Clean Eating

Hi everyone!

I'd love for someone to explain to me what clean eating is. I keep seeing this term come up on these boards and don't have a clue what it means. Does it help with the weight loss? Hopefully I don't sound too silly here!

Thanks!

I do it.. look at my diary.. Just eat whole unprecessed raw foods.. Cook from scratch. basically if you can find it in nature that's something you want to eat.

It does not mean vegan.. Alot of food vegans eat are processed and not clean.. unless they also only eat foods from nature.
It does not necessary mean organic.. although many clean eater eat only organic foods as they do not contain the man made checmicals that so many of us want to avoid. I am slowly switching to organic foods. have to eat everything I have already purchased first.

Eating clean *will* help you lose weight.. As your body will not hold onto the toxins that are present in processed crap. (toxins are stored as fat by our bodies) also many of the igredients in processed foods are not digestable and are broekn down by our digestive systems into sugars and fats.

the less ingredients the better.. ingredients should be from nature and have minimum or no alterations to them or thier composition.

If you want to switch it's easier to do it in steps, rather then throw everything away and start from nothing.

Initally you will crave the crap, but if you start experimenting with foods, you will find suitable or ever better tasting things to replace the crap.

Excuse me, which toxins exactly are stored as fat? Like - the actual names of the toxins. People keep talking about toxins but never want to be specific. Is it like Scientology where you have to reach a certain level before you learn the secrets? TELL ME THE TOXINS PLEASE.

1. Exogenous Toxins

Exogenous toxins are chemicals that are made outside of your body and can harm your cells if they are ingested, inhaled, or absorbed into your bloodstream through some other channel.

While it's unrealistic to live and work in an environment that's free of exogenous toxins, you should strive to minimize your exposure to the following most common exogenous toxins:

•MSG and aspartame - both are especially toxic to your nerve cells

•Recreational drugs

•Any over-the-counter or prescription drug that comes with a warning that use of the drug in question may lead to liver damage

•Most personal care products, especially cosmetics that are applied around the mouth, which are easily swallowed in trace but potentially significant amounts

The exogenous toxins mentioned above may not be as harmful in one shot as other obvious toxins like carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds, but the four groups mentioned above tend to be used regularly by large segments of the population, so they're definitely worth highlighting.

How does your body deal with this constant influx of toxins?
Your body always works within the framework of trying to preserve health, so its first defense against toxins is to eliminate them through one of your main eliminative channels - these are your urinary tract, colon, lungs, skin, and mucosal linings in your nose and ears.

So your body may create symptoms like diarrhea, a persistent cough, a skin rash, nasal discharge/congestion, and even chronic recurrent ear discharge/infections, all with the intent of protecting your cells against toxins.

By recognizing these processes as being helpful and allowing them to take their course, and working to identify and eliminate their root cause(s), you can support your body's self-preserving mechanisms to keep you well over the long term.

Let's continue to assume that you're not aware of toxins that you're steadily being exposed to, and that toxins continue to roll in. Eventually, the pace of incoming toxins may overtake the pace at which you can eliminate them.

If you reach this point, your body will have no choice but to store some of these toxins.

Keeping in line with its desire to preserve its health, your body will first store "excess" toxins in your fat tissues. This is because your fat tissues are less vital to your immediate survival than other tissues like your ligaments, muscles, and nerves. This is not to say that fat tissue that's found throughout your body isn't important. It's to say that your body instinctively seeks to preserve more important tissues whenever possible.

Accumulation of toxins in your fat tissues is what can lead to so-called harmless conditions like cysts, lipomas, and other benign tumors. These are conditions that conventional medicine typically cite as having no known cause, but they most certainly have a number of causes, with a major one being steady exposure to endogenous and exogenous toxins.

Myelin - the fatty sheath of insulation that lines all of your nerves - is also a target site for toxin accumulation. And whenever your body has the energy to cleanse such accumulations of toxins, the nerve(s) in the area being cleansed may get irritated, which is one potential cause of chronic, intermittent headaches. This is why some people experience headaches when they get more sleep than usual. Getting more sleep allows the body to use its resources to stir up stored toxins - good for long term health, but uncomfortable in the short term.

Getting back on course, let's assume that your body continues to be exposed to a steady diet of exogenous and endogenous toxins. At some point, your body may need to start storing these toxins outside of your fat tissues.

Alternative storage sites are connective tissue (ligaments, bones, blood, etc.), muscle tissue, and nerve tissue. Of these choices, connective tissue arguably has the greatest capacity to store toxins without causing debilitating problems in the short term.

As toxins begin to accumulate in connective tissue, you may start to experience generalized joint pain and even aches and pains in various bones. You may even develop a blood-related health challenge, as blood itself is considered connective tissue, and actually originates from bone, which is another connective tissue.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/133-clean-eating-group

If your goal is weight loss, eating "clean" wont necessarily help. To lose weight you have to eat at a caloric deficit. You can eat too much "clean" food just as easy as, dare I say, unclean food. Eat less, move more. Don't over think it.

This is what I'm sort of thinking. While the idea interests me, there are things I don't want to give up. For example, shredded cheese. Yogurt. Real milk. My favorite recipe is topped with shredded mexican cheese and wouldn't be the same wtihout it. The ultimate goal IS most definitely weight loss, so maybe I'll just stick with making healthy choices, counting the calories and exercising.

Sensible plan imo.

Eat real food. Food doesn't contain ingredients. Food is an ingredient.
Eat only what you can pick, dig or spear. Mostly spear.

Do you own a spear? And what have you hunted lately?

work on that sarcasm-o-meter.

no processed.... the way grandma used to cook!

Nothing refined, processed or pre-packaged.

Protein, whole grain carbs, fruits and vegetables.

Just google clean eating and you will find a ton of information on it.

It makes a huge difference in losing weight and re-shaping your body. I personally cannot succeed at both without it.

So nothing like milk, or yogurt? I eat a yogurt every day, as it's one of the only snacks that keeps me full enough to tide me over until lunch.

I also have waffles every day for breakfast. XD

Yogurt is a good food if you don't have a problem with dairy but plain is "cleaner" than yogurt that is jazzed up with starch and a lot of sugar. Some here will disagree, but white flour waffles really don't belong on a calorie-restricted diet as there is very little there other than starch (and if you put syrup on it, sugar). You'd be far better off having some kind of protein and veggie breakfast like a western omelet or something. Simple carbohydrates are especially problematic for women--for a lot of reasons. Ideally we would be getting most or all of our food straight from the garden, tree or barn to our table--but, since the food processors "manufacture" our food, the end-product tends to be a pale reflection of ideal, nutrient-dense food.

I specifically eat Dannon Oikos greek yogurt, not plain though - I can't stomach plain yogurt, but love the flavored greek yogurts.

I also go for the multi-grain eggo waffles instead of plain white waffles - while I realize they are still waffles and probably not the GREATEST choice, I figured I would do something a little better than plain. I also use light maple syrup, not completely sugar free though. That breakfast is under 300 calories.

It's honestly a matter of convenience to me - when I wake up in the morning, I take my shower, get ready, pack my lunch and I'm already 5 minutes late getting out the door! I suppose I would benefit from getting up earlier and making a real breakfast. I love egg beaters and just bought some great lean turkey sausage as well.

I make breakfast every mornng and it takes 5 minutes. I pre boil eggs cut it up with avocado and eat on taost or lettuce or tortilla maybe with tomatoes and muchrooms or salsa... or make steel cut oats and mix in a banana and strawberry jam (usually my home-made version). or mix those 2 things with plain greek yogurt. or have last nights dinner heated up.. those are my staples. all 5 minutes or less. the time it takes to toast a waffle.

Well, I'm eating mostly clean. I eat yogurt and drink skim milk (I can't stand the taste of milk with fat in it). I just get this image of fat in milk, and I could never turn back lol. I lowered my carb intake to 20 % of my calories so about 97 or so calories.

If your goal is weight loss, eating "clean" wont necessarily help. To lose weight you have to eat at a caloric deficit. You can eat too much "clean" food just as easy as, dare I say, unclean food. Eat less, move more. Don't over think it.

I completely disagree with you. When you eat clean you don't have to calorie count at all, it's all about balance and eating smaller meals more often. I eat way more now than I did counting calories or points, I am satisfied for longer and don't crave anything as long as I stay on plan.

The best book that is very well written on the subject and easy to follow is Tosca Reno's The Eat Clean Diet.

Not really... it depends on your goal. If you don't count you can end up having too much of a deficit. I can eat 4200 calories of Chicken, Broccoli, and Brown Rice (considered clean by most people) and I'll get fat. Your understanding of energy is not on point. Also, as pointed out meal timing is irrelevant.

starchy grainy carbs are up for debate in terms of their "cleanliness"

take out the brown rice and it's near impossible to eat 4200 cal of chicken and veggies. stomachs just don't expand that much! lol

I hear you. The whole grain thing becomes another complicator in defining "clean" eating. The paleo and primals would say they are not yet some will argue that whole grains are the bomb!! This is one of the reasons trying to define "clean" is like trying to grab smoke.

eta: as evidenced by the post above mine and the quote with whole grains right there!! lol