How do you eat clean?

newjourney2015

This site for the most part can be supportive but some just have to comment even if it doesn't answer your question or help you in any way. That's the chance you take however posting on an open forum.

Eating clean to me is avoiding sugar, wheat, soy, fast food and processed foods. I also avoid dairy just b/c it doesn't agree with me. I used to have terrible acid reflux and after changing my diet I no longer have it. It's a personal choice and I really don't know why people are so negative about eating clean. It's just a way to eat real food that you have to prepare and cook instead of taking it out of a package or through the window of your car.

Paleo or Primal diets are a form of clean eating. They also get slandered on the forum's here b/c a lot of people don't believe in it. I myself have am going more Paleo (you can google it and get all kinds of information on it instead of asking here b/c you will get slammed with all kinds of Paleo haters.) Primal is a form of Paleo but includes dairy. You will learn by reading lables and ingredients that the things I avoid listed above come in so many different forms. LIke the ingredients listed in the (2) different protein bars. If I were to eat one of those items, I would opt for the one with the fewest ingredients. I most likely wouldn't eat either one b/c they are in a package - but that's just me. It's all about what your personal definition of "clean eating" is if you choose a clean eating lifestyle.

jakidb

Read Tosca Reno's EATING CLEAN RECHARGE; wealth of info

Matt_Wild

Simple.

Does it look like it did when it came from the animal or ground? Eat it!

Does it not? Don't eat it!

Not sure? Don't eat it.

My diet is simple - chicken, beef, eggs, whey and similar for protein, rice and other grains for carbs and oils or peanut butter for fats. Simples!

ninerbuff

I make sure to wash the fruits and vegetables off. If not then you'll taste some dirt on it.:laugh:

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

LoseYouself

I watched the movie hungry for a change and it is scary how processed everything is. Makes me want to try to stray away. It talked about msg which I didnt know goes under many names and said msg makes you fat it makes you want to eat more. So how would you know all these names ?? Also aspartame and what products have that in it besides fake sugars?

I see people making comments about clean eating being different for everyone because vegans don't like animal products, or because people who do the paleo lifestyle won't like grains, dairy, etc. THAT IS NOT THE POINT. Just because someone doesn't consider a food clean for themselves doesn't mean it's not clean eating. Clean eating doesn't mean "I have the perfect diet that everyone should follow, therefore dont' eat meat, grains, etc." I'm vegan, but I'd still consider meat a part of a clean eating lifestyle for someone who DOES eat meat. Clean eating SIMPLY means choosing the chicken breast over the processed chicken nuggets. Or choosing the damn brown rice or oats over a granola bar or white flour. It doesn't mean you leave out entire food groups or catagorize as "good and bad". You just pick the least processed options. It's impossible to avoid processing 100%, so it's about picking the least processed options possible.

For example, the chicken breast would be considered cleaner than chicken nuggets. This is because the meat on them has been mechanically separated (whole chicken bones and all ground up and pushed through a sieve) then made into shapes and coated in a blend of sodium, spices, and chemical ingredients, etc. That is highly processed. Make sense? Or another good example is plain rolled oats made into a bowl of oatmeal with fruit (very clean) VS. a store bought granola bar that has high fructose corn syrup, canola oil, salt, and a bunch of other unidentifiable things usually.

Just ask yourself some basic questions about the food based on the item you're considering. Clean foods are things that occur in nature, that aren't designed by man. Is it something that comes from the earth, such as fruit, veggies, nuts, seeds, whole grains like rice, quinoa, oats? That is clean eating. The less steps taken to change the food, the less processed it is.

j4nash

Cook everything you eat.

Jacwhite22

I have a standard response for this......but I am sitting on two strikes and it would likely get me a third so I will just say. Don't put your mouth by anything dirty.

bcf7683

You should watch Food, Inc.

Rule of thumb - shop the perimeter of the grocery. Everything else in the middle (minus coffee - love my coffee) is usually higher processed.

I get my frozen veggies/fruits in the freezers, nuts in the baking aisle, brown rice in the...some aisle in the middle, spices in the baking aisle, olive oil in the baking aisle, tuna in the canned whatever aisle (here's where everyone jumps on me for eating canned tuna....), natural peanut butter in some middle aisle, wheat bread in the bread aisle...........................

concordancia

Some: baby CUT carrots are just big carrots cut into finger shapes. You can tell the difference in taste.

Jacwhite22

Simple.

Does it look like it did when it came from the animal or ground? Eat it!

Does it not? Don't eat it!

Not sure? Don't eat it.

My diet is simple - chicken, beef, eggs, whey and similar for protein, rice and other grains for carbs and oils or peanut butter for fats. Simples!

Just have to point out whey protein is highly processed. It doesn't naturally fit into the definition set. Not that I don't think you should consume it......just saying.

imfivebyfive

I just think to myself....if this were 100 years ago, and I'm living in a cave, surrounded by jungle, volcanoes and dinosaurs, would this food still be available?

tsh0ck

I make sure to wash the fruits and vegetables off. If not then you'll taste some dirt on it.:laugh:

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

same applies if you drop your cheetoh.

angmarie28

I just watched this yesterday and its scary, and I think aspertame might be the cause of my vertigo attacks that no doctor has been able to find the cause. but now because of this documentry I also want to start eating clean but dont know where too start

Mad_Dog_Muscle

I don't follow any "traditional clean" routine. I still occasionally eat junk, but I try to eat more of a modified Paleo / no processed food diet. I don't follow a strict Paleo, because I don't buy into all of it. I mean, do we really know what cavemen ate?

Another good show to watch that will freak you out is "FOOD, INC". Its on Netflix.

hdlb

You should watch Food, Inc.

Rule of thumb - shop the perimeter of the grocery. Everything else in the middle (minus coffee - love my coffee) is usually higher processed.

I always have to laugh at this rule - shop the perimeter - because the last isle, a perimeter isle, in every single grocery store in our town, is the chip/pop isle. So I guess I shop 3 sides of the perimeter....

We eat fairly "clean", without meaning too. With all the food allergies in our house we can't go out and buy most things, we can go out and buy very few things actually.

TheFinalThird

If it comes in a box or a can - it's processed - not clean.

Whoa... steel cut oats are processed and not clean? I had no idea.

charaxid

I shop around the store, the outside walls...
The way my local grocery store is set up, I enter through the doors and immediate head to the left. Right past the flowers is all the produce.
I pick up any whole fruits and veggies I think will be good that week for meals and snacks.
Then I scoot down the wall a little to look at their chopped/packages fruit and veggies. Sometimes they have sell-by dates that are close, so they're discounted. These fruits & veggies immediately get popped into my blender or juicer when I arrive home, and then portioned out into freezer bags for breakfast smoothies & post work out snacks.
I scurry across the whole veggies & fruit, to the wall of bread. I find the least expensive Whole Grain Wheat bread, with OUT High Fructose Corn Syrup. This requires reading labels and breaking out your calculator to see which is cheapest per slice.
Finally, I head to the back wall where the meats are kept. I first scour the sell-by date section, again... I have a tight budget to live with. I purchase meats I can easily trim the fat off of (whole steaks, chicken breast, pork, etc), or those meats that have 10% fat or less (at least 90% lean). If it looks like I don't have enough meat for the full week, I then move onto seafood and canned tuna, then chicken breasts, then ground turkey, then pork, then beef. I eat about 6 ounces of meat each day between lunch (left overs from a previous dinner) and dinner. These 6 ounces are approximately 170g of protein. Traditional science dictates you should eat about 1 gram of lean protein to each pound of body weight. 6 ounces is just under half a pound, so again this may require a calculator. (Use that smart phone!)
After meats, I go down to the dairy & eggs. I get a 6-pack of eggs and a big carton of egg whites. Egg whites are pasturized just like milk. This means you can use them in smoothies without having to cook the egg whites further. You can also use 1 whole egg & 6 TBSP (2 eggs) of egg whites to make healthier omelets. Also, get skim/nonfat milk --- I don't eat cereal or drink milk, but I cook with it. So I pick up a half gallon, you may need more.
I pick up what ever low fat or fat free cheeses sound good for the meals I have planned. Normally this means mozzerella only, because I like to have cheese & crackers once or twice a week after a morning work out. Even then, sometimes I don't buy any cheese.
After the cheese section is the cream cheese & yogurt. I get 2 Greek Non-Fat plain yogurt tubs, the cheapest per ounce I can find. This goes in smoothies or gets eaten with a piece of whole fruit. It also substitutes a few ingredients while cooking. I eat about a cup and a half per day.
I turn around and head back to the back wall of the store --- after the yogurt comes cookies and ice cream... No good!
From the back of the store I access the spice area as necessary --- I stick to salt-free spices only. Olive Oil & Vinegars are in this aisle as well (for home made salad dressings). Read the ingredients. Also down my spice aisle are my freezer bags. I pick up quart sized ones as necessary.
From the front of the store I access the cereal aisle for Oats and Grits. From the front of the store I access the pasta aisle for whole grain pasta and long grain brown rice. Starches are always the very last thing I get.
Then I head to the check out.

Once I get home, while the meat is still soft/refridgerated: I portion it out into 6 ounce freezer bags. Then they get a label written on them with sharpies & they get put in the freezer. This helps me to not over eat and helps the food to last longer. After I portion out the meat, I toss the soon-to-be-expired fruit & veggies in a blender with some water or coconut water (if I have some on hand). The blender gets portioned into freezer bags as well... about 1 cup per back, then they get frozen. Each time I want a smoothie, I grab a bag & a cup of yogurt. smash the bag to make little chunk, toss it into a shaker cup with the yogurt, and add a little water... Shake shake shake.

Each evening, I pull 1 bag of meat out of the freezer & put it in the fridge to thaw to cook the following night. Some nights (like Wednesday) I pull 2 bags out... 1 bag I cooked for dinner Thursday and lunch today. 1 bag I put in the crock pot Thursday and it will be TONIGHT's dinner (after cooking all day) and tomorrow's lunch. Because each bag has 6 ounces of meat in it, you can eat all 6 ounces of meat for dinner, or split it in half so you have 3 for lunch and 3 for dinner. It's up to you, but I think splitting it is better so I have protein all day and I can have multiple types/recipes... Not as boring!

So, that's whole food, clean eating. Make it your self... stay away from boxed/packaged items. Use your freezer & blender to your wallet's advantage.

pfgaytriot

If you can't pronounce an ingredient, you don't need it. Trying to stay away from boxed foods and making everything from scratch is the best way to avoid processed food.

algebravoodoo

Try cooking yourself and buying natural products. Even some vegetables are fake like those small packet carrots

Baby carrots are synthetic? :huh:

Some brands are not real "baby" carrots, meaning they are regular carrots that have been whittled down to size. They are still carrots.

Acg67

If you can't pronounce an ingredient, you don't need it. Trying to stay away from boxed foods and making everything from scratch is the best way to avoid processed food.

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