It sounds like the problem you might be having is that people vary in their definition of “meat alternative.” It sounds to me like you might be looking for a meat substitute, like a veggie burger. And you are correct in noting that most do contain gluten. A quick search I did shows that Amy’s makes a gluten-free veggie burger. I also found this post from Book of Yum that reviews many gluten-free veggie burgers. Mike and I don’t ever really eat meat substitutes so I don’t have any personal suggestions to give you.

As to the person saying that any meat alternative is naturally gluten-free, well that’s just irresponsible. I believe what they’re trying to say is that alternative proteins such as beans, tofu, eggs, etc. are naturally gluten-free. However, making blanket statements like that seems like a bad idea. While those foods are themselves gluten-free, they still might be processed somewhere that also processes wheat. I know I’ve seen bags of dried beans that were processed in a plant that processed wheat.

Now, while food processed in the same plant as wheat would be a problem for someone with Celiac disease, I don’t know how much of an issue it would be for someone trying to do a cleanse. So it might not matter for you anyway.

Hope this helps, good luck with your clease!