Be Smart... don't fall for Fads and scams :)

"Overall a good message and this site frequently promotes the same views, but the highlighted portion is wrong. You don' t have to eat clean to be fit or healthy. "


hmm.... you got me curious psulemon, How do you figure that you don't have to eat clean to be fit and healthy? I am genuinely curious. I'm not saying it has to be all the time, but eating processed, "fake" foods if you will does not fuel the body the way natural foods do. While some people can eat Mac n Cheese, candy, chips, and processed meats... that doesn't mean they are healthy even if the appear it on the outside. Clean eating in my opinion is very important, however so is exercise, sleep, hydration, and having indulgences now and then (For body and mind haha).

im in full agreement with you. people here too often take "you can eat whatever and lose weight" to mean "you can eat whatever and be healthy". you'll hear that you dont need to eat healthy here quite frequently

theres also the unclear definition of healthy or clean foods to be considered but i think for the most part its obvious whats healthy and what isnt

If someone says "clean" diet, I generally assume they mean the following (unless, of course, they've specified that there is a reason to exclude one or more of the following):

lean meats, a variety of vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, dairy, and whole grains.

However, for someone to immediately demonize any "unclean" or "junk" foods is a little unfair. Many people consider ice cream as "junk food" but I make it myself at home with cream, whole milk, sugar and vanilla extract. Not a single one of those ingredients is considered not "clean" and the only additional processing (you know, after milking the cow, pasteurizing the milk, refining the sugar from cane sugar, extracting the vanilla from vanilla beans...) is the freezing process in the ice cream maker. This is why I don't really pay much attention to people demonizing many "junk" foods off the top without a complete dietary profile.

I personally don't keep many "processed" foods in the house other than things like steel cut oats (processed - I don't just get a bunch of freshly cut oat from a field someplace and do it myself) and make treats from scratch. Does that mean I eat "cleaner" than other people who have other kinds of treats sometimes? No. Does that mean I eat less "clean" than people who never have treats? No. The only major difference is I don't tend to have many artificial preservatives other than refrigeration and that's mainly because my family just finds that homemade treats taste better.

Can I get a HELL YEAH??!! I was having a similar argument on a thread yesterday, with core question of whether to weigh and measure food. Most don't seem to agree to. "I ate what I wanted and didn't measure and I lost weight" Bully for you, but as you look at the most successful people with a healthy loss at a steady rate, with the best chance of maintaining, there is a common denominator. They don't fight with the main recipe to a healthy weight and body. From what I gather it is:

1. Find your TDEE and use it to figure weight loss, gain or maintenance.
2. Hit your macros and figured calories for your goal
3. Buy whole foods and make it yourself most of the time
4. Measure most of what you eat until you gain a good handle on your portions (or like heavy handed me, forever)
5. Exercise for speed, strength, mobility, endurance, and looking good if that's your thing. Not necessarily to lose weight.
6. Do not fall for quick or temporary fixes.

Boom! Done! Simple as that.

Can you lose on pills, cleanses, body treatment, flushes and/or junk food in small quantities? Sure. But you lie to yourself if you think your body is going to be in its most healthy state if you go about it like that. Plus the higher likelihood of being "skinny fat" or regaining what you lost.

which is why i never understand why you hear that eating healthy or "clean" isnt important for general health.

I don't think I have ever seen anyone say you don't need to eat nutrient dense foods for your health. EVER. I have seen them say it's unimportant for weight loss. I think that's where the controversy comes in but they're not saying you shouldn't eat those foods. A good example of the "clean" problem is the lunch I just had. I ate an egg salad sandwich on whole wheat bread with a side of grape tomatoes. In my opinion, a decent lunch. But it wasn't "clean" by some definitions because I had bread and there was Miracle Whip in the egg salad. I don't think there was anything wrong with my lunch (feel free to share if you believe otherwise LOL) but to someone trying their heart out to eat clean, such a simple little meal is "wrong." And that's where people warn of unsustainability. Because a lot of people will get caught up in trying to eat perfectly and feel like giving up when they eat a "bad" food. All people are saying is that we should stop trying to meet some definition of "clean," eat nutrient dense food most of the time and not freak out about having some "junk" in our diet, even on a regular basis.

I don't think you said that junk food was unhealthy, but there is a difference between something not being good for you and something being unhealthy. That's what annoys me. An Oatmeal Cream Pie isn't unhealthy. Is it good for you? Probably not physically (mentally yes , but that doesn't mean it's unhealthy.

Actually I did say that.

PSA: Junk food isn't healthy food. You can say it as many times as you want, but it isn't healthy. Sure, if you have the right kind of body, you can burn off all that filth you eat and remain mostly healthy, but junk food still isn't healthy food.

unhealthy: 'harmful to health." "not having or showing good health."
I'm having trouble understanding how something that is not physically good for you, is not unhealthy.

But whatever. Clearly, I hold the minority opinion here. That's fine. I have other things to do. Good luck sorting it all out. I'm sure you'll find the right of it.

And I really am over hearing the words" Clean Eating", even if it is a fairly good guideline for repairing poor dietary habits. Said it before, say it again; How about common sense eating the majority of the time. The good ol' 80/20 rule works wonders.

I don't think you said that junk food was unhealthy, but there is a difference between something not being good for you and something being unhealthy. That's what annoys me. An Oatmeal Cream Pie isn't unhealthy. Is it good for you? Probably not physically (mentally yes , but that doesn't mean it's unhealthy.

Actually I did say that.

PSA: Junk food isn't healthy food. You can say it as many times as you want, but it isn't healthy. Sure, if you have the right kind of body, you can burn off all that filth you eat and remain mostly healthy, but junk food still isn't healthy food.

unhealthy: 'harmful to health." "not having or showing good health."
I'm having trouble understanding how something that is not physically good for you, is not unhealthy.

But whatever. Clearly, I hold the minority opinion here. That's fine. I have other things to do. Good luck sorting it all out. I'm sure you'll find the right of it.

The definition "harmful to health" says it all. Unless you can prove that a certain food is actively damaging someone's health, calling it unhealthy is a stretch. Some foods are more nutrient dense than others, but that doesn't make the less nutrient dense foods bad for you. You're also not taking into account frequency and quantity of the food consumed when you make blanket statements that something is unhealthy. There are plenty of "healthy" foods that when consumed too often or in large quantities can make a person physically ill.

Second, depending on how one defines "processed," it seems that "junk food" could include those that are not particularly processed, as with the homemade ice cream discussed above (I almost disagreed with the claim in that post that none of the ingredients could be considered unclean, because of course "clean eaters" here commonly include cane sugar and even dairy among the terrible unclean foods).