Is clean eating or restrictive dieting worth it?

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Replies

  • JeffseekingV
    JeffseekingV Posts: 3,165 Member
    edited November 2014
    Clean eating isn't the problem. Eating too few calories is the problem. She could have the same problem eating Doritos.

    Not all people with eating disorders restrict calories. Including people with restrictive eating disorders (as many of them restrict other things - such as carbs, 'bad' foods, etc). What makes an eating disorder an eating disorder isn't calorie restriction. It is fear of food and/or gaining weight that interferes with the person's quality of life. In other words, a person who is genuinely troubled by their increasing obsession with their body image and/or food has an eating disorder. A person who is not might have disordered eating, but not an eating disorder.

    That said, people use the term orthorexia way too liberally.

    Right but in this cae, the article described the girl's problem leading to the eating of too few calories. In this case. Not all cases
  • nuvimi
    nuvimi Posts: 103 Member
    I usually wash my foods before I eat them. I recommend that you all do the same.
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,474 Member
    no, eat and drink what you want,
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  • mamadon
    mamadon Posts: 1,422 Member
    JenWoo77 wrote: »
    My sister and brother in law started "clean eating" at the beginning of the year, he is down 75 lbs and she 50. It really does work. I'm starting this weekend to see how it helps. It really does change the way you look at food. You can become obsessed with anything, exercise, any type of diet, ect. Yes, there are people that have that addictive personality that can/will take things to an extreme.

    Yeah, but see, I'm down 124 pounds and never ate "clean" at all. It's all about the calorie deficit for weight loss. They still lost by burning more calories than they ate.
  • snowflake930
    snowflake930 Posts: 2,188 Member
    I have lost over 160# by eating at a calorie deficit, cutting out MOST processed, packaged foods, paying attention to portion sizes, fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meats and fish, low fat dairy and whole grains. I cook for my family, seldom eat out.

    This subject (clean eating) comes up multiple times daily here, it seems. How you fuel your body is a personal choice. Whether or not you want to get proper nutrition depends on what you eat. Calories in vs calories out, eating less calories than you burn works for most people. It is up to you, and maintaining the weight loss once you have gotten to your goal is not easy. The statistics prove it. I want to be in the small majority that keep the weight off and will continue to monitor portion sizes and calories in vs calories out.
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,009 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Happymelz wrote: »
    Kalikel wrote: »
    "Clean" is a subjective thing.

    Eating healthy is good for you. Not everyone who adopts a healthy lifestyle has an eating disorder, lol.

    I agree. Cleaning eating/healthy eating does not equal eating disorder so I'm not sure what the OP is trying to state.


    The OP was trying to share an article that shows that SOME people can't handle it and become obsessive to the point of it becoming a disorder.

    Then THOSE people shouldn't be doing it? For the rest of us, it's not a problem to try to eat cleaner

    Especially since it doesn't really mean anything. Eating "clean" means eating based on the way I've decided is good to eat. Which is great, as a concept, unless you are one of those people who really takes it seriously and gets compulsive about it, but it does not explain the obnoxious use of the term "clean" which makes no sense.

    Are the foods you don't eat "unclean"?

    What are these foods and what's "unclean" about them?

    Do you actually think that other people understand what you mean by "clean"? I suspect they do not.

    I've seen paleo folks use "clean" to mean no grains, vegans use it to mean no animal products, low fat dieters use it to mean low fat (which IMO isn't even healthy at all), and others use it to mean no processed foods. For the latter, "processed" sometimes oddly does not include obvious processed foods like frozen veggies and boneless, skinless chicken breast (which is often prized over far less processed cuts that happen to be naturally higher fat) and, of course, greek yogurt.

    Personally, I try to eat healthy and mostly whole foods (much of which I get from local farms), but I don't think a healthy diet means that I must cut out cheese or grains or even ice cream, and whereas I like the idea of making my ice cream myself from dairy procured from local farms and might start, I don't actually think it will make much difference in how healthy my diet is.

    Also, if "eating clean" means cutting specific food items out of your diet (whatever they are), I don't think it has much to do with eating healthy, which IMO is more about getting an appropriate number of calories for your activity level, enough protein, and sufficient micronutrients for health. I've seen lots of people go on about "clean eating" because they cut out "added sugar" or whatever and still eat almost no vegetables.

    +1!
  • Happymelz
    Happymelz Posts: 536 Member
    Happymelz wrote: »
    Kalikel wrote: »
    "Clean" is a subjective thing.

    Eating healthy is good for you. Not everyone who adopts a healthy lifestyle has an eating disorder, lol.

    I agree. Cleaning eating/healthy eating does not equal eating disorder so I'm not sure what the OP is trying to state.


    The OP was trying to share an article that shows that SOME people can't handle it and become obsessive to the point of it becoming a disorder.

    Then THOSE people shouldn't be doing it? For the rest of us, it's not a problem to try to eat cleaner

    Never said it was.

    Literally just shared an article, dudes.
    lol.

  • parkscs
    parkscs Posts: 1,639 Member
    I'd first start by asking: am I a complete whack job? If so, then perhaps clean eating and restrictive dieting aren't for you... but then again, probably most things aren't for you. Just a quote from your article:
    What started out as a genuine interest in becoming healthier quickly developed into an obsession. “I had extreme anxiety about everything I ate and became acutely aware of how every ingredient made my body feel,” says Bailey, 28, who works in software development in Boulder, Colorado. Eating out felt like torture because she couldn’t control how the food was prepared. Were the spices organic? Was the chicken raised in cages? Was sugar added to the sauce? Was a dish really gluten-free? “I broke down crying once because I could taste so many different flavors, and I didn’t know what they all were or where the ingredients were sourced,” she says.

    Seriously? She started crying... because she could taste different flavors... and she wasn't sure where the ingredients were sourced from...

    Yeah. Going to go with the choice of diet not being her problem.
  • JeffseekingV
    JeffseekingV Posts: 3,165 Member
    Happymelz wrote: »
    Happymelz wrote: »
    Kalikel wrote: »
    "Clean" is a subjective thing.

    Eating healthy is good for you. Not everyone who adopts a healthy lifestyle has an eating disorder, lol.

    I agree. Cleaning eating/healthy eating does not equal eating disorder so I'm not sure what the OP is trying to state.


    The OP was trying to share an article that shows that SOME people can't handle it and become obsessive to the point of it becoming a disorder.

    Then THOSE people shouldn't be doing it? For the rest of us, it's not a problem to try to eat cleaner

    Never said it was.

    Literally just shared an article, dudes.
    lol.

    Actually you did. Since you = OP, and you stated:
    The OP was trying to share an article that shows that SOME people can't handle it and become obsessive to the point of it becoming a disorder.

    You specifically mentioned that some people can't handle the idea of clean eating because they take it totally out of context and abuse it.

    Then I stated that THOSE people that can't handle it, shouldn't do it. The rest of us that can apply this concept in a realistic manner, can benefit from it.

  • Happymelz
    Happymelz Posts: 536 Member
    Um...I never said it was a problem for people who can handle it.
    I said that SOME people can't.
    Never said that people that CAN do it shouldn't.
    I don't even care one way or the other...but was posting the article because people may know someone who needs actual help with the disorder.
    You know...because sometimes people on the forums need information instead of arguments.
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
    Clean eating is the topic which generates most popcorn and excitement. Enjoy.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    Happymelz wrote: »

    I read this article and was looking for the link. It was in the WSJ yesterday. I think anyone who persues something to the detriment of balance is asking for trouble.
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