Clean Eating Bashing?

You are attributing his increased success to how much cleaner he supposedly ate. Do you not see the problem here?

No, I am attributing his success to dropping weight which was facilitated by improving the ratio of his "clean" foods to "junk" food, not eliminating anything.

If you wanted clarification on what I thought or it was unclear you could have just asked me.

Wait. He lost 10 lbs because he ate cleaner foods?

Huh?

There was a reason I put the terms clean and junk in quotation marks...

He spontaneously achieved a greater calorie deficit by changing his diet composition with no drastic measures in my opinion. Just ate a bit more fruit, veg etc and a little less of what is considered "junk".

you are convinced that it was "clean eating" that led to the improved results.

Am I?

Actually speaking of cyclists, Chris Horner springs to mind as an athlete who was notorious for fuelling his training on high amounts of "junk", staying lean and performing well. That is until a crash in 2009. Fearing his diet would accelerate weight gain he "cleaned" up his diet, dropped 10 lbs in the process and had one of his best ever seasons well into his late 30s.

Did he take any drastic steps? Not really. He just reduced his consumption of "junk" a bit and increased his consumption of "clean" foods in its place.

There's a lesson in that somewhere...

Dropping 10 lbs probably had nothing to do with it, and I'm sure his macro intake and training were identical before and after.

Dropping 10 lbs had nothing to do with it? How do you figure?

Sarcasm.

*WHOOSH* :blushing:

Haven't read the whole thing, but what the heck, I'll throw in an anecdote.

One of my good friends is really obsessed with clean eating and a Paleo lifestyle. She has a 4 year old daughter and feeds her this way as well. She spends a lot of time and energy obsessing over food, and finding reasons why certain foods are "bad". She is always picking fights with her daughter's school about snacks that they serve or that they allow other parents to bring in. She has forbidden the school from allowing her daughter to eat snacks brought by other parents unless they are "whole" foods.

The problem is, for herself, she lacks the willpower to stick to these restrictions 100%. She does not allow her child to "cheat" though. She feels really virtuous about this and is constantly bragging about her child's diet.

I suspect her daughter is not getting enough to eat. Children need a surprisingly large amount of calories to grow, and she is being fed her mother's weight loss diet. Not my business, she is taken to regular Dr.'s appointments and I will let them bring it up with her if it becomes a concern. It is still kinda sad to watch though. Her 4 year old weighs substantially less than my 2 year old (who is a bit tall for her age, but NOT overweight). She never plays. My kids will romp around at the park and play in the little creek and she will just stand by quietly and watch. She is this tiny, scrawny little thing with dark circles under her eyes.

"Clean eating" really isn't well defined. If we were to call it "Learn to love whole foods/nutrient dense foods and incorporate them into a balanced diet" there would not be a problem. But, "Clean Eating", however it is defined, tends to be based on foods that are AVOIDED not which foods are included. This is not a recipe for a healthy relationship with food, and, taken to extremes, can actually result in under nourishment.

Haven't read the whole thing, but what the heck, I'll throw in an anecdote.

One of my good friends is really obsessed with clean eating and a Paleo lifestyle. She has a 4 year old daughter and feeds her this way as well. She spends a lot of time and energy obsessing over food, and finding reasons why certain foods are "bad". She is always picking fights with her daughter's school about snacks that they serve or that they allow other parents to bring in. She has forbidden the school from allowing her daughter to eat snacks brought by other parents unless they are "whole" foods.

The problem is, for herself, she lacks the willpower to stick to these restrictions 100%. She does not allow her child to "cheat" though. She feels really virtuous about this and is constantly bragging about her child's diet.

I suspect her daughter is not getting enough to eat. Children need a surprisingly large amount of calories to grow, and she is being fed her mother's weight loss diet. Not my business, she is taken to regular Dr.'s appointments and I will let them bring it up with her if it becomes a concern. It is still kinda sad to watch though. Her 4 year old weighs substantially less than my 2 year old (who is a bit tall for her age, but NOT overweight). She never plays. My kids will romp around at the park and play in the little creek and she will just stand by quietly and watch. She is this tiny, scrawny little thing with dark circles under her eyes.

"Clean eating" really isn't well defined. If we were to call it "Learn to love whole foods/nutrient dense foods and incorporate them into a balanced diet" there would not be a problem. But, "Clean Eating", however it is defined, tends to be based on foods that are AVOIDED not which foods are included. This is not a recipe for a healthy relationship with food, and, taken to extremes, can actually result in under nourishment.

WTF. That is horrible! Makes me feel quite ragey in fact. :mad:

To answer your question, I eat subway. Not often, but my kid loves them. If I ate them all the time, I would be fat. Period - so, I don't. Do I consider them a clean food? Yes and no. But I don't label food clean or dirty. Food either works for me or doesn't. But, I think most people see them as a compromise fast food. Not deep fried, not a veggie burger either. Again, I am not an absolutist. And so called "clean" eaters are not monoliths.

Dammit you sound completely reasonable.

I hate it when that happens. :grumble:


:laugh: :flowerforyou:

Really I didn't think so.

The comment " if I ate there all the time I would be fat period" is completely false. I could eat there for a year and lose weight, it would all depend on how much you ate.

Eating all the time at subway doesn't / wouldn't make you fat. Eating more calories than you burn makes you fat.

1)How do you know what makes me fat or doesn't? 2)Did I say everyone? 3)Did I say you, in particular? 4)I said IF I ATE there more often I would be fat. Self knowledge. I know exactly what made me fat.

I've added numbers to make my answering you easier.

1) - excess calories makes you fat - so yes I know, science.
2) - I didn't say you said everyone, but my statement that it doesn't make anyone fat still stands - it's not the food but the amount.
3) - I just used myself as an example of how your statement was false. Would you prefer - "you could eat there every day for a year and as long as you ate at your maintenance calories you wouldn't get fat"?
4) again - excess calories made you fat, not subway or any other food.

You seem very sensitive about my reply. :huh:

Ha! I know that excess calories made me fat. In fact there is no food that makes people fat in and of itself. Ireally do understand science. I could eat there for a year everyday also, but I would not eat at maintenance if I did so. I know that about myself. It is the self-knowledge that drives my food choices. So yes, it is all about me. Not anyone else. And I am pretty sure I didn't say anything but that. But thank you for clarifying. Serious.

Haven't read the whole thing, but what the heck, I'll throw in an anecdote.

One of my good friends is really obsessed with clean eating and a Paleo lifestyle. She has a 4 year old daughter and feeds her this way as well. She spends a lot of time and energy obsessing over food, and finding reasons why certain foods are "bad". She is always picking fights with her daughter's school about snacks that they serve or that they allow other parents to bring in. She has forbidden the school from allowing her daughter to eat snacks brought by other parents unless they are "whole" foods.

The problem is, for herself, she lacks the willpower to stick to these restrictions 100%. She does not allow her child to "cheat" though. She feels really virtuous about this and is constantly bragging about her child's diet.

I suspect her daughter is not getting enough to eat. Children need a surprisingly large amount of calories to grow, and she is being fed her mother's weight loss diet. Not my business, she is taken to regular Dr.'s appointments and I will let them bring it up with her if it becomes a concern. It is still kinda sad to watch though. Her 4 year old weighs substantially less than my 2 year old (who is a bit tall for her age, but NOT overweight). She never plays. My kids will romp around at the park and play in the little creek and she will just stand by quietly and watch. She is this tiny, scrawny little thing with dark circles under her eyes.

"Clean eating" really isn't well defined. If we were to call it "Learn to love whole foods/nutrient dense foods and incorporate them into a balanced diet" there would not be a problem. But, "Clean Eating", however it is defined, tends to be based on foods that are AVOIDED not which foods are included. This is not a recipe for a healthy relationship with food, and, taken to extremes, can actually result in under nourishment.

My Mom was like this but this was back in the after-vietnam lost generation 70's...no sugar (fructose and honey were fine), no white wheat, no chocolate. We had to bring in funky date carrot cakes to school while the other kids laughed and got their "normal" food. OK to be fair my Mom was trying her best with what little knowledge she had, but that mentality bad food/good food is the worse thing you can teach a kid. The funny thing about teenagers is they rebel, and the minute I had a little spending money I discovered food. As you can see it did great in helping my weight and special relationship with food. I went from a skinny kid to an obese teen.

Pop tarts are not healthy..

ORLY?

No idea if they are healthy or not. But they are certainly terrible by pastry standards, even for packaged ones. At least step up to a toaster strudel

Pop tarts are not healthy..

ORLY?

No idea if they are healthy or not. But they are certainly terrible by pastry standards, even for packaged ones. At least step up to a toaster strudel

Pop Tarts aren't that great by themselves. A scoop or two of ice cream makes them really come alive, though.

dang nabbit

Pop tarts are not healthy..

ORLY?

No idea if they are healthy or not. But they are certainly terrible by pastry standards, even for packaged ones. At least step up to a toaster strudel

I love love love Pop Tarts!!!

This thread makes me crave a candy bar............

I was thinking of these with all the hazelnut talk:

The best way to eat is INDIVIDUAL. Each person should find what best works to keep them healthy, happy and at peace with themselves . It is a journey and it is not necessary to be part of any particular group thinking to find it. Perfection is a difficult path to maintain, and superiority over others a shallow reward.

So, would a cow with pneumonia qualify as "unhealthy food?"

I laughed way to hard at this! :laugh:

thats the best definition of healthy food I've seen...applause applause

Thank goodness a couple of folks got the joke! :drinker:

Hear, hear. I grew up with a diabetic in the family. And a father who was a compulsive eater. We had NO food in our house. I used to have to hide food. And that wasn't particularly successful. But, funny enough, they were both overweight. While I know what I can and can't eat to maintain a healthy weight, I don't ever want to burden my child with my bad eating habits or hang ups. And I humbly and sincerely hope I succeed.

I too hope that I am conveying a normal relationship to food to my daughter. I think it's working...