Clean eating guide - how did you start?

Weight loss comes with calorie deficit, what you eat has no bearing.

Vickie96 wrote: »

I'm trying to educate myself on healthy foods, however trying to phase out my habits of eating quick and easy processed foods to clean eating is overwhelming, for those of you who have done the same how did you start? what were your initial struggles if any?

Also does weightloss come naturally from clean eating?

People define "clean eating" differently...for me, and my diet, it means that I eat primarily whole foods and meals prepared from scratch, whole ingredients or minimally processed foods like cans of tomatoes, etc. I also eat things like whole grain breads and other things that certain other people wouldn't deem "clean". I also go out for pizza and whatnot on occasion so I don't get too wrapped up in labeling myself.

Personally, I'm a really good cook and have long had a diet rich in whole food nutrition...there's not much out there that can compare to the quality and awesomeness of a home cooked meal. I used to eat more "junk" than I do now and more convenient type foods than I do now...so basically, the biggest thing for me was allowing more time to prepare my meals and snacks for a given day.

Also, while most people will benefit from cleaning up their diet and sort of naturally lose weight, this isn't an auto default kind of deal...generally when people clean things up a bit, they naturally take in fewer calories...that said, there are a lot of nutrient dense whole foods that are also calorie bombs...I've personally gained weight eating the way I do...but yeah...I don't log so keeping my diet this way has helped with weight management...but you can still over eat. Weight management always comes down to energy consumption vs expenditure regardless of what you're eating.

A lot of us here do well with a kind of 80/20 rule where we eat a good lot of nutritious whole food and fit in favorite treats as well.
You don't get extra points once you've reached your protein, fat, vitamin and mineral quotas, but you do have to find a realistic way of eating so you don't throw it all out and have a binge and not learn how to eat healthily as a way of life.

Remember: it's all about eating less than you need, however you choose to find your calories.

I say eat all your favourite foods, and try some new things out.
I've discovered greek yoghurt and oats, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, lots of new fish, many more veggies.
But I also have moderate amounts of wine, Parmesan cheese, steak, and other luxuries.
I'll come away from counting periodically and eat what I want so I don't get obsessed or feel hard done by.

Vickie96 wrote: »

I'm trying to educate myself on healthy foods, however trying to phase out my habits of eating quick and easy processed foods to clean eating is overwhelming, for those of you who have done the same how did you start? what were your initial struggles if any?

Also does weightloss come naturally from clean eating?

I don't use the term "clean eating," but I mainly cook from whole foods, and have done this for a long time.

IME, weight loss does not naturally come from this -- I gained lots of weight doing it and have also lost weight doing it. What matters is paying attention to what/how much you eat. To the extent you are snacking a lot on foods that you would no longer eat, I suppose it can help, as it requires that you bake cookies rather than buy them or the like (I tend not to like packaged cookies anyway, and am partial to homemade baked goods, but I also do include some ice cream and high-quality chocolate in my diet).

I'd recommend reading about nutrition, which is more about what you do include in your diet than not eating specific foods. Here's an excellent start: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/ and I also like this: http://bigthink.com/videos/david-katz-on-what-we-know-about-diet

What helps me is to try to include some protein and vegetables (I eat a lot) in all meats, and then treat everything else as extras based on what I'm in the mood for. I tend to have a standard breakfast, which makes it easy (mine is 2 egg vegetable omelet with some additional protein or fruit depending on the day). While I wouldn't say that's a better breakfast than any others, having a standard plan for breakfast makes it easy. Lunches I try to make ahead for the week or bring dinner leftovers (I buy lunch too often, though, although I pick options consistent with my overall goals). For dinner I tend to have lots of vegetables and some other sides (like potatoes, sweet potatoes, pasta, rice) on hand and will decide in advance what my protein will be and take it out to defrost if necessary. I will whip up dinner based on that, the vegetables I have on hand, and the starch I'm in the mood for (maybe turn everything into a pasta dish or stir fry, maybe just have some potatoes on the side too).

As you get used to this it becomes easy. You might want to work up to it by focusing on one thing at a time, instead of trying to switch over to home cooking all at once.

What really made it easy for me is when I stopped menu planning and thinking I had to have a recipe and buy things for that recipe. Now I just focus on what I have at home (I learned to do this from cooking from a CSA box of vegetables and figuring out how to use them up, no matter what they were) and it makes it so much easier. I sometimes read cookbooks for ideas but never actually cook from a recipe.