Starting eating clean: how did YOU do it?

Boshnivay

Hey everyone, the subject says it all. I want to know how YOU started eating cleaner in your life- the motivation behind it, if you weaned off of junk food, or just gave it up all together, and what you do now to keep eating clean everyday!

Dubble_A

I'm slowly eating all of the unhealthy processed things in the house and committing to not buying them again. I also started surfing the net for recipes and have planned grocery lists for the week with my staples and a few ingredients to try the recipes out. It's slow going, as I had a lot of processed stuff in the house, but my eating habits are slowly getting better every day.

I also started making larger portions and throwing premade meals in the fridge. It's nice to just microwave something when I'm too lazy to cook

WVprankster

I started by giving all of my food a thorough scrubbing before I ate it. Fruits and veggies were easy. Lasagna and baklava...not so much. There are many different interpretations of "clean eating;" are you sure you don't mean starting eating healthy?

fitblr411

18 y.o. F born in '95 here. Clean eating is a lifelong thing for me. I grew up in a household where relatives made balanced meals from scratch daily bc they came from a poorer country where they were forced to. As I became older, such influence paired w/ a small-frame & the desire to model & sing motivated me to maintain clean eating.

An idea of my eating history:
-Never cut out any food groups or dieted
-No soda or fast food (wasn't even avail. in fam's country/not real food anyway)
-Lean protein (Never had a taste for fatty sources)
-Low-fat w/little to no processed food & adequate carbs & protein
-Mono or polyunsatured fats
-Organic when possible
-Although I didn't begin cal counting until 2 yrs ago, I estimate 1200-1500 net cals bc I maintained weight & didn't feel lethargic at tht #. Like many ppl, felt weak if < 1200 net
-Since 2 yrs, though, been eating same # cals but adding exercise. Bc I want to avoid bulking, I do primarily cardio (endurance-based rather than heavy-duty cycling or sprinting), moderate resistance training/toning (i.e. squats) & no heavy lifting. I also began getting my carbs mainly from fibrous, nutrient-dense items (oatmeal, veg, sweet potato/yams, fruits quinoa, buckwheat, etc) rather than enriched bread or pasta. I personally don't like bread or pasta bc it leaves me more bloated than more nutrient-dense foods, but unrefined bread or pasta still provide healthy macronutrients tht could be part of a balanced meal for others.
-2014: Started weighing food when possible for the first time this yr

livingleanlivingclean

I started by giving all of my food a thorough scrubbing before I ate it. Fruits and veggies were easy. Lasagna and baklava...not so much. There are many different interpretations of "clean eating;" are you sure you don't mean starting eating healthy?

I think "eating healthy" is just as confusing as eating clean...they both mean completely different things to different people!
I started changing my habits and lifestyle when someone wrote an eating plan for me that helped me lose 25kgs. It was completely sustainable, and something I've stuck to since in the sense that I make food choices based on health nearly 100% of the time. My idea of what clean or healthy is continually evolves though...

Mof3wc

I started a few years ago when my son started reacting to dairy, soy, and corn, though he eventually outgrew most of those intolerances, it took out most processed foods and forced me to cook everything myself. I fell off the wagon for awhile while I was really sick, but am just getting back into it again.

And now I have a choice, I can treat my body as well as I possibly can, put good foods into it, exercise and *maybe* keep myself off of some really nasty meds for awhile, or eat what I want and be on those meds quite a bit sooner.

keemakitty

My idea of clean eating includes the following:

A glass of water with the juice of 1/2 a lemon to remove toxins
No soda
No fast food
No or very few pre packaged food products
Protein limited to plant based, grains and seafood
Organics
Cooking food from scratch in order to limit preservatives, unwanted fats, non-vegetarian or vegan items (if that's you're thing )