Towards the middle of doing the Clean Program Cleanse I started reading Dr. Junger’s newest book Clean Gut. As I got more and more into it, I realized that it would be the perfect companion to the cleanse. First I got all the toxins out of my body and then I could work on healing my gut. I knew going in that it was going to be trickier than the cleanse, because the restriction list is different.
Here is how I am doing today:
Here are a few of the big no’s on the Clean Gut:
- beans and legumes
- most fruits (except berries)
- grains including brown rice
- sugar (only allowed sweeteners are stevia, Lakanto, and xylitol, so no coconut sugar)
So what can you eat? Especially as a vegetarian or vegan? You can have lentils and quinoa, as well as eggs (not vegan obviously) for protein. Strawberries, which are not allowed on the cleanse are okay on Gut. My first smoothie on Gut was with strawberries and that was quite a change. I usually avoid them in my smoothies out of habit, but it was nice to be able to add them back into my diet. Split peas, bee pollen, spirulina, and blue green algae are also allowed as vegetable protein sources. I confess I have never had bee pollen, spirulina, or blue-green algae before so I can’t say how they are. I’m open to trying them though.
So for the first few days I just did a really big salad for lunch with either soup or a shake for dinner. I just was a bit lost by not being able to have brown rice pasta or chickpeas and black beans (my favorite). On my salads I would add quinoa or lentils, along with avocado, and all kinds of veggies. Cruciferous vegetables are really great for you, so I would make sure to add cauliflower. Other than that though, not much variety. I knew that I could not live on salads alone for the next three weeks though.
Here are a few of the recipes that I have tried:
- Cauliflower Lentil Taco Salad – this recipe from the Food Babe made a lot of food. I was able to have lunch from it for about five days. I do love recipes that you can make once and get multiple meals out of. Cause let’s face it, there is a lot of cooking involved when doing Clean. It is both a positive and negative, but definitely worth while. I enjoyed it with cut up avocado and fresh squeezed lime juice with a salad on the side.
- Vegan Cauliflower Pizza Crust – I kept seeing these recipes for a quinoa pizza crust floating around, and since you can have tomatoes and other nightshades on Clean Gut, I really wanted to try it. It was a total fail when I realized that you had to soak the quinoa for 8 hours before using and not just used cooked quinoa. So back to the drawing board and I found this recipe. Most cauliflower pizza crusts call for eggs and cheese and I really wanted a vegan option. While it would never be confused with regular gluten heavy pizza crust, it was quite good. I’ve had it twice now and the thinner you can make it the better.
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancakes – With eggs back on the table, pancakes became a reality again. While you can’t have maple syrup on Gut, these are really good plain. A bit eggy in consistency, but that isn’t always a bad thing. I haven’t quite figured out what to pair these with yet, but at the very least you could make up a batch and freeze them for individual snacks later.
- Pumpkin Muffins – The Clean Team has a really great recipe for Clean Zucchini muffins that I love making while on the cleanse. I didn’t have any zucchini when I had a craving for these, but I did have some organic canned pumpkin. So I replaced the cup of shredded zucchini and added a cup of pumpkin. It was the perfect substitution and they came out moist and delicious. I also added in a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice as well.
- Salt and Pepper Crackers – These crackers involve just four ingredients: almond flour, an egg, salt, and pepper. It doesn’t get any more simple than that. These are great for a snack on the go or eating with sliced avocado.
I’ve also created a Clean Gut Pinterest board that you can follow to get inspiration on what to eat. I’m adding things to it all the time, so definitely check it out.
Finally here at the end of week 2 I have a good idea of what works for me and what I can make. As you can see from the above list cauliflower and pumpkin are very popular.
The recommended supplements for Clean Gut are also a bit different than the cleanse. Next time I will talk about them, where you can get them, and what they are supposed to do.
Please share any questions or comments below. Thanks for visiting!
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