Just started Insanity - following Insanity Nutrition Guide - Help!

[NewYears1978]

Good morning everyone out there in NF land.

So me and my wife recently started doing Insanity. I spent DAYS working on our meal plan following the Insanity Nutrition guide. The plan was for me to make all the food and meals for me and my wife, and she would do the clean-up.

We both work full time so we had to make it easy to prepare meals each night for a whole day at work.

For those not familiar, the Insanity guide has you on a 40% Carb 40% Protein 20% Fat diet. You eat 5 meals a day every 2-3 hours. So after painstaking prep I came up with a daily meal to follow. TO make it easier we changed it to be the same each day, except Meal 5 (dinner)

We are in an awesome Facebook support/coach group and we are nearly complete with week three now. Here's where the problem happened. Someone posted a link in our group to the book "Wheat Belly"

I read this and immediately freaked out and started researching Gluten which I found out how bad it is. The guy who posted that link later linked me here to NF Rebellion.

Now..my concern..the meal plan we made up, we are eating 3-4 slices of Whole Wheat/Grain bread per DAY! Meal 3 (lunch) we both have a Turkey Sandwich and Meal 4 we have a All Natural Peanut Butter and Preserves sandwich. That's WAY more bread than I used to eat..and that concerned me. I am not sure what else we eat that has Gluten in it..but I was concerned. Now it's possible that our bodies don't have issues with Gluten as some people do..but it still concerned me. We are both rather small already..and only have small love handles and slightly large bellies. Here are our stats:

Wife 30 Years old, 5'7", 126 Pounds

Me 34 Years old, 5'8", 170 Pounds

Now as said we are almost through week 3 of Insanity..I visually feel like I am started to lean out..my weight has been 166 for the past few days..while hers has been 125. So I think things are working..but I am concerned about the Gluten. Neither of us feel bloated or have bad skin or any of those "symptoms" but that doesn't mean there isn't a problem or that cutting the Wheat couldn't help?

So I need advice, help, tips, anything that can help me. I ranted on a bit long but my main thing here is that I need help planning a daily meal plan for us to follow without Gluten. Let me show you exactly what we eat right now on a daily basis.

Meal 1 - Fruit and Egg Plate

1 Hard Boiled Egg

2 Hard Boiled Egg Whites

½ of a Cantoloupe Sliced

4 Pieces Whole Wheat Melba Toast (Gluten!!)

1 Slice Reduced Fat Swiss Cheese

1 Cup Low, Skim, Almond or Soy Milk (Dairy! although I usually don't drink this..unless I have the alternate cereal meal)

Meal 2 - Yogurt Bowl

1 Cup NonFat Yoplait Yogurt (Greek if Possible) - We've determined we don't like nonfat original yogurt..we use the LowFat Vanilla version which has a bit more sugar... also DAIRY? GLUTEN? Not sure

1 Apple Diced

2 Tbsp Walnuts Chopped

1 Tsp Honey

Meal 3 - Turkey Sandwich

4 oz Lean Turkey (Here we use normal Lunch meat in a package..low sodium kind..not sure how healthy this really is since it is processed)

2 Slices Whole Grain bread (GLUTEN!) We use Natures Own Whole Grain bread

Sliced Cherry Tomatoes

2 Tbsp Slivered Almonds

2 Slices Avacado

Meal 4 - Insanity Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich

2 Slice Whole Wheat Bread (More Gluten!)

2 Tbsp All Natural Peanut or Almond Butter

1 Tbsp all-fruit preserves

Meal 5 - This one we mix up each night, but it almost always consists of only Steak, Chicken, Fish (Tilapia) and then Steamed Veggies. One of the meals we also have Stir Fry like listed on NF. It's my favorite..but we put it on Brown Rice, not sure if that is bad or not.

We also do a Turkey Burger one night, which is MORE GLUTEN!!

So this should give you an idea of what I am working with and what I am doing now...that maybe someone can help me. I know this post is REALLY long and I apologize...I have not been healthy or in shape for a LONG time. I know this change blows away more old diet (5-7 Dr Pepper in ONE DAY, whereas now I drink ONLY water)...but I don't want to be doing anything that harms my body or prevents me from getting a great body that I have NEVER had. I think my first Goal was to remove the 4 slices of Wheat Bread I am having...and I wonder how much change that alone could do, even if I kept with the other stuff?

Thanks in advance.

Edit:

I forgot to mention, I was thinking of adding/replacing one of these Meals with Shakeology but my wife says we cannot fit it in our budget....just throwing that out there though as added information.

[Waldo]

I really don't see what the issue is. Do you secretly want to be sensitive to gluten to join the cool kids club?

Most of the anti-gluten hysteria is just fear mongering, the vast majority of people with gluten sensitiviy have convinced themselves that they have it and then get symptoms via the placebo effect.

Actual gluten allergies are quite rare and virtually everyone else's body is well adapted to handling it. It is after all a protein.

[Skirler]

If you weren't sensitive to gluten before this dietary change, and the only thing that's changed is that you've read of the "fear the Gluten!" thing happening ... perhaps just taking a step back from it is what you need to do. Sounds like you've made some seriously hefty dietary changes already - getting all "Kill it with fire" gluten-feared seems like an hyper-response.

[Morrigainz]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Gluten-free isn't for everyone, and it doesn't have to be. If you don't have a problem with gluten, there's no problem with your meal plan.

[Raincloak]

You need to lose weight. Your wife doesn't. 126 lbs. at 5'7" is thin enough. In fact, it's a little on the skinny side if you ask me.

Are you sure you're getting 20% of your calories from fat? Except for that smidge of avocado and peanut butter, it looks like you're hardly consuming any fat at all. Don't sweat the gluten, but you might want to skip a slice or two of bread and swap the egg white for a whole egg, switch the fat-free dairy to full-fat or "reduced fat" instead. And it doesn't look like you're getting NEARLY enough veggies. Again, don't sweat the gluten, but if you cut back on the grains and add some more greens, you might find things work better (and taste better... I dunno about you, but I can only eat so much brown rice and whole wheat toast, it tastes like sawdust.)

For the calories in 1 slice of bread, you could have a great big handful of broccoli, carrots, and sweet peppers. If grains aren't a problem for you, don't feel like you have to swear off them altogether, but your diet should be more rainbowy than this. Dinner doesn't have to be the only time you eat your veggies. Eat some for breakfast too.

[Corbab]

Like everyone else said, gluten sensitivity is highly over-hyped—some people are REALLY sensitive to it, but most have few/no problems. I eat paleo, so I don't regularly have gluten, but it's not a huge problem when I do. Four slices of bread in a day isn't going to kill you. That being said, it's pretty easy to substitute for something else if you're bothered by it.

[IfItPlugsIn]

I'll agree that the gluten-free bandwagon may not be for everyone, and has a lot of hype around it right now. However, I don't see any reason not to give it a shot, especially if you aren't a big grain eater in the first place. Everyone reacts differently, and you might find that you perform better on Insanity without grains, than with. I wouldn't go gluten-free just because it's majorly hyped, and I wouldn't not do it just for that reason either.

As far as Shakeology, I've read good things about it, but am still a little skeptical. You should be able to get good nutrition from just eating real food.

Looking at your meals, you could try making your turkey sandwich into a big salad. You can cut the melba toast from breakfast and add veggies to your eggs or add another whole egg to the meal, have a protein shake (maybe with fruit blended in) for meal 4, and eat your turkey burger on lettuce leaves instead of buns. Just suggestions, if you do decide to try eliminating the bread. Rice doesn't have gluten in it, so you can take it or leave it. Dairy doesn't technically have gluten in it, but many people react to caesin protein similarly to how they react to gluten. If you have trouble, cut it out (I prefer almond milk or coconut milk over soy), if you don't, leave it in. I've done P90X, which also recommends 40C/30P/30F, but I found I felt much better on higher protein and fat and lower carbs.

[Philociraptor]

Starting Insanity on Sunday, gonna stick with low carb Paleo for the duration, I'll post how I feel when we get partway through it (i.e. if low carb is even possible while doing high intensity workouts).

[CokeCanNinja]

The main issue with bread is the carb content. Definatly stick to the included meal plan, you will need those carbs during the intense workouts.

[Shoshie]

If you're really worried about gluten, cut it out for a week or so and then stick it back in? I dunno...I was worried that I had celiac's 'cause I had some symptoms, but by cutting it then reintroducing it, I realized that it wasn't a problem. I actually eat seitan with relative frequency because it's a good, low carbohydrate, non-animal source of protein. And really cheap, if you make it yourself.

That said, I don't eat very much starch, so I usually turn sandwiches and whatnot into salads. If it's a sandwich worth having, it's worth having over a bed of baby spinach and arugula. Or home-grown butterhead lettuce. Mmmmm...

[slcathena]

Starting Insanity on Sunday, gonna stick with low carb Paleo for the duration, I'll post how I feel when we get partway through it (i.e. if low carb is even possible while doing high intensity workouts).

I am not paleo, and am also on week 3 of Insanity. I do tend to keep my carbs fairly low though and I haven't had a problem with this with Insanity yet. Energy is still good and I have been getting stronger on the workouts, improvement on the fit test and way stronger with the reps. I'm a little bummed that the scale hasn't moved even though I've been working my butt off, but I feel like I am leaning down a bit, so hopefully it's noticeable in non-scale places (I know, I know, don't focus solely on the scale...)

[NewYears1978]

You need to lose weight. Your wife doesn't. 126 lbs. at 5'7" is thin enough. In fact, it's a little on the skinny side if you ask me.

Are you sure you're getting 20% of your calories from fat? Except for that smidge of avocado and peanut butter, it looks like you're hardly consuming any fat at all. Don't sweat the gluten, but you might want to skip a slice or two of bread and swap the egg white for a whole egg, switch the fat-free dairy to full-fat or "reduced fat" instead. And it doesn't look like you're getting NEARLY enough veggies. Again, don't sweat the gluten, but if you cut back on the grains and add some more greens, you might find things work better (and taste better... I dunno about you, but I can only eat so much brown rice and whole wheat toast, it tastes like sawdust.)

For the calories in 1 slice of bread, you could have a great big handful of broccoli, carrots, and sweet peppers. If grains aren't a problem for you, don't feel like you have to swear off them altogether, but your diet should be more rainbowy than this. Dinner doesn't have to be the only time you eat your veggies. Eat some for breakfast too.

Well my wife is thin, she just has a tiny bit of love handles and belly she wants to drop and bring out the muscles. I have 20-30 pounds to lose. Not much..but enough. I've never been in great shape, so trying to get there.

As for the 40/40/20 ratio, I only followed the Insanity guide...so if it's inaccurate..I'd blame the guide (and my lack of knowledge on this subject)

Someone in my coaching group on Facebook is the one who recommended the Wheat Belly book, which I read the entire thing in one night. The same person directed me to NF. The book just makes Wheat look so bad..that it's hard not to think about it. I have always had bathroom issues, going only once or twice a week and taking 15-30 mins to go each time..whereas my wife goes daily..and for 5 mins tops. I also occasionally have blood when I wipe. So I figured, it was worth a go based on this book to try it.

Would be easy to cut the wheat out and see how it affects me...

Thanks for all the advice...crazy that I got so many "you're overreacting" comments when I thought they'd all be opposite on this website. Still have some thinking to do, now curious if the diet I am eating is even right at all since you mention the ratios seemed off.

I am terrible at meal planning, trying to find the perfect balance, yet easy to prepare and take to work. If anyone has suggestions other than what was listed already, I'd appreciate it. Thanks again for all your time.

Also according to the "guide" me and my wife are getting 50-100 grams of fat (based on the info they provide)