Clean Eating

I've been leaning towards eating cleaner too, this site looks very helpful! Thanks you!

Ok, I'll bite.
No, the idea of calories being the magic component to weight loss is not indisputable. All calories are not created equal. Our bodies recognise and need NUTRIENTS. With the correct nutrient intake our bodies can easily and quickly shed excess fat. It just means we have to stop listening to those who have a vested interest in keeping us fat, unhealthy and confused about nutrition - the weight loss industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and those who want us to buy their food. IT'S A MONEY GAME. I live in a country where farming and the dairy industry is the backbone of our economy so of course the government and nutrition 'experts' must continue to promote the drinking of milk as necessary for calcium... never mind we, a dairy nation, have an extraordinary high rate of osteoperosis, a bone disease caused by a lack of calcium.

I think the bulk of the responses you will get are going to say that it isn't magical and it isn't going to make you lose more weight--that the only "trick" to dieting is calories in vs. calories out. That's pretty indisputable as far as concerns about weight loss go. Now, as far as health and general nutrition, I eat clean (I never really called it that--I just eat whole foods, primarily organic, and rarely anything packaged).

I do it primarily for ethical reasons and to support local farmers. I think initially it seems a lot more expensive, but in the end the food goes a lot further (kind of like $5 worth of lettuce vs. $5 worth of oreos or a bag of dried beans vs. a box of ramen). You can end up with a lot more variety if you get experimental with recipes and branch out from your usual meal choices. It's not in any way boring or flavorless, so I don't think it is a difficult life style change--it certainly does its job of making me significantly more aware of the impact my food has on my body and on the environment.

Meat and potatoes aren't banned from clean eating, so it shouldn't be a problem for your husband. You just wouldn't want pesticide-drenched potatoes and factory-farmed meat. It's a pretty simple switch. I'd just swing by your local farmers' market and see what is in season and grab a few things per week until that stuff starts replacing the packaged stuff.

It's not calories in vs. calories out. Not that simple! The more calories that are restricted, the more the body lowers the metabolic rate to compensate. This reflects the body going into (I hate to use this term but I cannot stop myself) “starvation mode” to prevent further weight loss.
A CALORIE DEFICIT MORE THAN 1000 CALORIES/DAY WILL SLOW METABOLISM. This Value of 1000 calories per day includes any caloric deficit AND exercise. I know b/c I just went through this.

If what you say was clean cut - I should have been able to drop 3-4 lb. a week- that didn't work.

Here's my concept of "clean eating". I wrote this a few days ago when I saw people chatting about a similar topic.

Your body has a set of requirements. It needs water, the proper amount of electrolytes, vitamins and minerals, and a level of nutrient that allows it to break down, rebuild, and repair itself. Getting this balance right means being very aware of your body.

It is very important that you eat the right amount of food for your body to maintain itself.

I don't believe in getting my needed nutrients from pills, so this may seem like a radical idea to some: try getting your nutrition from your food. And not just any food either; you want to look for the best stuff, because this is your body you're caring for, and who wouldn't want the best for their body?

Eat more vegetables and fruit. Look for organic brands, or shop from farmers markets. The fresher the better. If you have the time, try growing your own. The quality of home grown vegetables is very noticeable, in flavor and nutrient content.

Buy grass-fed/pasture raised meats, wild caught fish, and free range chicken/eggs. Do not be afraid to eat the fat, and don't leave out the egg yolks: they have the most basic nutrients your body needs. Avoid farmed fish, for they are fed many antibiotics and colorants. Avoid barn-laid, cage-free, and cage eggs, and do not eat grain fed meat or factory raised meat. If feasible, try to locate a farmer or a co-op that can provide you these things.

Buy grass-fed butter, whole, UN-homogenized milk (or raw if you can get it), use clean animal fats (pork lard, duck fat, beef or lamb tallow) or cold-pressed coconut oil for cooking, and extra virgin olive oil for cold dishes. Do not use hydrogenated oils, margarine, blended butters, vegetable oil, or anything with trans fats. Do not use milk powders, or drink ultra-pasteurized or UHT milks (they are over cooked, with damaged proteins and fats, and are from much lower quality milk overall). Do not drink skim milk: there is hardly anything useful left in it for you, and they use titanium dioxide to make it white (without the pigment, the skim milk would be bluish in color).

Enjoy nuts, seeds, avocados, naturally fermented foods (such as sauerkraut, beet kvass, kimchi, etc) to encourage good gut bacteria. Use home made yogurt and kefir. Use raw honey and pure maple syrup.

Try to avoid things with ingredients lists. Avoid refined sugar and flours, and anything that says "enriched", "fortified", "with _____ added", anything insisting it's "healthy", "low fat", "no fat", "low carb", "low sugar", "sugar-free", "lean" or "skinny". Avoid the majority of wheat, avoid soy at all costs, avoid corn (aside, perhaps, from a bit of fresh, organic sweet corn) and all of it's derivatives. (Cutting out processed foods, breads, etc will help knock a lot of these out of the game.) Avoid soda pop and most juices.

Remove all GMOs from your diet. They raise the risk of cancer and food allergies, are soaked with pesticides and herbicides, they destroy the environment, plant and animal life, and are run by morally corrupt companies who have their fingers in many pies.

Get plenty of sunshine. If you live in a place with a short winter day (as I do) you may use fermented cod liver oil to supplement yourself until summer rolls around. You need the Vitamin D. (If you want to know what your Vit D levels look like, they can run a blood test for it.)

Drink plenty of water. It's what allows your body to function at it's best. It helps with the transfer of nutrients, it keeps your blood flowing, and assist in the removal of toxins from your tissues. Don't drink too much on hot days, though, as that may dilute your electrolyte balance. If drinking a lot on hot days, have something with a little sea salt added, like broth, or look up a recipe for a natural electrolyte drink.

Listen to your body. Are you hungry? Feed it a meal, or a snack. Eat several small meals through the day and keep whole, healthy foods on hand. Cook more meals from scratch. Do you wake up feeling hungry in the middle of the night? You might be thirsty. Keep a glass of water by the bed. Do you feel tired or restless or unsettled during the day? Go for a walk/run to wake your body up and get its cells and fluids moving, and to help aid digestion and sleep. Get at least 6 or 7 hours of sleep at night. Find a hobby that you like doing. Please your mind with reading or craft projects, or gardening.

I like to call this common sense living. If you can do these things, you're well on your way to good health, both physical and mental.

Remember: You are beautiful and so is your body. It doesn't matter what others think. Your body is a finely tuned machine, and it knows exactly what it needs, so do your best to give it the best.

Clean eating is something I aspire to but don't manage a lot of the time.

I think if you want to give it a shot, go for it. Find ways to make it work for you and don't stress out on the fact that you're not always going to pick veggies over french fries.

I'm planning on a specific day this week that I have off to do some making ahead- I'm going to get some raisins and a bit of brown sugar and put together quick oats "packs." For me the two biggest obstacles to clean eating are trying to store things and remember when they are about to go bad and serving sizes. A packet of instant oatmeal is intuitive.. I ate a packet of it. Whereas measuring things--- what if I measured it wrong? How do I measure some of the crazy serving sizes? Some foods, for example, have a serving size based on the portion when it's already been cooked. So how do I know how to cook the right amount? Do I pack lettuce when measuring a cup of lettuce? When my lettuce is a bit wilted, how do I measure that versus super crispy lettuce?

Budget can play into it depending on the season, but I live in a semi rural area so in summer I could eat nothing but fresh organic fruits and veggies if I wanted to because our farmer's market is cheap, takes food stamps, and attracts tons of people. In winter, dried lentils and beans are a staple for me, you can put any kind of veggie into it and have a fabulous soup.

It was put to me like this once... clean eating means you can read & pronounce all of the ingredients of what you are eating.
A simple guildeline to follow-- shop the outside of your grocery story (dairy, meat, produce) and avoid the middle (processed stuff, pasta, packaged meals, etc) . Of course I break that rule with canned tuna fish (in water only), frozen vegetables, oatmeal & brown rice.

Clean eating isn't a diet, it is a way of putting natural nutrients into your body and avoiding processed foods.

My family has a history of gastrointestinal issues and since I started clean eating two weeks ago, I've noticed a huge difference in my stomach comfort and my energy levels.

Best of luck to you!

Is organic cleaner?

Clearly, the less we impact our environment, the better off we all are. Organic farming practices have greatly advanced the use of non-chemical means to control pests, as mentioned earlier.
Unfortunately, these non-chemical methods do not always provide enough protection, and it's necessary to use chemical pesticides. How do organic pesticides compare with conventional pesticides?

A recent study compared the effectiveness of a rotenone-pyrethrin mixture versus a synthetic pesticide, imidan. Rotenone and pyrethrin are two common organic pesticides; imidan is considered a "soft" synthetic pesticide (i.e., designed to have a brief lifetime after application, and other traits that minimize unwanted effects). It was found that up to 7 applications of the rotenone- pyrethrin mixture were required to obtain the level of protection provided by 2 applications of imidan.

It seems unlikely that 7 applications of rotenone and pyrethrin are really better for the environment than 2 applications of imidan, especially when rotenone is extremely toxic to fish and other aquatic life.

It should be noted, however, that we don't know for certain which system is more harmful. This is because we do not look at organic pesticides the same way that we look at conventional pesticides. We don't know how long these organic pesticides persist in the environment, or the full extent of their effects.

When you look at lists of pesticides allowed in organic agriculture, you find warnings such as, "Use with caution. The toxicological effects of [organic pesticide X] are largely unknown," or "Its persistence in the soil is unknown." Again, researchers haven't bothered to study the effects of organic pesticides because it is assumed that "natural" chemicals are automatically safe.


WHY HAVEN'T WE HEARD THIS BEFORE?
For obvious reasons, organic farmers have done little, if anything, to dispel the myth that "organic = chemical/pesticide-free". They would only stand to lose business by making such a disclosure.
Pesticide manufacturers have little concern in the matter. To them, "synthetic pesticides sold" and "organic pesticides sold" are both "pesticides sold".

As for conventional farmers, they are not really in a position to be critical. It would not be in their interest to draw attention to chemical and pesticide use.


WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN?
The purpose in writing this article is not to discourage you from buying organic produce.
It is only meant to let you know what you are or aren't getting when you make such a purchase. Unless you know your grower personally, there is no guarantee that your produce has been grown without pesticides or other chemicals. It's a point to consider, given the substantially higher cost of organic foods.

There are many choices and decisions that we, as consumers, are asked to make. Hopefully, this has provided some new information that you will find helpful.

from http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~lhom/organictext.html

Oh my God Evengizenetix. I didn't know that!! Come to think of it organic farmers probably use manure as fertilizer! GROSS.

EW. I DON'T WANT TO EAT POO.

What is clean eating?

Clean eating is my ultimate goal. I love the idea of knowing exactly what I am eating and knowing there aren't any hidden chemicals/additives in my food that never made it onto the ingredients label. Plus I find it challenging, culinary speaking. To take a simple ingredient and make it something delicious. A simple baked potato--not all that exciting. But a roasted cut up potato with a little olive oil, pepper, kosher salt, and rosemary...amazing!