What’s the ultimate clean eating meal according to Gwyneth Paltrow? We take a closer look at the Goop clean eating method from the queen of healthy.
Introduced in Seven, and awarded an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, the actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Brad Pitt’s ex (something that we had almost forgotten all about), is also the new wellness guru. Once her children came along, she left the film sets behind and in 2008 launched her blog Goop. It has since become a thriving online store. What’s the idea? To share her life, travels, sources of inspiration and especially her recipes, with her fans. It turns out that Gwyneth was THE green “It” girl before there was such a thing. So for some, she’s a visionary. What are her credentials? Having talked about healthy smoothies, detox regimens, a healthy macrobiotic diet and kale before anyone else… Since then, there has been a Netflix documentary series about her, she has had an array of books published, launched podcasts and run conferences on the green wellness lifestyle. So what does Gwyneth Paltrow’s clean eating method tell us about healthy eating?
Paltrow’s idea of Clean Eating is a vegetarian diet
Meat is off limits… And has been ever since her then (boy?)friend Leonardo Di Caprio described animal suffering and the excesses of factory livestock farming to her in great detail. Gwyneth Paltrow went vegetarian 20 years ago. In that area, her plate is clean.
Gluten free
At around the same time, Paltrow’s father’s cancer raised questions in her mind about the link between diet and disease. So ever since, her healthy diet has shunned gluten as well as meat. Gone are mass-produced pasta, rice, bread and cakes.
A smoothie, juice and detox regimen
It’s what Paltrow is all about. The queen of healthy is crazy for juices, smoothies and suchlike, with ingredients that are rare to a greater or lesser extent. But the idea is to load up the body with vitamins and minerals drawn from plants and grains. Besides which, she’s the one who made kale trendy before anyone else. More conventionally, Paltrow advises drinking a glass of water with lemon every morning. After having rinsed your mouth out with coconut oil (to get rid of all the nasty bacteria that settled there overnight).
A new detox every year
As a new year’s resolution, in early January each year, Paltrow suggests a regimen to follow: the “New Year Detox“. It’s a “little challenge” set for her followers on her site. It’s her healthy diet with the list of foods that are off limits, and lots of recipe ideas. For 2021, it’s a 5-day detox regimen to cleanse the body. Gone are coffee, alcohol, dairy products, gluten, sweetcorn, morels, soya (but not tofu), refined sugar, shellfish, white rice and eggs. Make way for a clean meal with all the other vegetarian and healthy foods.
What we like about it: pinching recipe ideas (to be adapted according to whatever foods you have available). The shopping list that can be downloaded right from the site, and the clever tips meted out all over the site.
Eating happy
To some extent, Paltrow is to diet what Marie Kondo is to tidying up. She suggests opting for foods that make us happy (even if it means straying from the official list a little) and eating mindfully. You can also eat more if you’re hungry and less if your body isn’t demanding anything. The idea being to listen to what it has to say.
Preparing a healthy diet in advance
This makes sense when you know how hard it is to eat healthily. Paltrow suggests preparing the bulk of your meals (or at least the ingredients) on Sundays. That way you don’t have to think about it in the week. Especially if you eat lunch at the office.
Have snacks lined up for a clean meal
Paltrow’s snacks are savoury and very instagrammable, and are more “healthy Top Chef” style than “Wonder Woman in a hurry” style. Examples: apple rings or French Fries (which Paltrow loooooves) made with avocado oil, which do take rather a long time to prepare. Otherwise there’s the option of vegetables with special dipping sauces.
Sticking with her healthy diet program, the idea is to eat something savoury to tide you over until dinner, which is preferably to be eaten early, which is easier on the digestive system (and fits in well with any curfew in place).
Take dietary supplements
Like the smart businesswoman that she is, Paltrow extolls the virtues of her own dietary supplements, and cannot start the day without the Morning Skin Superpowder from Good ($60, no less) which takes the place of orange juice and (thankfully) provides a decent amount of vitamins and antioxidants.
Take care of your gut microbiome
Since the stomach is our second brain, if all is well with the stomach, everything is fine. Hence the idea of detoxifying the body and then eating preferably unprocessed foods so as not to be too harsh on the intestinal walls, to combat bloating and refresh the complexion.
Eat as many aromatic herbs and chia seeds as you want
Sprinkle your salads liberally with parsley, coriander, chives, chia seeds and so on. They’re fresh, they look pretty and they’re brimming with healthy eating benefits.
Gwyneth Paltrow comes in for less criticism when it comes to clean eating (except over her decision to use obscure and therefore expensive ingredients) than she does for her miracle cures. Not least, you may remember the many controversies (complete with court cases) concerning the purported benefits of placing jade eggs in the vagina, detoxing the colon with coffee and vaginal douching with steam, among others. All of the so-called accessories being, of course, sold on her platform. Basically, as with all such methods, it’s not all good… Pick out only the bits that suit you best and throw the rest in the (recycling) bin!
