What do you consider "Clean Eating" ?

ARDuBaie

Shopping along the outer edges of the store, never venturing into the 'interior' except for tea bags. LOL I'm addicted, what can I say? Of course, there are some thing that don't qualify as clean on the outer edges, but I am aware of them and stay away from them.

mikeyboy

Clean eating to me is when I'm done I don't have to change my shirt. :laugh: If they didn't have it 100 years ago....it's clean!

capnwo85

Washing my hands first.

bcattoes

I consider clean eating as eating only unprocessed or minimally processed foods, without man-made additives.

meg7399

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.

Sadly, you will end up not losing weight after awhile on a calorie intake that is this low.

ARDuBaie

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.

And you will gain back most of the weight because you put your body into starvation mode, causing it to eat your muscle instead of fat and lower your metabolism.

What you need to understand is that you should not eat below your BMR. Those calories are needed to keep your body running. Think of them as the baseline or the minimum needed to survive. Anything above that is icing and you don't need it, but it is nice to have.

If your metabolism is depressed, which is what you are doing by starving yourself, it may not come back. Then you will not be able to eat more than what you are eating now without gaining weight. You are basically setting yourself up for yo-yo dieting. If you want more info, message me.

uniqsol

Ingredients I can pronounce

Haha, love this one!
As I've become more health conscious, paying attention to labels - if there IS one, wink, wink - has been comedy. There is so much excess junk in the majority of food! It's absolutely incredible. :noway:

I try to stick to the rule of: stay to the outside areas of the market & avoid the inner aisles. (Except coffee, tea, cleaning products...you get the idea.) The first few trips to the market like this were kinda weird! I almost felt as though I must have been forgetting something. NOPE. Just leaving behind lots of things that don't work for a healthy approach :happy:

meg7399

The "Eat-Clean Diet" is based on a book of the same name. It was created by fitness model Tosca Reno, who was also a columnist for "Oxygen" magazine. The concept of clean diet dates back to the 1960s, when the raw and whole food movement started. Although Reno modified the diet and made it easier and simpler, the basic principles of eating simple and healthy foods remains.

How it Works
The Eat-Clean Diet requires you to eat only natural foods that contain no preservatives. This means no prepackaged foods, no refined carbohydrates and no sugar. There's no calorie counting, which makes the diet easier to follow. You can eat things from all food groups, as long as you choose the non-processed options. For example, whole brown foods instead of white.



Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/471736-does-the-eat-clean-diet-work/#ixzz1vhRKXVHl

MonicaT1972

Personally for me it's a couple things. No processed foods, no sugar, and no refined carbs. I only consume protein and fruit and veggies for the most part. I will be the first to admit I'm not perfect though, I have the occasional treat.

gemiwing

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.

This- when the definition can be defined then I'll pay attention to it. As it is now? It's people making up their own plan- which is fine- but doesn't exactly convert me.

gemiwing

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

Heeeyyyy some of my best meals have been floor food.

sarahkatara

Thank you for a great introduction to this thread. I've been on MFP since October and though I was eating healthy I've been slipping back into old habits (as long as it fits in my calories, it's pretty much acceptable.) I have new goals now though. I've lost the nearly 30 pounds I want gone, although I'd like to see some fat come off for a loss of about another 5-10 pounds. I am aiming for some serious muscle definition now. I've just started BodyRock TV workouts (AWESOME- bodyrock.tv) and I now realize the importance of a "clean" diet. So for me, starting today, my clean diet will be defined as eating as many fresh foods as possible (fruits, veggies, lean proteins, complex carbs), and stay away from processed foods as much as possible (with the exception of some protein bars here and there). I am especially being conscious about complex vs simple carbs. I've stocked up on sweet potatoes and I'm going to try a variety of recipes since they're complex carbs and are even considered a "superfood" (http://www.livestrong.com/article/45305-superfood/). However, clean eating, to me, means doing your best to have a natural, healthy diet. No one is perfect and in this day and age it is extremely difficult to avoid ALL processed things. I will be happy to keep about 80% of my diet clean, at least. Also, in my mind, clean eating stresses the importance of water too. I've just bought a 75 ounce water jug and am having great success drinking at least one per day, which is 9 cups right there! :drinker:

RistinaWin

I recently had a scare with potential breast cancer, so I was looking into clean eating and have been trying my best to follow it. Organic, fresh fruits and veggies and organic meats. As for processed foods, one rule of thumb I learned in all my reading is that is should have no more than 5 ingredients in it and they should all be pronounceable. I stick to that probably 80% of the time. If I do choose a product that has more than 5 ingredients, they are usually a multitude of fruits and veggies, no added crap.

Loving this topic, love seeing so many people working towards clean eating. Yay for everyone :bigsmile:

spikefoot

Ideally if I can recognize all the ingredients or don't need to read them.

myfitnessnmhoy

"Clean" means "minimal processing" to me.

"Dirty" items generally include items whose calorie load is way out of balance and/or contain little to no nutrition to justify their use in any quantity:
- Most canned items unless I've canned them myself - too much sodium and preservative, items have usually been cooked too much to retain much benefit, etc.
- Deep-Fried anything (stir-fry is OK).
- Froot (my nickname for heavily-processed fruits like sugar-added applesauce, "fruit juice" that contains very small amounts of actual fruit, and pretty much anything that uses the "contains fruit" label in a desperate attempt to appear healthy when it's really empty calories).
- Junk foods like chips, buttered popcorn, candy, or pretty much anything whose preparation involves deep frying, lots of sugar or salt, bleaching, etc.
- Artificial sweeteners.
- Breakfast cereals with a sweetener of any kind as one of the first 5 ingredients.
- White flour or sugar

There are plenty of examples of this. Things that are so calorically inefficient in terms of nutrition that they are best avoided unless you have plenty of extra calories to waste, and let's face it - most of us don't.

That does not mean I never use "dirty" items. I just enjoy them in very strict moderation and make sure I work my nutrients into the calories remaining to me.

If I fall off the wagon one day and gorge myself on a dirty food, I will NOT skip required nutritious items to stay in my calorie deficit - I'll exceed the deficit and take the hit on my weight loss goal. The machine must be fed good food, no matter what.

coleen_d_b

If they didn't have it 100 years ago....it's clean!

^ This.

Anything that is not processed, including full fat dairy, home made breads, real butter, fresh eggs, free range chicken, grass fed beef, lots of fruits and veggies. No cereal.

The book "Nourishing Traditions" defines it for me. My great grandmother lived to 94 eating this way. For me though, the challenge is to eat smaller quantities and exercise enough to offset full-fat foods.

nurserae7

Totally agree!

jameehardey

-unprocessed junk
-stuff my grandys would know!
if its from a plant not made on one
all natural ingrediants i can pronounce
and usually less than 3-5 ingrediants!

nurserae7

Clean eating to me is when I'm done I don't have to change my shirt. :laugh: If they didn't have it 100 years ago....it's clean!

I agree!!

beccyleigh

If it used to have a pulse or grew straight out of the ground then I consider it clean. If you had to "do" something else to it to get it to be an ingredient instead of an end product then it's processed. That includes pasta of any kind.

ChrisGoldn

Great Responses so far... Thank you for keeping it "On Topic" as well...


Thanks Everyone!



(((Knowledge is Power, Power is Success... Gain Knowledge and you will have the power for Success!)))

osualex

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

Haha my favorite answer so far!

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.

And you will gain back most of the weight because you put your body into starvation mode, causing it to eat your muscle instead of fat and lower your metabolism.

What you need to understand is that you should not eat below your BMR. Those calories are needed to keep your body running. Think of them as the baseline or the minimum needed to survive. Anything above that is icing and you don't need it, but it is nice to have.

If your metabolism is depressed, which is what you are doing by starving yourself, it may not come back. Then you will not be able to eat more than what you are eating now without gaining weight. You are basically setting yourself up for yo-yo dieting. If you want more info, message me.

I know, but mfp says I should eat up to 1,200 calories a day to lose weight so 1,200 calories a day I shall eat.

SnowWhite824

Ok, I have a question. I roasted some shrimp with a little EVOO, salt and pepper. Is that concidered "clean"? What about packaged sun dried tomatoes? Don't know if I could make those myself!

twinmom01

Ok, I have a question. I roasted some shrimp with a little EVOO, salt and pepper. Is that concidered "clean"? What about packaged sun dried tomatoes? Don't know if I could make those myself!

to me yes...adding good fats and seasonings is great...things like sun dried tomatoes, check the package and see if it has any type of preservative

there are different variations - but I would consider what you describe as clean...

cyclerjenn

To me it is eating foods that are close to nature. If it is in a box I look to see what the ingredients are, if it is natural, then it's ok.

SnowWhite824

Ok, I have a question. I roasted some shrimp with a little EVOO, salt and pepper. Is that concidered "clean"? What about packaged sun dried tomatoes? Don't know if I could make those myself!

to me yes...adding good fats and seasonings is great...things like sun dried tomatoes, check the package and see if it has any type of preservative

there are different variations - but I would consider what you describe as clean...

The sun dried tomatoes have sulfates in it - its says its put in there to retain the color. Don't know much about sulfates..... I'm guessing that the tomatoes would turn brown otherwise.

cyclerjenn

Ok, I have a question. I roasted some shrimp with a little EVOO, salt and pepper. Is that concidered "clean"? What about packaged sun dried tomatoes? Don't know if I could make those myself!

to me yes...adding good fats and seasonings is great...things like sun dried tomatoes, check the package and see if it has any type of preservative

there are different variations - but I would consider what you describe as clean...

The sun dried tomatoes have sulfates in it - its says its put in there to retain the color. Don't know much about sulfates..... I'm guessing that the tomatoes would turn brown otherwise.

sulfates is a preservative that can cause GI track issues. I would look for another brand of sun dried tomatoes.

BaristaX

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.

why do you hate food so much?

treetop57

I think the people who say "Any food around in my grandmother's day" have no idea how long the American diet has included huge amounts of processed foods. Either that or they are really really old.