Your food is no cleaner than mine

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Replies

  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    I've crossed paths with a handful of vegans who are outright judgmental towards meat and dairy and anyone who dares eat them. One in particular was so militant he's decided to become a bio researcher intent on proving that meat and dairy are completely unhealthy for us. Most vegans don't go around pushing their beliefs, but there's definitely a loud minority.

    I think the same can be said for clean eaters. Most just do their thing, but the loud minority will tell you "good luck with that cancer," "I would never eat that garbage," "That isn't real food," etc. You see it on the forums here all the time. Personally it doesn't bother me. I just roll my eyes and move on.

    And at least I can tell you what a vegan is! They don't eat meat or any product that comes from animals. The word actually means something.

    Clean eating? Completely individualized, can be followed part of the time and completely ignored other times. It's a diet that touts the elimination of certain kinds of food, while not actually eliminating them or randomly choosing what criteria is used to define a food as "clean".

    There's a lot of hanger on this thread, it's so irrational - which in my opinion is the best sort!

    Are you victor meldrew?
  • establishingaplace
    establishingaplace Posts: 301 Member
    I've crossed paths with a handful of vegans who are outright judgmental towards meat and dairy and anyone who dares eat them. One in particular was so militant he's decided to become a bio researcher intent on proving that meat and dairy are completely unhealthy for us. Most vegans don't go around pushing their beliefs, but there's definitely a loud minority.

    I think the same can be said for clean eaters. Most just do their thing, but the loud minority will tell you "good luck with that cancer," "I would never eat that garbage," "That isn't real food," etc. You see it on the forums here all the time. Personally it doesn't bother me. I just roll my eyes and move on.

    And at least I can tell you what a vegan is! They don't eat meat or any product that comes from animals. The word actually means something.

    Clean eating? Completely individualized, can be followed part of the time and completely ignored other times. It's a diet that touts the elimination of certain kinds of food, while not actually eliminating them or randomly choosing what criteria is used to define a food as "clean".

    Oh definitely "clean" eating is a vague term. You won't hear me argue against that!
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    The secondary issue is defining clean eating. Which I'm not even going to attempt. It's been gone over a billion times. Just use the search function.

    I have. I've seen plenty of people asking the questions I have, and no answers. That's why I bothered.

    And again, while I've made it clear I find the term clean eating offputting, I've also made it clear I'm not criticizing how anyone eats. I'm just interested in the topic. I think it's odd that questions are met with claims that I'm criticizing your eating. Can't we divorce the topic from people's personal preferences, which will of course be individual?

    But this thread is silly long, so if you are bored with the topic I won't get offended or anything.

    It is to simply eat food that has not been chemically altered. It does not mean I can't go to the store and purchase crackers. It means that I wont' go to the store and purchase crackers that I cannot make at home. You purchase items that are whole and raw, like fresh fruits and veggies and lean meats and cook. If you get something that is in a box it has nothing added. Like Quinoa with nothing in it, although boxed would be clean. Yogurt, that is just yogurt would be clean. I'm not going to purchase flour that has been stripped of it's nutrients, bleached and then had the nutrients added back in (enriched flour) I'm not going to purchase things are made of added chemicals. In other words If it's supposed to rot and it doesn't, there is a problem. It's not about losing weight, it's about over all health.

    I'd be willing to bet the 5 ingredient thing came from people reading labels and going "what is the purpose of all this added stuff why is it necessary and what does it do to me to eat this much extra". for example, I will purchase canned tomatoes or beans, but a lot of them have added salt and sugar.. Why??? I search the labels until I find one with no added salt or sugar. Just tomatoes, or just beans. Unnecessary and i don't need the extra.

    And no.. unless you are a chemist i really doubt you use half the ingredients on the list of premade stuff. (do you use blue 1 or maltodextrin as an added ingredient?? No one i know does)

    and I am bored of this thread, and this topic.

    So ignorant, crackers are baked, baking chemically alters the product. Yougurt? Chemically altered through lacto fermentation

    Maltodextrin? I have a big tub of it that I use

    There's a big difference between chemical alteration through natural cooking methods and chemical alteration via the introduction of unnatural chemicals made in a laboratory. Yogurt is natural (provided it's just yogurt) because lacto fermentation is a natural process. Baking crackers is also a natural process.

    So I suggest instead of enjoying your little game of trying to belittle other people, you go find a way of becoming a better person.

    So you're saying when she said that she doesn't eat chemically altered food, she didn't actually mean that? So where do crackers get naturally baked at oh 300+ degrees F?

    So pointing out someone's ignorance is belittling them? Do tell

    No, I'm saying when we talk about processed it's in the common vernacular - just like junk food, it's a term everyone understands perfectly well, and no amount of thinking you're cool and funny for nitpicking will change the fact that you know exactly what we mean.

    And BAKING is natural; increasing the temperature doesn't change that. Same with fermentation - that happens naturally, so if you make it happen (without adding anything unnatural to it) its still a natural process. And no, when we say we don't eat chemically altered food we generally mean food to which chemicals have been added that aren't natural. Doesn't refer to the chemical alterations that occur within food when you cook it, or freeze it, etc.


    What's belittling is both calling a person ignorant, particularly when they're not, and talking down to them in the condescending manner you're taking up right now. You're coming off as an incredibly arrogant, condescending bully who enjoys belittling people for no reason. You're not actually debating things with merit at the moment, you're simply trying to insult people.

    While baking could be natural, using an evil manmade contraption like a commercial oven makes it unnatural. "existing in or caused by nature; not made or caused by humankind."

    You do have me curious, if she's not ignorant as you claim, what would you call her statement in which she immediately contradicts herself as?
  • jofjltncb6
    jofjltncb6 Posts: 34,415 Member
    I've crossed paths with a handful of vegans who are outright judgmental towards meat and dairy and anyone who dares eat them. One in particular was so militant he's decided to become a bio researcher intent on proving that meat and dairy are completely unhealthy for us. Most vegans don't go around pushing their beliefs, but there's definitely a loud minority.

    I think the same can be said for clean eaters. Most just do their thing, but the loud minority will tell you "good luck with that cancer," "I would never eat that garbage," "That isn't real food," etc. You see it on the forums here all the time. Personally it doesn't bother me. I just roll my eyes and move on.

    And at least I can tell you what a vegan is! They don't eat meat or any product that comes from animals. The word actually means something.

    Clean eating? Completely individualized, can be followed part of the time and completely ignored other times. It's a diet that touts the elimination of certain kinds of food, while not actually eliminating them or randomly choosing what criteria is used to define a food as "clean".

    Which is why I now refer to myself as a "clean" eater...

    ...and challenge anyone to review my diary and conclude otherwise:

    (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/diary/jofjltncb6)




    Now I just need to practice my condescension and irrational beliefs that when *someone else* eats the same things *I* occasionally do, that it will cause them irreparable harm while it is just a small component of my otherwise overall healthy...er, sorry...*clean* food diary.

    #CleanEating4Lyfe
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member

    Now I just need to practice my condescension and irrational beliefs that when *someone else* eats the same things *I* occasionally do, that it will cause them irreparable harm while it is just a small component of my otherwise overall healthy...er, sorry...*clean* food diary.

    #CleanEating4Lyfe


    Yep, just saying it makes it so. I eat clean as well. Everything I eat has been declared clean.


    Should someone run to Kinko's and print certificates?
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    Welcome to clean eating!

    I also eat 'low carb' and eat in 'moderation'!
  • Rose6300
    Rose6300 Posts: 232 Member
    Here are the chemicals I'm trying to avoid.
    But that's just me.
    http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/fastfoodnation_03.php
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    Here are the chemicals I'm trying to avoid.
    But that's just me.
    http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/fastfoodnation_03.php

    The title has a false premise. McDonald's fries do NOT taste good. They *used* to taste good, back when they used animal fat instead of vegetable oil. My home fries are much tastier. (bacon grease FTW)
  • RHachicho
    RHachicho Posts: 1,115 Member
    Just because the microwave meals and oven pizzas you buy at the supermarket because you are too god damn lazy to cook for yourself are bad for you does not mean you are going to wreck your health for cooking bread in the oven or eating cured ham. There's always a new craze and honestly the whole clean/dirty food thing is just barmy. What matters is what is in food plain and simple. You either get the nutrition you need or you don't And here's a shocker for you. Very very few food preservatives are actually bad for you. And quite a few of them are good for you. And the ones found to be bad for you are usually quickly phased out because the companies don't want to lose food sales because of it and there is usually a perfectly acceptable alternative.

    Microwave meals and crap like that are bad because they are pre cooked to death robbing them of most of their nutrition. Because the companies can't risk selling you food that might be slightly undercooked and get sued because of it. To make up for this they pump the good full of extra fat sugar and salt to attempt (often unsuccessfully) to rescue the flavor.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    Welcome to clean eating!

    I also eat 'low carb' and eat in 'moderation'!
    I call mine low crap. :happy:
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
    So I suggest instead of enjoying your little game of trying to belittle other people, you go find a way of becoming a better person.

    Hey, thanks for sticking up for me. This is the whole reason I don't answer those questions. People who are opposed to clean eating will take everything down to the tiniest detail in order to make a ridiculous point. What happens during cooking is a natural process. An egg does not stop being an egg because I put it in a pan and scramble it however an egg that if from a chicken that is pumped full of antibiotics is not an egg I want to eat. . I happen to believe that added chemicals do not equal natural occurring chemicals, regardless of their chemical components being the same (which is a moot point anyway since if the components of a chemical were different, it'd be a different chemical). I don't consider cutting an apple to be processing it. It should be obvious that when I say process i mean chemically altering something to make it different then it is intended to be. Clean eating was started as a movement to "clean up food" meaning taking out the man added chemicals or additives. I know the loudest mouths know this, but they like to argue and prove their point, and do so by pointing out that cutting/cooking and apple would be processing it. Or by posting the ingredient list of an apple.

    I don't really care if they want to rip apart what I said and attempt to use it against me. It is what it is. That's what I (and many others) believe. I'm not better then because I strive to eat this way. i'm just eating the diet I think is most beneficial for me.
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    So I suggest instead of enjoying your little game of trying to belittle other people, you go find a way of becoming a better person.

    Hey, thanks for sticking up for me. This is the whole reason I don't answer those questions. People who are opposed to clean eating will take everything down to the tiniest detail in order to make a ridiculous point. What happens during cooking is a natural process. An egg does not stop being an egg because I put it in a pan and scramble it however an egg that if from a chicken that is pumped full of antibiotics is not an egg I want to eat. . I happen to believe that added chemicals do not equal natural occurring chemicals, regardless of their chemical components being the same (which is a moot point anyway since if the components of a chemical were different, it'd be a different chemical). I don't consider cutting an apple to be processing it. It should be obvious that when I say process i mean chemically altering something to make it different then it is intended to be. Clean eating was started as a movement to "clean up food" meaning taking out the man added chemicals or additives. I know the loudest mouths know this, but they like to argue and prove their point, and do so by pointing out that cutting/cooking and apple would be processing it. Or by posting the ingredient list of an apple.

    I don't really care if they want to rip apart what I said and attempt to use it against me. It is what it is. That's what I (and many others) believe. I'm not better then because I strive to eat this way. i'm just eating the diet I think is most beneficial for me.

    And a nice illustration of cognitive dissonance

    Oh and there you go again, "It should be obvious that when I say process i mean chemically altering something to make it different then it is intended to be"

    You mean like scrambling an egg? You are chemically altering the egg and changing it's protein structure. Unless you believe eggs were intended to be scrambled, not fertilized, poached, hard boiled, soft boiled or anything else, or perhaps there you go contradicting yourself within the same statement again
  • Confuzzled4ever
    Confuzzled4ever Posts: 2,860 Member
    heating up an egg causes chemical reactions.. it does not add chemicals to the egg

    Anyway. I am not getting into this again. Que Cera Cera hm?
  • Acg67
    Acg67 Posts: 12,142 Member
    heating up an egg causes chemical reactions.. it does not add chemicals to the egg

    Anyway. I am not getting into this again. Que Cera Cera hm?

    So you didn't actually mean this when you said it? Or perhaps you don't know what altering means?

    "It should be obvious that when I say process i mean chemically altering something to make it different then it is intended to be"
  • Rose6300
    Rose6300 Posts: 232 Member
    heating up an egg causes chemical reactions.. it does not add chemicals to the egg

    Anyway. I am not getting into this again. Que Cera Cera hm?

    True.
    Facts is facts.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    Welcome to clean eating!

    I also eat 'low carb' and eat in 'moderation'!
    I call mine low crap. :happy:

    Lol
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    I honestly don't understand why people care so much.

    I don't understand why participating in a discussion means you care "so much." The purpose of a message board like this is to exchange ideas, see how the ideas of others are different, including different interpretations of language and all that, and then to battle until someone brings up Hit-- er, I mean and then to discuss it until there's either more understanding or a fleshing out of where the differences lie. I mean, sure I have a negative reaction to the term "clean" eating, and I've explained a boring number of times (for others, not me) why this is and why I think it's just logical and the term is poorly chosen and self-righteous. I also think plenty of other terms people use to describe themselves and others are illogical or annoying (for example, "progressive"), and might talk about that if it were the topic, it really doesn't mean I go around caring about it. In fact, I'd just agreed to shut up about it!
    Let me ask you - when someone tells you they eat vegan, do you feel they're judging you for eating meat and animal products?

    Some are, but generally not. I would if they called themselves CLEAN eaters, because animal flesh is disgusting and unclean. It's inherent in the name. But they don't. They use a word that actually describes how they eat, whereas the clean eaters seem to eat like many others here (including me). Turns out they aspire to eat 100% "clean," they think that's better than being only 98% "clean," so that's the difference. I don't agree with their labeling of all "processed" foods as unclean (or really the labeling of food as unclean at all, for the reasons set forth in the original article) but now that I understand more precisely where I disagree with them I plan to stop asking questions and be content, and it's nice to grasp the key distinction as I see it.
    Does that make you feel guilty for eating chicken, putting butter on your bread or drinking a glass of milk? Are they shaming you? Or are they just telling you how they eat. I would say the latter, but to me it sounds like you're so invested in how other people eat that logically you should be feeling all of the former. The same goes if someone says they eats low carb - are they now judging you for eating nasty carbs? Or are they just describing their current macronutrient distribution?

    Um, you are reading a lot of stuff into what I said that isn't there. And all of these questions were answered already. I don't think "clean eater" is a helpful label because people use it in so many different ways that you have no clue what they mean except that there are foods they think are unclean that they don't eat (usually, but sometimes they do). Also, 'tis weird to want a label for your eating unless you are actually conveying helpful information like "please don't serve me an egg" or "I need a restaurant that I will be able to order something at." The only point I can see for saying "I am a clean eater" is to convey that there are foods that should not be eaten, as they are unclean. If a vegan says that milk is unnatural and bad for everyone ON THE INTERNET, sure I might argue (I won't feel guilty, why would I?). Same if someone says that all processed food is bad and should be avoided by people trying to lose weight--as you see in these parts plenty of times. If someone says "I'm a vegan" or "I avoid processed foods," I do not care. I might ask why, and I might be more likely to ask the second person why, since I assume I know why the vegan eats how he does, but I probably don't even do that. If someone says "I eat clean," on the other hand, I think a reasonable follow up question is "what do you think is "unclean" and why."
    I really don't understand why the term bothers people so much. Is it simply the label of "clean" that does it?

    Partly the latter, IMO, but also the growth of clean eating plans and cookbooks and such when so far as I can tell "clean eating" is in practice just cooking with whole foods, not some special movement. It's pretty much covered by regular cookbooks. Also, if you care what got me personally posting on it on MFP, it was some assertions in another thread that being against "clean eating" made you anti healthy eating and non supportive, when the clean eaters have no monopoly over healthy eating, and it's quite reasonable to say that it's just as healthy (or more, but I don't care about that) to eat in moderation or with attention to meeting nutrition goals and not 100% "clean," however that's defined.
    Might their individual definition of "clean" eating differ from yours or someone else's? Probably so, but I suspect only in minor ways.

    That is not my experience. For example, I've heard people use "eating clean" to mean eating consistent with a paleo diet, as I said before, which means no bread or dairy, both items that others would consider perfectly clean. Sometimes people seem to use it to mean preferring "healthy" foods and then define potatoes or some such as not healthy. Others focus on added sugar, others--the majority--on processing, but obviously most things are processed to some degree so that's really a line drawing exercise. More significantly, there is frequently the claim that if you eat clean you won't get fat or have to count calories, which seems quite unlikely to me, certainly if clean just means not packaged or fast food I am evidence that one can get fat on "clean" food. In any event, it's silly to suggest that rejecting the label clean and not aspiring to avoid certain food items entirely, since you don't see the point, means that you eat snickers all day or are jealous of their diets (which probably don't even differ that much from mine) or don't understand the pleasures of a homemade roasted chicken (free range, natch) with vegetables, which are the sorts of things that have been asserted on these threads before I felt motivated to chime in (though granted more likely motivated by writers block at work and thus a desire to procrastinate and think about something else).
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    I basically agree with this, but I just don't get why it's called clean eating (to be clear, I don't care if you call it that, I'm really just trying to understand). There are a whole bunch of basically conflicting definitions of clean eating, some which are basically how I eat (I'd call it trying to be health conscious or being aware and choosing consciously)

    I don't know why it's called clean eating either. I've been reading the term for years and it's an easy one to use. I also don't know the origins of the word vegan, though.

    To be honest, if you said "I am a health-conscious eater" or "I try to choose consciously" and the right person took it the right way, you'd be the next to be labeled self-righteous or have fifty people ask you, "Why isn't my Cheesecake healthy? It helps me meet my macros and I have room for it in my day. It contains calcium and blah." "Are you implying that the rest of us don't eat consciously? (See self-righteous.)"

    You can only call it what you want when someone decides not to take offense. That's why I think this whole thing is silly. I find it self-righteous when people come into a thread and say "Have fun starving on your 1200 calories and regaining all your weight while I eat Ben and Jerry's and lose tons of weight and build muscle" but that's often hailed as "Just good advice." (I'm not referring to you-I think our discussion here is fair and good.)

    Since everyone else is now a clean eater, I'm now a primal eater. That's the brand of my favorite tofu jerky.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    To be honest, if you said "I am a health-conscious eater" or "I try to choose consciously" and the right person took it the right way, you'd be the next to be labeled self-righteous or have fifty people ask you, "Why isn't my Cheesecake healthy? It helps me meet my macros and I have room for it in my day. It contains calcium and blah." "Are you implying that the rest of us don't eat consciously?

    And I would say it's simply a matter of eating with attention to your nutrition goals, so sure, nothing about that person eating that cheesecake would not qualify. It might not work with my specific goals, in part depending on how much I like cheesecake and the specific recipe, but focusing on health conscious eating does not define any foods as bad in and of themselves or for everyone. That's why I don't think that can be fairly called self-righteous in the same way.

    Anyway, I will acknowledge that for a lot of people there was this general concept of eating a particular way (no processed foods or whatever) that appealed and it was called eating clean, so they just adopted the name as going with the concept, as opposed to starting with the idea that there are clean and unclean foods, so don't see that as so strongly a part of it.

    I think for others it is an identity, as redtree said, and the same is important, it relates to their food as purer, better, the rejection of processed food is a kind of gnosis, not just personal preference or individual priorities. But I do think I was over generalizing that aspect and there are plenty of people who just fit the prior paragraph. I know I tend to get bugged by words in a way not everyone does. Thinking of it this way does make more sense of the eh 80 percent approach, which was hard for me to square with a real belief in food as clean or unclean--it's certainly not how vegans approach their rules, IME.
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    To be honest, if you said "I am a health-conscious eater" or "I try to choose consciously" and the right person took it the right way, you'd be the next to be labeled self-righteous or have fifty people ask you, "Why isn't my Cheesecake healthy? It helps me meet my macros and I have room for it in my day. It contains calcium and blah." "Are you implying that the rest of us don't eat consciously?

    And I would say it's simply a matter of eating with attention to your nutrition goals, so sure, nothing about that person eating that cheesecake would not qualify. It might not work with my specific goals, in part depending on how much I like cheesecake and the specific recipe, but focusing on health conscious eating does not define any foods as bad in and of themselves or for everyone. That's why I don't think that can be fairly called self-righteous in the same way.

    I think for others it is an identity, as redtree said, and the same is important, it relates to their food as purer, better, the rejection of processed food is a kind of gnosis, not just personal preference or individual priorities. But I do think I was over generalizing that aspect and there are plenty of people who just fit the prior paragraph. I know I tend to get bugged by words in a way not everyone does. Thinking of it this way does make more sense of the eh 80 percent approach, which was hard for me to square with a real belief in food as clean or unclean--it's certainly not how vegans approach their rules, IME.

    I don't really think anyone should be called self-righteous for their diet until they are actually being negative toward others. ("I try to keep my diet clean" versus "I won't eat dirty food like the rest of them.")

    It's definitely not how vegans approach their rules. We're a pretty self-policing group. :laugh: That's why I refer to myself as a vegan but not a clean eater. The 80/20 claim to a diet bugs me unless the person is saying "I eat clean about 80% of the time." Not to resurrect the infamous Paleo debates, but I believe there's a big difference between trying to follow the Paleo diet and actually following the Paleo diet.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    To be honest, if you said "I am a health-conscious eater" or "I try to choose consciously" and the right person took it the right way, you'd be the next to be labeled self-righteous or have fifty people ask you, "Why isn't my Cheesecake healthy? It helps me meet my macros and I have room for it in my day. It contains calcium and blah." "Are you implying that the rest of us don't eat consciously?

    And I would say it's simply a matter of eating with attention to your nutrition goals, so sure, nothing about that person eating that cheesecake would not qualify. It might not work with my specific goals, in part depending on how much I like cheesecake and the specific recipe, but focusing on health conscious eating does not define any foods as bad in and of themselves or for everyone. That's why I don't think that can be fairly called self-righteous in the same way.

    I think for others it is an identity, as redtree said, and the same is important, it relates to their food as purer, better, the rejection of processed food is a kind of gnosis, not just personal preference or individual priorities. But I do think I was over generalizing that aspect and there are plenty of people who just fit the prior paragraph. I know I tend to get bugged by words in a way not everyone does. Thinking of it this way does make more sense of the eh 80 percent approach, which was hard for me to square with a real belief in food as clean or unclean--it's certainly not how vegans approach their rules, IME.

    I don't really think anyone should be called self-righteous for their diet until they are actually being negative toward others. ("I try to keep my diet clean" versus "I won't eat dirty food like the rest of them.")

    It's definitely not how vegans approach their rules. We're a pretty self-policing group. :laugh: That's why I refer to myself as a vegan but not a clean eater. The 80/20 claim to a diet bugs me unless the person is saying "I eat clean about 80% of the time." Not to resurrect the infamous Paleo debates, but I believe there's a big difference between trying to follow the Paleo diet and actually following the Paleo diet.

    Ahhh . . . the Great Paleo Debates of 2013. Brutal, truly brutal. I sincerely hope that humanity has learned and progressed since then . . . *sigh*
  • tracydr
    tracydr Posts: 528 Member
    I eat a plant based diet with very small amounts of meats. Lots of eggs from home-raised organically fed chickens. I also raise my own meat chickens because I find store bought chicken is gross and smelly. ( not to mention it spoils in about 1/7 of the time that my fresh chicken does. E.coli and salmonella laced poultry is gross.
    I also grind our grain and make homemade bread. Never felt the urge to go gluten free but we don't eat bread everyday.
    Clean eating doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I have a garden but buy fruits and veggies from the store, too. Organic veggies tend to not be as fresh in our rather poor city. So we usually get non-organic, except for bananas.
    I would raise all or most of our veggies if I could and some seasons I'm able to do just that.
  • darkangel45422
    darkangel45422 Posts: 234 Member
    It's definitely not how vegans approach their rules. We're a pretty self-policing group. :laugh: That's why I refer to myself as a vegan but not a clean eater. The 80/20 claim to a diet bugs me unless the person is saying "I eat clean about 80% of the time." Not to resurrect the infamous Paleo debates, but I believe there's a big difference between trying to follow the Paleo diet and actually following the Paleo diet.

    I think the difference is that most vegans aren't eating vegan because of health reasons - more are eating vegan because of moral reasons. When it comes to morality, yes, you either are or you aren't - if you think its morally wrong to eat an animal or an animal product than doing so occasionally is bad. If however you just think eating animal products isn't terribly healthy, then doing so occasionally isn't really a big deal at all.
    Clean eaters don't have any moral issues tied in to their views of food - they just think it's healthier this way. That means it really doesn't matter if sometimes they don't eat perfectly healthy.
    As for the difference between trying to follow a lifestyle plan and actually following it, isn't the whole point of just about any lifestyle plan that you adapt it to YOUR lifestyle? That inherently means you're going to change things around a bit and make it work for you; there is no 100% right or wrong way to do it. Plus, again, this is about food and health not morality, so not having a perfect day isn't a big deal. Do all IIFYMers or moderation eaters have perfect days every day, or do they occasionally go over or not meet their macro/calorie goals? If so, does that mean they're not actually following their diet?
  • lautour
    lautour Posts: 89 Member
    lemurcat12 I really appreciate your questions and contributions in this thread.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    Can we just roll this **** so it stops appearing on my recent posts?
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    To be honest, if you said "I am a health-conscious eater" or "I try to choose consciously" and the right person took it the right way, you'd be the next to be labeled self-righteous or have fifty people ask you, "Why isn't my Cheesecake healthy? It helps me meet my macros and I have room for it in my day. It contains calcium and blah." "Are you implying that the rest of us don't eat consciously?

    And I would say it's simply a matter of eating with attention to your nutrition goals, so sure, nothing about that person eating that cheesecake would not qualify. It might not work with my specific goals, in part depending on how much I like cheesecake and the specific recipe, but focusing on health conscious eating does not define any foods as bad in and of themselves or for everyone. That's why I don't think that can be fairly called self-righteous in the same way.

    I think for others it is an identity, as redtree said, and the same is important, it relates to their food as purer, better, the rejection of processed food is a kind of gnosis, not just personal preference or individual priorities. But I do think I was over generalizing that aspect and there are plenty of people who just fit the prior paragraph. I know I tend to get bugged by words in a way not everyone does. Thinking of it this way does make more sense of the eh 80 percent approach, which was hard for me to square with a real belief in food as clean or unclean--it's certainly not how vegans approach their rules, IME.

    I don't really think anyone should be called self-righteous for their diet until they are actually being negative toward others. ("I try to keep my diet clean" versus "I won't eat dirty food like the rest of them.")

    It's definitely not how vegans approach their rules. We're a pretty self-policing group. :laugh: That's why I refer to myself as a vegan but not a clean eater. The 80/20 claim to a diet bugs me unless the person is saying "I eat clean about 80% of the time." Not to resurrect the infamous Paleo debates, but I believe there's a big difference between trying to follow the Paleo diet and actually following the Paleo diet.

    Ahhh . . . the Great Paleo Debates of 2013. Brutal, truly brutal. I sincerely hope that humanity has learned and progressed since then . . . *sigh*

    something tells me we have backtracked as a species since then….
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    heating up an egg causes chemical reactions.. it does not add chemicals to the egg

    Anyway. I am not getting into this again. Que Cera Cera hm?

    epic backtrack ..

    you defined processing as chemically altering something and then when someone points out the lunacy of that statement you just say …'oh well, I am not going to comment on that anymore'…wow….
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    To be honest, if you said "I am a health-conscious eater" or "I try to choose consciously" and the right person took it the right way, you'd be the next to be labeled self-righteous or have fifty people ask you, "Why isn't my Cheesecake healthy? It helps me meet my macros and I have room for it in my day. It contains calcium and blah." "Are you implying that the rest of us don't eat consciously?

    And I would say it's simply a matter of eating with attention to your nutrition goals, so sure, nothing about that person eating that cheesecake would not qualify. It might not work with my specific goals, in part depending on how much I like cheesecake and the specific recipe, but focusing on health conscious eating does not define any foods as bad in and of themselves or for everyone. That's why I don't think that can be fairly called self-righteous in the same way.

    I think for others it is an identity, as redtree said, and the same is important, it relates to their food as purer, better, the rejection of processed food is a kind of gnosis, not just personal preference or individual priorities. But I do think I was over generalizing that aspect and there are plenty of people who just fit the prior paragraph. I know I tend to get bugged by words in a way not everyone does. Thinking of it this way does make more sense of the eh 80 percent approach, which was hard for me to square with a real belief in food as clean or unclean--it's certainly not how vegans approach their rules, IME.

    I don't really think anyone should be called self-righteous for their diet until they are actually being negative toward others. ("I try to keep my diet clean" versus "I won't eat dirty food like the rest of them.")

    It's definitely not how vegans approach their rules. We're a pretty self-policing group. :laugh: That's why I refer to myself as a vegan but not a clean eater. The 80/20 claim to a diet bugs me unless the person is saying "I eat clean about 80% of the time." Not to resurrect the infamous Paleo debates, but I believe there's a big difference between trying to follow the Paleo diet and actually following the Paleo diet.

    Ahhh . . . the Great Paleo Debates of 2013. Brutal, truly brutal. I sincerely hope that humanity has learned and progressed since then . . . *sigh*

    something tells me we have backtracked as a species since then….

    There's certainly been some backtracking in this thread
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    To be honest, if you said "I am a health-conscious eater" or "I try to choose consciously" and the right person took it the right way, you'd be the next to be labeled self-righteous or have fifty people ask you, "Why isn't my Cheesecake healthy? It helps me meet my macros and I have room for it in my day. It contains calcium and blah." "Are you implying that the rest of us don't eat consciously?

    And I would say it's simply a matter of eating with attention to your nutrition goals, so sure, nothing about that person eating that cheesecake would not qualify. It might not work with my specific goals, in part depending on how much I like cheesecake and the specific recipe, but focusing on health conscious eating does not define any foods as bad in and of themselves or for everyone. That's why I don't think that can be fairly called self-righteous in the same way.

    I think for others it is an identity, as redtree said, and the same is important, it relates to their food as purer, better, the rejection of processed food is a kind of gnosis, not just personal preference or individual priorities. But I do think I was over generalizing that aspect and there are plenty of people who just fit the prior paragraph. I know I tend to get bugged by words in a way not everyone does. Thinking of it this way does make more sense of the eh 80 percent approach, which was hard for me to square with a real belief in food as clean or unclean--it's certainly not how vegans approach their rules, IME.

    I don't really think anyone should be called self-righteous for their diet until they are actually being negative toward others. ("I try to keep my diet clean" versus "I won't eat dirty food like the rest of them.")

    It's definitely not how vegans approach their rules. We're a pretty self-policing group. :laugh: That's why I refer to myself as a vegan but not a clean eater. The 80/20 claim to a diet bugs me unless the person is saying "I eat clean about 80% of the time." Not to resurrect the infamous Paleo debates, but I believe there's a big difference between trying to follow the Paleo diet and actually following the Paleo diet.

    Ahhh . . . the Great Paleo Debates of 2013. Brutal, truly brutal. I sincerely hope that humanity has learned and progressed since then . . . *sigh*

    That was when I got my first strike, then promptly put almost every paleo eater on ignore.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    I eat a plant based diet with very small amounts of meats. Lots of eggs from home-raised organically fed chickens. I also raise my own meat chickens because I find store bought chicken is gross and smelly. ( not to mention it spoils in about 1/7 of the time that my fresh chicken does. E.coli and salmonella laced poultry is gross.
    I also grind our grain and make homemade bread. Never felt the urge to go gluten free but we don't eat bread everyday.
    Clean eating doesn't make a lot of sense to me. I have a garden but buy fruits and veggies from the store, too. Organic veggies tend to not be as fresh in our rather poor city. So we usually get non-organic, except for bananas.
    I would raise all or most of our veggies if I could and some seasons I'm able to do just that.

    Where do you buy your chicken?

    Come to KC, we have awesome chicken down here. You don't have to eat it BBQ'd, but that's our favorite, to be sure.