it doesn't really matter. I do enjoy sprouted grain bread products and brown rice pasta so giving up wheat hasn't been that big of a deal. It was just something I wanted to try to see if it made a difference in how I felt. I think clean eating in general, more so than going gluten free, is responsible for feeling so much better.

I found this site helpful: http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/

I've heard Eating Clean For Dummies is a good book but I haven't read it yet.

You may not be able to go totally clean right away so like others have suggested, I'd just start now by replacing items you currently have in your kitchen with cleaner choices. I practically emptied my pantry and gave away bags of food. It can be expensive to do all at once so start replacing items one at a time.

Good luck!

momzeeee

I'm just beginning this journey too-decided last month to start eating more of a primal way-focusing on meat, eggs, veggies, small amount of fruit (for me that's berries and bananas), some nuts and dairy (cheese and butter) and good fats like evoo. First, because I was feeling led to eat this way for the health benefits, and also because my sil is beginning her own clean eating journey out of necessity (going through testing right now to figure out what's wrong with her, but looks like celiac or something along those lines), and I wanted to do it with her as a show of support.

I started by reading The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson
then Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis

Also good is The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf.

Now I do not eat 100% clean yet-it's a long, slow journey. But, I have made some big changes already-I've totally eliminated most grains, cut way back on processed sugars and foods and cut way back on my diet soda habit.