A dirty clean diet?

chubbychristianchick

I've been thinking about nixing the processed junk out of my diet... fiber one bars, granola bars, protein powders, sweeteners, refined sugars, refined flour, fruited yogurts, preservatives, additives, and any other unpronounceable toxic garbage that I feel may be hindering my weight loss and healthy living... I want to feel healthier and feel like my body is not being damaged by the 'healthy' foods I eat.

Here is where I am confused.... I understand a clean diet to be eating foods as close to its natural state as possible with little processing? Or that's how it was explained to me by several people.... So I have been looking at different websites and recipes and from what I gather you still eat plenty of processed food you just make it all yourself? Or buy if available incredibly expensive alternative to the readily available foods.

I understand that it's higher quality ingredients because they are ingredients that you pick yourself but I don't see how pancakes with cranberry syrup (from cleaneatingmag.com) is actually a healthy food? or how nutritiously it would be any better than some bisquick pancake mix and aunt jamima syrup.

So I'm looking for people who do a clean diet or clean lifestyle to give me so advice and input here.... is the clean diet really not that clean after all?

Acg67

http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-clean-eating/

rml_16

I've been thinking about nixing the processed junk out of my diet... fiber one bars, granola bars, protein powders, sweeteners, refined sugars, refined flour, fruited yogurts, preservatives, additives, and any other unpronounceable toxic garbage that I feel may be hindering my weight loss and healthy living... I want to feel healthier and feel like my body is not being damaged by the 'healthy' foods I eat.

Here is where I am confused.... I understand a clean diet to be eating foods as close to its natural state as possible with little processing? Or that's how it was explained to me by several people.... So I have been looking at different websites and recipes and from what I gather you still eat plenty of processed food you just make it all yourself? Or buy if available incredibly expensive alternative to the readily available foods.

I understand that it's higher quality ingredients because they are ingredients that you pick yourself but I don't see how pancakes with cranberry syrup (from cleaneatingmag.com) is actually a healthy food? or how nutritiously it would be any better than some bisquick pancake mix and aunt jamima syrup.

So I'm looking for people who do a clean diet or clean lifestyle to give me so advice and input here.... is the clean diet really not that clean after all?

I make my pancakes with a whole grain mix and use pure maple syrup. It's VERY different. My mix doesn't have any processed flour or trans fats in it (you have to buy "heart healthy" Bisquick to nix the trans fats in it) and Aunt Jemima syrup isn't real maple syrup. Read the ingredients.

countrygirl_717

bump

missjelika

bump

crazycat80

For me, clean eating is defined by what's on the box. While reading the ingredients on that package of pancake mix, you're going to see several additives that were made in a lab. I either read the ingredients on the box to make sure I know what they are, or make it myself. I totally agree that eating "cleaner" doesn't always mean healthier in terms of calories, but I revel in the knowledge that what I do eat, my body knows how to digest.

cdstadt

I make my pancakes with a whole grain mix and use pure maple syrup. It's VERY different. My mix doesn't have any processed flour or trans fats in it (you have to buy "heart healthy" Bisquick to nix the trans fats in it) and Aunt Jemima syrup isn't real maple syrup. Read the ingredients.

This.

Or you can just make pancakes with ground up rolled oats. There are TONS of different kinds of flour and they don't have to come from wheat. Spelt's popular too.

Silverkittycat

Good topic title.

Copied from one of my previous posts -

I guess it depends on how you define clean. Many define it as food that is not processed or altered from it's original form, in any way. Right now I'm finding it hard to get raw milk instead of pasteurized and homogenized, so I use organic, not ideal but what can you do. I buy packaged and deli meats and chicken and such because I won't go to a butcher. I don't want to grind my own meat or flour. Cows and chickens running around my backyard are something my city frowns upon.

Same with things in cans - I like tuna from a can or pouch, I know it's processed but I'm okay with that. It's hard to find almonds unprocessed, let alone corn or soybeans that aren't genetically modified. I drink processed coconut water. I eat pasta that comes in a box or bag. Luckily in Florida we've got plenty of fruit and even a few veggies I can get unaltered. I do try to avoid preservatives, additives, pesticides and fungicides and I take part in my local organic food delivery program and our community garden, but I still buy and eat processed food. I guess I really don't want to put the time in to make things like yogurt or spaghetti sauce from scratch.

I respect and admire people that put in the effort to eat clean, it's much more time consuming than most realize.


* I've heard this used a lot to define "clean eating" - If you can shoot it or grow it, eat it!

I have no idea what "clean" means anymore but I like the term dirty clean. :laugh: I go for nutrient dense foods in a diet, and the less processed food I include the easier it is.

Sidesteal

http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-clean-eating/

^ This.

margo36

Pancakes are really easy to make yourself so I'm not sure why anyone would want to buy a mix and you get to control the ingredients as well

prettyfitchick

I see what you are saying never did the clean diet myelf but i did look into becuase sounded like a very healthy idea but after looking i came up with the same questions you did and it seemed expensive and time consuming and I all noticed alotof people who are on the clean diet eat Kashi (hope i spell it right) foods which are out of my price range

treehugginpam

A great book you might want to read is In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan; it totally changed the way I look at food. He says it a lot better than I can, but basically processed foods like Aunt Jemima and Bisquick contain "food" rather than real food. Chemicals, preservatives, things that aren't found in nature but rather processed by machines. The body has a harder time figuring out what to do with this junk, and some of it is just plain bad for you. It's always better to eat real food -- full-fat real butter rather than low fat chemical stuff;maple syrup from trees rather than processed, high fructose Aunt Jemima, etc.

A couple of tidbits from the book that really stuck out for me were "Don't eat anything with ingredients you can't pronounce," "Don't eat anything that your great great grandmother wouldn't recognize as food," and "Don't eat anything packaged that has more than 5 ingredients." That last one is hard to do, but as long as the ingredients in the packaged product are "real" foods, it's not such a big deal.

Basically, eat food, not "food."

starwhisperer

http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-clean-eating/

This is why you are one of my favorite forum people. Always the educated answer!

mrsredneckmorris

Good Topic, I am bumping this so I can follow the thread:)

rml_16

Pancakes are really easy to make yourself so I'm not sure why anyone would want to buy a mix and you get to control the ingredients as well

Because all I have to do is add eggs and milk and fruit if I want it.

Some of us are busy and don't have time to make everything from scratch.

treehugginpam

Pancakes are really easy to make yourself so I'm not sure why anyone would want to buy a mix and you get to control the ingredients as well

Because all I have to do is add eggs and milk and fruit if I want it.

Some of us are busy and don't have time to make everything from scratch.

There are "dirty clean" options for pancake mixes too, if you don't feel like cooking. I think that this one tastes WAY better than Bisquick, and I can buy it at my regular grocery store (no Whole Foods or Trader Joes where I live).

http://www.arrowheadmills.com/product/buttermilk-pancake-waffle-mix


Super yummy, and everything in it is "real." I'd prefer the wheat flour to not be enriched, and it would be more clean to make pancakes from scratch, but at least the ingredients are organic and recognizable. And it really does taste better! Especially with 100% pure maple syrup...mmmm....

Rilke

Ha! I love the term "dirty clean" diet. I now have a way to describe my own diet

rml_16

Pancakes are really easy to make yourself so I'm not sure why anyone would want to buy a mix and you get to control the ingredients as well

Because all I have to do is add eggs and milk and fruit if I want it.

Some of us are busy and don't have time to make everything from scratch.

There are "dirty clean" options for pancake mixes too, if you don't feel like cooking. I think that this one tastes WAY better than Bisquick, and I can buy it at my regular grocery store (no Whole Foods or Trader Joes where I live).

http://www.arrowheadmills.com/product/buttermilk-pancake-waffle-mix


Super yummy, and everything in it is "real." I'd prefer the wheat flour to not be enriched, and it would be more clean to make pancakes from scratch, but at least the ingredients are organic and recognizable. And it really does taste better! Especially with 100% pure maple syrup...mmmm....

Absolutely! I buy one from the co-op market that's all whole ingredients that I can pronounce. :-) It's just quicker and easier.

chubbychristianchick

OK so I was just using the bisquick/aunt jamima as a general reference... What I was really saying was if I take a whole bunch of ingredients and make my own processed food... it would still be processed food just minus some chemicals... I get and completely understand that chemicals are bad that's why I've been looking into and researching this diet.... I however don't think that if I do decide to go this route I would want to make my own processed foods as that would be defeating the purpose...

Maybe that better explains!

Thank you all for your replies thus far.... I find it it be a very interesting topic.

RobynC79

OK so I was just using the bisquick/aunt jamima as a general reference... What I was really saying was if I take a whole bunch of ingredients and make my own processed food... it would still be processed food just minus some chemicals... I get and completely understand that chemicals are bad that's why I've been looking into and researching this diet.... I however don't think that if I do decide to go this route I would want to make my own processed foods as that would be defeating the purpose...

Maybe that better explains!

Thank you all for your replies thus far.... I find it it be a very interesting topic.

I eat 'clean' (ish) by applying the rule that if its industrially processed (i.e., full of additives, preservatives or highly processed stuff), I don't use it. I don't count things I could have made myself using off-the-shelf ingredients as processed and thus not clean. So yes, that does lead me into the conundrum that home made pie and custard is actually the 'better' option than than a frozen 'healthy' dinner, despite containing triple the calories, but that's what portion control is for! Hope that helps you a bit.

rml_16

OK so I was just using the bisquick/aunt jamima as a general reference... What I was really saying was if I take a whole bunch of ingredients and make my own processed food... it would still be processed food just minus some chemicals... I get and completely understand that chemicals are bad that's why I've been looking into and researching this diet.... I however don't think that if I do decide to go this route I would want to make my own processed foods as that would be defeating the purpose...

Maybe that better explains!

Thank you all for your replies thus far.... I find it it be a very interesting topic.

Cooking food is "processing" food. Baking bread is "processing" food.

But if the ingredients you start with are whole and healthy and clean, then the end product is whole and healthy and clean. Bisquick and Aunt Jemima are not whole, healthy or clean in any circumstance, although I do buy the Heart Healthy Bisquick to make bicuits for strawberry shortcake 'cause they're yummy. :-) But I don't eat that often.

countrygirl_717

OK so I was just using the bisquick/aunt jamima as a general reference... What I was really saying was if I take a whole bunch of ingredients and make my own processed food... it would still be processed food just minus some chemicals... I get and completely understand that chemicals are bad that's why I've been looking into and researching this diet.... I however don't think that if I do decide to go this route I would want to make my own processed foods as that would be defeating the purpose...

Maybe that better explains!

Thank you all for your replies thus far.... I find it it be a very interesting topic.

Cooking food is "processing" food. Baking bread is "processing" food.

But if the ingredients you start with are whole and healthy and clean, then the end product is whole and healthy and clean. Bisquick and Aunt Jemima are not whole, healthy or clean in any circumstance, although I do buy the Heart Healthy Bisquick to make bicuits for strawberry shortcake 'cause they're yummy. :-) But I don't eat that often.

I agree. If you start with whole foods, you'll end with a whole product, even if you baked it or cooked it in some way.