Your food is no cleaner than mine

You do realize that by and large the only people who talk about dirty food are those who are against clean eating right? I've never heard any clean eater talk about food being dirty; most don't get close to even judging other people's food choices. Most of the clean eaters I know or those like me who subscribe to the idea of clean eating don't think of clean as being a moral judgment or of other foods are dirty. Usually clean is used in these contexts to mean not possessing things that individual doesn't want to put in their body - therefore, the opposite to clean isn't dirty, it's things they just don't want to put in their body. At worst the opposite of clean eating is eating 'undesirable' things, but since it's more or less defined individually, I hardly see how that's prblematic. Food is always desriable or undesirable on an individual basis - just because I hate celery because it tastes icky to me, and therefore its undesirable and I don't want to eat it, does that somehow affect you and your relationship with celery? If it does, that's a problem with you, not with me.

People all have different views on what is healthy or unhealthy, and what they want to put in their body. If someone wants to chose not to put animal products, or processed food, or pesticides, or GMOs into their body, why do you care? Its their personal food choices, and you shouldn't get to judge them for it, even if what you're judging is how they describe their eating style.

I think it's argumentative to try and say that labelling something clean MUST mean that anything else is dirty, and that it's ridiculous to judge a way of eating on nothing more than its name. Naming conventions aren't about being perfectly descriptive, they're about being catchy. If you have to get all philosophical to find a good argument against a person choosing to eat clean, I think you're really reaching. That, and clean's a perfectly acceptable way of describing most of these food plans. They're based largely on eliminating undesirable (defined by each individual or individual plan) elements from our food and diet - that's one meaning of clean.

It can't be forgotten that words have many meanings or slightly different meanings depending on context. Yes, in some contexts clean and dirty have moral connotations; in others, they really really don't. Reading those kinds of things into this context is quite beside the point and actually rather inappropriate. I'd say that to anyone on either side of the debate, but honestly, I've only ever seen it from clean eating bashers.

^^^^THIS!

In general, when I find someone who is super stuck on the clean, pure, natural, holiness of their food, I assume they're, in some very solid way, substituting food for where ideas about sexual morality would be on their inner map.

As a species, we're a little fixated on attaching non-anxiety-producing meaning anything engulfed by a body part.

So, slap that in Freud's cigar and smoke it.


/end being above it all

The only people here who boast & brag about their food are the "dirty eaters." I don't see clean eaters posting threads about "30 day spinach challenges" or "30 day apple challenges."

"Dirty eaters" are the only people here who try to push their diet beliefs on others.

Yes, you can eat cake and lose weight. Yes, you can eat Chipotle and lose weight. Yes, you can eat pizza and lose weight. The fact of the matter is there are plenty of people out there who simply don't want to incorporate those foods into their diet because 1) they don't have the willpower to do so, 2) it isn't worth the calories, and 3) it isn't worth the crappy feeling you experience afterward.

It's all fine and dandy that there are people here who can eat whatever the hell they want all while losing weight. But the reality is that not everyone is mentally capable of that. Not everyone is in the right frame of mind to do that. Telling someone who weighs 400 lbs and has a fast food obsession that it's fine for them to eat fast food during their weight loss initially is NOT going to go over well. This person needs to avoid fast food because they simply aren't ready to eat fast food in moderation yet. They don't know what moderation is because they've never counted calories or macros before.

That's where you "dirty eaters" go wrong.

In general, when I find someone who is super stuck on the clean, pure, natural, holiness of their food, I assume they're, in some very solid way, substituting food for where ideas about sexual morality would be on their inner map.

As a species, we're a little fixated on attaching non-anxiety-producing meaning anything engulfed by a body part.

So, slap that in Freud's cigar and smoke it.


/end being above it all

You do know that Freud was crazy....right ?

The only people here who boast & brag about their food are the "dirty eaters." I don't see clean eaters posting threads about "30 day spinach challenges" or "30 day apple challenges."

"Dirty eaters" are the only people here who try to push their diet beliefs on others.

Yes, you can eat cake and lose weight. Yes, you can eat Chipotle and lose weight. Yes, you can eat pizza and lose weight. The fact of the matter is there are plenty of people out there who simply don't want to incorporate those foods into their diet because 1) they don't have the willpower to do so, 2) it isn't worth the calories, and 3) it isn't worth the crappy feeling you experience afterward.

It's all fine and dandy that there are people here who can eat whatever the hell they want all while losing weight. But the reality is that not everyone is mentally capable of that. Not everyone is in the right frame of mind to do that. Telling someone who weighs 400 lbs and has a fast food obsession that it's fine for them to eat fast food during their weight loss initially is NOT going to go over well. This person needs to avoid fast food because they simply aren't ready to eat fast food in moderation yet. They don't know what moderation is because they've never counted calories or macros before.

That's where you "dirty eaters" go wrong.

Oh fatfree, I'm disappointed. Especially considering I consider you one of my most supportive friend yet I'm pretty sure I'm probably one of the "dirtiest eaters" on your friends list.

In general, when I find someone who is super stuck on the clean, pure, natural, holiness of their food, I assume they're, in some very solid way, substituting food for where ideas about sexual morality would be on their inner map.

As a species, we're a little fixated on attaching non-anxiety-producing meaning anything engulfed by a body part.

So, slap that in Freud's cigar and smoke it.


/end being above it all

You do know that Freud was crazy....right ?

I'm clearly not very convincing in my argument that the term "clean eating" is not a personal attack or judgment. Nor am I convincing in my argument that labels can be useful as a way to shortcut language. So, I'm out.

The only people here who boast & brag about their food are the "dirty eaters." I don't see clean eaters posting threads about "30 day spinach challenges" or "30 day apple challenges."

"Dirty eaters" are the only people here who try to push their diet beliefs on others.

Yes, you can eat cake and lose weight. Yes, you can eat Chipotle and lose weight. Yes, you can eat pizza and lose weight. The fact of the matter is there are plenty of people out there who simply don't want to incorporate those foods into their diet because 1) they don't have the willpower to do so, 2) it isn't worth the calories, and 3) it isn't worth the crappy feeling you experience afterward.

It's all fine and dandy that there are people here who can eat whatever the hell they want all while losing weight. But the reality is that not everyone is mentally capable of that. Not everyone is in the right frame of mind to do that. Telling someone who weighs 400 lbs and has a fast food obsession that it's fine for them to eat fast food during their weight loss initially is NOT going to go over well. This person needs to avoid fast food because they simply aren't ready to eat fast food in moderation yet. They don't know what moderation is because they've never counted calories or macros before.

That's where you "dirty eaters" go wrong.

The original article really helped me put my finger on why I find 'clean' eaters so objectionable sometimes - usually I truly don't mind hearing about what people eat, especially when it's working for them long-term (one of those miraculous lifestyle changes we hear about).

I do mind, however, when people complain that they're eating clean but still not losing weight, or assume that I'm eating clean because I'm trying to lose weight. IMO, 'clean' is more of a marketing term. You can sell books based on the premise of clean-eating, your magazine will sell more if it contains clean recipes, and clean-eating websites can generate loads of ad revenue.

No one is making money on the eat-whatever-you-want-but-learn-portion-control and move-more and lift-heavy-so-you-can-eat-even-MORE diet. Yet.