Anyone transitioning to "clean eating"?
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"reasonable" is subjective, though. A lot of people don't know what "reasonable" amounts/types/whatnot of food are, hence why they have weight to lose in the first place, excluding medical reasons.
The OP did not state whether they are wanting to adopt a clean diet for overall general health reasons, or strictly weight loss reasons. I think the intelligent assumption is that if someone is cutting out foods high in refined sugar, saturated fats, deep fried foods, preservatives, additives, etc, it will be of benefit to them in at least one way.
Of course it's subjective because it will change from person to person. The point is that they should LEARN to be reasonable. As I have stated many, many, many times on these forums, flexible dieters always succeed more than strict dieters (people who remove foods instead of living with them within moderation). Someone who is trying to lose weight needs to learn to be flexible. This means you don't need to eat processed foods all the time but it also means that you can have it sometimes. There's no downside to consuming some processed foods. What that "some" constitutes will vary from individual to individual. The ultimate goal, though, should be someone being able to eat what they enjoy within moderation while also eating many nutrients from various foods. This type of diet will lead to less psychological stress and more success.
Going from being super lax (why they got fat) to super strict (why they most likely will fail) is the wrong way to go about it (from a statistical standpoint of success). There should be a happy medium. Part of my goal since being on this forum is to make people aware of this. And part of doing this is to remove negative connotations from specific words and to abandon other words entirely (such as clean).
A lot of people hate that I do this because they hold on to these preconceived, erroneous ways of thinking. Doctors and PhDs have told them differently. The media constantly plugs these nonsensical ideas into people's heads while famous trainers tell people things that make no sense. It's hard to combat such alarmism but someone should do it and there are many people on here (Sidesteal, Acg are examples) that try as well.
If you want to be restrictive, fine. I'm simply providing information that is contrary to the erroneous information constantly perpetuated. If you want to argue about it then I'm more than happy to indulge you and provide you my reasoning.0 -
http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-clean-eating/
Wash your food. There, now it's clean. :drinker:0 -
My idea of clean eating, of which I plan to give a bash at this week, is avoiding all things sweet and tempting.
As soon as I eat a chocolate or biscuit I want more.....I cannot stop sometimes!
If you minus the sweet goods from my diet then I would pretty much say I eat very well and healthy, plenty of proteins and fats with fewer carbs (40/30/30)
I can happily bake and eat my version of clean cakes/cookies etc (using alternative ingredients in place of the sugars etc) as a substitute but I also plan to reduce this as I still find I want to eat the entire batch!
I plan to use more dried fruits (with no added sugar), nuts, fat free yoghurt to help me at dessert times.
I think clean maybe is the wrong word, I deffo won't be cutting anything from my diet that would have an adverse effect, I'm not that stupid.
I will rename my 'clean' week- Stop eating s**t week0 -
I plan to use more dried fruits (with no added sugar)
Dried fruits, in my opinion, are one of the worst sources of calories. They're basically tiny little sugar bombs.0 -
I'm not expert on clean eating nor do I truly do it, but I can say when I was really trying to eat clean (i.e. make all my own meals, going low on carbs/bread, hardly any sugar (just naturally sweet things-- fruit)) I felt amazing. Weight slid right off me and I had a lot of energy. One day, I slipped and ate a brownie, a salty snack-- hadn't had enough water or veggies and I felt like a slug! I was falling asleep at work and got a headache.
This is only anecdotal evidence, but I don't see how eating food in its most natural state is harmful. There is nothing wrong with turning a box around to see how many ingredients are in there, etc etc. I don't obsessively try to cut things out, but trying your best to consume "one ingredient" items automatically cuts out a lot of junk.
Good luck! And feel free to add me if you send along a little note
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I plan to use more dried fruits (with no added sugar)
Dried fruits, in my opinion, are one of the worst sources of calories. They're basically tiny little sugar bombs.
Oh for sure, I don't mean eating a handful. More like a couple of dates/prunes instead of chocolaty things.0 -
I'm not expert on clean eating nor do I truly do it, but I can say when I was really trying to eat clean (i.e. make all my own meals, going low on carbs/bread, hardly any sugar (just naturally sweet things-- fruit)) I felt amazing. Weight slid right off me and I had a lot of energy. One day, I slipped and ate a brownie, a salty snack-- hadn't had enough water or veggies and I felt like a slug! I was falling asleep at work and got a headache.
Some people actually fall prey to believing something is bad (psychological) and therefore a negative physical response is produced when that food is eaten. I'm not saying that is your situation but there are many people like that. From a scientific perspective, sugar is sugar regardless of where it comes from. Your body doesn't recognize brownies and apples as different things but instead the molecules that make them up.but I don't see how eating food in its most natural state is harmful.
There isn't anything wrong with it. If anything, there's benefits. But I was simply stating that you don't need to eat foods in their natural states all the time. Eating some processed foods are fine and there are some heavily processed foods (whey, casein, tofu, for example) that are just as good as completely natural foods.0 -
What is your ranch recipe?I've been eating more clean for the last few weeks and I feel so much better. Clean eating, to me, means no (or very little) processed foods...lots of fresh veggies and fruits, whole grains, etc.
It hasn't been a difficult transition at all. I've found wonderful recipes and easy ways to make the foods I like using clean foods.
No need to give up ranch dressing...just make your own! I have an awesome light buttermilk ranch dressing recipe that is to die for!! My family LOVES it!
For every processed food you eat, there are tons of recipes on how to do a homemade version in a healthy way. You just have to google it and then devote time to making it.
It's definitely worth the time! Feel free to add me if you like!0 -
Look at phase one of the south beach diet. It gives a whole list of foods you can consume that advocates clean eating. I am doing it now, but still have about 10-15% of processed food in my diet. Week three now and I’ve lost weight and inches. This was easy for me because it was very close to what I was already eating & overall it wasn’t so bad. Believe me, it will not be as hard as you think!
Good luck!0 -
The first thing I noticed about your post is that you said it would be difficult....the best help you can give yourself at the beginning is to change your thinking to....I want this, its the best thing I could ever do for myself, and I am going to do it. There is no easy or difficult, you just do it because you want to do it. The next thing is sugar is the easiest thing to give up because your cravings go away when you eat the right amount of protein for your body. I know when I crave sugar, my body is asking for protein, and when I am constantly hungry my body is asking for carbs - so I eat a small amount of low fat carbs and the feeling goes away. Once you know what your body wants and needs to feel great you will know how to eat for it. Last - stick to whole foods and learn how to cook with raw ingredients - leave the cans, packages, and bakeries behind.0
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The first thing I noticed about your post is that you said it would be difficult....the best help you can give yourself at the beginning is to change your thinking to....I want this, its the best thing I could ever do for myself, and I am going to do it. There is no easy or difficult, you just do it because you want to do it. The next thing is sugar is the easiest thing to give up because your cravings go away when you eat the right amount of protein for your body. I know when I crave sugar, my body is asking for protein, and when I am constantly hungry my body is asking for carbs - so I eat a small amount of low fat carbs and the feeling goes away. Once you know what your body wants and needs to feel great you will know how to eat for it. Last - stick to whole foods and learn how to cook with raw ingredients - leave the cans, packages, and bakeries behind.
That's really helpful. Thank you!0 -
What is your ranch recipe?I've been eating more clean for the last few weeks and I feel so much better. Clean eating, to me, means no (or very little) processed foods...lots of fresh veggies and fruits, whole grains, etc.
It hasn't been a difficult transition at all. I've found wonderful recipes and easy ways to make the foods I like using clean foods.
No need to give up ranch dressing...just make your own! I have an awesome light buttermilk ranch dressing recipe that is to die for!! My family LOVES it!
For every processed food you eat, there are tons of recipes on how to do a homemade version in a healthy way. You just have to google it and then devote time to making it.
It's definitely worth the time! Feel free to add me if you like!
Here's a link to the recipe:
http://www.fortheloveofcooking.net/2010/05/creamy-low-fat-buttermilk-basil.html
It tastes better than store-bought ranch dressing!!!0 -
eating clean basically is non-processed food right? is ezekiel bread a clean option for bread?0
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I have read several of Toshas books Eat Clean Diet... I do agree with the philosophy and if you can keep your self disciplined and plan ahead it's a good way to eat. Makes you feel better for sure. I have been and on and off clean eater trying my best to be more on than off! Yes Ezekial is great in moderation.0
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I have read the Paleo Diet and the Primal Blueprint. I would love to have enough discipline to stay on that kind of plan because it would help all my allergies , digestive and arthritic like issues. I think I have a carb addiction. I go for a few days without any bread, pasta etc. and then I relapse!0
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eating clean basically is non-processed food right? is ezekiel bread a clean option for bread?
Yes it is.0 -
I have been eating my way of clean for about a month. I dont restrict my diet but what I do is avoid all packaged foods and dont eat anything with ingredients that I cant pronounce. So far it is working really well. I feel amazing and I actually dont crave things like potato chips, chocolate bars, ice cream etc. that were my favourtie comfort foods.0
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Due to severe allergies, I'm reduced to so called "clean eating". I don't eat any processed food, dairy, or any gluten. Any beef or pork that I have is grass-fed as well unless I am traveling out of town. It's not for everyone and can be expensive from a cost and time to prepare standpoint (especially grocery shopping and looking at labels). Imagine what you are doing now to track calories and then remove about half the foods that you eat today.
The positive is that I dropped 20 lbs very quickly after cleaning up my diet of food allergens. I also have a lot more energy than I had before. It works for me as I feel completely lousy if I get off of it for just a little bit.0 -
I do my own version of clean eating. What worked best for me was going completely clean then adding things back in slowly and in reasonable quantities. Flour, white sugar and chemicals are still out for me and might always be. I'm pre-diabetic so I started clean eating to avoid insulin. Being free from carb cravings has been the biggest benefit for me and I don't slug out anymore. I'm in the process of finding the place I can live with for the rest of my life. I'll always be a mostly clean eater.0
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