Anyone start eating clean only to obsess about food?

I think it is really important to move away from the concept of 'good' foods and 'bad' foods and have a more 'everything in moderation' approach.

Yes, there are foods that are very sugary, very rich in saturated fats or trans fats, very rich in sodium, very full of all sorts of artificial additives and very low on good nutrients and if you really really crave them, have some maybe once a month, so you don't feel trapped in the 'I will never be able to eat this or that'.

I believe it is more helpful to think of food as a continuum, not as a good and bad category. Read the food labels and develop a habit of preferring lower fat, lower sugar, lower sodium and richer nutrient produce. It is a long process to shift your preferences.

I personally have never liked any added sugar and have not even had any sugar at my kitchen cupboard for the past 20 years. That has 'shaped' my taste buds, so I am very choosy about my desserts as most taste sickeningly sweet to me. I do love my 70% dark chocolate and have some every day, without any guilt whatsoever.

As for other carbs, the question of whether carbs are bad or good baffles me. We do need carbs. And though I know there are many who swear by very low carb diets and, while it may be right for them, I question the sustainability of such diets and their long-term benefits for most people. There are loads of carbs in fruit, vegetables, whole grains and you don't want to deprive yourself from these.

To be quite honest, I feel I am missing this concept of 'eating clean'. As a European I have always felt that fast food and processed food have been out of my sphere of relevance and food is just food, not something 'dirty'.

A friend on here suggessted I eat clean. I found the more I tried to do this the more I started obsessing about food. One of my biggest downfalls are air popped popcorn and fiber bars (south beach is a favorite) I don't know what to think anymore...carbs? Good or bad? Eating clean? The way to go? I have been stuck at a plateau for about two months. I have about 15 more pounds to lose. I joined a gym (yay me!) and try to go four times a week. I was anxious to try the eliptical which I have found is a very hard machine and beats my *kitten*!!! Anyway... sorry this is ALL over the place...just wondering what everyone else is doing and how they are achieving the goals they have set out for themselves. Any feedback would be appreciated. Please add me if you would like..I love the encouragement and motivation you all give me.
Thank you everyone!

Have you done your BMR and calculated your TDEE? how did you calculate your caloric intake?

you don't need to eat clean to lose weight, you just need to eat a deficit of calories from your maintenance level. secondary to that you need to eat a balanced diet, 5 serves of fruit or vegetables a day, seeds, nuts and protein.

why are you punishing yourself for eating air popped popcorn or the fibre bar? obsessing over food like this is quite dangerous. you need to relax a bit. some people like being raw vegan, it makes them happy, this eating clean thing is only good if its something you want to do, it doesn't actually make a big difference to anything except for making you unhappy.

you shouldn't have to punish yourself to loose weight and i feel you are doing that a bit. it doesnt matter if you go over your cals for the day once a week.

if you have started exercising, you need to add those calories to your MFP and eat more, or your intake will be in the VLCD range, which is very very bad for your body.

I think it is really important to move away from the concept of 'good' foods and 'bad' foods and have a more 'everything in moderation' approach.

Yes, there are foods that are very sugary, very rich in saturated fats or trans fats, very rich in sodium, very full of all sorts of artificial additives and very low on good nutrients and if you really really crave them, have some maybe once a month, so you don't feel trapped in the 'I will never be able to eat this or that'.

I believe it is more helpful to think of food as a continuum, not as a good and bad category. Read the food labels and develop a habit of preferring lower fat, lower sugar, lower sodium and richer nutrient produce. It is a long process to shift your preferences.

I personally have never liked any added sugar and have not even had any sugar at my kitchen cupboard for the past 20 years. That has 'shaped' my taste buds, so I am very choosy about my desserts as most taste sickeningly sweet to me. I do love my 70% dark chocolate and have some every day, without any guilt whatsoever.

As for other carbs, the question of whether carbs are bad or good baffles me. We do need carbs. And though I know there are many who swear by very low carb diets and, while it may be right for them, I question the sustainability of such diets and their long-term benefits for most people. There are loads of carbs in fruit, vegetables, whole grains and you don't want to deprive yourself from these.

To be quite honest, I feel I am missing this concept of 'eating clean'. As a European I have always felt that fast food and processed food have been out of my sphere of relevance and food is just food, not something 'dirty'.

I think this may be the best post I have seen on MyFitnessPal

I've recently finished 6 months of some kind of low carb/natural/clean/paleo/keto thing. I read all the stuff about certain foods being bad and all that and to a certain extent I bought into it.

I switched to a more balanced approach because I was starting a new job, needed less nutrition 'rules' and to stop over-thinking it.

Low carbing was great for resetting my system, got me focused on more filling food choices and got me most the way there weight-wise but in the end I needed to get back to 'everything in moderation', it just works better for me right now.

I have to say that did I get to the stage where I looked into the fridge/cupboard and thought there was 'nothing to eat' when they were both full of perfectly good food. That's probably a sign to change tack.

I see no issue with eating good, healthy, unprocessed foods. I do think ditching processed crap is a good idea, does 'everything in moderation' include things like cheese in a can? Blargh. Just eat real food.

Ive been following a paleo/primal style way of eating a for a few months now. With winter setting in, and my weights getting heavier, Ive started adding in more dairy, brown rice, and some legumes (gram flour pancakes are my new favourite breakfast). Ive been baking recently, and though my cakes are by no means 'healthy' or 'paleo'. They ARE gluten free (personal choice related to digestive issues) and only use proper ingredients.....unrefined sugar, butter (free of any vegetable oils, etc), eggs, cocoa...that sort of stuff. Is cake any everyday food? No, but if youre going to have it you might as well know what goes into it.

I would say dont rely on things like protein bars for energy or nutrition....get some real food (I have a tupperware box of chicken I roasted at the weekend in my bag today for a snack...chicken was relatively cheap and has done a weeks worth of snacks).