"Clean" vs. "unclean" eating studies?

"Clean" eating helps me hit my macro targets.. it would be difficult to hit them eating fast food. Although I eat ice cream every day. And McDonalds quite a bit.

I know this is going to sound silly but today is the first time I have heard macro. Can you explain what they are to me?

Macronutrients: carbs, protein, fat, etc.

"Clean" eating helps me hit my macro targets.. it would be difficult to hit them eating fast food. Although I eat ice cream every day. And McDonalds quite a bit.

This gets into the fact that "clean" eating is completely vague and "processed" as usually used by "clean" eaters is incoherent.

I don't like fast food, so almost never eat it, but also I don't eat "clean" because I don't believe in the concept (calling foods dirty, acting as if nutrition is about not eating foods vs seeking out a nutritionally balanced diet). Another reason I think it would be silly for me to give up processed foods is that they are extremely helpful for me in meeting my macros. Greek yogurt, for example.

Oh, and I also like to have ice cream when I have the calories. I don't see why this is bad if I don't skimp on my nutrition to do it.

A study that compared "clean" eating with sensible eating of the sort that seems to be the usual alternative recommended around here would be interesting, but I doubt it's been done. Lots of difficulties. There are efforts to compare vegetarians and not, but causation is always a problem.

There was a study, but it was found to be unclean.

:laugh:

I think conventional wisdom is what's boiled down from all these studies. Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. Ok, that's not conventional wisdom, that's Michael Pollan, but I think he nailed it. :laugh:

Yes. That is it.

following...

RCT's for any length of time with enough participants is prohibitive....never going to happen. You also can't control calorie intake simply because everyone requires different amounts. Genetics, lifestyle, family, culture etc all contribute to someones overall health, food actually isn't that important in the big scheme of things if someone isn't overweight or obese.

I am sure these people ate "clean" all there lives and these picture are just flukes. I wonder if those cakes are clean, non-processed,sugar-free, gluten-free, flour-free etc.

That's not really helpful. There are always outliers. The OP has a legit question- whether or not there are studies out there showing evidence. These pics are hardly evidence, and certainly not studies. And gluten free has nothing to do with clean eating. That is for people who are allergic to gluten.

I am sure these people ate "clean" all there lives and these picture are just flukes. I wonder if those cakes are clean, non-processed,sugar-free, gluten-free, flour-free etc.

The lady lighting her cigarette on her 100th birthday cake is my new hero.

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We don't know if the 100 year old smoker took up smoking last year because she got fed up of living an old age.

Certainly, when I hit about 75 I'm going to take up cigar smoking. I love the smell but don't want to die of cancer just yet.

As to CICO, if you're very overweight and at risk of associated medical issues, then even eating doughnuts all day but within your calorie allowance so that you lose weight is going to result in better health. But when you're of a reasonable weight, then someone eating healthy food is going to be getting more nutrients than someone eating jam all day. Do we really need a case study to check this?

I think you'd have better luck on google - look at things like organic vs non-organic, etc.

Not a study, but a lot of people wrote to the author about their clean eating experience. I don't think you'll find a study since the definition of "clean" varies between groups of dieters
http://www.healthylivingheavylifting.com/the-perils-of-clean-eating/

I am definitely going to check that out. Thanks.

I guess I understand there is no real definition of clean, but for me it basically = no processed food with additives, and as organic as possible, especially with meat and dairy and thin skinned fruits and veggies. I am ok with grains, but do not ingest flour, and any processed sugar I barely eat (all forms including brown rice syrup and organic cane sugar, whatever they decide to call it.) I try to stay informed as to which foods tend to be heavily treated with chemicals and buy those organic when possible. I can say anecdotally when I switched to eating this way I lost weight without measuring anything and more importantly I felt better overall (more energy, no stomach issues, etc.) I am curious to see if there is any scientific evidence supporting my experience. I will continue eating this way anyhow, as it suits me, but just interested to see research about it if it exists. Although there may not be research on "clean" eating, I am sure there is on particular additives, chemicals, and pesticides.

So, if a person is 50 lbs over weigh because of eating too much of foods that are considered " clean" ( as in my case, never really ate junk or processed foods, fast foods, etc just serving sizes too big of what I was eating) vs. being 50 lbs overweight from eating too much " unclean" food is the risk of health problems the same? is it the excess body weight that is the health issue or what you ate to have the excess weight the issue?

Always wondered? I know of many people who are of " normal weight" who eating habits are awful but somehow these people are perceived by some as "healthy" because their weight is normal.

I ate healthy most of the time I was getting fat too (and was extremely unhealthy for a while before that when I was a good weight). I managed to have no negative results in either case, medically, at least based on tests and general health and so on. By the end my lack of fitness while fat was starting to be obviously hard on my body, though, which is one reason I think I finally had enough.

But personal results aside, I think the evidence is that being obese is bad for you independent of what you eat. The excess weight is the issue. Within the overweight category, it's really more a question of fitness and there I think if you exercise and eat well it's not really unhealthy.