Clean Eaters. Your experience.

I've just recently decided to eat more clean. Mainly because I want to fuel my body with the best, without all the unnecessaries. I'm a work in progress! I've just looked for meal-ideas online of clean recipes. I've tried a half dozen or so this last two weeks. About half were pretty nasty. So, I can see how it will take time to develop my own clean-recipe likes.

Even though I don't really have anything to add about clean eating... Sorry that people here are so rude sometimes. Don't let them discourage you. We're not all like that.

I've had pretty good success.

I am very diligent











and wash my food 95% of the time....unless it's chocolate and it dropped on the floor then I just don't care if it's clean or not...:bigsmile: :bigsmile: :bigsmile:

I've eaten clean in the past.

Results weren't as good as I get now eating 'dirty', but with better research on macros, exercise and the like.

To me clean eating: veggies (frozen or fresh -- imo, don't like the taste of canned - plus don't like the sodium), fruits (fresh or frozen, again no canned), and lean meat (boneless skinless chicken), teas, fish (salmon, cod, and shrimp are my top picks), oatmeal, eggs, protein powders, etc.

I won't ever say I'm 100% b/c I still eat fast food occassionally, have a donut here and there, but I do try to eat food closest to it's natural state. I also juice a lot and I've heard people say since I'm not eating it as is...I'm "processing" it (whatever!), so I stick with the 80/20 rule.

As far as fitness goes: I feel better and lighter (faster runs), but I tend to have to have a high carb day the day before leg day to fuel my workouts. I can't do strictly juicing. Just won't cut it for those heavy weights.

To me, eating clean means eating natural food 95% of the time. It wasn't easy transitioning, but it was so worth it. I not only feel healthier, but I look healthier too.

I have a ton more energy and as a result of working out really hard 5 days a week, I have to eat more. As you can understand, if I am going to need to eat more, it needs to be clean food, not overly processed-sugary-chemically type stuff. So I have had to invest in eating a lot more fruits and vegetables and meat. If I do eat bread, it is wheat bread(due to fiber content), and I eat that sparingly, the same goes for the brown rice.

It took me about a month to finally transition to eating 5 meals a day and making sure the food had a good source of protein, fiber, and veggies. Most important thing though, is that you need to keep up with it, and try you best to meet your goal everyday, until it becomes a solid habit.

I think clean eating sufferers the same problem that a lot of things do in that the term itself conjures up a very moralistic "right vs wrong, clean vs dirty" kind of image, and that (coupled with the occasional but highly vocal minority of elitists who think their way of eating is the only "right" way) can set a lot of people's teeth on edge. So topics like this are always going to bring up some (sometimes justified) knee-jerk reactions, no matter how innocently intentioned.

To answer your actual questions: I label what I'm working towards "clean eating" but the more accurate title would really be "eating as many home made products as possible while trying to minimize the amount of processing or actual physical distance between me and the source of my food and cutting out as many unnecessary dietary variables when I can because I'm trying to understand my body and its relation to food better and I can't isolate and identify the effects of many additives in my food on my personal well being so it's better to work with as minimal variables as possible while still enjoying my food".

As you can see, "clean eating" rolls off the tongue a little better. My reasons are mostly because a.) I love cooking and feel I should do more at-home meals, b.) I an scientifically-minded and in the process of trying to understand the effect that different types of food have on my physical, emotional and mental well being and therefore unexpected or unquantifiable variables can skew my data, and c.) I want to try to eat more locally grown/produced foods and that means more basic ingredients like local honey, locally caught fish, local bakeries, local produce, etc.

And ultimately I want to broaden my food horizon, and eating traditional fast food or "junk food" fare only encourages me to stay inside my own preset food boundaries because I" trust" them more. I honestly don't think there's anything wrong with white sugar in general or with earring things like Wendys, but for me, unless I make a goal to step outside of those areas on a regular basis than I fall into a routine that leaves me ultimately restricted and unhappy. I think it's bull **** when people try to say their way of eating is better than anyone else's, though, so I understand that the way I'm trying to eat might make someone els miserable or feel restricted in the same way that too much prepackaged food makes ME feel miserable and restricted.

Physically I've found that eating more like how I've outlined has really strong effects on my mental stability. When I eat that way, I'm less prone to bloodsugar crashes and I'll feel physically stronger/more stable (which makes me feel emotionally more stable). I have no clue if it's having any more or less effect on physical changes than if i aye the normal SAD with the same caloric deficit, but that's not why I do it anyway, so I don't really care about that.

No processed foods. Prepare everything from whole natural ingredients.

How do you 'prepare' foods without 'processing'?

Clean eating in my opinion is eating 100% natural. It is nearly impossible. But get this; I consider the eating that I am doing right now clean eating. I can't say it's 100% because sometimes I eat processed foods. But what I do is make sure that my main meal consists of a large portion green vegetables. It is generally my largest portion whether I have to put it into a shake or eat it raw.

I probably didn't answer anything. If you're meal consists of Burger King and McDonalds Burgers and Fries most of the time then it's not clean. If every meal you eat is in a ready to Microwave box, you can ask the question also. While they are beginning to put lables on everything, including some fruits and vegetables; if it's got a lable, and the lable contains 10 ingredients, it's probably not clean. That is my criteria.

I consider clean eating to be a diet based mostly on whole foods (not processed or minimally processed). Fresh, frozen, canned...as long as it's not overly processed (usually carb heavy foods tend to be the most processed I've noticed). And by processed I don't mean meat or grains being ground to make hamburger or flour (yes, that's technically processed), I mean foods ladden with preservatives and flavour enhancers. I I don't eat clean 100% of the time, but I really try to aim for 90-95% of my diet. I do cheat, but doing it too often has it's consequences for me. It wasn't an overnight thing, in fact it took me the better part of 3 years to learn how to manage my diet with help from a dietician, as I have a few food sensitivities (not allergies, but certain foods can cause me pain, bloating and skin issues). I try to eat a somewhat rotary diversified/anti inflammatory diet on account of health issues. Mind you most of those 3 years was spent adding and subtracting foods while trying to maintain a healthy diet without nutritional deficits, and learning how to prepare new foods I'd never eaten before, but it definitely became a lifestyle for me once I figured out what worked and didn't . I do cook a lot of my own meals from scratch as a means of controlling ingredients and substituting in things I can eat for things I can't, and it's made a huge impact on my health over all. When I do opt for prepackaged convenience foods like granola bars and tetra pack soup, I'm just very careful about reading the labels to ensure it doesn't have the stuff I want to avoid.

Clean eating can only be accomplished when you grow your own fruit and vegetables, milk your own cows for milk, butter, and cream, and slaughter your own meat. Make sure to feed those cows grain that you grew yourself to ensure no pesticides or other chemicals have entered into their bodies, as well as your chickens, pigs, and whatever other animals you wish to consume.

Water will be a tricky one. You'll have to find the cleanest body of water available, and draw your water from that. No tap water, as most city/town water supplies are altered with chlorine and other chemicals.

Good luck. I'm going to have some protein powder and a few cups of popcorn!

Rob

I started tracking July 2011 first on sparkpeople and now on here. I was struggling to not over eat calories. However I found when I focused on the macros instead of calorie count it was like magic and I now eat within or close to calorie limits. When focusing on macros - mostly hitting more protein and less carbs letting fat fall where it may I started to eat clean because junk just didn’t fit in macros. I still struggle with late night munchies but I don’t go crazy overboard like before I am way more mindful. I find my body loves more protein and I feel better.

To eat clean to me at this stage is just portion control, lean protein, low fat dairy, whole grains, lots of veggies and some fruit. I am more mindful or processed crap but at times ill eat it anyways (yummy turkey bacon).
It took time to change over to whole grains (1/2 a year) and low fat cheese ( 9 weeks ) but I just pick one thing I want to change and don’t change anything else until I have completely made the switch. One day I am going to cut back on the sugar but chocolate is my world and I am just not ready to make that change yet… over time I will though! My current change is switching from buying meat at No-Frills and starting to buy from a butcher who cares what he feeds his animals. This change started with sourcing out the butchers/farmers plus costs and location took a few weeks just for that part.

Slow and steady...it’s a life change not a short term change!

-Ash

What are your goals? What exercise do you do? And how many calories do you eat? And what are your stats? And do you have a food scale?


You answer those, we can set you up on a plan and get your working towards your goals.

Even though I don't really have anything to add about clean eating... Sorry that people here are so rude sometimes. Don't let them discourage you. We're not all like that.

Wish I had the will power to become a clean eater