serious questions about eating clean?

"Clean" is so vague because everyone has different definitions of what it is.

For me, it's nothing processed/packaged with >5 ingredients, no added sugar/sweeteners/preservatives, only whole grain flour/rice, organic whenever possible. Basically, I eat a LOT of eggs, vegetables, beans, and nuts. I make my own bread (and want to start making crackers and tortillas!). When I go out to eat, it's usually salad or brown rice.

I still have to count calories, especially when peanut butter is involved (yumyumyum).

This is my second period of eating clean. I did it during Lent this year as a challenge, and this time I decided to do it because I got back from study abroad with 20 extra pounds that I wanted to lose, while simultaneously having to train for a half marathon. I knew that if I was running 30 miles per week, I would be starving, and eating clean allows me to eat a greater volume of food because whole, natural, unprocessed foods tend to be lower calorie (I ate 3 cups of vegetables for dinner for ~150 calories). The first two weeks after making the transition, I suffered mild headaches or migraines almost every day-- that showed me just how dependent on sugar my body had been. I feel much better (more energy, just general feeling good) eating this way. After my half, I'm going to allow more processed foods, the occasional dessert, etc., but I will certainly limit it.

This site and the book In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan basically outline my views of clean eating: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/

For me, it's avoiding processed foods most of the time, eating lots of vegetables and lean proteins. Yes, we had hot dogs last night but beside them was a good slaw. Tonight's supper used boxed pasta but everything else in it was a fresh vegetable or a bit of ham I cooked myself. A hard core clean eater would say that what I do isn't clean eating but since there is no "official" definition, you get to decide what it means to you.

Almost all bread we eat is homemade. We load up about 1/2 the cart with fresh veggies every week and keep our meat consumption to a minimum. I use lots of herbs and spices which means we don't need a lot of fat or sugar to make the food tasty. I keep the "healthy eating plate" (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/) in mind in planning our food.

This isn't all that much different from how I was cooking for us (hubby and me) before MFP but now I am keeping better track of portions and finding ways to keep the calorie load of foods low whenever possible, e.g. having roasted sweet potato fries rather than white potatoes.

"Clean eating" is the same as saying "toned". It doesn't mean anything officially and everyone has a different opinion of what it means to them.

To me it means nothing processed, and I follow some people that eat clean strictly and they still count their cals. I feel with eating clean you can actually eat more food and feel more satisifeed versus eat something like a honey bun that has been through all kinds of processes and is not very satifying. I always feel hungry again soon after eating and does not it fill my macros adequatelty. I eat somewhat clean..

I try to stay away from processed foods.

Clean - Meaning no toxins or chemicals.
Often this can be organic foods but in recent decades even organic foods have chemicals and pestercides in them from their seeds etc. No food is really "clean" anymore, but go for your freerange, organic and natural foods as much as you can! There are also products such as Isagenix which takes out the chemicals and toxins in your body and replaces it with pure natural clean nutrients etc that you dont get from normal food anymore