Clean Eating

ninerbuff

I am actually quite surprised by the negative in this post. I heard great things about this forum, and was anticipating supportive comments from people trying for essentially the same thing. C'mon everyone, I was all hyped up!

It's not negative, it's just not in agreeance with what you may believe is true. There is a lot of misinformation given out by the fitness and diet industry that pertains to food. Inherently, there really is no "bad" food. There are just foods that have great nutrient value and others that don't.
As I mentioned, one doesn't have to do a full 180 on their current diet, but just look at where they might be lacking nutritional value and fill that void with some whole food.
There's nothing wrong with going completely "clean" if that's your choice. If we're going with statistics though, 90% of all people who do drastic dietary changes to lose weight, regain due to sustainability. Will you be one of the 10% who succeed? No idea, but just based on percentages, maybe reassess and really ask yourself if your committed to eating that way for the rest of your life. Remember, that may mean attending parties or functions where your food choices may not be accommodated. Best of luck.

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

Alluminati

Unfortunately there are some very unsupportive people on this forum. On the other hand it's good to get a different (ie negative) perspective. Clean eating is great and your body will love you for it. If you can't stick to it 100% though don't beat yourself up about it - be happy if you can manage 80/20. Best of luck.

Who is being negative? Good grief.

strds

I myself like the idea of clean eating, and try to as much as possible. There are the odd things I will have but I stay well away from the really processed stuff like biscuits, museli bars, processed meats etc. I believe our bodies were not designed for all the processed foods we eat today.

Alluminati

I started this thread because I heard that this was a supportive place. I guess when you are about to embark on a new journey you hope there is a place to go to make it a little easier and a little better.

They are giving you things to keep in mind if you are going on your "clean eating" diet. They are trying to make it easier and better. Good Lord. It's posts like these that remind me of why the forums boggle my mind.

nutmegoreo

I am actually quite surprised by the negative in this post. I heard great things about this forum, and was anticipating supportive comments from people trying for essentially the same thing. C'mon everyone, I was all hyped up!

You are getting support, just not in the way you anticipated.

There are certain foods I find difficult to keep in my house because I want to eat the whole package, so I understand what you are saying. The problem comes in with labeling foods as "clean." The underlying implication is that all other foods are "dirty," which can lead to feelings of guilt and failure if you chose to eat something on your forbidden list. What people are suggesting is to abandon the labels and enjoy your food.

Reach your calorie goal, eat back at least 50-75% of your exercise calories, and don't get frustrated over a stall or even a gain on the scale. Patience and time are the things you need on your side. :flowerforyou:

ETA: take measurements, do not rely on the scale, it will lie to you!

paperpudding

Gosh, nothing in this thread seemed negative or unsupportive to me.
One poster made a joke about cleaning an apple before eating it ( we are allowed to have a little joke, I think) and others gave realistic advice about not going overboard and crashing by being too restrictive.

How is this negative or unsupportive?

missiontofitness

Piggybacking on the "moderation" posts already made.
I do try to incorporate what are labeled as "clean" foods into my diets; fruits, vegetables, ect. But you'll have to rip out my daily Dunks iced coffee (or two) out of my cold dead hands before I ever give it up.

If you feel like you're tempted by foods you normally overeat, definitely take them out of the house until you think you are in a place to manage them in moderation. What I've found is having a food scale (have had one for less than a week now) helps tremendously. It helped me figure out portion sizes, and can also be beneficial for me to weigh out my snacks properly. If you don't want to cut out all the things you love, I'd recommend investing in one. They're inexpensive, and I got mine for $24 at Walmart. Pre-portion out all your snacks into serving bags, even write macro info on the bags if you have to if it will help you evaluate your food choices better, and curb overeating (if you can see you'll be eating 20-40g of fat from eating 3 bags of your snacks, it's a helpful visual).

Other than that, congrats on your decision to make a change in your life, and I wish you luck.

Confuzzled4ever

This will be my first step in starting my weight loss (HOPEFULLY!) I am hoping that starting to eat healthier will give me more energy, and will give me the boost to start working out. I know that most food in moderation is ok, but I also know that if there is a package of cupcakes here I will eat them.... all.

Same problem. I can't eat 1. I eat them all, whatever it is. Doesn't matter. and the evidence is all over my diary. Oh well. I don' crave the foods.. I don't even like most of them.. but if they are in the house I want them, and I don't stop at one.. even if I tell myself I will and walk away after 1.. I always end up right back there.. Some people don't have that issue.. they can do this moderation thing.. Lucky them. :~)

You can do this!! Don't buy the stuff. It's a lot harder to eat it, if you don't buy it. My weakness is the bakery markdown section at the grocery store. I recommend staying away from there!! (what???!! 8 donuts for a 1.40!! awesome!.. well no not awesome.. lol)

Just be aware..Most of those who you are viewing as being negative actually eat the way you are talking about eating.. with a cupcake or two thrown in.. they just don't like the term 'clean" It's nothing more then that..

ninerbuff

I started this thread because I heard that this was a supportive place. I guess when you are about to embark on a new journey you hope there is a place to go to make it a little easier and a little better.

It's a great place to get support if you're willing to be objective. Not everyone is going to agree with approaches (vegan, Paleo, clean eating, low carb, low sugar, etc), so you'll hear objections to your approach. It's not about just being "rah, rah" and "you go girl". You'll get a lot of good insight from people who are well versed in nutrition and exercise with evidence supported from peer reviewed study. Good support means not only help and backing, but correct information so you don't waste your money or time.
Read some of the posts. Clean eating MAY include a lot of cooking an prepping yourself, so that's something to into consideration. It looks very easy on paper, but because there is so much industrialization in the food industry, you might have to spend some extra money or time searching for recipes or foods that fit your approach. Again look at the responses objectively.

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

SKME2013

I started this thread because I heard that this was a supportive place. I guess when you are about to embark on a new journey you hope there is a place to go to make it a little easier and a little better.

You need to forgive some people here. This topic is a dead horse, it has been beaten to death. Just search for the term clean eating and you will know what I mean.

Personally, I am with you. I am close to maintenance and lost my weight relatively easy. I am convinced it had to not only to do with cutting calories, but also in making healthier choices. I cut Coke from my diet completely (6 months now), no more pop or in fact any drinks with calories and I am now on water, green tea, and lemon infused water, very rarely an espresso. I do not drink alcohol anyhow so that was easy.

I eat much more veggies than ever before and by doing this, you fill yourself up with low calorie food so there is not so much space for other food. I cut out pizza, pasta (not 100%, but instead of three times a week! three times a month), as little as possible processed food. I got myself a top of the range blender and make myself healthy veggie smoothies that last me for nearly a whole day, so no need for snacking. No more cakes or biscuits, the only vice I still have is my beloved vanilla ice cream.

My life is now about healthy food choices, lot's of exercises (the best investments I made this year was a good pedometer and a sports watch with heart rate monitor), much more sleep that I used to get (I am trying for 8 hours), lot's of fresh air (the dogs love me for that as their walkies went up from around the block to somewhere between 5 and 7km daily).

Anyhow, just do not make too many changes at the same time as it gets tricky to keep them all up. As for the friendliness on this forum, unfortunately you will see that this lacks. And before somebody grills me for that, there is constructive criticism and there is plain out rudeness, bordering on bullying. I don't care as I have a thick skin, but do not let it get to you. Just ignore the comments that are not constructive.

If you want, you can add me as your friend and we can support each other.

Best of luck with your journey.
Stef.

jjplato

I am actually quite surprised by the negative in this post. I heard great things about this forum, and was anticipating supportive comments from people trying for essentially the same thing. C'mon everyone, I was all hyped up!

Ha! Welcome to the MFP message boards :-)
You'll find the occasional cranks on these threads, and some folks have pretty strong opinions on this stuff, but don't let it get you side tracked. Most of the people who respond are well-meaning, even if they disagree with you.

I eat (mostly) clean -- lots of whole foods, veggies, lean meat, fruit, whole grains... I was never a huge processed food junkie, so it wasn't that hard to give up the few food vices I had. But I like to cook, and I like to try new things, so I've had fun eating things I've never tried before, like ancient grains.

One of the best things about eating clean, for me, is that the food is a lot more filling. I sometimes found it hard to put away 1800 calories of grilled skinless chicken breast, pork loin, oatmeal, beans, spinach salad, brown rice, nuts, etc, and there were very few times that I felt uncomfortably hungry.

So if you like to cook, you can find some fantastic recipes for meals that taste way better than the processed crap, are more filling, and a lot better for you.

Good luck!

misskelly427

Maybe negative wasn't the right word, but I guess I was anticipating posts from other members who believed in this type of diet. Essentially I am just trying to get healthy like everyone here is trying to do. Thank you all for your opinions. I know changing your diet is hard, and also that lots of people fail, but life is better when you find people to share your journey with.

misskelly427

Lol!
Perhaps I should have searched for "clean eating" threads before I started one. I was just excited after my app download!

Yagisama

Maybe negative wasn't the right word, but I guess I was anticipating posts from other members who believed in this type of diet. Essentially I am just trying to get healthy like everyone here is trying to do. Thank you all for your opinions. I know changing your diet is hard, and also that lots of people fail, but life is better when you find people to share your journey with.

So you pretty much just wanted to post in an echo chamber with others who agree with your approach and cheer you on with no real objective discussion.

If that's what you want, there are groups dedicated to "clean eating" such as this:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/133-clean-eating-group

Good luck!

SingingSingleTracker

Clean eating will change your health and hopefully your weight. I disagree that it is all calorie counting. I eat weight (sic) more calories than I am supposed to but I eat very clean and healthy and I lose half a pound a day.

Nbody questioned JennyHolly's statement above?

She eats way more calories that she is supposed to, but because they are "clean" she is losing a 1/2 pound a day????!!!!!

JennyHolly - either you are still eating a huge calorie deficit, or something is not lining up at all with your story. I would be very curious to know how you can eat "way" more calories than you are supposed to and still lose a 1/2 pound per day.

ninerbuff

Maybe negative wasn't the right word, but I guess I was anticipating posts from other members who believed in this type of diet. Essentially I am just trying to get healthy like everyone here is trying to do. Thank you all for your opinions. I know changing your diet is hard, and also that lots of people fail, but life is better when you find people to share your journey with.

Food is just one part of becoming healthy. Here are some of the others that directly affect health:

Being very overweight/obese
Lack of exercise
High stress
Lack of sleep/rest
Genetics
Risk behavior (drugs, sky diving, etc.)
Environmental risk (air, noise)
Mental issues

Eating right is just a portion of good health.

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

ninerbuff

Lol!
Perhaps I should have searched for "clean eating" threads before I started one. I was just excited after my app download!

It's good you're excited about CHANGE. Knowing more about what it really takes to change is good too.

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

ninerbuff

Clean eating will change your health and hopefully your weight. I disagree that it is all calorie counting. I eat weight (sic) more calories than I am supposed to but I eat very clean and healthy and I lose half a pound a day.

Nbody questioned JennyHolly's statement above?

She eats way more calories that she is supposed to, but because they are "clean" she is losing a 1/2 pound a day????!!!!!

JennyHolly - either you are still eating a huge calorie deficit, or something is not lining up at all with your story. I would be very curious to know how you can eat "way" more calories than you are supposed to and still lose a 1/2 pound per day.

I read it and forgot to respond.

No WAY in the world can one exceed TDEE and lose weight. Now if WAY more calories for her is 1400 over 1200 (correct deficit is say 1500), then I can see that.

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

Confuzzled4ever

Maybe negative wasn't the right word, but I guess I was anticipating posts from other members who believed in this type of diet. Essentially I am just trying to get healthy like everyone here is trying to do. Thank you all for your opinions. I know changing your diet is hard, and also that lots of people fail, but life is better when you find people to share your journey with.

Food is just one part of becoming healthy. Here are some of the others that directly affect health:

Being very overweight/obese
Lack of exercise
High stress
Lack of sleep/rest
Genetics
Risk behavior (drugs, sky diving, etc.)
Environmental risk (air, noise)
Mental issues

Eating right is just a portion of good health.

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

Eating right is only a portion of it, but it can dictate so much of the rest of that list..

For what it's worth.. when I stay away from a lot of processed/sugared up foods. It alleviates most of those.. obviously not environmental, but I sleep better, feel less stressed, have more energy, feel like exercising and do so more, and I lose weight quicker and easier. Reducing stress and increasing sleep also helps with "mental issues" to an extent. Those are my results. Yea I know n=1 "studies" are dismissed on these forums.. but the only results I care about are the ones that help me, so those results matter to me.

(Of course I realize that if I am losing weight quicker and easier I am eating less, but that doesn't happen when I do not eat clean foods)

I am wondering what sky diving has to do with health though.. perhaps inherent stress due to risk factor??

misskelly427

Sorry if there are members here who are offended by the term "clean eating". I obviously did not coin this term. Nor do I think anyone eats "dirty".