"clean" eating

la8ydi
la8ydi Posts: 294 Member
I'm not sure what this means! I'm fairly new to this healthy eating thing. lol Can someone give me a non-sarcastic definition or explanation? Thanks!

Replies

  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    It really depends on who you ask. To me it means eating whole foods, nothing from a box . Shop the perimeter of the store - veggies, fruits, lean meats and whole grains. No sodas, no frozen diet dinners, no boxes of stuff with 50 ingredients I can't pronounce. If it's in a box and has 3 or less ingredients I can pronounce it's okay. I learned about it from Tosca Reno http://www.eatcleandiet.com/ so I follow those guidelines (or wish I did, but I really don't) but there are about a million other variations out there....
  • 81Katz
    81Katz Posts: 7,074 Member
    The easiest way to put it is, is clean eating is going to be whatever YOU consider 'clean'.

    In my opinion there really is no absolute in terms of "eating clean" . If anything it's just personal opinion and semantics.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    I'm not sure what this means! I'm fairly new to this healthy eating thing. lol Can someone give me a non-sarcastic definition or explanation? Thanks!

    Simply put - The less involvement man has in getting the food to your table, the cleaner the food.

    People use it to mean a lot things these days, especially on MFP. But the term was originally coined to mean "natural" eating. The closer a food is to it's natural state, the more clean the food. An apple from a wild apple tree not treated with fertilizer or pesticides is more clean than an apple from a commercial farm. An apple from a commercial farm is more clean than a can of apple pie filling. Brown rice is more clean than white rice. White rice is more clean than rice flour. A wild caught fish is more clean than a farmed fish. Farmed fish is more clean than smoked farmed fish.
  • jennifer_255
    jennifer_255 Posts: 86 Member
    clean to me is fresh lean meats, fish, veg, fruit, anything thats not processed x but i still have the naughty things lol
  • kellyskitties
    kellyskitties Posts: 475 Member
    oh man, I'm going to hide...
  • tmpecus78
    tmpecus78 Posts: 1,206 Member
    not another thread on clean eating!
  • theoriginaljayne
    theoriginaljayne Posts: 559 Member
    ... no boxes of stuff with 50 ingredients I can't pronounce. If it's in a box and has 3 or less ingredients I can pronounce it's okay.

    Allow me to quote ninerbuff:

    "Always love the "if you can't pronounce it" statements. Like that's a prerequisite for "non chemical" foods!

    Pronounce these: neohesperidin, naringin, rhoifolin, lonicerin, hesperidin, and other polymethoxyflavonoids (tangeretin, nobiletin, sinensetin, auranetin, rutin, etc.) dimethoxycoumarin and umbelliferone, citraurin, violaxanthin, and cryptoxanthin.

    Believe it or not, that's the chemical makeup of an orange peel."
  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
    This might not end well.......
  • mrs_mab
    mrs_mab Posts: 1,024 Member
    I TRY to live by this, though I don't always succeed, I TRY!

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  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
    The closer a food is to it's natural state, the more clean the food. An apple from a wild apple tree not treated with fertilizer or pesticides is more clean than an apple from a commercial farm. An apple from a commercial farm is more clean than a can of apple pie filling. Brown rice is more clean than white rice. White rice is more clean than rice flour. A wild caught fish is more clean than a farmed fish. Farmed fish is more clean than smoked farmed fish.

    Sucking a cow's teat is more healthy than buying pasteurized milk from a store. :noway:


    All of this is somewhat true but most of what you see labeled as "clean eating" is just some marketing gimmick. Just stick with simpler foods where you either know what the whole ingredients are or you can combine them yourself. There's nothing wrong with buying commercially farmed apples or eating white rice. Those are very basic whole foods.
  • JDySart777
    JDySart777 Posts: 270 Member
    ralphy-soap.jpg

    Am I eating clean yet?
  • tmpecus78
    tmpecus78 Posts: 1,206 Member
    ralphy-soap.jpg

    Am I eating clean yet?

    lol
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    The closer a food is to it's natural state, the more clean the food. An apple from a wild apple tree not treated with fertilizer or pesticides is more clean than an apple from a commercial farm. An apple from a commercial farm is more clean than a can of apple pie filling. Brown rice is more clean than white rice. White rice is more clean than rice flour. A wild caught fish is more clean than a farmed fish. Farmed fish is more clean than smoked farmed fish.

    Sucking a cow's teat is more healthy than buying pasteurized milk from a store. :noway:

    More clean. But I can't think of any reason obtaining the milk via your mouth would make it more clean than via your hand. You could milk the cow the usual way, if you want.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    ... no boxes of stuff with 50 ingredients I can't pronounce. If it's in a box and has 3 or less ingredients I can pronounce it's okay.

    Allow me to quote ninerbuff:

    "Always love the "if you can't pronounce it" statements. Like that's a prerequisite for "non chemical" foods!

    Pronounce these: neohesperidin, naringin, rhoifolin, lonicerin, hesperidin, and other polymethoxyflavonoids (tangeretin, nobiletin, sinensetin, auranetin, rutin, etc.) dimethoxycoumarin and umbelliferone, citraurin, violaxanthin, and cryptoxanthin.

    Believe it or not, that's the chemical makeup of an orange peel."

    While I do agree that pronouncability is a silly way to judge food, chemical makeup and ingredients are not the same thing.
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,323 Member
    The closer a food is to it's natural state, the more clean the food. An apple from a wild apple tree not treated with fertilizer or pesticides is more clean than an apple from a commercial farm. An apple from a commercial farm is more clean than a can of apple pie filling. Brown rice is more clean than white rice. White rice is more clean than rice flour. A wild caught fish is more clean than a farmed fish. Farmed fish is more clean than smoked farmed fish.

    Sucking a cow's teat is more healthy than buying pasteurized milk from a store. :noway:

    no, wait. it's gotta be *your* bull.

    XYpu5.gif
  • _noob_
    _noob_ Posts: 3,306 Member
    Food chart above...

    "occasionally" for whole fruit? ALLLLLLllllllllllrighty then....
  • I'm not sure what this means! I'm fairly new to this healthy eating thing. lol Can someone give me a non-sarcastic definition or explanation? Thanks!

    It means to wash the DDT off of the strawberries before you juice them.....
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    ... no boxes of stuff with 50 ingredients I can't pronounce. If it's in a box and has 3 or less ingredients I can pronounce it's okay.

    Allow me to quote ninerbuff:

    "Always love the "if you can't pronounce it" statements. Like that's a prerequisite for "non chemical" foods!

    Pronounce these: neohesperidin, naringin, rhoifolin, lonicerin, hesperidin, and other polymethoxyflavonoids (tangeretin, nobiletin, sinensetin, auranetin, rutin, etc.) dimethoxycoumarin and umbelliferone, citraurin, violaxanthin, and cryptoxanthin.

    Believe it or not, that's the chemical makeup of an orange peel."

    Okay now show me a label that lists all that instead of saying orange peel.
  • BeachGingerOnTheRocks
    BeachGingerOnTheRocks Posts: 3,927 Member
    It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. When it comes to eating better and healthier, the only way I can approach it sanely is to not get caught up in whether the food can be labeled "clean" or not. If a food comes in a package, I look at the calories, the protein content, the vitamin content, the fat content, and the fiber content. If the food is nutritionally dense and not a waste of calories, I don't have a hesitation in consuming it, even if it was processed.

    Here's the way Sesame Street teaches it to kids, and I think this is a great way to think about what we put in our bodies, even as adults.

    It's what I teach to my kids and basically the way I eat.

    http://www.sesamestreet.org/cms_services/services?action=download&uid=5a83318f-b0c8-43df-8150-d55cd2255509

    Keep it simple and don't throw out entire food groups.

    And from Cookie Monster,

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH9IO6iMO78
  • theoriginaljayne
    theoriginaljayne Posts: 559 Member
    chemical makeup and ingredients are not the same thing

    Fair enough. But let's take a look at some "hard-to-pronounce" ingredients I found on the labels of some of my boxed foods:

    Cyanocobalamin: vitamin B12.
    Ferric orthophosphate: iron.
    Xanthan gum: fermented sugars.
    Calcium citrate: similar to citric acid, but it's a salt.
    Tartaric acid: this occurs naturally in many foods, like grapes, bananas, and wine.
    Niacin: vitamin B3.
    Tocopherols: vitamin E.
    Glucono-delta-lactone: a naturally-occurring leavening agent, also found in honey.

    Yes, some chemicals are poisonous, but others are necessary for life. And some are just delicious.

    (I'm not saying that you should necessarily prefer processed food; I'll take the apple over the glass of juice any day. But you shouldn't be afraid of something just because you can't pronounce it, and there's no reason to cut those foods out of your diet entirely.)
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    chemical makeup and ingredients are not the same thing

    Fair enough. Let's go through some "hard-to-pronounce" ingredients I found on the labels of some of my boxed foods:

    Cyanocobalamin: vitamin B12.
    Ferric orthophosphate: iron.
    Xanthan gum: fermented sugars.
    Calcium citrate: similar to citric acid, but it's a salt.
    Tartaric acid: this occurs naturally in many foods, like grapes, bananas, and wine.
    Niacin: vitamin B3.
    Tocopherols: vitamin E.
    Glucono-delta-lactone: a naturally-occurring leavening agent, also found in honey.

    Chemicals =/= poisons.

    Chemicals may = poisons. Chemicals found naturally in healthy food may = poisons in a different dosage.

    I have problems pronouncing rubber baby buggy bumpers.
  • theoriginaljayne
    theoriginaljayne Posts: 559 Member
    Chemicals found naturally in healthy food may = poisons in a different dosage.

    Well... everything is a poison in a sufficient dosage. :-)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I'm not sure what this means! I'm fairly new to this healthy eating thing. lol Can someone give me a non-sarcastic definition or explanation? Thanks!

    The problem is that it means different things to different people...as you can see from this thread, people take things to extremes that really aren't necessary and do so on both ends of the spectrum.

    Personally...just get your fruit and veg...lean proteins, and healthy fats. Meet your calorie and macro goals and call it a day. I attempt to derive as much nutrition from my food as possible without supplements...not always possible but I come close. My diet is very much about nutrient dense whole foods...but I also eat gummy bears and jelly beans.
  • SJVZEE
    SJVZEE Posts: 451 Member
    I had never heard of the term 'clean eating' until mfp. On other forums I've been on they call it a whole foods diet-eating foods that are 'whole' (a fresh peach vs peaches in heavy syrup in a can, etc). I'm transitioning to a whole foods, plant based diet and for me that looks like a green smoothie everyday (raw/fresh veggies and fruit with plain yogurt and local, raw honey) with some type of grain and/or beans. And then usually a salad or other type of veggie based meal (current favorites are sauteing mushrooms with other veggies, in evoo, and taco salads with flax seed instead of ground beef). And then a few misc. things like seeds (especially flax seed and chia seeds), eggs, small amounts of locally made cheese, raisins etc. Right now 75% of my food is coming from the farmers market and is locally grown/made. I'm focusing on foods that have few ingredients and are closer to their natural state as opposed to their alternatives. I'm not eating this way to lose weight, since I'm already in maintenance, but it's been the natural progression of my diet over the past few months.

    But, everyone is going to have a different idea of what the term means.
  • Melissa22G
    Melissa22G Posts: 847 Member
    If it falls on the floor dust it off and make it clean...
  • j6o4
    j6o4 Posts: 871 Member
    If it falls on the floor dust it off and make it clean...

    ^ I dropped a whopper on the floor
    dust it off now it taste better than before
  • JDySart777
    JDySart777 Posts: 270 Member
    If it falls on the floor dust it off and make it clean...

    ^ I dropped a whopper on the floor
    dust it off now it taste better than before

    Ctfu! I laughed SO loud off of this one! Nice...