Why "clean eating" is a myth

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Replies

  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    If I read that right, the guy who wrote that is 18 and doesn't appear to have much of an education in nutrition or anything like that, just an eating disorder. And he admits he has a tendency to take things to extremes. He ate too little and exercised too much, I don't see what that really has to do with clean eating.

    He made some valid arguments but I think the article is misleading. Junk food is not a food group. You don't need junk food to achieve a balanced, healthy diet. Yes, you can eat a balanced, healthy diet and still eat some junk food. I don't need to drink Diet Coke and Cheetos to be healthy. Eating "clean" is not going to harm your body, but avoiding certain food groups and depriving your body of certain nutrients could. A lot of junk food is not actually "food". It is a bunch of substances put together to make something we might ingest. Have you looked at the ingredients of the things you put in your mouth? I figure if I can't pronounce it, it's probably not a necessity of my diet.

    I'm sorry but I will eat as clean or as unclean as I want and will choose not to take my advice from any 18 year old with a computer.

    There exist 18 year olds who are smarter, more educated, and more successful than I. I am OK with that fact. Not everyone is, I guess.
  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,646 Member

    There exist 18 year olds who are smarter, more educated, and more successful than I. I am OK with that fact. Not everyone is, I guess.

    yeah, well, I bet I can bench press more than all of them...
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
    Unless there is a reason, like "I really love Chalupas and still want to eat them regularly."

    I don't know what you are talking about, because here in Mexico Chalupas are 100% clean/natural/whole foods and that is why I enjoy them and other botanas often.....yay !
    How in the world is a chalupa a whole food? An apple is a whole food.
    This is one aspect that I think confuses people. Grind corn and toast it to make a cup then fill with ingredients of your choice, normally recognizable like pork, chicken peppers, cilantro......so the argument is because the corn was ground, normally mortar and pestle it's no longer a whole food but some concoction that is somehow less than the sum of it's parts or something to that thought process.

    I don't think most people have a problem with the process of grinding corn up and making a tortilla from it, but a tortilla is no longer a whole food. The corn is. A taco can be made from 100% natural, processed-by-hand ingredients but it's not a whole food.
    And people lean on that definition to support the fact that the food is no longer considered clean because it's been processed, therefore for the most part nothing is clean, therefore clean has no definition ad nauseam. Not saying everyone thinks this way but I see it every time a thread talks about clean.

    Technically, eating "clean" and eating "whole foods" are two different concepts, though often over-lapping. If you're growing or buying organic corn then grinding it up yourself using a mortar and pestle and adding nothing unnatural to it, just water and spices and things, I would say that's definitely clean eating. That's different then buying it from a store where it was produced in a factory using all kinds of additives, preservatives, fillers, etc, not to mention the corn itself which may have been grown with all kinds of pesticides, etc. Making it yourself is not the same as buying packaged, processed food. Whether or not a it's a "whole" food can still be debated because it's been ground up aka "processed" technically, but I don't see why it's not clean.

    I am sure that you know the difference between " process " and " process " as far as food is concerned.. One is the action of chipping, slicing, peeling, grinding, salting, kneading,bloiling, baking, drying etc to get a food ready for human consumption by being prepared in conventional ways.
    The other is an often chemical process that allows the foods to be transported over long distances ( 1200 miles in the US on statistical average for each food item ), being kept from spoiling, ensuring an absurdely long shelf life ( I wonder what is in the corn bread jalapeño mix that a friends brought from the US that does not expire until October 2016 ? ), plus easy preparation by often just heating, freezing or adding an atypical ingredient ( like water only to a cake mix ).
    I am sure you know what most people mean with " processed food " and it's not chopping and grinding for example.
    I really enjoyed our exchange, but would prefer to just step back from the thread, if we are going to nitpick expressions. I am interested in hearing the opinions of others, but have not much time for useless back & forth.....unless of course I misunderstood you completely.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    My issue with it is that it is vague and provides little in the way of specific guidance on what one should eat. That, and there is little to no science behind enough of the claims (with a good measure of hocus pockus in much of them) to again make it worthless as a method to guide one's choices. As a result, these debates usually end up in arguments over whether this food or that is actually "clean." It reminds me of arguments over what is "Christian" or not.
  • ksuh999
    ksuh999 Posts: 543 Member
    I am sure that you know the difference between " process " and " process " as far as food is concerned.. One is the action of chipping, slicing, peeling, grinding, salting, kneading,bloiling, baking, drying etc to get a food ready for human consumption by being prepared in conventional ways.
    The other is an often chemical process that allows the foods to be transported over long distances ( 1200 miles in the US on statistical average for each food item ), being kept from spoiling, ensuring an absurdely long shelf life ( I wonder what is in the corn bread jalapeño mix that a friends brought from the US that does not expire until October 2016 ? ), plus easy preparation by often just heating, freezing or adding an atypical ingredient ( like water only to a cake mix ).
    I am sure you know what most people mean with " processed food " and it's not chopping and grinding for example.
    I really enjoyed our exchange, but would prefer to just step back from the thread, if we are going to nitpick expressions. I am interested in hearing the opinions of others, but have not much time for useless back & forth.....unless of course I misunderstood you completely.
    Keeping things dry keeps food from spoiling.

    Adding salt, which is a chemical, extends the life of meat greatly (jerky). It's processed! Or not?

    Water only to a cake mix? So yeah, they just dried stuff and presto, that's how they make it water only. So according to you it's not processed.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    The part about "health nuts" getting enough vitamin D from "nutrient dense foods" and "adequate sun exposure" is completely inaccurate. Unless you're at 40% body exposure (think one piece swim suit) for 20 min daily during the high hours of the sun with no sunscreen, you aren't getting enough. And I don't know one person that walks around in a swimsuit in the Midwest in the middle of winter. Always supplement for adequate vitamin D levels and don't forget to get your 25(OH)D test annually. A level of over 50 ng/ml is ideal.
    While I don't disagree with that some places lack UV exposure due to cloud cover or weather, I think that the 20 minutes you mentioned may be off a little. Still it's important to get enough vitamin D daily regardless of how you obtain it.
    It has been suggested by some vitamin D researchers, for example, that approximately 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis

    http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

    Glad I live in CA

    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

    Indeed! I run 3 to 4 times a week during peak sun hours. No sunscreen on my arms and legs and I sometimes go without it on my face too. *shock*
  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    In to catch up later...maybe.
  • Blue801
    Blue801 Posts: 442
    I am sure that you know the difference between " process " and " process " as far as food is concerned.. One is the action of chipping, slicing, peeling, grinding, salting, kneading,bloiling, baking, drying etc to get a food ready for human consumption by being prepared in conventional ways.
    The other is an often chemical process that allows the foods to be transported over long distances ( 1200 miles in the US on statistical average for each food item ), being kept from spoiling, ensuring an absurdely long shelf life ( I wonder what is in the corn bread jalapeño mix that a friends brought from the US that does not expire until October 2016 ? ), plus easy preparation by often just heating, freezing or adding an atypical ingredient ( like water only to a cake mix ).
    I am sure you know what most people mean with " processed food " and it's not chopping and grinding for example.
    I really enjoyed our exchange, but would prefer to just step back from the thread, if we are going to nitpick expressions. I am interested in hearing the opinions of others, but have not much time for useless back & forth.....unless of course I misunderstood you completely.

    I believe you have been misinformed and it has narrowed your understanding of what constitutes processed foods. Here is a wiki definition that may clear things up.
    "Food processing is the transformation of raw ingredients into food, or of food into other forms. Food processing typically takes clean, harvested crops or butchered animal products and uses these to produce attractive, marketable and often long shelf-life food products."
    Simply washing, cutting, and bagging salad greens would provide a "minimally processed" food.
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
    I am sure that you know the difference between " process " and " process " as far as food is concerned.. One is the action of chipping, slicing, peeling, grinding, salting, kneading,bloiling, baking, drying etc to get a food ready for human consumption by being prepared in conventional ways.
    The other is an often chemical process that allows the foods to be transported over long distances ( 1200 miles in the US on statistical average for each food item ), being kept from spoiling, ensuring an absurdely long shelf life ( I wonder what is in the corn bread jalapeño mix that a friends brought from the US that does not expire until October 2016 ? ), plus easy preparation by often just heating, freezing or adding an atypical ingredient ( like water only to a cake mix ).
    I am sure you know what most people mean with " processed food " and it's not chopping and grinding for example.
    I really enjoyed our exchange, but would prefer to just step back from the thread, if we are going to nitpick expressions. I am interested in hearing the opinions of others, but have not much time for useless back & forth.....unless of course I misunderstood you completely.
    Keeping things dry keeps food from spoiling.

    Adding salt, which is a chemical, extends the life of meat greatly (jerky). It's processed! Or not?

    Water only to a cake mix? So yeah, they just dried stuff and presto, that's how they make it water only. So according to you it's not processed.

    That's what I meant....nitpicking over a term that while not 100% defined does have an agreed upon meaning within many developed cultures defined through usage.
    If I say I don't eat processed food, do you seriously think that when I eat a salad I bite in a whole head of lettuce, or munch on a whole unpeeled cucumber and eat a carrot the way it comes out of the ground, because after all washing the carrot, peeling the cucumber and pulling the lettuce into bite sized pieces would mean it is " processed " ? Or does my statement by generally accepted definition mean that I don't eat Rice-a-roni, Hamburger Helper or bottled dressing on my salad ? In which country do you think that as far as processing in concerned these two are the same ?
    And if you look at commercial jerky or cake mix, they did a lot more than just " dry" the stuff.
    It seems to be really important that you are right and I concede that all this is indeed " processing " even though one is for immediate food preparation and the other ( commonly accepted term ) for food altering for other purposes than consumption......in a kind of nitpicking way.
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
    I am sure that you know the difference between " process " and " process " as far as food is concerned.. One is the action of chipping, slicing, peeling, grinding, salting, kneading,bloiling, baking, drying etc to get a food ready for human consumption by being prepared in conventional ways.
    The other is an often chemical process that allows the foods to be transported over long distances ( 1200 miles in the US on statistical average for each food item ), being kept from spoiling, ensuring an absurdely long shelf life ( I wonder what is in the corn bread jalapeño mix that a friends brought from the US that does not expire until October 2016 ? ), plus easy preparation by often just heating, freezing or adding an atypical ingredient ( like water only to a cake mix ).
    I am sure you know what most people mean with " processed food " and it's not chopping and grinding for example.
    I really enjoyed our exchange, but would prefer to just step back from the thread, if we are going to nitpick expressions. I am interested in hearing the opinions of others, but have not much time for useless back & forth.....unless of course I misunderstood you completely.

    I believe you have been misinformed and it has narrowed your understanding of what constitutes processed foods. Here is a wiki definition that may clear things up.
    "Food processing is the transformation of raw ingredients into food, or of food into other forms. Food processing typically takes clean, harvested crops or butchered animal products and uses these to produce attractive, marketable and often long shelf-life food products."
    Simply washing, cutting, and bagging salad greens would provide a "minimally processed" food.

    Isn't that what I said at least in one of my several posts ?
  • ksuh999
    ksuh999 Posts: 543 Member
    I am sure that you know the difference between " process " and " process " as far as food is concerned.. One is the action of chipping, slicing, peeling, grinding, salting, kneading,bloiling, baking, drying etc to get a food ready for human consumption by being prepared in conventional ways.
    The other is an often chemical process that allows the foods to be transported over long distances ( 1200 miles in the US on statistical average for each food item ), being kept from spoiling, ensuring an absurdely long shelf life ( I wonder what is in the corn bread jalapeño mix that a friends brought from the US that does not expire until October 2016 ? ), plus easy preparation by often just heating, freezing or adding an atypical ingredient ( like water only to a cake mix ).
    I am sure you know what most people mean with " processed food " and it's not chopping and grinding for example.
    I really enjoyed our exchange, but would prefer to just step back from the thread, if we are going to nitpick expressions. I am interested in hearing the opinions of others, but have not much time for useless back & forth.....unless of course I misunderstood you completely.
    Keeping things dry keeps food from spoiling.

    Adding salt, which is a chemical, extends the life of meat greatly (jerky). It's processed! Or not?

    Water only to a cake mix? So yeah, they just dried stuff and presto, that's how they make it water only. So according to you it's not processed.

    That's what I meant....nitpicking over a term that while not 100% defined does have an agreed upon meaning within many developed cultures defined through usage.
    If I say I don't eat processed food, do you seriously think that when I eat a salad I bite in a whole head of lettuce, or munch on a whole unpeeled cucumber and eat a carrot the way it comes out of the ground, because after all washing the carrot, peeling the cucumber and pulling the lettuce into bite sized pieces would mean it is " processed " ? Or does my statement by generally accepted definition mean that I don't eat Rice-a-roni, Hamburger Helper or bottled dressing on my salad ? In which country do you think that as far as processing in concerned these two are the same ?
    And if you look at commercial jerky or cake mix, they did a lot more than just " dry" the stuff.
    It seems to be really important that you are right and I concede that all this is indeed " processing " even though one is for immediate food preparation and the other ( commonly accepted term ) for food altering for other purposes than consumption......in a kind of nitpicking way.
    I think you're just really, really confused. You've conflated so many issues that you have somehow come to the conclusion that eating bottle salad dressing is going to make you sick.
  • Blue801
    Blue801 Posts: 442
    I am sure that you know the difference between " process " and " process " as far as food is concerned.. One is the action of chipping, slicing, peeling, grinding, salting, kneading,bloiling, baking, drying etc to get a food ready for human consumption by being prepared in conventional ways.
    The other is an often chemical process that allows the foods to be transported over long distances ( 1200 miles in the US on statistical average for each food item ), being kept from spoiling, ensuring an absurdely long shelf life ( I wonder what is in the corn bread jalapeño mix that a friends brought from the US that does not expire until October 2016 ? ), plus easy preparation by often just heating, freezing or adding an atypical ingredient ( like water only to a cake mix ).
    I am sure you know what most people mean with " processed food " and it's not chopping and grinding for example.
    I really enjoyed our exchange, but would prefer to just step back from the thread, if we are going to nitpick expressions. I am interested in hearing the opinions of others, but have not much time for useless back & forth.....unless of course I misunderstood you completely.

    I believe you have been misinformed and it has narrowed your understanding of what constitutes processed foods. Here is a wiki definition that may clear things up.
    "Food processing is the transformation of raw ingredients into food, or of food into other forms. Food processing typically takes clean, harvested crops or butchered animal products and uses these to produce attractive, marketable and often long shelf-life food products."
    Simply washing, cutting, and bagging salad greens would provide a "minimally processed" food.

    Isn't that what I said at least in one of my several posts ?

    Calling your chalupa a 100% whole food and stating "I am sure that you know the difference between " process " and " process " as far as food" lead me to believe there might be some misunderstanding.

    Anywho, I fear real terms like "whole foods" and "processed foods" have become as murky as "clean foods" and it irks me.
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    ^ You should be a rapper
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    On the '18 year old' thing - the beauty of it and REASON why he is respected is that he provides citations to the studies he has drawn his knowledge from. Certainly when I first read some of his stuff, I did go and check to ensure he was drawing reasonable conclusions from the studies. If there's an area of particularly interest, I may still inspect the study myself anyway.
  • aribugg
    aribugg Posts: 164 Member
    I personally liked it, Mostly because i've gotten SO much crap for always using sweeteners. Well, im hypoglycemic. sugar will raise my blood sugar, then double the crash. crashes give me seizures. so I always tell the people who nag me about it to pay for my hospital bills and possible brain damage, then tell me eat it.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Anywho, I fear real terms like "whole foods" and "processed foods" have become as murky as "clean foods" and it irks me.

    This is true to varying degrees of any term in the diet world, but I think most people have a fairly clear meaning of what is meant by processed and whole foods. They just like to pick apart definitions for the sake of argument.
  • cwsreddy
    cwsreddy Posts: 998 Member
    The part about "health nuts" getting enough vitamin D from "nutrient dense foods" and "adequate sun exposure" is completely inaccurate. Unless you're at 40% body exposure (think one piece swim suit) for 20 min daily during the high hours of the sun with no sunscreen, you aren't getting enough. And I don't know one person that walks around in a swimsuit in the Midwest in the middle of winter. Always supplement for adequate vitamin D levels and don't forget to get your 25(OH)D test annually. A level of over 50 ng/ml is ideal.
    While I don't disagree with that some places lack UV exposure due to cloud cover or weather, I think that the 20 minutes you mentioned may be off a little. Still it's important to get enough vitamin D daily regardless of how you obtain it.
    It has been suggested by some vitamin D researchers, for example, that approximately 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis

    http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

    Glad I live in CA

    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

    Indeed! I run 3 to 4 times a week during peak sun hours. No sunscreen on my arms and legs and I sometimes go without it on my face too. *shock*

    ^ amazing stuff. Vitamin D will do wonders for just about anything. :)
  • cwsreddy
    cwsreddy Posts: 998 Member
    Anywho, I fear real terms like "whole foods" and "processed foods" have become as murky as "clean foods" and it irks me.

    This is true to varying degrees of any term in the diet world, but I think most people have a fairly clear meaning of what is meant by processed and whole foods. They just like to pick apart definitions for the sake of argument.

    very true.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    The part about "health nuts" getting enough vitamin D from "nutrient dense foods" and "adequate sun exposure" is completely inaccurate. Unless you're at 40% body exposure (think one piece swim suit) for 20 min daily during the high hours of the sun with no sunscreen, you aren't getting enough. And I don't know one person that walks around in a swimsuit in the Midwest in the middle of winter. Always supplement for adequate vitamin D levels and don't forget to get your 25(OH)D test annually. A level of over 50 ng/ml is ideal.
    While I don't disagree with that some places lack UV exposure due to cloud cover or weather, I think that the 20 minutes you mentioned may be off a little. Still it's important to get enough vitamin D daily regardless of how you obtain it.
    It has been suggested by some vitamin D researchers, for example, that approximately 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis

    http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

    Glad I live in CA

    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

    Indeed! I run 3 to 4 times a week during peak sun hours. No sunscreen on my arms and legs and I sometimes go without it on my face too. *shock*

    ^ amazing stuff. Vitamin D will do wonders for just about anything. :)

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2014/01/13/the-top-six-vitamins-you-shouldnt-take/
  • Sunbrooke
    Sunbrooke Posts: 632 Member
    I personally liked it, Mostly because i've gotten SO much crap for always using sweeteners. Well, im hypoglycemic. sugar will raise my blood sugar, then double the crash. crashes give me seizures. so I always tell the people who nag me about it to pay for my hospital bills and possible brain damage, then tell me eat it.

    So.. You liked it mostly because it validates what you already do, because you can't stand life without sweetener. A good example why so many people are so passionately anti clean eating. Makes them feel better.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    Anywho, I fear real terms like "whole foods" and "processed foods" have become as murky as "clean foods" and it irks me.

    This is true to varying degrees of any term in the diet world, but I think most people have a fairly clear meaning of what is meant by processed and whole foods. They just like to pick apart definitions for the sake of argument.

    very true.

    A definition that cannot withstand critical analysis is not of much use. Don't blame the debate, blame your definition.
  • cwsreddy
    cwsreddy Posts: 998 Member
    The part about "health nuts" getting enough vitamin D from "nutrient dense foods" and "adequate sun exposure" is completely inaccurate. Unless you're at 40% body exposure (think one piece swim suit) for 20 min daily during the high hours of the sun with no sunscreen, you aren't getting enough. And I don't know one person that walks around in a swimsuit in the Midwest in the middle of winter. Always supplement for adequate vitamin D levels and don't forget to get your 25(OH)D test annually. A level of over 50 ng/ml is ideal.
    While I don't disagree with that some places lack UV exposure due to cloud cover or weather, I think that the 20 minutes you mentioned may be off a little. Still it's important to get enough vitamin D daily regardless of how you obtain it.
    It has been suggested by some vitamin D researchers, for example, that approximately 5–30 minutes of sun exposure between 10 AM and 3 PM at least twice a week to the face, arms, legs, or back without sunscreen usually lead to sufficient vitamin D synthesis

    http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminD-HealthProfessional/

    Glad I live in CA

    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

    Indeed! I run 3 to 4 times a week during peak sun hours. No sunscreen on my arms and legs and I sometimes go without it on my face too. *shock*

    ^ amazing stuff. Vitamin D will do wonders for just about anything. :)

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensalzberg/2014/01/13/the-top-six-vitamins-you-shouldnt-take/

    1) not reading because you clearly didnt read
    2) we were talking about the sun.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    I have yet to find anyone provide a consistent definition of 'processed'.
    Again, it seems to me to be another thing used to justify choices without really thinking about them.
    Usually the answer seems to be "If I do it, it's not processing, if someone else I don't know does the same thing and I can't see them doing it" (also often that it's packaged in some kind of sealed container at some point, it's processed.)
  • cwsreddy
    cwsreddy Posts: 998 Member
    I have yet to find anyone provide a consistent definition of 'processed'.
    Again, it seems to me to be another thing used to justify choices without really thinking about them.
    Usually the answer seems to be "If I do it, it's not processing, if someone else I don't know does the same thing and I can't see them doing it" (also often that it's packaged in some kind of sealed container at some point, it's processed.)

    if you take a whole food and run it through a food processor it does not count as processed. being intentionally obtuse for the win!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Anywho, I fear real terms like "whole foods" and "processed foods" have become as murky as "clean foods" and it irks me.

    This is true to varying degrees of any term in the diet world, but I think most people have a fairly clear meaning of what is meant by processed and whole foods. They just like to pick apart definitions for the sake of argument.

    very true.

    A definition that cannot withstand critical analysis is not of much use. Don't blame the debate, blame your definition.

    It doesn't matter if there is a recognized definition or not. Look how many people trying to lose weight will argue that they are not on a diet.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    Anywho, I fear real terms like "whole foods" and "processed foods" have become as murky as "clean foods" and it irks me.

    This is true to varying degrees of any term in the diet world, but I think most people have a fairly clear meaning of what is meant by processed and whole foods. They just like to pick apart definitions for the sake of argument.

    very true.

    A definition that cannot withstand critical analysis is not of much use. Don't blame the debate, blame your definition.

    It doesn't matter if there is a recognized definition or not. Look how many people trying to lose weight will argue that they are not on a diet.

    Um. Ok. What?
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
    I am sure that you know the difference between " process " and " process " as far as food is concerned.. One is the action of chipping, slicing, peeling, grinding, salting, kneading,bloiling, baking, drying etc to get a food ready for human consumption by being prepared in conventional ways.
    The other is an often chemical process that allows the foods to be transported over long distances ( 1200 miles in the US on statistical average for each food item ), being kept from spoiling, ensuring an absurdely long shelf life ( I wonder what is in the corn bread jalapeño mix that a friends brought from the US that does not expire until October 2016 ? ), plus easy preparation by often just heating, freezing or adding an atypical ingredient ( like water only to a cake mix ).
    I am sure you know what most people mean with " processed food " and it's not chopping and grinding for example.
    I really enjoyed our exchange, but would prefer to just step back from the thread, if we are going to nitpick expressions. I am interested in hearing the opinions of others, but have not much time for useless back & forth.....unless of course I misunderstood you completely.
    Keeping things dry keeps food from spoiling.

    Adding salt, which is a chemical, extends the life of meat greatly (jerky). It's processed! Or not?

    Water only to a cake mix? So yeah, they just dried stuff and presto, that's how they make it water only. So according to you it's not processed.

    That's what I meant....nitpicking over a term that while not 100% defined does have an agreed upon meaning within many developed cultures defined through usage.
    If I say I don't eat processed food, do you seriously think that when I eat a salad I bite in a whole head of lettuce, or munch on a whole unpeeled cucumber and eat a carrot the way it comes out of the ground, because after all washing the carrot, peeling the cucumber and pulling the lettuce into bite sized pieces would mean it is " processed " ? Or does my statement by generally accepted definition mean that I don't eat Rice-a-roni, Hamburger Helper or bottled dressing on my salad ? In which country do you think that as far as processing in concerned these two are the same ?
    And if you look at commercial jerky or cake mix, they did a lot more than just " dry" the stuff.
    It seems to be really important that you are right and I concede that all this is indeed " processing " even though one is for immediate food preparation and the other ( commonly accepted term ) for food altering for other purposes than consumption......in a kind of nitpicking way.
    I think you're just really, really confused. You've conflated so many issues that you have somehow come to the conclusion that eating bottle salad dressing is going to make you sick.

    Where do you draw such a conclusion from ? I did not mention the word " sick " or " ill " in any of my posts in regard to diet and also did not mention anything in regard to my health. I used bottled ( meaning store bought )salad dressing as an example , because it is a processed food. Please don't put words in my mouth and don't assume for a second you know what I think......
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Anywho, I fear real terms like "whole foods" and "processed foods" have become as murky as "clean foods" and it irks me.

    This is true to varying degrees of any term in the diet world, but I think most people have a fairly clear meaning of what is meant by processed and whole foods. They just like to pick apart definitions for the sake of argument.

    very true.

    A definition that cannot withstand critical analysis is not of much use. Don't blame the debate, blame your definition.

    It doesn't matter if there is a recognized definition or not. Look how many people trying to lose weight will argue that they are not on a diet.

    Um. Ok. What?

    Diet is a word with established definitions. Everyone who eats has a diet. Everyone who is actively trying to lose weight is on a diet. These are the definitions of the word. But an awful lot of MFP members insist they are not on a diet.
  • Ang108
    Ang108 Posts: 1,711 Member
    Anywho, I fear real terms like "whole foods" and "processed foods" have become as murky as "clean foods" and it irks me.

    This is true to varying degrees of any term in the diet world, but I think most people have a fairly clear meaning of what is meant by processed and whole foods. They just like to pick apart definitions for the sake of argument.

    very true.

    A definition that cannot withstand critical analysis is not of much use. Don't blame the debate, blame your definition.

    As I mentioned before; I am a non-native speaker of English. Since you seem to imply that it is my definition that is wrong ; which very well might be possible, even though It seems to not be more wrong than most people's....But let's assume that we pretty much are all wrong....:o) ) and since I personally am interested in better communication, what definition would you suggest one should use ?
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    Anywho, I fear real terms like "whole foods" and "processed foods" have become as murky as "clean foods" and it irks me.

    This is true to varying degrees of any term in the diet world, but I think most people have a fairly clear meaning of what is meant by processed and whole foods. They just like to pick apart definitions for the sake of argument.

    very true.

    A definition that cannot withstand critical analysis is not of much use. Don't blame the debate, blame your definition.

    It doesn't matter if there is a recognized definition or not. Look how many people trying to lose weight will argue that they are not on a diet.

    Um. Ok. What?

    Diet is a word with established definitions. Everyone who eats has a diet. Everyone who is actively trying to lose weight is on a diet. These are the definitions of the word. But an awful lot of MFP members insist they are not on a diet.

    Your example doesn't work because the word "diet" does have established definitions, and people cutting calories and claiming that they're not on a "diet" are usually arguing that it isn't just a temporary change, i.e., "it's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change," but a serious statement it is not. Clean eating, if it is to be taken seriously, needs to be able to withstand rigorous scrutiny, and yet it doesn't seem capable of that. It's simply a "rule of thumb" at best.