Clean Eating Question
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lemurcat12 wrote: »People in this thread have been advocating eating mostly nutrient dense food and fitting in treats you like as you can. How is that different from the 80/20 clean eating thing?
Precisely!
Once again, the main difference between so-called "clean" eaters and the rest of us is that the rest of us don't get some kind of special thrill from calling ourselves "clean eaters."
Soooooo agree!!!0 -
Everyone has to find what works for them, and most importantly, what is sustainable long term.
For me, it is absolutely not sustainable to completely cut out ice cream, chips, cookies, etc forever. That is not realistic, and for me, it's a recipe for disaster.
So I practice calorie counting. If I have room in my calories and I feel like chocolate, I'll have a Kit Kat. If I have room, I'll have ice cream that day. And so on. The majority of my calories come from lean meats and veggies, but damn straight I make room for "treats". Or "dirty" food, whatever you want to call it.
So often people see/hear "you can still eat ice cream and chips" and take that to mean "eat all the ice cream and all the chips all day long!!" and that's NOT what it means. It's very frustrating. (This is not directed at the OP, but just in general).
So that's my two cents. I've lost 60lbs in the last 6 months this way, and feel great.0 -
shrinkingletters wrote: »I've been SO much happier and more satisfied since I learned from the members here that I could eat any of my favorite "junk" and "unclean" foods so long as I do so in moderation.
OP, I eat chips and chocolate on the daily. I'm still losing while maintaining my sanity and not getting hung up on the moral value of some food based or the pinterest-science I've been fed prior to MFP.
+1 IIFYM and CICO completely changed my approach to food and gave me the first real sustainable and enjoyable success I've ever had with "dieting"
Yeah this. I don't know why people would not want to eat like this. It works, it's easy, and makes total sense.0 -
pinklotus_56 wrote: »Everyone has to find what works for them, and most importantly, what is sustainable long term.
For me, it is absolutely not sustainable to completely cut out ice cream, chips, cookies, etc forever. That is not realistic, and for me, it's a recipe for disaster.
So I practice calorie counting. If I have room in my calories and I feel like chocolate, I'll have a Kit Kat. If I have room, I'll have ice cream that day. And so on. The majority of my calories come from lean meats and veggies, but damn straight I make room for "treats". Or "dirty" food, whatever you want to call it.
So often people see/hear "you can still eat ice cream and chips" and take that to mean "eat all the ice cream and all the chips all day long!!" and that's NOT what it means. It's very frustrating. (This is not directed at the OP, but just in general).
So that's my two cents. I've lost 60lbs in the last 6 months this way, and feel great.
I actually eat chocolate and chips with more frequency than I did before trying to lose weight. "Clean" eating is bunk. Hallelujah, I have seen the light.
Oh. When I learned from y'all that dietary fat has little bearing on body fat. OH MAN. Bacon! Butter! Scale still going down!0 -
BabyPhat90713 wrote: »Ok so I'd really like to give this a go since my neighbor has been doing it. She has lost 15 pounds and 20 inches in 5 weeks. If I do this and get to goal could I slowly add in a few things I used to like as long as I stay at my maintaining calorie range? I'm just wondering if I'll ever be able to eat out again or enjoy things at holidays with the family. I just wouldn't want to lose it all just to gain it all back if I'd slip into old habits if I felt I was always depriving myself. I need to lose at least 80 pounds but my goal is 100. Suggestions, opinions, and advise wanted! Thank you.
OP - I am going to give you the following advice.
1. ditch the clean eating it is necessary for nothing and impossible to define.
2. enter your stats into MFP and set it for one pound per week loss.
3. get a food scale and weigh all solids
4. make sure you are using accurate MFP database entries
5. log everything that you eat
6. realize that no foods are bad/clean/good/whatever; you can eat the foods you like on a daily basis like cookies, ice cream, processed foods, etc; however, make sure that the majority of your foods are nutrient dense
7. make sure you hit micros/macors
8. find a form of exercise you like and do it < not necessary but is good for overall health.
This is SO right. God I wish I knew this when I started trying to lose weight... I wasted 3 months trying to just eat clean and actually gained fat/weight. With all this advice above, I lost 10 pounds. Please do not think clean eating is necessary for weight/fat loss!0 -
No need to over-complicate things. It is really pretty simple. From the "Ultimate Guide to Clean Eating":
1) Don't eat garbage. Somebody probably threw that in the trash bin for a good reason.
2) Don't eat crap. Seriously, it doesn't taste very good. Unless it is yeast crap. Beer and bread actually taste pretty good.
3) Don't eat anything processed. This includes anything chemically modified by uv rays, cooking, chemical interactions between air or other ingredients in a meal, as well as your own chewing, saliva and stomach acid. Also, watch out for anything that interacts with your own intestinal flora.
4) Don't eat any fast, slow, bad, simple, or complex carbohydrates. Also, avoid prolonged eye contact with refined sugars. They are evil.
5) Don't eat anything made out of molecules. Be very wary of anything that contains ingredients with an atomic number higher than 79.
6) Don't eat anything from McDonalds. The correlation between number of McDonalds restaurants and obesity cannot be denied.
7) Contrary to popular opinion, it is OK to eat food that comes in a package, as long as the packaging materials don't contain gluten or other chemicals. Be aware that most food manufacturers intend for you to avoid eating the packaging material, even though this may not be explicitly noted on the packaging itself.
8) Don't eat anything that prehistoric cave men didn't eat. They represent the pinnacle of nutritional enlightenment.
9) Don't get offended by clean eating jokes.
Everything else is OK (in moderation).
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lemurcat12 wrote: »I am not sure why we have to have names for the food that we eat...seems a bit silly to me. I have often wondered why we can't just eat what we want to eat and call it a day. However...
What someone wants to call their way of eating IMO is up to them...whether I understand it or not. I just think that...well nevermind what I think.
I think it's rude to claim that your way of eating is "cleaner" than others, and--perhaps more important--I think it can lead to distorted ideas about foods. There are reasons why I rarely eat potato chips (one of which is that the calories aren't worth it to me since I don't like them that much, but there are chips where I think the ingredients are better than other chips). However, none of that has to do with chips (or some chips) being "unclean." I don't think it's a useful way to characterize it and, again, rude.
It seems to me that the aggression on this forum tends to be from people who proclaim themselves "cleaner" than others (even though quite often what they seem to mean by that is that they don't eat stuff I never ate and they do eat the same processed foods I do, but just pretend they aren't processed for some reason). It's confusing and tends to make understanding more difficult. Yet they cling really hard to that term.
For me, the objection isn't to different eating styles--I think I'm on record as having my own eating quirks and as being quite open to the idea that things like low carb or paleo or vegan can work for others--it's to the claim that your own eating quirk is the One True Way or healthier than how others eat without any evidence of that, the claim that one must give up sugar or wheat or "processed foods" (even though no one does) or dairy or whatever to be healthy. It might work for individuals, sure, but it's not necessary or even a good thing for everything.
I never claimed the above. I have never claimed to eat clean nor that the food that I eat is any better than what someone else eats.
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mantium999 wrote: »It isn't as hard as it sounds and after you clean your body you lose a lot of the cravings for the foods you think you couldn't live without. 80/20 allows you to still indulge on occasion but you will want real foods more often. I was amazed at how much better real food tastes after you get rid of the junk.
What constitutes real and junk?
Real foods are just that grown foods natural meats unprocessed or very little processing since technically cooking your food is processing it. Junk is the stuff that comes in a package. That is my definition anyways yours may be different.
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mantium999 wrote: »It isn't as hard as it sounds and after you clean your body you lose a lot of the cravings for the foods you think you couldn't live without. 80/20 allows you to still indulge on occasion but you will want real foods more often. I was amazed at how much better real food tastes after you get rid of the junk.
What constitutes real and junk?
Real foods are just that grown foods natural meats unprocessed or very little processing since technically cooking your food is processing it. Junk is the stuff that comes in a package. That is my definition anyways yours may be different.
Milk comes in a package. Meat comes in packages. Yogurt and granola can be packaged; so can cherry tomatoes and grapes and whole grain bread...
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mantium999 wrote: »It isn't as hard as it sounds and after you clean your body you lose a lot of the cravings for the foods you think you couldn't live without. 80/20 allows you to still indulge on occasion but you will want real foods more often. I was amazed at how much better real food tastes after you get rid of the junk.
What constitutes real and junk?
Real foods are just that grown foods natural meats unprocessed or very little processing since technically cooking your food is processing it. Junk is the stuff that comes in a package. That is my definition anyways yours may be different.
Silly definition is silly
"Junk":
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ceoverturf wrote: »mantium999 wrote: »It isn't as hard as it sounds and after you clean your body you lose a lot of the cravings for the foods you think you couldn't live without. 80/20 allows you to still indulge on occasion but you will want real foods more often. I was amazed at how much better real food tastes after you get rid of the junk.
What constitutes real and junk?
Real foods are just that grown foods natural meats unprocessed or very little processing since technically cooking your food is processing it. Junk is the stuff that comes in a package. That is my definition anyways yours may be different.
Silly definition is silly
"Junk":
In for,
"You know what I meant"
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diannethegeek wrote: »Here on MFP I've seen clean eating defined in a few different ways. These have all been given as off-the-cuff answers when asked what clean eating is.
Nothing but minimally processed foods.
Absolutely no processed foods.
Shop only the outside of the grocery store.
Nothing out of a box, jar, or can.
Only food that's not in a box or hermetically sealed bag, or from e.g. McDonald's.
No take-out or junk food at all.
Nothing at all with a barcode.
Nothing with more than 5 ingredients.
Nothing with more than 4 ingredients.
Nothing with more than 3 ingredients.
Nothing with more than 1 ingredient.
No added preservatives.
No added chemicals.
No chemicals, preservatives, etc. at all.
No ingredients that you can't pronounce.
No ingredients that sound like they came out of a chemistry book.
Nothing that is processed and comes in a package or wrapper, or has any ingredient that sounds scientific.
Don't eat products that have a TV commercial.
Don't eat products that have a longer shelf life than you do.
No added sugar.
No added refined sugar.
Swap white sugar for brown.
No "white" foods.
Nothing but lean meats, fruits, and vegetables.
Just stick with veggies, fruits, beans, and meat!
Eat foods as close to their natural state as POSSIBLE, and little to no processed food.
Only meat from grass-fed animals and free-range chickens.
Only pesticide-free foods.
Nothing that causes your body bloat or inflammation.
No trigger foods, nothing from fast food chains, nothing in the junk food aisles, and no high gmo foods.
No red meat, no sweets, no pasta, no alcohol, no bread, no soda, nothing but fresh fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates and lean proteins.
No bad carbs and processed foods.
I like to note that, by some of those definitions, Fritos are a clean food.
As you can see, there are as many definitions of clean eating as there are clean eaters in the world. Clean eating seems to be a lot like pornography: people know it when they see it. Which makes it hard to define, hard to talk about, and hard to recommend as a lifestyle change for everyone. Find what works for you but don't expect it to work the same for everyone else. And when you're standing on the rooftop shouting about your new diet that works for you, don't be surprised when you look over and see someone just as loud on the next rooftop over shouting about a different plan.
I was looking for this list earlier. Last week a couple of people were posting this gem:
If it grows in the ground or had a mother, it is ok to eat it.
I wish I were joking.
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BabyPhat90713 wrote: »
I basically would define it as getting rid of all bad carbs and processed foods. Just stick with veggies, fruits, beans, and meat! Basically most of the food in the middle Section of grocery store is a no. It's pretty strict but I was looking up clean eating meals on pinterest and it doesn't look to bad. I think I could do it. I just no that I would occasionally want a cookie or potatoes lolIsaackGMOON wrote: »So, how do you guys define clean?
Don't give up anything you love. Just have less of it. Stay in a calorie deficit. Simple.0 -
asflatasapancake wrote: »I definitely eat junk when getting stuff from the local gas station. I eat packaged hard boiled eggs, pineapple, and salads there all the time. Pure junk.
Well...you're doomed.
Been nice MFP'ing with ya...0 -
If you decide this is a method you want to use to facilitate your weight loss, that's great. The straight "if it fits your macros" some people aggressively back will work for everyone, if you can stick to it, but some people find it easier to reduce their overall caloric intake if they have a plan in place. I know if I ate a serving of chips and a serving of ice cream, it would use up my available calories/macros in a way that would leave me feeling hungry and deprived later in the day, because I wouldn't have enough carb macros left for some nutritious, filling vegetables!
I don't think you understand how IIFYM works. You wouldn't eat the chips and ice cream BEFORE you met your macros. Well, it doesn't matter what time you eat them, but you would plan your day first to incorporate your nutrient dense foods and make sure your macros have been hit, and then see if you have room for ice cream or chips. Which is why it is very unlikely that anyone who is successfully using IIFYM is actually "stuffing their face with ice cream and chips" as the OP said, because then, they would indeed throw off their macros.
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Technically, if I hull a strawberry from my garden and throw it in the freezer, I have processed it. That's not what is commonly meant by "processed foods" - when people use this term, they are generally referring to "convenience foods."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convenience_food
Convenience food, or tertiary processed food, is food that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimize ease of consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation. It may also be easily portable, have a long shelf life, or offer a combination of such convenient traits. Although restaurant meals meet this definition, the term is seldom applied to them. Convenience foods include ready-to-eat dry goods, frozen foods such as TV dinners, shelf-stable foods, prepared mixes such as cake mix, and snack foods.
Bread, cheese, salted food and other prepared foods have been sold for thousands of years. Other kinds were developed with improvements in food technology. Types of convenience foods can vary by country and geographic region. Some convenience foods have received criticism due to concerns about nutritional content and how their packaging may increase solid waste in landfills. Various methods are used to reduce the unhealthy aspects of commercially produced food and fight childhood obesity.
Convenience food is commercially prepared for ease of consumption.[1] Products designated as convenience food are often sold as hot, ready-to-eat dishes; as room-temperature, shelf-stable products; or as refrigerated or frozen food products that require minimal preparation (typically just heating)[2] Convenience foods have also been described as foods that have been created to "make them more appealing to the consumer."[3] Convenience foods and restaurants are similar in that they save time.[4] They differ in that restaurant food is ready to eat, whilst convenience food usually requires rudimentary preparation. Both typically cost more money and less time compared to home cooking from scratch.[4]0
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