What does 'clean eating' mean?
Replies
-
Trolling or are you seriously missing the point? :ohwell:
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:0 -
eating fresh meats and fruits and veggies and not canned or boxed stuff full of preservatives.0
-
Lol, are you intentionally dense, or do you just like to create illogical arguments for no reason? Sorry, but your way of making your chili is called cooking. Processed is a broad term, but like you stated, anyone with COMMON SENSE would know that I am referring to foods that are chemically altered. Packaging food that you make from "scratch" at home is a lot different than buying a pre-made packaged (or canned) chili filled with sodium, preservatives, and god knows what other additives.
:yawn:
Cooking food is a method of processing it, and it is a method which in most if not all cases does actually chemically alter the food. So most of what you just said, regardless of whether or not I understand what you're trying to say, is completely meaningless.
Which takes us in a nice big circle back to where we started.
The point I was making is that when it comes to food people seem to forget that words actually have meanings and that you can't throw together a nonsensical statement and expect people to know that you actually mean something totally different.0 -
To me it means eating whole foods. I eat organic 90% of the time, no genetically modified ingredients, no high fructose corn syrup, no fast food. It's not for "weight loss" though (because you can eat whatever you want on deficit and lose) I do it for health. I rarely get sick since I started eating clean (1.5 years ago) and I feel so much more energy. My hair and nails grow like mad, I like how clean eating makes me feel. Whatever floats your boat though, if you don't want to, then don't. I don't get why people care if other people WANT to eat whole foods. I personally believe that food can be the most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison....0
-
just a little sidenote to help here. i read a saying i liked a while back in an article about clean eating. (paraphrasing here) " look at the ingredient list, if it has one ingredient it's good, the lower the amount of ingredients the better, if you can't pronounce an ingredient you shouldn't be eating it."
Exactly
I agree completely!! I try my best to read the ingredients and get the better stuff with lest ingredients! If I buy Strawberry Ice cream, I would like to see Strawberry mentionned first, no beetroot, or artificial coloring!!! In summer, I make my own Ice cream, so I know what I feed my girls!0 -
^^^ nonsensical statement. Is this real life?...:noway:
I give up, you don't get it. That's fine, I'll just stamp my foot and insist that anyone with common sense should understand and leave it at that.
I guess NO ONE in this thread has common sense, because they're all saying the same stuff I said.... lol. You're just trolling.
I'm not trolling. I'm was trying to make a point but got distracted by how funny it is that people are so scared of hugely broad terms like "processed".
Now, I'm going to explain this as clearly as I possibly can.
The original statement claims that the less ingredients the better, but this just isn't true. If someone is trying to eat cleanly and finds themselves looking at ingredients lists, then they need a better method of judging what is and isn't clean than simply counting the ingredients.
I think we can all agree that a bag of white pasta wouldn't be considered clean, yes? Yet the bag of white pasta in my cupboard contains only one ingredient. Most people would probably also agree (if a little reluctantly) that a bag of frozen veg which contains only veg is acceptable. Yet a bag of mixed frozen veg contains four ingredients. So we have pasta with one ingredient, and veg with four. The advice given would lead someone who does not know what clean eating is (this is who the thread is for, after all) to believe that out of the two, the pasta is the "cleaner" choice by a significant margin, but that just isn't true. It does actually matter what those ingredients are and what processes those ingredients have been through.
Which brings us to the other half of the statement. Anyone who's finished high school should be able to pronounce just about every chemical name that might crop up on an ingredients list. They really aren't tricky words to say, so this is also a bad way to judge what foods are and aren't clean.
If you need a short and sweet rule of thumb for clean eating, then that isn't it. It just falls apart as soon as you try to apply it to a real world setting. A better rule when considering an ingredients list for "cleanliness" would probably be something along the lines of "consider what the ingredients list would look like if you were to make it from scratch, and then count how many extra ingredients the list you're looking at has. If the lists match perfectly then it's good, there should be as few differences as possible." It's still not perfect, but it would work a whole lot better in the real world than the other would, and wouldn't trip over itself on easy foods like frozen veg and pasta.0 -
just a little sidenote to help here. i read a saying i liked a while back in an article about clean eating. (paraphrasing here) " look at the ingredient list, if it has one ingredient it's good, the lower the amount of ingredients the better, if you can't pronounce an ingredient you shouldn't be eating it."
This reasoning seems pretty flawed to me. It would suggest that the more education a person has had in chemistry, the more foods they're allowed to eat while still considering those foods clean. In fact, it would suggest that a huge number of additives are better for you than tasty, healthy exotic fruits with hard to pronounce names. If I followed this advice then I wouldn't be able to eat rambutan but would be fine with just about anything that is added to food as a flavouring/stabiliser/emulsifier/whatever.
It also suggests I'd be better off drinking my housemate's cola than eating my vegetable chili as it has less ingredients.
I think I'll leave this clean eating thing to the fans of fad diets...
It seems pretty silly to me to avoid eating things just because you are ignorant of chemistry.
The whole "clean eating" craze is a bunch of nonsense in my opinion.0 -
just a little sidenote to help here. i read a saying i liked a while back in an article about clean eating. (paraphrasing here) " look at the ingredient list, if it has one ingredient it's good, the lower the amount of ingredients the better, if you can't pronounce an ingredient you shouldn't be eating it."
This reasoning seems pretty flawed to me. It would suggest that the more education a person has had in chemistry, the more foods they're allowed to eat while still considering those foods clean. In fact, it would suggest that a huge number of additives are better for you than tasty, healthy exotic fruits with hard to pronounce names. If I followed this advice then I wouldn't be able to eat rambutan but would be fine with just about anything that is added to food as a flavouring/stabiliser/emulsifier/whatever.
It also suggests I'd be better off drinking my housemate's cola than eating my vegetable chili as it has less ingredients.
I think I'll leave this clean eating thing to the fans of fad diets...
I think what they are referring to is PACKAGED and PROCESSED foods. Sheesh. Extrapolation at it's finest. And if you are well versed in Chemistry, I'd like to think that you would have enough common sense to know that fresh fruits and vegetables are better for you than additives and chemicals.
Not if the so-called "additives" are actually vitamins.
0 -
^^^ nonsensical statement. Is this real life?...:noway:
I give up, you don't get it. That's fine, I'll just stamp my foot and insist that anyone with common sense should understand and leave it at that.
I guess NO ONE in this thread has common sense, because they're all saying the same stuff I said.... lol. You're just trolling.
I'm not trolling. I'm was trying to make a point but got distracted by how funny it is that people are so scared of hugely broad terms like "processed".
Now, I'm going to explain this as clearly as I possibly can.
The original statement claims that the less ingredients the better, but this just isn't true. If someone is trying to eat cleanly and finds themselves looking at ingredients lists, then they need a better method of judging what is and isn't clean than simply counting the ingredients.
I think we can all agree that a bag of white pasta wouldn't be considered clean, yes? Yet the bag of white pasta in my cupboard contains only one ingredient. Most people would probably also agree (if a little reluctantly) that a bag of frozen veg which contains only veg is acceptable. Yet a bag of mixed frozen veg contains four ingredients. So we have pasta with one ingredient, and veg with four. The advice given would lead someone who does not know what clean eating is (this is who the thread is for, after all) to believe that out of the two, the pasta is the "cleaner" choice by a significant margin, but that just isn't true. It does actually matter what those ingredients are and what processes those ingredients have been through.
Which brings us to the other half of the statement. Anyone who's finished high school should be able to pronounce just about every chemical name that might crop up on an ingredients list. They really aren't tricky words to say, so this is also a bad way to judge what foods are and aren't clean.
If you need a short and sweet rule of thumb for clean eating, then that isn't it. It just falls apart as soon as you try to apply it to a real world setting. A better rule when considering an ingredients list for "cleanliness" would probably be something along the lines of "consider what the ingredients list would look like if you were to make it from scratch, and then count how many extra ingredients the list you're looking at has. If the lists match perfectly then it's good, there should be as few differences as possible." It's still not perfect, but it would work a whole lot better in the real world than the other would, and wouldn't trip over itself on easy foods like frozen veg and pasta.
Anyone who buys their meat at a butcher or grocery store is buying "processed" meat. Anyone who buys a tomato from a grocer is buying a "processed" tomato.
This is why the whole "don't eat processed foods" and "eat clean" are so silly and why it's a "throwaway pejorative" as was stated in the beginning of the thread. Ignorance is ignorance.0 -
it means bullsh*t and stuff that usually doesnt taste good.
:laugh: :laugh:0 -
It seems pretty silly to me to avoid eating things just because you are ignorant of chemistry.
The whole "clean eating" craze is a bunch of nonsense in my opinion.Not if the so-called "additives" are actually vitamins.Anyone who buys their meat at a butcher or grocery store is buying "processed" meat. Anyone who buys a tomato from a grocer is buying a "processed" tomato.
This is why the whole "don't eat processed foods" and "eat clean" are so silly and why it's a "throwaway pejorative" as was stated in the beginning of the thread. Ignorance is ignorance.
I like you. It's nice to finally meet someone else who doesn't scream and run away from the meaningless "scary food words."0 -
@Kaydana123, yes I did get your point, quite clearly. And that's why I said it was extrapolation at it's finest. You are taking something and seeing too much into. This thread is about what people think is "clean eating", and when people refer to processed foods they are referring to prepackaged foods; clearly people use the wrong terminology, and god forbid, so do I, we're not all perfect.
What I AM trying to say is that you are extrapolating what he said. Just because you can "pronounce" a word, doesn't mean you know what it is or understand it, and I think what the person who ORIGINALLY said that (note, it wasn't me) was trying to say that instead.
And I think you have me all wrong. I'm tried of hearing about the whole fad diet thing is, and I"m not all into clean eating. Do I prefer eating fresh fruits and veggies, or a homemade soup over a canned soup; absolutely. I then KNOW what is in it.0 -
@Kaydana123, yes I did get your point, quite clearly. And that's why I said it was extrapolation at it's finest. You are taking something and seeing too much into. This thread is about what people think is "clean eating", and when people refer to processed foods they are referring to prepackaged foods; clearly people use the wrong terminology, and god forbid, so do I, we're not all perfect.
What I AM trying to say is that you are extrapolating what he said. Just because you can "pronounce" a word, doesn't mean you know what it is or understand it, and I think what the person who ORIGINALLY said that (note, it wasn't me) was trying to say that instead.
And I think you have me all wrong. I'm tried of hearing about the whole fad diet thing is, and I"m not all into clean eating. Do I prefer eating fresh fruits and veggies, or a homemade soup over a canned soup; absolutely. I then KNOW what is in it.
As I said, I got a little sidetracked. And I admit that my first example was a poor one, I believe the pasta and frozen veg example illustrates the point better as they are both pre-packaged foods. But I'm not extrapolating anything, I was simply interpreting the statement in the way someone who knew nothing about clean eating might and attempting to prevent the spread of false information.
You and I may understand perfectly well what someone means when they say to go with the foods with the least ingredients, or when they say to only eat foods you can pronounce, but to someone who doesn't know what clean eating is, to the person who started the thread, that advice means exactly what it says and nothing more. Fad diets are often utterly ridiculous (hello, lemonade diet!), it doesn't take a huge stretch of the imagination to imagine a fad diet based around the literal interpretation of that statement.
I may think clean eating is unnecessarily extreme, I may have no desire to ever follow a clean diet, but that doesn't mean that I want the people who ask questions about it being given false information.0 -
If you would have made this statement first, I think you wouldn't have had people digging in their heels. Your first statement sounded like someone being nasty because they "know" more then the lay person. I understand your statement so much more now. I think you both made a great point and now I understand both of you. Though the word "processed" has many defintions, anyone trying to eat healthy knows that fruits and veggies are better for them than pasta. Also the one ingredient in pasta is usually somalina (sp?) and most people don't know what this is. This again goes to the point of if you can't pronounce it or don't know what it is, don't eat it.0
-
As stated several times above: the answer varies on the person. But basically just by way of extremes. It could be anything from simply cutting fast / junk food & preparing your meals in healthy manner to eating paleo in my book.
Personally, I do a happy medium. I do still go out to eat on occassion - but i shoot for the leanest / healthiest option.0 -
For me eating 'clean' is avoiding artificial preservatives, colours and sweetners. (Think of how your great-great grandparents ate.) Cooking doesn't diminish it and you should be able to look at your plate of food and be able to recognize what its individual components are. You either know what it's mother's face looks like or you washed dirt off of it. It's food that grown, not assembled in a factory. I don't eat cheese whiz but I do eat cheese. I eat honey instead of Splenda or Nutrasweet. I eat whole grain brown rice instead of Minute Rice. I eat out but you won't find me at McDonald's. I eat meat but I want the animals raised humanely. I do choose some organic food to limit my exposure to pesticides. You can take this to varying degrees, depending on what your ethical and moral stance is. Clean eating doesn't need to mean crazy or extreme.0
-
It's what your grand-parents or great-grandparents used to call "Food". Basically one ingredient items alone or combined. Non processed. Apple has one ingrediant, its an apple. Big Mac...not so much
0 -
I think it means different things to different people. For me it's striving to prepare meals with fresh ingredients which begin as close to their natural state as possible, and avoiding crap like fast food, soda, and the usual junk food. I don't have a problem with everything "processed" though since many products are just fine- yogurt and protein powder for example.0
-
It's what your grand-parents or great-grandparents used to call "Food". Basically one ingredient items alone or combined. Non processed. Apple has one ingrediant, its an apple. Big Mac...not so much
It's a reverse dysphemism and rather strange way to judge food and try to categorize food between "clean" and "unclean".
The BigMac in the example above is somehow shown to be "dirty" and "bad" and "processed". We see a fight against modernity and an attempt to return to the sources. Simplification to "one ingredient". An apple. Oh, the biblical significance.
And yet, the BigMac is a reasonable source of protein (sans sauce) and not dirty or unclean.
That apple was sprayed, watered and transported and within its ingredients it has cyanogenic acids. Deadly stuff. And yet it is "clean". Go figure.
My point is not that apples are bad, they are not, in normal quantities. But the value judgement around "clean food" should be challenged and refined.
ETA: I find it funny that the banner above this thread on my machine shows a pringles can.0 -
ETA: I find it funny that the banner above this thread on my machine shows a pringles can.
Ha! On mine it says "gluten free vegan bouillon turkey gravy" Mmmmmmm!0 -
It's what your grand-parents or great-grandparents used to call "Food". Basically one ingredient items alone or combined. Non processed. Apple has one ingrediant, its an apple. Big Mac...not so much
It's a reverse dysphemism and rather strange way to judge food and try to categorize food between "clean" and "unclean".
The BigMac in the example above is somehow shown to be "dirty" and "bad" and "processed". We see a fight against modernity and an attempt to return to the sources. Simplification to "one ingredient". An apple. Oh, the biblical significance.
And yet, the BigMac is a reasonable source of protein (sans sauce) and not dirty or unclean.
That apple was sprayed, watered and transported and within its ingredients it has cyanogenic acids. Deadly stuff. And yet it is "clean". Go figure.
My point is not that apples are bad, they are not, in normal quantities. But the value judgement around "clean food" should be challenged and refined.
ETA: I find it funny that the banner above this thread on my machine shows a pringles can.
One cannot account for every variation or opinion.0 -
Dear Posters,
The forum guidelines include this item:
2. No Hi-Jacking Topics
Please stay on-topic within a forum topic. Off-topic or derogatory remarks are disrespectful. Please either contribute politely and constructively to a topic, or move on without posting. This includes posts that encourage the drama in a topic to escalate.
If you would like to review the forum guidelines, please visit the following link:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/welcome/guidelines
With respect,
Tom
MyFitnessPal Staff0 -
What it all boils down to is that "clean eating" is a vague, ambiguous phrase that has different meanings to different people. "Clean eating" to most low-carb dieters would be anathema to a vegan, and vice-versa. For somebody with a fairly flexible (IIFYM) diet strategy, their definition of "clean" would be much different than orthorexic types who try to avoid everything with any ingredient longer than five letters. You can't boil "clean eating" down to a simple, one-sentence definition/explanation (at least not for anybody but yourself).0
-
Fantastic article! (That I was going to provide).I hear people say they 'eat clean'. What does this mean? Is it a popular diet plan? Is the phrase only used on mfp, or would the average woman on the street understand its meaning? Am I the only clueless person in the world on this?
Clean generally means unprocessed. In my opinion, it's a categorization that has some ambiguity to it and in some cases causes problems (not problems from eating clean, but problems related to dieters stressing out over categorizing their foods). I'd check out the following:
http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-clean-eating/
http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/#cleandirty
In my opinion, the goal of "clean eating" is to demonize certain foods and food groups. If you're not miserable, then you're not dieting. Better yet, you're not one of the dedicated if you don't eat chicken breast and brown rice all day.
Of course that is all nonsense.0 -
...but I thought we just read in a thread yesterday how rice is the devil incarnate. You mean even <gasp> BODYBUILDERS eat that stuff?!??!!11!?!? :bigsmile:...Better yet, you're not one of the dedicated if you don't eat chicken breast and brown rice all day.0 -
A lot of people are right, it is fresh free ranged meat and dairy. Of course all fish, fruit, veggies. Raw nuts, natural rolled oats amd natural peanut butter... Things that are "natural" basically when walking into a grocery store stay out along the sides of the store, all the fresh stuff, dont go down any lanes. I however am gluten sensitive and my body cant process gluten. All i can eat is "clean" "natural" and "fresh" all gluten free products are fresh and not processed. Of course no fast food at all ever and a lot of salads ha.0
-
just a little sidenote to help here. i read a saying i liked a while back in an article about clean eating. (paraphrasing here) " look at the ingredient list, if it has one ingredient it's good, the lower the amount of ingredients the better, if you can't pronounce an ingredient you shouldn't be eating it."
Exactly
But a lot of "not being able to read the ingredients" is simply a lack of education. After Googling a lot of these "non-pronouncable" items, I found out they were actually the scientific name for something that was a common, ordinary item.
Thank you!0 -
just a little sidenote to help here. i read a saying i liked a while back in an article about clean eating. (paraphrasing here) " look at the ingredient list, if it has one ingredient it's good, the lower the amount of ingredients the better, if you can't pronounce an ingredient you shouldn't be eating it."
Exactly
But a lot of "not being able to read the ingredients" is simply a lack of education. After Googling a lot of these "non-pronouncable" items, I found out they were actually the scientific name for something that was a common, ordinary item.
Thank you!
Deoxyribonucleic acid <- Sounds scary doesn't it? Without it no organism would be here. This is just to illustrate the point further regarding those "non-pronouncable" items.0 -
I hear people say they 'eat clean'. What does this mean? Is it a popular diet plan? Is the phrase only used on mfp, or would the average woman on the street understand its meaning? Am I the only clueless person in the world on this?
Clean generally means unprocessed. In my opinion, it's a categorization that has some ambiguity to it and in some cases causes problems (not problems from eating clean, but problems related to dieters stressing out over categorizing their foods). I'd check out the following:
http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/the-dirt-on-clean-eating/
http://body-improvements.com/resources/eat/#cleandirty
Truth ^^^
I had never heard that term before MFP and have found that most of the so-called "clean eaters" are a walking contradiction in terms of what's ok to eat and what's not. I think it's better to simply get enough protein and fat, stay within your calories, eat plenty of veggies, get some form of exercise on a regular basis, and eat the things you enjoy eating.0 -
... if you can't pronounce an ingredient you should Google it to educate yourself
Fixed it for you! :flowerforyou:0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.6K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions