"Healthy" isn't just about what you eat

Sabine_Stroehm

We have absolutely no idea the long term impacts of many of the chemicals and genetic modifications in our food because they haven't been around for generations. Most of the food we eat isn't even food. It's food-like products. Have you ever thought that many who would like to eat clean are also trying to preserve the diversity and integrity of the food system? While I'm not saying it's cause and effect, many of us who eat clean can be found at farmer's markets, learning animal husbandry, growing our own food, and buying local. All of these things are beneficial to a sustainable food system. I hope that the U.S. will adopt GMO food labeling like many other countries are adopting, as an aside.

I agree with you that it's important to focus on a variety of factors, not just nutrition. However, I'd sure rather see some heart surgeons, nutritionists, sustainable food systems experts, etc. come on here and bash clean eaters like you "trainers" do. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Personally, I like to try to be healthier in all aspects of my life.

You don't get extra credit for getting more nutrition, but you can't convince me we know enough to say you don't get negative points for ingesting a bunch of extra fillers, preservatives, and GMOs. We don't know. We can't know. We have not seen how they trickle down the food stream and through generations.

Somebody missed the point... he didn't sayyou don't need to eat well he said that shouldn't be the only thing to your overall health

Yes, it appears so. Or somebody just likes to use threads as launching points for their orthorexia rants. BTW, have you ever seen a heart surgeon, nutritionist etc. publish a universally accepted scientific definition of "clean eating". Yeah, me neither.

Me neither. I have seen all of the above lay out what they believe to be the basis for a healthy diet (which is often also decried as "unnecessary" on here).

True, but these authorities rarely even agree on that. I think you and I agree (based on previous discussions) that a nutrient dense diet for most of you food intake makes sense and then what ever you like for the small discretionary portion.

We do. And how we each "build" that nutrition dense diet, and how we choose the foods that make up those discretionary calories is up to the individual, as far as I'm concerned.
I do think most mainstream folks would agree on a lot of the basis of a nutrient rich, healthy diet though.

ninerbuff

We have absolutely no idea the long term impacts of many of the chemicals and genetic modifications in our food because they haven't been around for generations. Most of the food we eat isn't even food. It's food-like products. Have you ever thought that many who would like to eat clean are also trying to preserve the diversity and integrity of the food system? While I'm not saying it's cause and effect, many of us who eat clean can be found at farmer's markets, learning animal husbandry, growing our own food, and buying local. All of these things are beneficial to a sustainable food system. I hope that the U.S. will adopt GMO food labeling like many other countries are adopting, as an aside.

I agree with you that it's important to focus on a variety of factors, not just nutrition. However, I'd sure rather see some heart surgeons, nutritionists, sustainable food systems experts, etc. come on here and bash clean eaters like you "trainers" do. Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. Personally, I like to try to be healthier in all aspects of my life.

You don't get extra credit for getting more nutrition, but you can't convince me we know enough to say you don't get negative points for ingesting a bunch of extra fillers, preservatives, and GMOs. We don't know. We can't know. We have not seen how they trickle down the food stream and through generations.

Some "clean" eaters seem to feel that they are being "bashed" (and not to kid you I eat about 80% of the time "clean") when in turn it's not bashing at all, but a disagreement in approach and many seem to take it personally. Like religion, some clean eaters are so faithful to the cause, they look at others who aren't "saints" at eating as someone who'll never achieve heaven. So I do believe that sometimes it's the other way around. Working with the public on this for years, I have the insight to know that people don't want to absolutely restrict their lives to achieve weight loss, which is why many who embark on an overnight transformation of switching eating habits end up failing.
And while we don't have all the answers yet, a lot of science has addressed the information on a lot of what we've consume today.
But as mentioned, this isn't just about what's being eaten, but what attributes are part of overall health.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition