What is clean eating?

Clean eating is eating foods that help achieve your goals.

Any food can be "clean" if it helps you achieve what you want.

In for the opposing opinions!! Thank you Friday.


ETA: bad spelling.... :grumble:

It's only eating foods raised in your own personal garden/farm.

"Clean" eating has no clear cut definition. Generally it seems to be used by people who cut certain foods out of their diet to designate that they don't eat those foods. I believe in eating healthy, tend to eat seasonally and cook most of my food from whole foods (since I like to cook--I ate that way before losing weight too), and eat lots of vegetables, but I see no reason to adopt arbitrary rules about what I will or won't eat or eliminate foods and I don't think foods like ice cream or homemade pie are "unclean" or unacceptable in a healthy diet, so I reject the term as unhelpful and obnoxious.

If you think you have an issue with eating too many processed foods of certain types (remember that yogurt and frozen veggies, along with any number of other extremely healthy foods are "processed"), with lots of high calorie or non-nutrient-dense items, or too much fast food, etc., the problem is with making these things the center of your diet not with eating any of them ever. Definitely try focusing on vegetables and home cooked meals if that appeals to you -- I think that's an easy way to eat more healthfully and cut calories --- but I am forever mystified why people want to go to extremes from eating all of these items with no moderation at all to cutting things out and then announce that they are eating "clean." If you have to struggle to maintain some kind of special diet, vs. figuring out a way to eat healthfully within your preferences, then it's much less likely to be sustainable, and it's really not necessary.

Clean eating is whatever you want it to be. Decide some things are bad, for whatever reason. Don't eat them. There you go, you're eating clean.

Have you asked yourself that question? What do you consider clean eating op? I bet if you answer then make a few changes, you'll feel like you are "making better food choices".

Always follow the proper sanitation practices when preparing your food, such as cooking your meats to the proper temperature, washing all fruits and vegetables before consuming them, and using clean, non-stagnated water, free from parasites. Especially if you're in a third-world country.

:laugh:

I'm sure it means something different to each person, but to me it is just a matter of choosing consciously and deliberately a product in a more natural state.

Even most of those items are processed in one way or another, but for instance, instead of choosing a heavy whipping cream with sorbic acid, dipotassium phosphate, produced from cows given hormones, caged and milked by machinery (there is nothing wrong with making this choice in my opinion) you may select/choose a heavy cream from a local dairy that doesn't add preservatives and doesn't give their cows hormones, and maybe the cow lives outside and gets sunshine and is milked by hand.

This can be true of every item we purchase. I tend to shop the perimeter of my grocery store, which I find has items in their more natural states, however, I'm not against convenience and processed foods when they fit my goals. I do prefer to buy fresh vegetables from farmers whenever possible, but it isn't always convenient or affordable for my budget. I also like Birdseye Steamfresh vegetables from the freezer section because they are fast, easy, and sometimes less expensive than the same item from the produce section.

I personally don't see much difference between a fresh head of cauliflower from the produce section versus the bag of frozen chunks of cauliflower. One, I have to wash, remove stem and cut in chunks myself, boil, then use the food processor. The other, I pour from the bag into my pot, boil, then put in food processor. Sometimes I make the choice to save myself a step or two, but I still consider it eating "clean".