The ultimate goal of course is to have every ingredient you eat be clean and gluten free. If you have Celiac Disease or any other condition that requires eating gluten free for treatment, it is very important to jump in with both feet and cut out all gluten immediately. If you know your condition to be less serious and are having a hard time committing to the new lifestyle, the transition may take time and working through stages.

1. The first thing you should immediately do is begin recording every meal you eat into your Daily Journal. This should include all meals, snacks, drinks, and desserts. It is important to not leave out anything.

2. Next you’ll want to start substituting out all ingredients for gluten free replacements. If this becomes overwhelming, try starting with your carbohydrates. Substitute your breads, pastas, and flours for gluten free, whole grain, complex carbohydrates. Refer to your Diet for details.

3. At this time, you will also want to start monitoring your portion sizes and eating on average 5 meals a day. The first meal should be immediately after waking up in the morning and your last should be a few hours before bed.

4. Once you begin feeling comfortable with these first few changes, begin making a few more. Start eliminating refined sugars. This means substituting your drinks, snacks, desserts, etc., to foods with either no sugar at all, or having only natural sugars. Get creative with fruits, they are the tasty and easy to work with.

5. When you’ve gotten this far, the hard part is done. Now it’s time to fine tune your lifestyle and be 100% gluten free and eating clean. Start to convert everything else: sauces, salad dressings, beans (mainly the liquids), seasonings, oils, butters, marinades, meats, alcohols, etc. Up until this stage you most likely felt a little better, but still showed some symptoms. This is because you most likely still had small amounts of gluten in your system. After this stage you should really begin to feel a lot better. If not, give it time. It can take weeks or even months for your body to completely reverse some the damage/symptoms. Just remember to continue steps 1 and 3 at all times.

* Don’t for get to check your vitamins, medications, lipstick, and chewing gum/mints. These often contain gluten and other unhealthy processed ingredients.