Clean eating help, success stories

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Desifreckle
Desifreckle Posts: 110 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Give me your tips, links, groups, recipes...

Going clean to see if it helps my digestive issues and anxiety. Tell me your success stories!!

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  • Bob314159
    Bob314159 Posts: 1,178 Member
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    What's clean?
  • Hamsibian
    Hamsibian Posts: 1,388 Member
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    Not sure what you mean by clean, but my symptoms for Crohn's have improved while doing the Autoimmune Protocol - an elimination version of the Paleo diet. It's not meant to be forever though, and I hope after I heal considerably, I can slowly transition to whatever suits me (ideally 80/20 without following a specific guideline).

    If you have digestive issues, you would want to do something temporary like a Whole30 to pin point triggers (food intolerances, needing to eat more fiber, drinking more water, sleep - Yes, sleep is important - et cetera).
  • Desifreckle
    Desifreckle Posts: 110 Member
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    Didn't realize it was such a bad term here. I mostly mean cutting out sugar (except natural, like fruit) lowering my caffeine and no artificial sugars. The sugar and caffeine is mostly to reduce my anxiety, which is known to help, I used to drink 2-3 cups of coffee a day now I drink tea. I used to put 3 packs of sweet and low now I use lemons and no sugar. Just for example

    This was not meant to make others feel like I think they should eat this way. I could care less. Lol its just an expierememt to see if it helps.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    Just a warning I put in your other thread. Vegetables, especially raw, are often a trigger food for those with GI issues so I wouldn't necessarily jump head first into eating more of them. You should look into low FODMAPS or another elimination diet that is written for GI issues.
  • Hamsibian
    Hamsibian Posts: 1,388 Member
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    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Just a warning I put in your other thread. Vegetables, especially raw, are often a trigger food for those with GI issues so I wouldn't necessarily jump head first into eating more of them. You should look into low FODMAPS or another elimination diet that is written for GI issues.
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Just a warning I put in your other thread. Vegetables, especially raw, are often a trigger food for those with GI issues so I wouldn't necessarily jump head first into eating more of them. You should look into low FODMAPS or another elimination diet that is written for GI issues.
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Just a warning I put in your other thread. Vegetables, especially raw, are often a trigger food for those with GI issues so I wouldn't necessarily jump head first into eating more of them. You should look into low FODMAPS or another elimination diet that is written for GI issues.

    Yes, I should have mentioned this. I don't eat high carbs or raw produce because it's tough on my system. I figured that one out, but AIP suggests for people with GI issues to cook their produce very soft. FODMAPS, SCD, and GAPS are some other examples of elimination diets that are targeted toward GI problems.
  • Desifreckle
    Desifreckle Posts: 110 Member
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    Hamsibian wrote: »
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Just a warning I put in your other thread. Vegetables, especially raw, are often a trigger food for those with GI issues so I wouldn't necessarily jump head first into eating more of them. You should look into low FODMAPS or another elimination diet that is written for GI issues.
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Just a warning I put in your other thread. Vegetables, especially raw, are often a trigger food for those with GI issues so I wouldn't necessarily jump head first into eating more of them. You should look into low FODMAPS or another elimination diet that is written for GI issues.
    singingflutelady wrote: »
    Just a warning I put in your other thread. Vegetables, especially raw, are often a trigger food for those with GI issues so I wouldn't necessarily jump head first into eating more of them. You should look into low FODMAPS or another elimination diet that is written for GI issues.

    Yes, I should have mentioned this. I don't eat high carbs or raw produce because it's tough on my system. I figured that one out, but AIP suggests for people with GI issues to cook their produce very soft. FODMAPS, SCD, and GAPS are some other examples of elimination diets that are targeted toward GI problems.

    I'll look into those thank you
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited September 2017
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    Not sure the point of starting a brand new thread with the name of the first, but on the assumption you are going to have the first nuked, here's my comment there:

    I don't think anyone is getting upset, but asking you to clarify to know if they fall within your definition or not. As I mentioned above, I eat a lot of fruits and veg (more veg) -- there was a good challenge about eating 10+ servings a day, and that might be a good place for you to check out, I keep forgetting to keep up since it's in the challenge section, but that is something I do (usually just by trying to make sure vegetables are at least half of the volume of all meals, or more, and because I get a farm box, so using it up is my goal).

    I also just naturally don't eat a lot of junk food (although this is not a new diet change for me), but I'm not interested in cutting it all out 100% or the like. I've gone through periods where I cut out all added sugar and while that was for me worth doing I didn't find it beneficial as a permanent thing (I don't eat a whole lot of added sugar normally, so the averaging under 5% of calories seems easy to me and I feel about the same), although I'm not going to discourage others who are interested.

    What I think you are missing is that "clean" means lots of different things, so when someone asks for information on "clean eating" we don't know what is meant without asking. It sounds to me like you are more asking just about healthy eating or maybe cooking more from whole foods or stuff like that, not what I normally think of as "clean eating" (striving to eat absolutely NO processed foods), and if that's so a lot of people who DON'T self define as clean eaters might have a lot in common.

    Or maybe not, maybe the label is really important to you for a reason I do not understand.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited September 2017
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    Adding to that with the new information you have presented here:

    If the interest is in healthful eating, more veg and fruit, I'm always interested in a discussion of that, same with how to work home cooking into one's life. Sounds like that might not be the real focus, though, as you are concerned about digestive issues and finding the triggers is really a concern (my sister has IBS, and for her the main triggers ARE vegetables and fruits, although just a few and usually only raw).

    Re tips, it's helpful to explain what you are finding challenging and then we might have ideas about how to deal with it. I found cutting out added sugar surprisingly easy, probably because I cook a lot at home anyway and cut out snacking at the same time. When I focus on eating main meals I tend to eat well and feel more satisfied, but others do well eating more often, so that varies.
  • AnnJey
    AnnJey Posts: 4 Member
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    It depends on what you define as "clean eating". For me, it's eating food that has minimal/no processing, very little junk food, cutting down on sugars (including fruit), loads of vegetables, no red meats (although that's my own preference).

    For me, it wasn't really hard at all since I can still eat what I like, just tweaking recipes so that they're healthier. So instead of my ordinary yoghurt, I have kvarg/quark or cottage cheese, I make my omelette with as many vegetables as possible and so on. I just Googled 'clean eating' and went from there.

    I think it can be a challenge but it's doable. I remember only a few months ago I could easily down a 200g bar of chocolate but now the thought of doing that makes me want to gag. I would eat a bag of crisps/chips and still be hungry but now I feel satisfied having one of half a portion. I know a lot of people hate the idea of clean eating since it suggests that other foods are "dirty", but to me I love it since I'm getting optimum nutrition and there's nothing saying I can't treat myself to chips or ice cream every once in a while. It just means that I'll have them rarely and have more nutritious snacks more often.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited September 2017
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    AnnJey wrote: »
    I think it can be a challenge but it's doable. I remember only a few months ago I could easily down a 200g bar of chocolate but now the thought of doing that makes me want to gag. I would eat a bag of crisps/chips and still be hungry but now I feel satisfied having one of half a portion. I know a lot of people hate the idea of clean eating since it suggests that other foods are "dirty", but to me I love it since I'm getting optimum nutrition and there's nothing saying I can't treat myself to chips or ice cream every once in a while. It just means that I'll have them rarely and have more nutritious snacks more often.

    This just shows that the term is used to vaguely as to be unhelpful (which is one reason I don't care for it). Sounds to me like you are still eating processed foods (cottage cheese and quark are as processed as yogurt, even if they strike you are more healthful -- to me they are all about the same, most would consider fruit and red meat "clean," of course), and eating smaller amounts of chips/ice cream and more foods that cause you to be satisfied is exactly what most of us who say we don't eat clean but of course try to eat healthy and include less nutrient dense foods in moderation do.

    I mention this because of course no one is suggesting that focusing on nutrition and an overall healthful diet or what happens to be satiating for you (perhaps fruit is not, although it is for me) is not worth doing.

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