Clean Eating: no processed/refined foods, no high sugar/fat foods, or no foods with dirt on them?

1356

Replies

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    msdunny wrote: »
    Rather than ‘clean eating’ I prefer saying I eat ‘whole foods’. Minimal processing, 5 or fewer ingredients that I can pronounce and know how to find them on my own. It isn’t about status for me. My mother and grandfather died of liver disease, which i believe was caused by unhealthy eating. I am trying to eat as healthy and whole as possible. I shop around the edges of the store and read every ingredient list.

    if i just shopped the edges of the supermarket i use i would get....

    salad stuff, mushrooms, peppers etc, coleslaw, potato salad, hummus and pre packaged sandwich meats....
    gluten free stuff... fresh cakes and bread from the bakery
    deli meat... warm chicken.... salad bar.... ooooh new fresh pizza counter... fresh fish and meat....
    and then the freezer aisle...

    super clean, great logic @msdunny! :laugh:

  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    I try to avoid processed foods and to buy organic and free range meat. Thats what it means to me. But, I do inevitably eat processed food.
  • jondspen
    jondspen Posts: 253 Member
    I think it means different things to different people, esp. considering we all have different goals. To me, it means cutting out processed food as much as I can, cutting back on sugar, and trying to get my nutes from as close to natural sources as possible. Sure, I have a bag of cookies and some ice cream for when the grand-daughter comes to visit, and sometimes I taste test it to make sure it's still good LOL - but that is only on occasion. BTW - I have problems with FODMAPs, so while I don't do Keto, I do eat lots of veggies and carbs from rice or potatoes only. No GMO or gluten/fructose wheat products.
  • Candyspun
    Candyspun Posts: 370 Member
    I don't care what it is, because I have no plans to eat that way.
  • megbeveridge93
    megbeveridge93 Posts: 238 Member
    I too am confused by the term clean eating. I for one am eating foods that are not processed as much as possible. I admit to butter and a few that are processed. But mostly staying away from processed foods, packaged foods. But I do not refer what I am following as Clean eating. And not sure why anyone would think so called Clean eating would have some type of magic or goodness over any other type someone is following.

    Don't worry about butter! I make butter with nothing more than heavy cream, salt, and a mason jar. Not all that processed when it comes down to it :)
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    It varies with the individual. Someone follow keto will have a different description than someone who is vegetarian, or paleo, or even for those who feel everything in moderation is fine. That's why, in my opinion, the term clean eating is meaningless and trying to define it is a pointless exercise in futility.

    Bingo!

    Clean eating is about as meaningful as the Woo button that came after the Awesome button left.

    Go over to Bobistheoilguy forums and one will see 'clean motor oil' as different meanings to different posters.

    There is NO one way of eating that fits for ALL so what might be clean eating for one may be dirty eating for another.
  • gstaubs1
    gstaubs1 Posts: 200 Member
    I LOL'd @ foods with no dirt on them...5 second rule g2g
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
    It's always fun when you go to subway and say no veggies. People look at you like you are crazy.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    RAinWA wrote: »
    rsclause wrote: »
    I saw a few posts to the effect "what difference does it make if I make it at home or buy it in a box with the same ingredients." When I think of bad or not clean and yes I dislike the term "clean eating" I am not talking about where the ingredient comes from. If I buy white bread at the store or bake it at home both will likely contain highly processed flour. The processed flour has literally everything that was good for us striped out. The perimeter of the store thing is a generalization thing and we should all be able to understand the intended meaning. Now that I have improved the types of food I eat I often peek into others carts and see the 4 two liter bottles of coke, 2 boxes of eggos frozen waffles, bags of chips, frozen fries in the electric cart that is used because it is too difficult to walk. I was never that bad but I did eat some crap back in the day. We are all free to call a way of eating clean or dirty if it makes us feel good. I just try to make healthy choices for me and my loved ones. It's funny how this happens as I age a bit. One of my old favs was a large chilli cheese-A-plenty. It is two cheese burgers on a bun with chilli on it and completely buried beneath onion rings and french fries. I washed it down with sweet iced tea. I cannot believe I would crave that mess.

    Someone wiser than me once said that trying to make sense out of life was like being given one random sentence from a novel and trying to determine the plot.

    You peek in a total stranger's shopping cart once and assume that you're looking at their typical diet. You don't know:
    • Who's been invited to a potluck and asked to supply drinks or snack food. Or is doing a birthday party for their kid and feels it more important to compromise normal dietary standards for one day and serve what's served at the other parties, rather than—or alongside—the less-processed treats, rather than have their kid singled out for being weird/different.
    • Who is living with chronic pain and some days, just doesn't have the energy to cook a meal from scratch. And sometimes, there are enough of those days that they've run out of the stuff they cooked ahead and froze, so they make sure that there's something in the freezer that they can pop in at the end of a long day, even if they didn't make it themselves.
    • Who was asked to pick something up for a friend or family member, "since you're going to the store anyway".
    • Who's watching what they eat, but still wants the occasional comfort food to snack on and, upon returning home, will measure out those bags of chips into 1-oz baggies and enjoy a small serving whenever. Or just feels like having Eggos for the first time in years.

    Just because a person shops a certain way one day doesn't mean they shop that way every day. And if they do? So what?

    Or someone with a chronic illness that's on a highly restricted diet and who is severely underweight who is trying to eat whatever they can tolerate to get calories in. I'm that person. I have gastroparesis and I'm low fiber/low-moderate fat and have trouble getting in more that 500-800 calories a day. I'm also 5'8 105.3 bmi 16.0 so hell yah my cart has juice, white carbs, sometimes pop and very little to no vegetables , fruits or meats. Eating something is better than eating nothing. Gotta love the judgy mcjudgypants.

    I just find it kind of creepy that anyone is paying attention to and judging what's in someone else's cart. I've never even noticed (well, except the guy in front of me the other day who had an entire cart of nothing but produce because he was doing a "cleanse" and was telling everyone how great he was going to feel. Yeah, I admit to judging him!).

    I always look at what other people are buying but it's because I'm curious and I love food. I'm never thinking about what people should or shouldn't be eating. Like was said above, it's just one snapshot . . . an isolated moment in time. You have no idea where else they may be shopping or how many people they're shopping for.

  • RAinWA
    RAinWA Posts: 1,980 Member
    RAinWA wrote: »
    rsclause wrote: »
    I saw a few posts to the effect "what difference does it make if I make it at home or buy it in a box with the same ingredients." When I think of bad or not clean and yes I dislike the term "clean eating" I am not talking about where the ingredient comes from. If I buy white bread at the store or bake it at home both will likely contain highly processed flour. The processed flour has literally everything that was good for us striped out. The perimeter of the store thing is a generalization thing and we should all be able to understand the intended meaning. Now that I have improved the types of food I eat I often peek into others carts and see the 4 two liter bottles of coke, 2 boxes of eggos frozen waffles, bags of chips, frozen fries in the electric cart that is used because it is too difficult to walk. I was never that bad but I did eat some crap back in the day. We are all free to call a way of eating clean or dirty if it makes us feel good. I just try to make healthy choices for me and my loved ones. It's funny how this happens as I age a bit. One of my old favs was a large chilli cheese-A-plenty. It is two cheese burgers on a bun with chilli on it and completely buried beneath onion rings and french fries. I washed it down with sweet iced tea. I cannot believe I would crave that mess.

    Someone wiser than me once said that trying to make sense out of life was like being given one random sentence from a novel and trying to determine the plot.

    You peek in a total stranger's shopping cart once and assume that you're looking at their typical diet. You don't know:
    • Who's been invited to a potluck and asked to supply drinks or snack food. Or is doing a birthday party for their kid and feels it more important to compromise normal dietary standards for one day and serve what's served at the other parties, rather than—or alongside—the less-processed treats, rather than have their kid singled out for being weird/different.
    • Who is living with chronic pain and some days, just doesn't have the energy to cook a meal from scratch. And sometimes, there are enough of those days that they've run out of the stuff they cooked ahead and froze, so they make sure that there's something in the freezer that they can pop in at the end of a long day, even if they didn't make it themselves.
    • Who was asked to pick something up for a friend or family member, "since you're going to the store anyway".
    • Who's watching what they eat, but still wants the occasional comfort food to snack on and, upon returning home, will measure out those bags of chips into 1-oz baggies and enjoy a small serving whenever. Or just feels like having Eggos for the first time in years.

    Just because a person shops a certain way one day doesn't mean they shop that way every day. And if they do? So what?

    Or someone with a chronic illness that's on a highly restricted diet and who is severely underweight who is trying to eat whatever they can tolerate to get calories in. I'm that person. I have gastroparesis and I'm low fiber/low-moderate fat and have trouble getting in more that 500-800 calories a day. I'm also 5'8 105.3 bmi 16.0 so hell yah my cart has juice, white carbs, sometimes pop and very little to no vegetables , fruits or meats. Eating something is better than eating nothing. Gotta love the judgy mcjudgypants.

    I just find it kind of creepy that anyone is paying attention to and judging what's in someone else's cart. I've never even noticed (well, except the guy in front of me the other day who had an entire cart of nothing but produce because he was doing a "cleanse" and was telling everyone how great he was going to feel. Yeah, I admit to judging him!).

    I always look at what other people are buying but it's because I'm curious and I love food. I'm never thinking about what people should or shouldn't be eating. Like was said above, it's just one snapshot . . . an isolated moment in time. You have no idea where else they may be shopping or how many people they're shopping for.

    I think it boils down to the judgment part that I find creepy and offensive. Being curious and wondering what someone is going to make with something (I've asked people who are buying something unfamiliar to me what they are going to do with it and had people ask me the same thing), etc. doesn't bother me. But it seems people in general are really quick to pass judgment on others based on, as you said, an isolated moment in time.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    glassyo wrote: »
    RAinWA wrote: »
    rsclause wrote: »
    I saw a few posts to the effect "what difference does it make if I make it at home or buy it in a box with the same ingredients." When I think of bad or not clean and yes I dislike the term "clean eating" I am not talking about where the ingredient comes from. If I buy white bread at the store or bake it at home both will likely contain highly processed flour. The processed flour has literally everything that was good for us striped out. The perimeter of the store thing is a generalization thing and we should all be able to understand the intended meaning. Now that I have improved the types of food I eat I often peek into others carts and see the 4 two liter bottles of coke, 2 boxes of eggos frozen waffles, bags of chips, frozen fries in the electric cart that is used because it is too difficult to walk. I was never that bad but I did eat some crap back in the day. We are all free to call a way of eating clean or dirty if it makes us feel good. I just try to make healthy choices for me and my loved ones. It's funny how this happens as I age a bit. One of my old favs was a large chilli cheese-A-plenty. It is two cheese burgers on a bun with chilli on it and completely buried beneath onion rings and french fries. I washed it down with sweet iced tea. I cannot believe I would crave that mess.

    Someone wiser than me once said that trying to make sense out of life was like being given one random sentence from a novel and trying to determine the plot.

    You peek in a total stranger's shopping cart once and assume that you're looking at their typical diet. You don't know:
    • Who's been invited to a potluck and asked to supply drinks or snack food. Or is doing a birthday party for their kid and feels it more important to compromise normal dietary standards for one day and serve what's served at the other parties, rather than—or alongside—the less-processed treats, rather than have their kid singled out for being weird/different.
    • Who is living with chronic pain and some days, just doesn't have the energy to cook a meal from scratch. And sometimes, there are enough of those days that they've run out of the stuff they cooked ahead and froze, so they make sure that there's something in the freezer that they can pop in at the end of a long day, even if they didn't make it themselves.
    • Who was asked to pick something up for a friend or family member, "since you're going to the store anyway".
    • Who's watching what they eat, but still wants the occasional comfort food to snack on and, upon returning home, will measure out those bags of chips into 1-oz baggies and enjoy a small serving whenever. Or just feels like having Eggos for the first time in years.

    Just because a person shops a certain way one day doesn't mean they shop that way every day. And if they do? So what?

    Or someone with a chronic illness that's on a highly restricted diet and who is severely underweight who is trying to eat whatever they can tolerate to get calories in. I'm that person. I have gastroparesis and I'm low fiber/low-moderate fat and have trouble getting in more that 500-800 calories a day. I'm also 5'8 105.3 bmi 16.0 so hell yah my cart has juice, white carbs, sometimes pop and very little to no vegetables , fruits or meats. Eating something is better than eating nothing. Gotta love the judgy mcjudgypants.

    I just find it kind of creepy that anyone is paying attention to and judging what's in someone else's cart. I've never even noticed (well, except the guy in front of me the other day who had an entire cart of nothing but produce because he was doing a "cleanse" and was telling everyone how great he was going to feel. Yeah, I admit to judging him!).

    I judge the judgers. It's none of their damned business what's in another person's cart. How does it affect them in the slightest?

    I go to several different markets for specific things...I tend to buy the healthy, refrigerated/frozen stuff at the one I go to close to my apartment every week. In fact, one of the cashiers commented on how I eat so healthy and I'm like, "Dude, you should see my inventory of cookies and chocolate and crackers. :)"

    Stay in your own lane, judgers.

    (Having said that, I do like to see the combination of foods some people buy and wonder how in the heck they go together.)

    Yeah, before it sadly closed, I used to get most of my fruits and veggies at a place down the street that specialized in that and when at the supermarket judged my own cart for the lack thereof :lol:

    I think it's human nature to look and form impressions though.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    glassyo wrote: »
    RAinWA wrote: »
    rsclause wrote: »
    I saw a few posts to the effect "what difference does it make if I make it at home or buy it in a box with the same ingredients." When I think of bad or not clean and yes I dislike the term "clean eating" I am not talking about where the ingredient comes from. If I buy white bread at the store or bake it at home both will likely contain highly processed flour. The processed flour has literally everything that was good for us striped out. The perimeter of the store thing is a generalization thing and we should all be able to understand the intended meaning. Now that I have improved the types of food I eat I often peek into others carts and see the 4 two liter bottles of coke, 2 boxes of eggos frozen waffles, bags of chips, frozen fries in the electric cart that is used because it is too difficult to walk. I was never that bad but I did eat some crap back in the day. We are all free to call a way of eating clean or dirty if it makes us feel good. I just try to make healthy choices for me and my loved ones. It's funny how this happens as I age a bit. One of my old favs was a large chilli cheese-A-plenty. It is two cheese burgers on a bun with chilli on it and completely buried beneath onion rings and french fries. I washed it down with sweet iced tea. I cannot believe I would crave that mess.

    Someone wiser than me once said that trying to make sense out of life was like being given one random sentence from a novel and trying to determine the plot.

    You peek in a total stranger's shopping cart once and assume that you're looking at their typical diet. You don't know:
    • Who's been invited to a potluck and asked to supply drinks or snack food. Or is doing a birthday party for their kid and feels it more important to compromise normal dietary standards for one day and serve what's served at the other parties, rather than—or alongside—the less-processed treats, rather than have their kid singled out for being weird/different.
    • Who is living with chronic pain and some days, just doesn't have the energy to cook a meal from scratch. And sometimes, there are enough of those days that they've run out of the stuff they cooked ahead and froze, so they make sure that there's something in the freezer that they can pop in at the end of a long day, even if they didn't make it themselves.
    • Who was asked to pick something up for a friend or family member, "since you're going to the store anyway".
    • Who's watching what they eat, but still wants the occasional comfort food to snack on and, upon returning home, will measure out those bags of chips into 1-oz baggies and enjoy a small serving whenever. Or just feels like having Eggos for the first time in years.

    Just because a person shops a certain way one day doesn't mean they shop that way every day. And if they do? So what?

    Or someone with a chronic illness that's on a highly restricted diet and who is severely underweight who is trying to eat whatever they can tolerate to get calories in. I'm that person. I have gastroparesis and I'm low fiber/low-moderate fat and have trouble getting in more that 500-800 calories a day. I'm also 5'8 105.3 bmi 16.0 so hell yah my cart has juice, white carbs, sometimes pop and very little to no vegetables , fruits or meats. Eating something is better than eating nothing. Gotta love the judgy mcjudgypants.

    I just find it kind of creepy that anyone is paying attention to and judging what's in someone else's cart. I've never even noticed (well, except the guy in front of me the other day who had an entire cart of nothing but produce because he was doing a "cleanse" and was telling everyone how great he was going to feel. Yeah, I admit to judging him!).

    I judge the judgers. It's none of their damned business what's in another person's cart. How does it affect them in the slightest?

    I go to several different markets for specific things...I tend to buy the healthy, refrigerated/frozen stuff at the one I go to close to my apartment every week. In fact, one of the cashiers commented on how I eat so healthy and I'm like, "Dude, you should see my inventory of cookies and chocolate and crackers. :)"

    Stay in your own lane, judgers.

    (Having said that, I do like to see the combination of foods some people buy and wonder how in the heck they go together.)

    Yeah, before it sadly closed, I used to get most of my fruits and veggies at a place down the street that specialized in that and when at the supermarket judged my own cart for the lack thereof :lol:

    I think it's human nature to look and form impressions though.

    This summer I've gotten so many vegetables from my CSA box that I've not had to buy much fresh produce aside from onions and garlic at the grocery store. Anyone peeking into my regular grocery cart would have to conclude that I'm not eating any vegetables.

    Yep, in the summer and fall folks must draw the same conclusion of mine because I go to the farmer's market when the stuff I like is in season, just buy bananas at the store. Plus, sometimes I'll just make a special trip for stuff I have coupons or a sale price for, and I'm stocking up the fridge/freezer so it's just like Lean Cuisines, Talenti, Oreos, and a case of soda :lol: