Thoughts on clean eating

I have a food naughty list

I have joined a group of ladies we get together once a week for a half hour of sculpting and an hour of cardio. We journal our food and activities for a little competative fun.

some of them blelieve that if you don't do the "clean eating hard core" your not being healthy.

i don't agree with this, i do try and stick with healthier foods and try to stay away from alot of processed food. I juat can not aford all of this organic food stuff.

what are your thoughts?

My cliffs-notes thoughts on this:

I am not aware of evidence suggesting that a "clean" diet is superior to one in which "most of the foods" are whole and minimally refined and "some" junk food is also incorporated in moderation.

In other words, get your nutrients in, mind your calories, eat "mostly good stuff" and have some treats and beyond that don't worry about it.

Also I don't believe organic necessarily means better for you.

He might be prettier but those ARE MY Cliff's notes!!

Eat what you want, just make sure your nutritional needs are being met.

I have joined a group of ladies we get together once a week for a half hour of sculpting and an hour of cardio. We journal our food and activities for a little competative fun.

some of them blelieve that if you don't do the "clean eating hard core" your not being healthy.

i don't agree with this, i do try and stick with healthier foods and try to stay away from alot of processed food. I juat can not aford all of this organic food stuff.

what are your thoughts?

I agree with you.
I eat a diet based on whole foods since the early 70's . I consider myself healthy ( I have low BP, all my lab numbers are good, I am very active for my age, still have a full time career etc even though I have Lupus, which has nothing to do with how a person eats ) but I have never bought organic food in my whole life. I might have eaten organic by default, but would never spend the money on food just because it has an " organic " label....there is too much fraud and semi-fraud going on, because the organic labelling laws are too lax.
I eat seasonal, locally grown ( which is healthier than " organic " stuff that has been transported for days and since I live in an underdeveloped country are chemical free, because small farmers here have no money for chemicals ) and grow a lot of my own in a container garden. If I lived in a country with winter and no fresh stuff, I would eat frozen veggies.....they are a good choice.
I agree that staying away from processed food is a very good thing, but the rest is up to you. " eating clean " does not automatically mean you have to eat organic. And yes, I am licensed to make that statement....:o).
One personal thing. I would never call what I eat " eating clean ". It's an expression that is popular in MFP and no where else. I would think of my diet and then give it a short description. I call mine a " diet based on whole foods ", because I would also never use primal, paleo or whatever is out there . I don't like labels...ever.

I try to eat clean by eating less processed foods, eating more veggies and lean meats. So I hope by the end of the day I've eaten 70-80% clean. Which is about 100% better than when I started this weight loss journey...