Clean Eating Club - Monday 11/17

cherapple

What is clean eating?

In a nutshell, eating clean is the practice of eating whole, natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and complex carbohydrates. It also means staying away from the junk that typically makes up the Standard American Diet (S.A.D) These types of food include man-made sugar, bad fats (hydrogenated, trans-fat), preservatives, white bread, and any other ingredients that are unnecessary. An easy way to remember if a food is clean is: “if man made it, don’t eat it.”

A person that eats clean generally practices the following:

* Eliminates refined sugar
* Cooks healthy meals
* Packs healthy meals
* Makes healthy choices when dining out
* Drinks a lot of water
* Eats 5-6 small meals per day
* Eliminates alcoholic beverages (or significantly limits it)
* Always eats breakfast

from http://www.eatingcleanworks.com

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I hope to get this thread going earlier tomorrow. This "club" is for anyone who wants to eat more natural, "cleaner" foods. You don't have to follow the diet perfectly. I've made it for two days without sugar and feel great! Who will join me?

Cheryl

cherapple

What is clean eating?

In a nutshell, eating clean is the practice of eating whole, natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and complex carbohydrates. It also means staying away from the junk that typically makes up the Standard American Diet (S.A.D) These types of food include man-made sugar, bad fats (hydrogenated, trans-fat), preservatives, white bread, and any other ingredients that are unnecessary. An easy way to remember if a food is clean is: “if man made it, don’t eat it.”

A person that eats clean generally practices the following:

* Eliminates refined sugar
* Cooks healthy meals
* Packs healthy meals
* Makes healthy choices when dining out
* Drinks a lot of water
* Eats 5-6 small meals per day
* Eliminates alcoholic beverages (or significantly limits it)
* Always eats breakfast

from http://www.eatingcleanworks.com

____
I hope to get this thread going earlier tomorrow. This "club" is for anyone who wants to eat more natural, "cleaner" foods. You don't have to follow the diet perfectly. I've made it for two days without sugar and feel great! Who will join me?

Cheryl

michlingle

Probably don't eat as clean as I should, but I do pretty well. I enjoy "non-clean" foods like granola bars and my frosted shredded wheat, not too terrible. Here's a really good recipe though that I made for dinner tonight-sounds clean to me! It was delicious!

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1654648

So good...I added chicken breast too!

stylistchik

OOOH I would love to join!! I tried to go totally "green" this summer with reusable everything, walking to work, i boycotted the gym (ran outside, rollerbladed, etc.) and went for organic / natural / non-processed foods! well... I live in minnesota and now it's 35 degrees outside so I have accepted the gym and my car again! haha but I have been trying to reduce my sugar intake (just for health's sake) and also processed foods... this club sounds like perfect motivation!

cherapple

That recipe looks delicious, michnthecity. I never thought of making chili with chickpeas. I'll have to give a try -- with chicken. It looks like the perfect clean meal to me. (I am no expert on clean eating, either -- just trying to learn.) Thanks!

Cheryl

cherapple

Hi, mmkammerer. It's great to have you!

I live too rurally to give up my car, and the gym -- although it isn't my favorite place -- is the only thing keeping me sane right now because I can't run. There's nothing more that I want to do than run outside, but it's been one physical problem after another this year. I'm hoping by spring I'll be back in business, and I hope to be "lean and mean" and ready to go! Do you run a lot?

Cheryl

ACMEFit

I will! I am a huge clean eater...I even get Clean Eating magazine and Oxygen magazine! This is how everyone who wants to have a healthy lifestyle should eat!

cherapple

Yay, Evon! You can tell us how you do it.

may_marie

hello all !!

i was doing my best to eliminated man made food even before i knew what clean eating was
i just makes sense !!!

ive meet people that made there own bread, and pasta and peanut butter.. and much more. i really appreciate their efforts but i find it very time comsuming. and in the end you end up eating a very strict diet since you dont get a big variety of food..

so... instead i decided that it would be better to eat jar and canned stuff only when necessary, such as bread, peanut butter, jams, butter, pasta, orange/apple juice (even though i have a juicer, so no excuse) even pasta sauce, but all organic and whole wheat.

im also vegetarian, and eat the quorn and similar products... witch i doubt are very clean..

well after typing all of this, maybe i dont eat very clean after all..lol.
at least i dont eat anything white, or refined.

anyways .. i cant wait to see how you guys are getting on !!
and maybe learn some tips and tricks

Angiebangie

I eat clean almost all the time, but you know, I love sweets! So if I'm at book club on Thursday and someone brings that ooey, gooey, crispix mix with the chocolate, I'm going to eat it! Otherwise, I don't eat junk, it's not even in my house, except for kid snacks, like goldfish and such, but I don't eat them. I feel so good when I'm eating naturally, and have long since switched out all refined carbs, cut sugar out, I use agave nectar, but am always looking for people to talk to about eating this way, don't want to drive all my close friends and family nutzo with all this talk, they can only take so much!

Good group, keep this one up!

jessmomof3

Ooh, love the CEC idea!! I've been eating *cleaner* for about 3 years now and have been amazed at the changes. I started about 4 years ago cutting out white flours and sugars and keep reading and learning more. I've read Tosca Reno's Clean Eating book, the Abs Diet, and am now reading Precision Nutrition. A lot of it is on *when* to eat also instead of just *what* to eat.

It's been a good thing for my family too. My kids know how to make healthy choices, my dh has lost weight, etc. I do use jarred and canned things, but try to buy the organic spaghetti sauce, and try not to buy anything w/ High fructose corn syrup, trans fats, or MSG. (migraine is an MSG trigger for me) I just feel better when I'm eating clean! :bigsmile:

So are we just sharing recipes, ideas, foods?

may_marie

i went to do the shopping today

our local grocery store normaly has a good selection of organic products of all kind,, its got the organic home brand.. so its good.. but today they ran out of everything it seems.. very annoying.
i did buy non organic stuff.. but i dont like the idea...

i did cost a lot less it seemed though ..

my bf said he was thinking that with the economic being so bad people dont have the money to spend on organic food.. so the businesses are not so keen to have so much organics around.

not fun

TRLTAMPA

I know this is an older thread but it's the first one I found on my search.....anyway, I'm trying to find ways to eat clean on a budget. With 4 kids and an out of work husband, I'm counting pennies.

TRLTAMPA

bumping

cherapple

Hey, TRL :happy:

I just sent you a PM. As I said there, I think clean eating saves money because you can take all the processed foods off your shopping list and just buy what's essential for optimal nutrition. For example, one's shopping list might look like the one below. Obviously you won't need to buy every item every week, and you probably will have your own favorites from the list, or even add a few of your own:

Clean Food List

PROTEINS
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast
Tuna (water packed)
Fish (salmon, seabass, halibut)
Extra Lean Ground Beef or Ground Round (92-96%)
Protein Powder
Egg Whites or Whole Eggs
Ribeye Steaks or Roast
Top Round Steaks or Roast (aka Stew Meat, London Broil, Stir Fry)
Top Sirloin (aka Sirloin Top Butt)
Beef Tenderloin (aka Filet, Filet Mignon)
Top Loin (NY Strip Steak)
Flank Steak (Sir Fry, Fajita)
Eye of Round (Cube Meat, Stew Meat, Bottom Round , 96% LeandGround Round)
Ground turkey, Turkey Breast Slices or cutlets (fresh meat, not deli cuts)
Soy Burgers
Low-fat cottage cheese
Plain low-fat yogurt
Low-fat milk
Unsweetened soy milk

SLOW BURNING/COMPLEX CARBS
Oatmeal (Old Fashioned or Quick Oats)
Sweet Potatoes (Yams)
Beans (pinto, black, kidney)
Oat Bran Cereal
Rye Cereal
Grape Nuts
Brown Rice
Farina (Cream of Wheat)
Multigrain Hot Cereal
Whole wheat or Spinach Pasta
100% Stoneground Whole Wheat Bread

FIBROUS CARBS
Green Leafy Lettuce (Green Leaf, Red, Leaf, Romaine)
Broccoli
Asparagus
String Beans
Okra
Spinach
Bell Peppers
Brussel Sprouts
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Celery
Cucumber
Eggplant
Green or Red Pepper
Onions
Pumpkin
Garlic
Tomatoes
Zucchini

FRUIT
Apples
Grapefruit
Peaches
Strawberries
Blueberries
Raspberries
Lemons or Limes
Bananas

HEALTHY FATS
Natural Peanut Butter
Olive Oil or Safflower Oil
Nuts (peanuts, almonds)
Flaxseed Oil
Coconut Oil

BEVARAGES
Green Tea
Other Tea (without sugar)
Coffee (without sugar)

CONDIMENTS
Mayonnaise
Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce
Reduced Sodium Teriyaki Sauce
Balsamic Vinegar
Salsa
Hot Peppers and Hot Sauce
Chili powder
Mrs. Dash
Steak Sauce
Sugar Free Maple Syrup
Chili Paste
Mustard
Extracts (vanilla, almond, etc )
Low Sodium beef or chicken broth
Plain or reduced sodium tomatoes (sauce, puree, paste)
Stevia (natural sweetener)

TRLTAMPA

One question....how in the world is Mayo on the list?

cherapple

One question....how in the world is Mayo on the list?

Yes, I was wondering that one myself! :laugh: I think I got the list from a body building website, and as I said, I don't agree with everything or buy everything on the list. Mayo doesn't belong, in my opinion, but anything is fine in moderation, I suppose! :bigsmile: You can eat clean 80 to 90 percent of the time and still receive the benefits.