Point me to 30 days of clean eating resources

kirdyq

Hi everyone,

Due to some health issues, I would like to experiment in eating clean for 30 days to see how I feel. I've had many tests for my issues, but everything always comes back fine (which is good, but also a little frustrating).

I have been limiting dairy in my life for several months now (although not completely eliminating it), and that has done wonders for some of my issues.

Since I've had success in that area, I wonder what cleaning up the rest of my diet would do. I'd like to eat clean for a month and see how it goes. But I've never done it, and I just feel a little overwhelmed with where to start and what to do! Does anybody have any resources that you could point me to?

Thanks!

maidentl

I don't eat "clean" myself, but I do think the recipes can be useful! Here are a couple of sites I frequent:

http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/

Toblave

If you're looking for a 30 day "clean eating" program/resource, then this is the best one out there.

http://whole30.com/

kirdyq

I've heard of that Whole 30 - just briefly skimmed it...it seems very strict. Have you done it? Is it crazy hard to follow? My impression was that there were even some clean foods that it does not allow you to have?

tern73

If you want to eat "clean" then the first thing you need to do is decide what clean means to you. Because it's something different to almost everyone and talking about it usually starts an argument.

If you want to try it and see what happens, I say go for it - maybe you'll like it, and maybe you'll find that it's not for you. But do put some thought into what "it" is before you try "it".

kirdyq

I suppose in my mind, eating clean is eating food that is not processed. Lots of meats, fruits and veggies.

The thing is, I haven't really looked into it much further than that, so it seems daunting to me. So, that I why I've posted this - I'm looking for a resource to guide me, and get me started down the path. I don't want to get so hung up on the intricacies that I don't start to begin with, know what I mean? I'm by no means eating "clean" now, so as long as I start down a decent path, if I eat something that is not clean to one person, but clean to another probably won't make the biggest differnce to me. I just need a guide to get myself started.

martinel2099

I agree with the others, clean can mean just about anything you want it to.

Why don't you start out by reducing some of the processed foods you currently eat. Stop by a local whole foods or Trader Joes. See what it does. I wouldn't cut out processed foods completely but see how it goes.

Also, why don't you try IIFYM, basically you eat at your calorie goal for the day but in addition to that you also make sure you are meeting your minimum amounts of fats, proteins and carbs for the day. Plenty of resources here to explain how to go about that.

kgeyser

I suppose in my mind, eating clean is eating food that is not processed. Lots of meats, fruits and veggies.

The thing is, I haven't really looked into it much further than that, so it seems daunting to me. So, that I why I've posted this - I'm looking for a resource to guide me, and get me started down the path. I don't want to get so hung up on the intricacies that I don't start to begin with, know what I mean? I'm by no means eating "clean" now, so as long as I start down a decent path, if I eat something that is not clean to one person, but clean to another probably won't make the biggest differnce to me. I just need a guide to get myself started.

I'm not sure clean eating is what you are looking for based on what you've said. If you are looking to make changes in your diet, just make them, you don't need a guide. Eat more fruits and veggies. Choose whole grain products, lean meats, and focus on cooking from scratch rather than using pre-made pre-packaged foods. Watch your macros and micros and make sure you are getting what you need.

But since you mentioned health issues, you might be better off talking to your doctor about doing an elimination diet. Basically you would cut out foods that cause allergies and irritations, then slowly add them back in and see how they affect you to determine if a certain food is causing or exacerbating your health issues. Your doctor or a dietician would have information about how to do this along with a guide of what to eliminate and when to add foods back in. If you suspect you do have an allergy or sensitivity, you need to figure out what causes it, as even "clean" foods could contain whatever is impacting your health.

Toblave

No, I haven't done the Whole30 in it's entirety. I've been pretty close before but haven't followed it strictly though I've considered it.

kirdyq

What is a macro and micro? Haha - I know nothing!

I've discussed my issues with my doctor at length, and have done food sensitivity screenings to know what to look out for, and have avoided those specific items accordingly.

After all the tests, including the sensitivity screenings, bloodwork, etc. I still have some unresolved issues. I am hoping cleaning up the diet might help. Sometimes tests miss things,so I do not completely trust them. For example, in the sensitivity testing that I did, dairy did not come up at all, so I didn't avoid it. I was still feeling sick as a dog, so I decided to cut it out. A lot of my symptoms went away.

Thanks for the suggestions, and if anyone else has some helpful hints as to where to go for good recipes (family friendly would be awesome), shopping tips, tricky things to avoid, etc., it would be greatly appreciated!

lemurcat12

I've heard of that Whole 30 - just briefly skimmed it...it seems very strict. Have you done it? Is it crazy hard to follow? My impression was that there were even some clean foods that it does not allow you to have?

If you want to figure out if you have food sensitivities or just feel better without some foods, Whole30 seems like a good approach (although I'm not doing it since I know I'm good with dairy and their reasoning for cutting out potatoes made no sense to me, and plus I feel good as is).

Beyond that, I don't know what you mean by it cutting out "clean" foods. That doesn't really mean anything; there aren't foods defined in the dictionary or by scientists as "clean" or not. It's about how they affect individuals. I mean, what's "unclean" about dairy other than the fact that you personally have issues with it (or lactose or whatever)?

Same with wheat or any other food people have issues with. My sister can't eat avocados, but they aren't "unclean."

lemurcat12

I'm by no means eating "clean" now, so as long as I start down a decent path, if I eat something that is not clean to one person, but clean to another probably won't make the biggest differnce to me. I just need a guide to get myself started.

This is why you need to decide for yourself what foods you are concerned might be causing you issues and experiment with them. There's not some resource (other than by frauds, IMO) that will tell you how to "eat clean." But if you decide you want to try not eating dairy at all or eliminating gluten (probably not necessary, but try it and see) or the like, there are lots of recipes for doing that.

If you want to eliminate processed foods, you should figure out what you mean by that. Technically lots of undeniably healthy, nutrient dense foods are processed (for example, frozen veggies, baby carrots, frozen fish, yogurt for those of us who eat dairy, etc.), so the blanket "processed" ban seems silly to me. But in any case if you want to know how to eat based on whole foods you don't actually need a special plan. All the many cookbooks I own are about cooking from whole foods. Now, of course many of them have recipes with flour and milk and sugar, etc., because that's a separate issue.

Precision, people! It's almost like there are just buzzwords that mean nothing that people are using.

kirdyq

Ok, guys. I didn't want to get into some technical debate here. I didn't want to go into specifics on issues that I have already discussed with my doctors, and I didn't want to get into specifics regarding the testing I've went through for food sensitivities, and all of my eliminations that I've already went through in finding those.

I am simply looking for some good websites or books that center around people who want to start eating clean.

WalkingAlong

This is my favorite book on eating/food.

http://michaelpollan.com/books/in-defense-of-food/