What do you consider "Clean Eating" ?

ChrisGoldn

What do you consider "Clean Eating" ??


Discussion among friends had us talking about what we considered what was clean eating and each had some different views.
I'm sure this has been discussed among the boards a few times in the past. So you 1000's + posters Be kind. Alot of new people on the boards now. Besides it could possibly be that what you considered clean then may have changed to gained knowledge on Nutrition.

Please try and keep it focused on the Discussion and not bash people on thier point of views. This is meant to help educate people not bash them.

Thanks

violetfrosts

Clean eating for me just means eating natural food. It really just helps me pick healthy choices- fruit, vegetables, lean sources of protein and whole-grains. I try not to get too obsessive about it and still eat processed foods everyday in moderation.

steadk

to me, clean eating is eating foods that haven't been overly processed, recognizable to those a few generations ahead of us. However, I feel that breads and pastas can be a part of clean eating as long as they are made without the added chemicals/processed ingredients found in most store bought bread.

It's my goal to eventually get to a completely clean diet, but i know that will take time that I haven't learned to manage yet.

acciomuscles

Eating natural/whole/unprocessed foods. I avoid most things that come in a box or bag, but I do use egg whites from a carton, whey protein powder, store-bought nut milks, and the occasional Boca burger.

Doomfrog

Not eating anything that doesn't come in its own package (in general). We of course have to make exceptions for things like yogurt and milk, etc.

sarahcuddle

I would say eating less processed food and trying to eat healthier, so more fruit and veg, lean protein and complex carbs like brown rice and wholegrains

MariarR33

Clean eating to me means eating mostly foods that are fresh. If it can go bad within 2 weeks or so, I would say it's clean. Also, foods with few ingrediants in it. ANything in there that you can't pronounce is probably not clean.

krypt5

What it means to most people is probably eating mostly whole, minimally processed foods. To me, clean eating is not a very quantifiable concept as the meaning can vary.

Victoria2448

Unprocessed (nothing from a box) Limited ingredients, organic when possible.

NO GMO!

karylee44

to me.. eating more fresh foods.. less process foods.

MereExtraordinaire

Sounds like everyone is on basically a similar page here. To me, when I hear "clean eating", I think of just eating a diet with very few processed foods. As someone said before, this probably includes a few things like bread and pasta, but things like processed cereals and such seems to be not included.

ironanimal

Eating, primarily, natural whole foods; meat, fruit, vegetables, dairy, nuts, grains.

I don't believe it's necessary to completely avoid man-made foods however. Chocolate and Bread should be a part of any healthy diet :P

UponThisRock

A need to see a disease-free recent STD test.

treetop57

To me it means foods that have been washed and haven't been on the floor for more than five seconds.

AmyB_1992

For me it's eating 250 calories or under in each meal and having up to 3 snacks under 100 calories each.


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transfixedtoast

When I say I'm "eating clean" I have to follow these rules. No oil, no dairy, fat free soy milk is ok, wheetbix are ok, light tuna in water is ok, vegetables are ok as long as they're steamed, no sugar, no carbohydrates except wheetbix, no bananas, no sauces that are oil basssed, no potatoes, no meat except light tuna, no nuts, no sweet potato and definately no processed food. Although I'll admit I do not think this is by any means the definition of clean eating.

twinmom01

Whole clean food - organic and grass fed if possible...

Things that are made up of whole clean food would also fall under this catagory so some "processed" foods i would consider clean - it is basically looking at the label - if there are ingrediants you couldn't purchase as a whole food in a store and make it yourself...then it's not really clean...so things like bread and pastas and cereals - depending on how they are made and what extra ingrediants they have (especially boxed or canned) they could be clean or they could be total crap

That being said i would surmise very few people eat totally clean - there are people out there but it is very hard to do on a consistant basis - I would say I eat about 90% clean and it can be quite difficult at some times, simply for convience sake with working , family, keeping up a house, etc...

epcorne

Ingredients I can pronounce

Dave198lbs

For me it's eating 250 calories or under in each meal and having up to 3 snacks under 100 calories each.

that has nothing to do with clean eating. I call that starving.

akiramezu

For me clean eating would include any organic vegetables, lean meats and fruit. Yeah i have a boring diet. shoot me for it LOL

AmbyrJayde

To me clean eating is washing it before I put it in my mouth.

AmyB_1992

good one AmbyrJayde

AmyB_1992

For me it's eating 250 calories or under in each meal and having up to 3 snacks under 100 calories each.

that has nothing to do with clean eating. I call that starving.

That's about 900 calories, I call it healthy eating, especially considering my daily calorie goal is 1,200

ironanimal

For me it's eating 250 calories or under in each meal and having up to 3 snacks under 100 calories each.

that has nothing to do with clean eating. I call that starving.

That's about 900 calories, I call it healthy eating, especially considering my daily calorie goal is 1,200

Being that you're only 19 years old you should be eating about twice that. Healthy eating is ensuring your body has enough nutrition and energy to carry out it's vital functions, not restricting yourself heavily.

AmyB_1992

For me it's eating 250 calories or under in each meal and having up to 3 snacks under 100 calories each.

that has nothing to do with clean eating. I call that starving.

That's about 900 calories, I call it healthy eating, especially considering my daily calorie goal is 1,200

Being that you're only 19 years old you should be eating about twice that. Healthy eating is ensuring your body has enough nutrition and energy to carry out it's vital functions, not restricting yourself heavily.

I'll up my calories once I lose enough weight.

ironanimal

For me it's eating 250 calories or under in each meal and having up to 3 snacks under 100 calories each.

that has nothing to do with clean eating. I call that starving.

That's about 900 calories, I call it healthy eating, especially considering my daily calorie goal is 1,200

Being that you're only 19 years old you should be eating about twice that. Healthy eating is ensuring your body has enough nutrition and energy to carry out it's vital functions, not restricting yourself heavily.

I'll up my calories once I lose enough weight.

To each, their own but bear in mind cutting your intake that much will slow your metabolism more than a more modest deficit, so you will have to be very careful increasing your intake at your goal weight.

mogletdeluxe

Basically - if my Grandmother wouldn't recognise it, then I try not to eat it.*







* this does not apply all the time. Far from it. But when I knuckle down, that's my definition of clean!

neanderthin

When I say I'm "eating clean" I have to follow these rules. No oil, no dairy, fat free soy milk is ok, wheetbix are ok, light tuna in water is ok, vegetables are ok as long as they're steamed, no sugar, no carbohydrates except wheetbix, no bananas, no sauces that are oil basssed, no potatoes, no meat except light tuna, no nuts, no sweet potato and definately no processed food. Although I'll admit I do not think this is by any means the definition of clean eating.

I have no response to that.

anewme1202

I love this question!!

I just started "clean eating" last week and sure it's only been 10 days, but I feel great. Before I started, I read alot of the "old" posts on here, checked out some websites and books and went and bought a clean eating cookbook.

To say I'm a 100% clean eater would be wrong, but 90% of my diet is clean. To me (and this is just for me) that means ONLY lots of lean protein, fruits and vegetables. Yes, I still do eat bread but I buy it at the Organic Store. The Natural food store has become my best friend. I always read labels before, but I do that even more now. If I can't pronounce an ingredient - I don't buy the product. The labels on the foods I buy have very few ingredients and nothing processed. This wasn't easy because sometimes after a long day of work then the gym the last thing I want to do is cook, but I do alot of cooking ahead of time or I just take time after a busy day and make it because in the long run all that fresh / natural food I'm putting in my body is going to be better for me. No quick fixes here!!

What works for me too is that I still have my favorite foods I love, but I just make a "clean" version of them - there are some great websites that take a recipe and make it clean.

So for me, clean eating means "in it's natural state" but like others have said, the "clean eating" opinion varies.

kdeaux1959

In short it means different things to different people. In general, I think of eating organic foods such as plant and animal based products in a balanced fashion. This is not to say I eat totally clean by that definition. It is much better than it used to be though.

juicyfruitkk

Eating natural/whole/unprocessed foods.

agreed!