What counts as clean eating?
Replies
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janejellyroll wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Personally, I consider clean eating as eating food you know the nutritional value of and can account for it in your diet. Example:
Clean:
Cheeseburger, home-made with everything weighed and measured with an accurate macro count.
Greek Yogurt parfait, home-made with accurately measured fruit or granola additions.
Non-Clean:
Cheeseburger, Fast-food. Sure you can get nutrition information from the restaurant, but you have no idea how much extra fat your burger cooked in, or how many grams of mayo the cook put on it, the weight of the cheese topping your patty. It's a crap shoot.
Yogurt Parfait, Fast-food. 20g of granola? 15? 50? You just don't know. Added sugar in the fruit? Weight of the fruit? 300 calories or 600 calories? Sure the nutrition facts say one thing, but we all know how that works.
TLDR: If you know what's in it and how it's made and exactly what nutrients you are putting in your body, I would consider that clean.
So same ingredients for a sandwich -- one is made by me with a scale and the other is made by my mom and I'm not sure exactly how much tomato she put on it, mine is clean and hers isn't?
Well, my statement wasn't intended to be a one size fits all. My point was in knowing what is in the food you are eating. Unsure of the quantity of tomato? You could find out much easier from your mother than you could the line cook putting mayo and cheese on a burger. Too many people find themselves in situations where an extra 200 calories in a day would put them out of a deficit, so eating clean (in my personal opinion) would mean having control of these variables.
So for you "eating clean" and "logging accurately" are the same thing? There is no distinction?
For me, that is absolutely correct. At the end of the day, I am 100% sure of what I am putting in my body. Clean eating has been a trendy diet term to mean many different things, and a term that is open to interpretation by nearly everyone. What is clean eating to me, clearly, isn't the same thing as clean eating to you. Am I right? Are you right? It's difficult to say, as there really is no standard to compare to. There is a very similar argument in the body building world between who is "natural" and who isn't. It's all buzzwords and crazes that need to end.
I don't personally have a concept of "clean eating" (because I think it is so vague as to be useless), but I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions about how you see it.
Actually, I think your concept is more useful than many of the others than I've encountered because in my weight loss/fitness, I've found that accurate logging is much more important to my success to making sure to eat or avoid specific foods.5 -
janejellyroll wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Personally, I consider clean eating as eating food you know the nutritional value of and can account for it in your diet. Example:
Clean:
Cheeseburger, home-made with everything weighed and measured with an accurate macro count.
Greek Yogurt parfait, home-made with accurately measured fruit or granola additions.
Non-Clean:
Cheeseburger, Fast-food. Sure you can get nutrition information from the restaurant, but you have no idea how much extra fat your burger cooked in, or how many grams of mayo the cook put on it, the weight of the cheese topping your patty. It's a crap shoot.
Yogurt Parfait, Fast-food. 20g of granola? 15? 50? You just don't know. Added sugar in the fruit? Weight of the fruit? 300 calories or 600 calories? Sure the nutrition facts say one thing, but we all know how that works.
TLDR: If you know what's in it and how it's made and exactly what nutrients you are putting in your body, I would consider that clean.
So same ingredients for a sandwich -- one is made by me with a scale and the other is made by my mom and I'm not sure exactly how much tomato she put on it, mine is clean and hers isn't?
Well, my statement wasn't intended to be a one size fits all. My point was in knowing what is in the food you are eating. Unsure of the quantity of tomato? You could find out much easier from your mother than you could the line cook putting mayo and cheese on a burger. Too many people find themselves in situations where an extra 200 calories in a day would put them out of a deficit, so eating clean (in my personal opinion) would mean having control of these variables.
So for you "eating clean" and "logging accurately" are the same thing? There is no distinction?
For me, that is absolutely correct. At the end of the day, I am 100% sure of what I am putting in my body. Clean eating has been a trendy diet term to mean many different things, and a term that is open to interpretation by nearly everyone. What is clean eating to me, clearly, isn't the same thing as clean eating to you. Am I right? Are you right? It's difficult to say, as there really is no standard to compare to. There is a very similar argument in the body building world between who is "natural" and who isn't. It's all buzzwords and crazes that need to end.
So, do you not eat any foods that haven't been prepared in your own home? Like, in your cheeseburger example, do you make your own bread/buns? (Not trying to be difficult... genuinely curious.)4 -
janejellyroll wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Personally, I consider clean eating as eating food you know the nutritional value of and can account for it in your diet. Example:
Clean:
Cheeseburger, home-made with everything weighed and measured with an accurate macro count.
Greek Yogurt parfait, home-made with accurately measured fruit or granola additions.
Non-Clean:
Cheeseburger, Fast-food. Sure you can get nutrition information from the restaurant, but you have no idea how much extra fat your burger cooked in, or how many grams of mayo the cook put on it, the weight of the cheese topping your patty. It's a crap shoot.
Yogurt Parfait, Fast-food. 20g of granola? 15? 50? You just don't know. Added sugar in the fruit? Weight of the fruit? 300 calories or 600 calories? Sure the nutrition facts say one thing, but we all know how that works.
TLDR: If you know what's in it and how it's made and exactly what nutrients you are putting in your body, I would consider that clean.
So same ingredients for a sandwich -- one is made by me with a scale and the other is made by my mom and I'm not sure exactly how much tomato she put on it, mine is clean and hers isn't?
Well, my statement wasn't intended to be a one size fits all. My point was in knowing what is in the food you are eating. Unsure of the quantity of tomato? You could find out much easier from your mother than you could the line cook putting mayo and cheese on a burger. Too many people find themselves in situations where an extra 200 calories in a day would put them out of a deficit, so eating clean (in my personal opinion) would mean having control of these variables.
So for you "eating clean" and "logging accurately" are the same thing? There is no distinction?
For me, that is absolutely correct. At the end of the day, I am 100% sure of what I am putting in my body. Clean eating has been a trendy diet term to mean many different things, and a term that is open to interpretation by nearly everyone. What is clean eating to me, clearly, isn't the same thing as clean eating to you. Am I right? Are you right? It's difficult to say, as there really is no standard to compare to. There is a very similar argument in the body building world between who is "natural" and who isn't. It's all buzzwords and crazes that need to end.
I certainly agree that the term "clean eating" is subjective, vague and arbitrary and as such, is not very helpful as a guiding principle for diet. Your definition is one that I've not seen before, even with @diannethegeek's catalog of definitions, that had not come up before as it seems more focused on being able to log the calories accurately than any sort of moral assignment of good/bad that usually accompanies these threads.
I too am curious if you only eat food that you've prepared yourself and how sustainable you feel that is from a societal perspective.5 -
LifeWithPie wrote: »I don't know....washing your food before eating it?
Not if you're in Flint4 -
janejellyroll wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Personally, I consider clean eating as eating food you know the nutritional value of and can account for it in your diet. Example:
Clean:
Cheeseburger, home-made with everything weighed and measured with an accurate macro count.
Greek Yogurt parfait, home-made with accurately measured fruit or granola additions.
Non-Clean:
Cheeseburger, Fast-food. Sure you can get nutrition information from the restaurant, but you have no idea how much extra fat your burger cooked in, or how many grams of mayo the cook put on it, the weight of the cheese topping your patty. It's a crap shoot.
Yogurt Parfait, Fast-food. 20g of granola? 15? 50? You just don't know. Added sugar in the fruit? Weight of the fruit? 300 calories or 600 calories? Sure the nutrition facts say one thing, but we all know how that works.
TLDR: If you know what's in it and how it's made and exactly what nutrients you are putting in your body, I would consider that clean.
So same ingredients for a sandwich -- one is made by me with a scale and the other is made by my mom and I'm not sure exactly how much tomato she put on it, mine is clean and hers isn't?
Well, my statement wasn't intended to be a one size fits all. My point was in knowing what is in the food you are eating. Unsure of the quantity of tomato? You could find out much easier from your mother than you could the line cook putting mayo and cheese on a burger. Too many people find themselves in situations where an extra 200 calories in a day would put them out of a deficit, so eating clean (in my personal opinion) would mean having control of these variables.
So for you "eating clean" and "logging accurately" are the same thing? There is no distinction?
For me, that is absolutely correct. At the end of the day, I am 100% sure of what I am putting in my body. Clean eating has been a trendy diet term to mean many different things, and a term that is open to interpretation by nearly everyone. What is clean eating to me, clearly, isn't the same thing as clean eating to you. Am I right? Are you right? It's difficult to say, as there really is no standard to compare to. There is a very similar argument in the body building world between who is "natural" and who isn't. It's all buzzwords and crazes that need to end.
So, do you not eat any foods that haven't been prepared in your own home? Like, in your cheeseburger example, do you make your own bread/buns? (Not trying to be difficult... genuinely curious.)
I really try not to eat food that I haven't prepared for myself. However, I do what is feasible. For instance, no, i do not make my own bread/buns, for this I have to rely on the nutrition labels and logging the servings by weight. Occasionally, we will have a pizza night at home with the kids, and in this case I am not 100% sure of the nutrition value of the pizza I am eating, or if I am cutting it close on my calories I will prepare a salad myself. I just have to do my best by the weight and the research on the nutrition facts of the pizza (or other food) in question.7 -
janejellyroll wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Personally, I consider clean eating as eating food you know the nutritional value of and can account for it in your diet. Example:
Clean:
Cheeseburger, home-made with everything weighed and measured with an accurate macro count.
Greek Yogurt parfait, home-made with accurately measured fruit or granola additions.
Non-Clean:
Cheeseburger, Fast-food. Sure you can get nutrition information from the restaurant, but you have no idea how much extra fat your burger cooked in, or how many grams of mayo the cook put on it, the weight of the cheese topping your patty. It's a crap shoot.
Yogurt Parfait, Fast-food. 20g of granola? 15? 50? You just don't know. Added sugar in the fruit? Weight of the fruit? 300 calories or 600 calories? Sure the nutrition facts say one thing, but we all know how that works.
TLDR: If you know what's in it and how it's made and exactly what nutrients you are putting in your body, I would consider that clean.
So same ingredients for a sandwich -- one is made by me with a scale and the other is made by my mom and I'm not sure exactly how much tomato she put on it, mine is clean and hers isn't?
Well, my statement wasn't intended to be a one size fits all. My point was in knowing what is in the food you are eating. Unsure of the quantity of tomato? You could find out much easier from your mother than you could the line cook putting mayo and cheese on a burger. Too many people find themselves in situations where an extra 200 calories in a day would put them out of a deficit, so eating clean (in my personal opinion) would mean having control of these variables.
So for you "eating clean" and "logging accurately" are the same thing? There is no distinction?
For me, that is absolutely correct. At the end of the day, I am 100% sure of what I am putting in my body. Clean eating has been a trendy diet term to mean many different things, and a term that is open to interpretation by nearly everyone. What is clean eating to me, clearly, isn't the same thing as clean eating to you. Am I right? Are you right? It's difficult to say, as there really is no standard to compare to. There is a very similar argument in the body building world between who is "natural" and who isn't. It's all buzzwords and crazes that need to end.
So, do you not eat any foods that haven't been prepared in your own home? Like, in your cheeseburger example, do you make your own bread/buns? (Not trying to be difficult... genuinely curious.)
I really try not to eat food that I haven't prepared for myself. However, I do what is feasible. For instance, no, i do not make my own bread/buns, for this I have to rely on the nutrition labels and logging the servings by weight. Occasionally, we will have a pizza night at home with the kids, and in this case I am not 100% sure of the nutrition value of the pizza I am eating, or if I am cutting it close on my calories I will prepare a salad myself. I just have to do my best by the weight and the research on the nutrition facts of the pizza (or other food) in question.
So, you really are talking about more of a calorie perspective, not that you are fundamentally opposed to food additives or things like that? I agree with @WinoGelato - I think that's a pretty unusual application of "clean eating".
Edited to add: I think this sounds more like a "clean logging" movement
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Well, my statement wasn't intended to be a one size fits all. My point was in knowing what is in the food you are eating. Unsure of the quantity of tomato? You could find out much easier from your mother than you could the line cook putting mayo and cheese on a burger. Too many people find themselves in situations where an extra 200 calories in a day would put them out of a deficit, so eating clean (in my personal opinion) would mean having control of these variables.
Couldn't "too many people" take the burger apart and use a little common sense and why are they so obsessed with the tomato? Or better yet, couldn't they learn that when faced with a situation where they don't know for sure maybe it is better to pad the numbers by 100 calories or so? It is true that you can't completely trust restaurant food but life happens and I know of people who lose weight that eat out on a regular basis. It is also possible, but hardly tragic, if a person is travelling for business and has little control over meals for a few days to a week to simply escape with 0 net gain. Again life happens.
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the pod challenge6
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Well, my statement wasn't intended to be a one size fits all. My point was in knowing what is in the food you are eating. Unsure of the quantity of tomato? You could find out much easier from your mother than you could the line cook putting mayo and cheese on a burger. Too many people find themselves in situations where an extra 200 calories in a day would put them out of a deficit, so eating clean (in my personal opinion) would mean having control of these variables.
Couldn't "too many people" take the burger apart and use a little common sense and why are they so obsessed with the tomato? Or better yet, couldn't they learn that when faced with a situation where they don't know for sure maybe it is better to pad the numbers by 100 calories or so? It is true that you can't completely trust restaurant food but life happens and I know of people who lose weight that eat out on a regular basis. It is also possible, but hardly tragic, if a person is travelling for business and has little control over meals for a few days to a week to simply escape with 0 net gain. Again life happens.
Note: I was the one who brought up tomato, not @adarbyem
The tomato obsession is all mine.2 -
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Jayfeather15 wrote: »I'd like to take a moment and apologize to everyone on this thread. I know you all were just trying to help and I misread your reactions.
Meh, you weren't necessarily wrong with some of these posters. A lot of people on this forum like to smugly look down on others for making the mistakes that they themselves only recently learned to stop making.
25 -
Jayfeather15 wrote: »I'd like to take a moment and apologize to everyone on this thread. I know you all were just trying to help and I misread your reactions.
Meh, you weren't necessarily wrong with some of these posters. A lot of people on this forum like to smugly look down on others for making the mistakes that they themselves only recently learned to stop making.
Do you often walk into a room and insult a lot of people in it or do you just reserve that behavior for your online life?22 -
It's different things to different people who follow different dieting approaches. I think the only truly clean ingredients that all of these diets share is water, and even that some people take to an extreme. It needs to be spring water or you're putting toxinz into your body.1
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Wait, is it Friday? I thought it was Monday.7
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Jayfeather15 wrote: »I'd like to take a moment and apologize to everyone on this thread. I know you all were just trying to help and I misread your reactions.
Meh, you weren't necessarily wrong with some of these posters. A lot of people on this forum like to smugly look down on others for making the mistakes that they themselves only recently learned to stop making.
Who exactly was smugly looking down...please provide details. All I saw were people joking around about a subject that comes up about as often as anything else. Nothing was even directed specifically at the OP.
Usually when I go somewhere new, I try to get a feel for the room...
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I was smugly looking sideways.4
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janejellyroll wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »eleonora1809 wrote: »Jayfeather15 wrote: »I'd like to take a moment and apologize to everyone on this thread. I know you all were just trying to help and I misread your reactions.
Meh, you weren't necessarily wrong with some of these posters. A lot of people on this forum like to smugly look down on others for making the mistakes that they themselves only recently learned to stop making.
Exactly. I’m a newbie and most of these people talk like a psycho nutritionist (not being helpful, questioning but when answered, they become defensive and condescending). I might as well stop being on a discussion from now on.
Just to be clear, since I'm on the way out the door for therapy, you're calling those of us who've answered the OP in this thread psychotic for the way we phrased our answers? There is some condescension happening in this thread, but I think you and I disagree on the source of it.
Gonna start a band and call it the Psycho Nutritionists. In between blistering rock songs, we'll provide advice on meeting macronutrient goals.
Rocking out to "McDonald's and Cake." I like it. Ooop... wrong thread. Feels like a Friday round here.7 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »eleonora1809 wrote: »Jayfeather15 wrote: »I'd like to take a moment and apologize to everyone on this thread. I know you all were just trying to help and I misread your reactions.
Meh, you weren't necessarily wrong with some of these posters. A lot of people on this forum like to smugly look down on others for making the mistakes that they themselves only recently learned to stop making.
Exactly. I’m a newbie and most of these people talk like a psycho nutritionist (not being helpful, questioning but when answered, they become defensive and condescending). I might as well stop being on a discussion from now on.
Just to be clear, since I'm on the way out the door for therapy, you're calling those of us who've answered the OP in this thread psychotic for the way we phrased our answers? There is some condescension happening in this thread, but I think you and I disagree on the source of it.
Gonna start a band and call it the Psycho Nutritionists. In between blistering rock songs, we'll provide advice on meeting macronutrient goals.
Rocking out to "McDonald's and Cake." I like it. Ooop... wrong thread. Feels like a Friday round here.
IKR!?3 -
I have already written the first song "Why do you have to b complex?"16
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WinoGelato wrote: »nutmegoreo wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »eleonora1809 wrote: »Jayfeather15 wrote: »I'd like to take a moment and apologize to everyone on this thread. I know you all were just trying to help and I misread your reactions.
Meh, you weren't necessarily wrong with some of these posters. A lot of people on this forum like to smugly look down on others for making the mistakes that they themselves only recently learned to stop making.
Exactly. I’m a newbie and most of these people talk like a psycho nutritionist (not being helpful, questioning but when answered, they become defensive and condescending). I might as well stop being on a discussion from now on.
Just to be clear, since I'm on the way out the door for therapy, you're calling those of us who've answered the OP in this thread psychotic for the way we phrased our answers? There is some condescension happening in this thread, but I think you and I disagree on the source of it.
Gonna start a band and call it the Psycho Nutritionists. In between blistering rock songs, we'll provide advice on meeting macronutrient goals.
Rocking out to "McDonald's and Cake." I like it. Ooop... wrong thread. Feels like a Friday round here.
IKR!?
:laugh:
"Don't go stealing my carbs"4 -
nutmegoreo wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »diannethegeek wrote: »eleonora1809 wrote: »Jayfeather15 wrote: »I'd like to take a moment and apologize to everyone on this thread. I know you all were just trying to help and I misread your reactions.
Meh, you weren't necessarily wrong with some of these posters. A lot of people on this forum like to smugly look down on others for making the mistakes that they themselves only recently learned to stop making.
Exactly. I’m a newbie and most of these people talk like a psycho nutritionist (not being helpful, questioning but when answered, they become defensive and condescending). I might as well stop being on a discussion from now on.
Just to be clear, since I'm on the way out the door for therapy, you're calling those of us who've answered the OP in this thread psychotic for the way we phrased our answers? There is some condescension happening in this thread, but I think you and I disagree on the source of it.
Gonna start a band and call it the Psycho Nutritionists. In between blistering rock songs, we'll provide advice on meeting macronutrient goals.
Rocking out to "McDonald's and Cake." I like it. Ooop... wrong thread. Feels like a Friday round here.
http://www.officialmacsabbath.com/
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"Who Put the Salt in the in the Blue Cheese salad dressing; Who Put the Sugar in the Chunky Marinara" (Tune to "Who Put the Bomp in the Bomp Ba Bomp Ba Bomp")10
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For me clean eating is eating as little processed food as possible and very little added sugar. It looks like it means different things to different people though.
It might depend on where your starting from. For me, I had a very high processed, high sugar diet, so reducing these significantly is clean eating for me.
Good luck
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For me clean eating is eating as little processed food as possible and very little added sugar. It looks like it means different things to different people though.
It might depend on where your starting from. For me, I had a very high processed, high sugar diet, so reducing these significantly is clean eating for me.
Good luck
I am not even sure what you mean by processed. Have you cut dairy and meat?2 -
mutantspicy wrote: »LifeWithPie wrote: »I don't know....washing your food before eating it?
Not if you're in Flint
Stop. Just stop. Not accurate, not funny.
Signed,
Living near Flint8 -
concordancia wrote: »For me clean eating is eating as little processed food as possible and very little added sugar. It looks like it means different things to different people though.
It might depend on where your starting from. For me, I had a very high processed, high sugar diet, so reducing these significantly is clean eating for me.
Good luck
I am not even sure what you mean by processed. Have you cut dairy and meat?
As I understand it processed means the food was preserved or cooked. Preserved by canning, freezing, chemicals, drying, salt-curing, etc. Cooked is kind of self-explanatory. Cheese falls in there somewhere. I think there are some things allowed and others are not but I am no psycho processed food expert.
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using soap?0
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I don't understand clean eating. My idea of clean eating would be perhaps no junk food, salty or fattening foods. Just healthy lean meats, fruits and veggies.
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SoleTrainer60 wrote: »I don't understand clean eating. My idea of clean eating would be perhaps no junk food, salty or fattening foods. Just healthy lean meats, fruits and veggies.
Since you can gain fat with them healthy lean meats, fruits, and veggies are all fattening foods.
I think you might be trying to say to cut out high sodium, high saturated fat, and high sugar foods.
3
This discussion has been closed.
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