Eating "Clean"

Shop the perimeter. So that is produce, meat/dairy. Stay out of the aisles with packaged treats...cookies, candies, snack crackers.

You'll be eating "cleaner" than about 80% of all Americans who equate the naturally occurring nutrients and phytochemicals in blueberries with a highly processed food which has zero nutritive value.

There is a cleaning eating group here on MFP where you'll find more of us!

For my own part, I'm 50, 21.5 BMI, just did a competitive stairclimb where I did 54 flight in 12 and a half minutes.

My weight I attribute to a calorie deficit.

The fact that I feel terrific every day and fully expect to live well into my 90s, I attribute to eating clean.

right, so everyone who does not eat "clean" by your definition (whatever that is) is a "dirty" eater that is not going to live a long life....?

lol...wowz..

yeah, but you don't stairz, so what do you know?

Firstly, you need to do what you feel is best for you and your goals. ‘Clean eating’ seems to be a sticky situation on MFP. I currently eat clean about 95% of the time {with my definition of clean meaning non-processed food}. I don’t indulge with the stuff I used to eat, not because I think I won’t* lose weight if I do but I know that for me, personally, if I have treats in my house then I will end up binging and it’s just a whoooole lot easier for me to only have tons of fruits, veggies and lean meats/proteins. When I do have a sweet tooth I just incorporate the ingredients I have to make something yummy.

With that said, do some research. Figure out where you want to start, the types of foods you want to eat. Look up recipes. There are many out there that have ‘natural’ ingredients that taste really good.

As far as the chemicals on produce and the hormones/steroids in meat, I totally understand. I don’t buy organic produce ALL of the time because I know that even some of that can have levels of pesticides to some degree. I do buy organic chicken though. Springer Mountain sells bags of pre-packaged chicken breasts that are organic {and the organic chicken imo tastes a lot better and juicer then the store brand chicken}.

Just start with lots of research and figure out if this is the path you want to take and know that either way there is nothing wrong with it. Whether someone agrees with clean eating or not, it doesn’t matter because you are the one in charge of your own goals, so you need to do what’s best for you and no one else.

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The fact that I feel terrific every day and fully expect to live well into my 90s, I attribute to eating clean.

The fact that I feel terrific every day and fully expect to live well into my 90s, I attribute to stress-free living from daily cannabis use.

The fact that I feel terrific every day and fully expect to live well into my 90s, I attribute to eating clean.

My grandmother lived to almost 98 and was on her own until the last two years. She ate whatever. I mean, she ate overall healthy, but she ate cookies and store-bought bread and jarred pasta sauce, etc.

My grandfather was an obese smoker most of his life and lived to 89.

And I've watched people with perfect, healthy lifestyles get sick and die in their 20s and 30s.

Good luck.

Like that vegan actor who was incredibly fit (from "The Green Mile")...became vegan for health and dropped dread from a heart attack in his 50s.

The best laid plans of mice and men do often go awry...

I would have to agree. Organic has become much more a marketing gimmick than anything. The real concern is genetically modified produce, which is for the most part soybeans and corn. If you're drinking soy milk, get organic to avoid the GMO's. As for corn, most of it is produced for the processed foods industry, which we all should be avoiding anyway, so ultimately it's a non-issue.

Thank you all - I really needed to hear all of that. I am going to take one step and one day at a time. :happy: :happy:

Smart. And a great place to start is adding more produce to your diet, One of the best things I ever did for myself and my family was to learn how to cook and prepare vegetables so they taste awesome. Not just passable--awesome. I grew up like many kids in the 70's and 80's, where the vegetable was a boring little pile on my plate that I had to finish before leaving the table. It does NOT have to be like that!

If you have room for a little garden or even a couple of pots, it's quite rewarding. My kids always liked to eat something they helped grow. And a tomato from your own vine... WOW.

Gardening and harvesting your own food from local gardens is great for getting over a veggie phobia and you get a little exercise to boot.

Cooking your own food, whether you get them from Whole Foods or a dumpster dive (extreme) is the cleanest thing you can do. then you know pretty much what is in it.

Baby steps and patience are key if you don't know how to cook or garden.

The fact that I feel terrific every day and fully expect to live well into my 90s, I attribute to eating clean.

The fact that I feel terrific every day and fully expect to live well into my 90s, I attribute to stress-free living from daily cannabis use.

lucky.
Is it 420 yet?

[Smart. And a great place to start is adding more produce to your diet, One of the best things I ever did for myself and my family was to learn how to cook and prepare vegetables so they taste awesome. Not just passable--awesome. I grew up like many kids in the 70's and 80's, where the vegetable was a boring little pile on my plate that I had to finish before leaving the table. It does NOT have to be like that!

If you have room for a little garden or even a couple of pots, it's quite rewarding. My kids always liked to eat something they helped grow. And a tomato from your own vine... WOW]


Wow your words gave me such a flashback!! How accurate. And I feel that's why I'm such a mundane cook!
[/quote]

I would rather Invest in our earth for our future generations then greedy damaging chemical companies. That said, eating whole foods will start to taste better once you get all the "Other Stuff" out of the house and your mouth.

Thank you all - I really needed to hear all of that. I am going to take one step and one day at a time. :happy: :happy:

Think about it this way, if all those "scary chemicals" really were bad, we'd all be dead. You've eaten them your whole life, so have I and everyone else you know. We're fine. So there's nothing to worry about.

Ignore the fear mongering. They're just trying to sell you stuff.

Can you explain why all illnesses have quadrupled in the last 40 years? And new, unexplained illnesses? I'm not saying that all food is bad or that clean eating is "the way," but to say we have all been eating "scary chemicals" and we are all fine is completely ignoring the obvious.

Population as tripled, genetics, increased obesity and decreased activity to name a few.

Doubling of the average lifespan is another contributor. The longer we live, the more likely we are to end up with a disease caused by aging.

So, this seems to be a very popular thread, but I'm going to throw in my two cents:

If you are making a life-style change, which it sounds like you are, and you have a child who will be affected for the better, but none-the-less will likely have an aversion to it, don't try and kid yourself that you will be able to just flip a switch and become an organic, hormone-and-steroid-free kind of family.

Organic is good, yes, but sometimes not as available, and always more expensive, which some people have no appreciation for. So make the changes that you can now, and embrace a healthier lifestyle at a pace that you can maintain. You know? Be comfortable, and make sure your daughter is too, so that she can have a healthy relationship with healthy foods.

I made a change without realizing it a while back...In order to keep my entries on MyFitnessPal on the right caloric intake track, I found that most of my dinner plates had foods that would keep me full, but wouldn't pack in the calories. The foods I was buying at the store weren't necessarily organic, or hormone-free, but they were as minimally processed as possible. Cheese, for example, rarely found its way into my shopping cart because of high calories and fat content (though oh-so-good) Cheese, coincidentally, is also a pretty processed product, even when you aren't talking about the neon orange Velveeta stuff. Milk stayed in my shopping cart, because, well, milk is milk, and while I don't take "Clean eating" to the level of having a cow in my back yard so I can control what it eats, for the most part, milk is minimally processed. While my kids don't really have an aversion to veggies, or to fresh foods, they really like frozen stuff; the breaded chicken fingers for example. I've cut those out of the shopping cart club, and prefer to serve "naked" chicken.

Back to what is making its way onto our dinner plates...by process of making the cut for my MyFitnessPal food entries, I have cut out the processed stuff, and not really on purpose, if that makes sense. On any given night, our dinner plates could be chicken breast (I remove the skin), boiled potatoes, and steamed green beans. It sounds plain, but spices can be added to the chicken, salt to the potatoes and beans, and it's all good.

Baby steps...