Clean Eaters. Your experience.

Sunbrooke

Hi people who consider themselves clean eaters, or are working toward eating more clean. What does eating clean mean for you? Why did you decide to eat this way? Did you do it all at once, or did it evolve and how? What challenges or setbacks have you faced in your chosen way of eating. What solutions did you find? Are you trying to make any changes? What results to you think you diet has led to? Physically or lifestyle wise.

This is meant to be completely subjective, so please don't burn people who are just telling their own story.

DPruneda17

I've just recently decided to eat more clean. Mainly because I want to fuel my body with the best, without all the unnecessaries. I'm a work in progress! I've just looked for meal-ideas online of clean recipes. I've tried a half dozen or so this last two weeks. About half were pretty nasty. So, I can see how it will take time to develop my own clean-recipe likes.

Holly_Roman_Empire

And every other "clean eating" thread ever in existence? :grumble:
Still wondering what clean eating is.

cleback

Even though I don't really have anything to add about clean eating... Sorry that people here are so rude sometimes. Don't let them discourage you. We're not all like that.

cmriverside

To the poster of this thread:

Is this a school/college assignment? You asked a lot of questions on a pretty touchy subject around here.

There is no right or wrong way to eat, and everyone's definition of "clean" is different. Find your own happy place with the foods you enjoy.




also IBTgifs

SezxyStef

I've had pretty good success.

I am very diligent











and wash my food 95% of the time....unless it's chocolate and it dropped on the floor then I just don't care if it's clean or not...:bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

kgeyser

I washed an apple before I ate it earlier today. Even scrubbed it down with one of those little brushes in case it had any of that waxy stuff on the peel.

geebusuk

I've eaten clean in the past.

Results weren't as good as I get now eating 'dirty', but with better research on macros, exercise and the like.

psuLemon

define eating clean... there is NO advantage to eating 100% clean (all whole foods vs a mix of whole/processed). The more important goal should be hitting macronutrient goals such as 1g of protein per lb of lean body mass and eating enough calories to fuel your workout and sustain your lean body mass (this would include resistance/weight training.

Either way, the most important thing is finding a diet that you will adhere to.

edit: for me, I follow a 80/20 rule. My main objective is hit my protein and fat goals and after that, it's whatever I want. Personally, i have done a lot better when I don't restrict foods or food groups. The fat is, there is NO bad foods only bad choices (causes you to exceed your calorie goals)

abickford82

To me clean eating: veggies (frozen or fresh -- imo, don't like the taste of canned - plus don't like the sodium), fruits (fresh or frozen, again no canned), and lean meat (boneless skinless chicken), teas, fish (salmon, cod, and shrimp are my top picks), oatmeal, eggs, protein powders, etc.

I won't ever say I'm 100% b/c I still eat fast food occassionally, have a donut here and there, but I do try to eat food closest to it's natural state. I also juice a lot and I've heard people say since I'm not eating it as is...I'm "processing" it (whatever!), so I stick with the 80/20 rule.

As far as fitness goes: I feel better and lighter (faster runs), but I tend to have to have a high carb day the day before leg day to fuel my workouts. I can't do strictly juicing. Just won't cut it for those heavy weights.

joan23_us

I've eaten clean in the past, was able to lose about 30 lbs from it to single digit bodyfat, one problem though, I cant sustain it because of the food restrictions i adhere to, CLEAN EATING TO ME THEN was eating the same food sources as possible because i dont want to put in anything that doesnt say lean or wholefoods. I dont use condiments then coz i want to get all quality nutrients but on the downside my foods got boring to the point I cracked. I cant see myself doing it for the rest of my life because im missing on so many goodtimes and eating out with family, Yes i was a walking lean machine but I was unhappy because I've missed a lot of good times and memories in the making and i can never get that back... fast forward to now, im more flexible with my food sources and choices and i can say im still getting the same result given the time and im more happier. I sure it is different from others but for me that was my CLEAN EATING experience.

ahomsi1

To me, eating clean means eating natural food 95% of the time. It wasn't easy transitioning, but it was so worth it. I not only feel healthier, but I look healthier too.

I have a ton more energy and as a result of working out really hard 5 days a week, I have to eat more. As you can understand, if I am going to need to eat more, it needs to be clean food, not overly processed-sugary-chemically type stuff. So I have had to invest in eating a lot more fruits and vegetables and meat. If I do eat bread, it is wheat bread(due to fiber content), and I eat that sparingly, the same goes for the brown rice.

It took me about a month to finally transition to eating 5 meals a day and making sure the food had a good source of protein, fiber, and veggies. Most important thing though, is that you need to keep up with it, and try you best to meet your goal everyday, until it becomes a solid habit.

licorice_tea

I'm not really sure what a clean eater is, but I guess I have an idea of what I'd consider a good clean meal, and I do try and eat plenty of those.

To me it would be: nutritious, balanced in macronutrients, fresh, and digestion friendly.

It probably wouldn't be fried or buttered, but that's the Californian in me talking And if you put an avocado on it, that's cleanliness next to godliness So I think many gut feelings about "clean" are cultural. Just like our culturally-influenced feelings about sanitary cleanliness, which also has nothing to do with actual cleanliness -- after all, urine is typically sterile.

And I have to tell you, during the year I had an organic farm share, those were factually far dirtier (e.g. just objectively covered in dirt) and insect-ridden (no pesticides) than what typically would be seen as sellable by organic supermarkets. Not complaining -- just saying that clean is perhaps not even a meaingful term, because it means too many things.

paperfiish

I think clean eating sufferers the same problem that a lot of things do in that the term itself conjures up a very moralistic "right vs wrong, clean vs dirty" kind of image, and that (coupled with the occasional but highly vocal minority of elitists who think their way of eating is the only "right" way) can set a lot of people's teeth on edge. So topics like this are always going to bring up some (sometimes justified) knee-jerk reactions, no matter how innocently intentioned.

To answer your actual questions: I label what I'm working towards "clean eating" but the more accurate title would really be "eating as many home made products as possible while trying to minimize the amount of processing or actual physical distance between me and the source of my food and cutting out as many unnecessary dietary variables when I can because I'm trying to understand my body and its relation to food better and I can't isolate and identify the effects of many additives in my food on my personal well being so it's better to work with as minimal variables as possible while still enjoying my food".

As you can see, "clean eating" rolls off the tongue a little better. My reasons are mostly because a.) I love cooking and feel I should do more at-home meals, b.) I an scientifically-minded and in the process of trying to understand the effect that different types of food have on my physical, emotional and mental well being and therefore unexpected or unquantifiable variables can skew my data, and c.) I want to try to eat more locally grown/produced foods and that means more basic ingredients like local honey, locally caught fish, local bakeries, local produce, etc.

And ultimately I want to broaden my food horizon, and eating traditional fast food or "junk food" fare only encourages me to stay inside my own preset food boundaries because I" trust" them more. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with white sugar in general or with earring things like Wendys, but for me, unless I make a goal to step outside of those areas on a regular basis than I fall into a routine that leaves me ultimately restricted and unhappy. I think it's bull **** when people try to say their way of eating is better than anyone else's, though, so I understand that the way I'm trying to eat might make someone els miserable or feel restricted in the same way that too much prepackaged food makes ME feel miserable and restricted.

Physically I've found that eating more like how I've outlined has really strong effects on my mental stability. When I eat that way, I'm less prone to bloodsugar crashes and I'll feel physically stronger/more stable (which makes me feel emotionally more stable). I have no clue if it's having any more or less effect on physical changes than if i aye the normal SAD with the same caloric deficit, but that's not why I do it anyway, so I don't really care about that.

greginnd

No processed foods. Prepare everything from whole natural ingredients.

geebusuk

No processed foods. Prepare everything from whole natural ingredients.

How do you 'prepare' foods without 'processing'?

Sunbrooke

To the poster of this thread:

Is this a school/college assignment? You asked a lot of questions on a pretty touchy subject around here.

There is no right or wrong way to eat, and everyone's definition of "clean" is different. Find your own happy place with the foods you enjoy.




also IBTgifs

No not a college student. I am new to the site. I don't see why it is touchy. I wanted to hear how other people define it so that I understand the concept better. I know what I thought it meant, but some of the vicious arguments I read on here make me wonder. I first started to eat more whole foods (is that okay to say?) when I didn't have much money and wanted to get more vitamins. Then I cut sodium down because my husbands family has heart problems. Then I got melasma and got scared my liver was bad or something so I started looking to detox eating. I tried a detox diet and couldn't stick to it all at once, but I liked how I was feeling. I guess it would fall in the "clean eating" category. I wonder how a big diet change to "clean eating" worked for others who tried it. People I know ask me for advice. I want to help, but I want more info than just what worked for me. It's still subjective, but I want to know what worked for others too and what their experience were.

It worries me that my grandma and grandpa would go on all you could eat pasta diets and wonder why they didn't lose weight (yeah, I know. They didn't count calories... I totally believe that a calories is a calorie btw), but it is scary that back in the 80's gains were king, and in the 90's it was the battle against fat, then carbs, and now people are going paleo with no grain. I want to learn more, but whenever anyone starts an interesting thread, it becomes an argument about chemicals in apples or the "a calorie is a calorie" thing.. (which I totally believe to be true!!).



If I could unpost this whole thread I would.

Sunbrooke

Oh I take that last part back!! Thanks for all of the great subjective info everyone. I know it is a broad term (practically a dirty word! Oops..). I appreciate you sharing your experiences.

Sunbrooke

I've eaten clean in the past.

Results weren't as good as I get now eating 'dirty', but with better research on macros, exercise and the like.

I'd never heard of a macro before joining this site. I'm going to look at what those are about next.

FINDAWGELF

Clean eating in my opinion is eating 100% natural. It is nearly impossible. But get this; I consider the eating that I am doing right now clean eating. I can't say it's 100% because sometimes I eat processed foods. But what I do is make sure that my main meal consists of a large portion green vegetables. It is generally my largest portion whether I have to put it into a shake or eat it raw.

I probably didn't answer anything. If you're meal consists of Burger King and McDonalds Burgers and Fries most of the time then it's not clean. If every meal you eat is in a ready to Microwave box, you can ask the question also. While they are beginning to put lables on everything, including some fruits and vegetables; if it's got a lable, and the lable contains 10 ingredients, it's probably not clean. That is my criteria.

geebusuk

I'd never heard of a macro before joining this site. I'm going to look at what those are about next.

Macro nutrients are your basic Protein, Carbs and Fat.
After calories, I would suggest they are next most important thing to focus on when planning what you are going to eat.

Clean eating in my opinion is eating 100% natural.

What makes a food 'natural'.

What if I make burgers mincing my own steak, then add 8 herbs and spices. Is that clean.
What if I stick two more herbs in and put a label on it? Is that not clean?
What if I buy the exact same thing from a shop?