I’m often asked to create a practical Mucusless Diet Food List of the most frequently eaten foods. These lists are tricky, especially when referencing the Mucusless Diet, because it is hard to illustrate how the foods are to be used systematically within the Mucusless Diet. People sometimes want a  “do not eat” or “you must eat” kind of food list, which just does not work with the Mucusless Diet as a Healing System. There are not hard and fast “rules” for the “transition diet,” but rather guidelines and practices that have proven to work the best. The Transition Diet is the systematic approach developed by Arnold Ehret to safely evolve one’s eating habits away from mucus-forming foods toward a mucusless diet. Keep in mind that this is a personal list that is based upon my own experiences. Ultimately, each person will need to find transitional food items that work best for them based on their past eating habits, physiological type, levels of mucus/pus addiction, latent/chronic illness, etc.

Just because the item is listed does not mean that you should or need to eat it. If you are long-time advanced vegan or raw foodist, there may be no need to step back to processed mucuslean, that is moderately mucus-forming, items. The ones listed below are just things that helped me come from a very gluttonous Standard American Diet (SAD) (See HERE for before and after pictures).  It is okay to eat mucuslean foods, but what separates a Mucusless Diet practitioner from a ‘vegan’ or ‘rawist’ is how and why the mucus-forming foods are eaten. A Mucusless Diet practitioner knows that raw salads should always accompany steamed vegetables or mucuslean foods.To better understand how and why we eat mucuslean foods, read the Mucusless Diet Healing System.

In the following Mucusless Diet Foods List I first explore the most frequently used mucusless (mucus-free) food items, and then look at some mucuslean options.

 

ACID-BINDING, NON-MUCUS-FORMING, OR MUCUSLESS
(MUCUS-FREE) FOODS
RIPE FRUITS (MUCUSLESS)

Apples

Banana

Black Cherries

Blackberries

Blood Orange

Cantaloupe

Cherries

Grapefruit

Grapes

Honeybell Tangelos

Honeydew

Lemons

Mandarin

Mangos

Nectarine

Oranges

Peaches

Pears

Pineapple

Plums

Prunes

Raisins

Raspberries

Strawberries

Sweet Cherries

Tangerines

Watermelon

 

DRIED OR BAKED FRUITS (MUCUSLESS)

Apples

Apricots

Bananas (my favorite fruit to bake)

Cherries

Dates, (Dried)

Figs (Dried)

Grapes/raisins

Mango

Pineapple

Plums/prunes

Strawberries

 

100% FRUIT JELLIES, SYRUPS, AND HONEY

Coconut Water

Fruit Jellies (no sugar added)

 

GREEN LEAF VEGETABLES (MUCUSLESS)

Arugula

Cabbage (I used steamed cabbage frequently in the early days of my transition, but rarely eat it today. Instead, I use steamed collard greens. Raw chopped cabbage is also good on salads, although I rarely use it today).

Collard (steamed collard greens is one of my current ‘staples’ that I will frequently consume during periods of vegetable eating).

Dandelion Leaf

Kale

Leafy Herbs (Parsley, Dill, Basil, Thyme)

Lettuce (Green, Red, Romaine, Boston Bibb)

Mustard Greens

Spinach (the primary staple of every vegetable salad I eat)

 

RAW VEGETABLES/ROOT, STEM, FRUIT (ALL OR RELATIVELY STARCHLESS/MUCUSLESS)

Celery

Cucumbers

Dandelion (periodically will add to green vegetable juices)

Green Onions

Onions

Peppers (Green, Red, Yellow, or Orange)

Red Beets

Sea Vegetables (Dulse, Kelp)

Sprouts (Alfalfa)

Tomatoes

Zucchini

 

BAKED OR STEAMED VEGETABLES ROOT, STEM, FRUIT (ALL OR RELATIVELY STARCHLESS/MUCUSLESS)

Acorn Squash (Baked)

Asparagus

Broccoli (steamed broccoli remains one of my longest standing staples)Brussels

Sprouts

Butternut Squash (Baked)

Carrots (Steamed and eaten with raw salad)

Green Peas (I’ve eaten steamed peas quite a bit over the years)

Peppers (Green, Red, Yellow, or Orange)

Spaghetti Squash (Baked; not something I eat all the time, but it is good to eat when something heavy is craved)

Sweet Potato (Baked)

Zucchini (Steamed or Baked)

 

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MUCUSLEAN (MODERATELY MUCUS-FORMING)

Below are foods that are mucus-forming, but I’ve found to be useful during the “transition diet.” When the following items are added to a meal, Arnold Ehret called the meal “mucuslean.” For clarification, hear are the definitions of mucuslean from my eBook Spira Speaks: Dialog and Essays on the Mucusless Diet Healing System:

mucuslean: refers to the period of dietary transition in the Mucusless Diet where mucus-forming foods are used along with mucusless ones. Mucuslean menus are generally less harmful than standard mucus-forming eating habits by non-practitioner, and are an important part of the overall transition and systematic healing methods employed in the Mucusless Diet Healing System.

In the Muculess Diet Healing System, Arnold Ehret teaches how best to eat mucuslean items so that they do the least amount of damage and leave behind the least amount of waste. Most items, except nuts, should always be eating with a raw “combination salad” to help with digestion and elimination. See the Mucusless Diet for more on how to combine and eat mucuslean options properly.

 

STARCHY OR FATTY VEGETABLES AND FRUITS (SLIGHTLY MUCUS-FORMING)

Carrots (Raw; some people view carrots as mucus-forming. They have a little bit of starch content, but mostly eliminate well and function reletively mucusless in the body. Although I don’t juice them as much as I did in the past, they are fine to chop up and add to a salad).

*I advise against eating avocados because they are ‘fatty’ and mucus-forming. However, I did use them to make sauces during the earlier parts of my transition and still eat them two or three times a year (when you can eat certain mucuslean item only a few times per year, you know that you are advancing along with the Mucusless Diet).

 

BEANS (MODERATELY MUCUS-FORMING)

Beans (Black Beans, Black-eyed peas Kidney Beans, Lima Beans, Navy Beans, Pinto Beans, etc.; Beans are my most steadfast mucuslean item. They are starchy, heavy, addictive, and mucus-forming, but I’ve found that they eliminate well if combined properly with raw salads and steamed vegetables. But, when it is time to be mucusless or fast, steer clear of them).

 

NUTS AND SEEDS (MILDLY MUCUS-FORMING)

Nuts (Cashews, Almonds, Brazil Nuts, Peanuts, Pecans, Walnuts, etc.; I’ve always been very good about combining nuts with raisins and/or figs to aid elimination. Also, I learned early on to never eat nuts with juicy fruits. I ate a lot of nuts during the first couple years of my transition, and seem to eat them less and less every year. I might eat nuts three of four times a year now).
CEREALS (MODERATELY MUCUS-FORMING)

Well toasted 100% grain bread (toasting helps neutralize the sticky properties. Toast should always be combined with a raw salad to promote an broom-like effect within the intestines.)

100% wheat or quinoa pasta (this is mucus-forming, but I found 100% wheat spaghetti combined with steamed vegetables and a large raw salad to be very helpful in the early stages of the transition).
OILS (FATTY AND MILDLY MUCUS FORMING)
My favorite and most used oils include:

Olive oil

Grapeseed oil

 

SEASONINGS (POTENTIALLY ACID-FORMING)

Some seasonings are potentially acid-forming, however Ehret says that it is okay to use many of your favorite condiments during the transition. Some of my favorite seasonings include:

Onion powder

Garlic Powder

Dulse Flakes

Kelp Granules

Oregano Granules

Thyme Granules

Basal Granules

 

PROCESSED FOODS, CONFECTIONERIES, FERMENTED, OR DISTILLED DRINKS (ACID/PUS/MUCUS-FORMING)

Overall, I stayed away from most processed foods, non-vegan sweets, and fermented beverages from the beginning of my transition. Exceptions would include some processed vegan foods and confectioneries that I used periodically, but I will mention those in the next section.

 

VEGETARIAN/VEGAN PROCESSED FOODS (MODERATELY MUCUS FORMING OR POTENTIAL ACID-FORMING)

Chips (corn, plantain; stay away from them if you can. Corn chips may be my worst addiction and I do my best to not eat them).

Hummus (processed chickpeas)

Soy Butter (I used it for several years in the beginning and then quit when I started to connect some of the negative symptoms I was having to the high oil content and soy lecithin, which really should be avoided altogether).

Pasteurized 100% Fruit Juices (potentially acid-forming)

Plant milks (soy milk; I used soy milks with cereal for about a year and a half. As bad as my previous diet was, it was an improvement. But it did not take long for soy milk and cereal to start irritating my stomach causing me to get rid of it).

Plant-based butters (peanut and cashew; something I only used for a couple years. As I became clean, nut butters started to really irritate my system).

Texturized Vegetable Protein (‘mock’ meats including soy, etc.; Ehret discusses the use of protose–meat substitute made out of wheat gluten, in early versions of the Mucusless Diet in the “vegetarian options” section. Such items are not ‘forbidden,’ but should only be used for short periods of time. It should never be thought that such foods can be a long-term staple for a Mucusless Diet practitioner. The key is always combining such items with raw salads that help it to eliminate/digest.)

Vegan Baked Goods and Confections (I ate these things very sparingly, but every once in a while if I got a craving, I would not be hard on myself or try to force myself not to eat them. The Mucusless Diet is not about forcing yourself not to eat mucus, but transitioning away from it so that you can no longer crave or tolerate it).

Nature/Veggie Patties (periodically you can find some veggie patties that are relatively ‘clean’ and will help you overcome bad cravings. They are much better to eat then going back to fast foods when the going gets tough. Just be sure to look at the ingredients on the label to make sure they did not sneak egg or dairy into it.

Canned/Jars or Tomoto Sauce (I would sometimes combined canned tomato sauce with freshly cooked tomotos, etc., to make a sauce to put over vegetables/salad. Avoid sauces that contain sugar or corn-syrup. If you are strongly against all packaged foods, simply stay away from it).

Vinegar Free Store-bought salad dressing (Obviously, it is best to make your own raw dressings, but there are a couple vinegar free dressings that Mucusless Diet practitioners have found and like to use over salads. Ehret strongly advises against using items that contain vinegar. Lemon juice is a much better alternative).

 

PUS-FORMING
No pus-forming foods, i.e. dairy or dead animal flesh.

 

Mucusless Diet Food List Video Playlist