Clean Eating

Last summer as we prepared to try to get pregnant, I decided to try eating clean for a while. GK had been diagnosed with Celiac the previous December and when I had to cut out gluten from his diet, I cut it out of my own as well. Stomach problems that I'd had for more than 10 years vanished in a matter of days, so I've been gluten free ever since.

Getting rid of gluten and managing my son's other food allergies and intolerances has led me to read the labels on every food I buy and to buy more whole and unprocessed things. When I really started reading labels, I subsequently decided to start getting rid of chemicals, artificial ingredients and fillers in our foods.

I did it slowly at first. Gave up a few things at a time (including coffee because I had such a hard time with it during my last pregnancy. Oddly enough, the herbal tea that I switched to is now making me want to vomit during this pregnancy, so maybe I shouldn't have bothered giving it up after all!) saving my true favorites for last.

A friend who has been trying to get pregnant for two years now also began a clean diet, so I had some solidarity. It took two months to get completely "clean" with a 10 percent "allowance" for the times when I really, really, really had to have something not on the diet list.

I was really surprised the first few times that I used this allowance just how much the chemical taste in things showed up. To the point where I couldn't even take more than a sip of a diet soft drink without gagging.

Now that I'm pregnant and dealing with the phase of horrible smells and tastes, anything even the smallest bit processed, like cheese sticks, tastes horrible to me. In fact, that was how I knew I was pregnant - I ate a bite of processed cheese and it tasted like gasoline.

Other than the initial improvement in stomach pains when I gave up gluten, I haven't noticed much in the way of improved health. I like to think, though, that I'm investing in some benefits that may pay off for me in a few more years to come.