Eating Clean: how tough is it to make the switch?

I am trying to make the same transition to eating clean. It seems a little overwhelming. I am a little worried that my husband and two year old will have an even more difficult time with such a transition.

I started eating clean about 2 years ago. I would say I'm about 95-99% clean - depending on the day. There are just times in life when it's not possible. My kids and husband are about 75% clean. I have no control over what they eat when they are not with me :-) But most meals/ food that comes from the house is clean.

It was pretty easy to start. It basically means that you are cooking most meals. If you eat meat, and you decide that you will go 100% clean and eat organic meats, this can be quite a big jump in your food budget. If you live where you can buy local meats by buying 1/2 a cow etc, it can much more affordable.

Also, if you can join a CSA for your fruits and vegetables, this will also help with your food budget and you get local, fresh and yummy food.

I, personally, didn't have too much trouble with the cooking of the meals and going clean because there are 5 of us and buying a box of tuna helper (just as an example) wouldn't go very far. Also, my husband has high blood pressure so we try and limit processed foods to cut down on the sodium. And in doing this, it will cut down on your sugar as well.

Where it all goes terribly wrong in my house is cereal. I still buy cereal and I don't only buy oatmeal :-) It's just too much on a busy weekday morning trying to get 3 teens to actually eat something!

I hope this helps. The big issues with going clean are - time and if you have a larger family can be budget. Time because you will spend more time preparing food. Whether that means cleaning and chopping all those fruits and veggies, or just cooking your meals from scratch. Which by the way taste so much better when you get to control the spices/salt/etc.

But the upside is that you will actually crave those foods over processed in a pretty short time period. And as far as health goes, my cholesterol dropped significantly, as well as my husbands. At my last checkup, my doctor wanted to know what I was doing differently because there was such a significant change.

Good luck!

it's easy if you make food that tastes good. the extra time and effort required to cook is totally worth it when you have a delicious and healthy meal(s) at the end

"How do you eat clean?"
"Wash your food."
- Alan Aragon

In all seriousness, it's not as hard as it sounds. The challenge is, are you a somewhat skilled cook? Because really the only difference between "eating clean" and not "eating clean" is the ratio of already prepared foods to freshly made meals, using real ingredients.

Buying a frozen meatloaf = NOT clean

Grinding your own cuts of meat, chopping up vegetables, forming them all into a loaf with an egg for binder, and baking it = clean.

Both lead to the same meal. It's not really what you eat, so far as how it's prepared, and how much you prepare vs buy.

For me, the change itself is VERY difficult. So I like the idea of changng one thing at a time. I think I will try it now that I joined MFP. We'll see how the change goes!

It depends how badly you are eating now.

For example, I've never drank soft drinks (?soda in the US), because I didn't grow up with it, and for us sweets like candy was a treat. We never had potato chips or cakes / biscuits either, so I grew up in a fairly clean-eating household.
Big portion sizes of the yummy stuff (pasta, rice etc), was what made me gain weight when I finished highschool and wasn't as active.


But transitioning is a good way to go, although it depends on your style and control etc.
I personally went cold-turkey on sweets etc, because I know I don't have good self-control if they're at home.

Nowadays, if I buy a bar of chocolate, I eat it and enjoy it, but I won't buy a block big enough to feed a family. I eat about 90-95% clean most days, and still allow myself a hot chocolate / chai latte.

Don't get so focused on weightloss you forget to live

[quote

I started eating clean about 2 years ago. I would say I'm about 95-99% clean - depending on the day. There are just times in life when it's not possible. My kids and husband are about 75% clean. I have no control over what they eat when they are not with me :-) But most meals/ food that comes from the house is clean.

It was pretty easy to start. It basically means that you are cooking most meals. If you eat meat, and you decide that you will go 100% clean and eat organic meats, this can be quite a big jump in your food budget. If you live where you can buy local meats by buying 1/2 a cow etc, it can much more affordable.

Also, if you can join a CSA for your fruits and vegetables, this will also help with your food budget and you get local, fresh and yummy food.

I, personally, didn't have too much trouble with the cooking of the meals and going clean because there are 5 of us and buying a box of tuna helper (just as an example) wouldn't go very far. Also, my husband has high blood pressure so we try and limit processed foods to cut down on the sodium. And in doing this, it will cut down on your sugar as well.

Where it all goes terribly wrong in my house is cereal. I still buy cereal and I don't only buy oatmeal :-) It's just too much on a busy weekday morning trying to get 3 teens to actually eat something!

I hope this helps. The big issues with going clean are - time and if you have a larger family can be budget. Time because you will spend more time preparing food. Whether that means cleaning and chopping all those fruits and veggies, or just cooking your meals from scratch. Which by the way taste so much better when you get to control the spices/salt/etc.

But the upside is that you will actually crave those foods over processed in a pretty short time period. And as far as health goes, my cholesterol dropped significantly, as well as my husbands. At my last checkup, my doctor wanted to know what I was doing differently because there was such a significant change.

Good luck!

i'm trying to quote the above, but not sure what i'm doing so please dont think i've 'stolen' your comments

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It's true that you will start to crave the healthy foods............this has shocked me the most, as i used to buy lots of fruit for my family but never ever ate a single piece....now we just never have enough....i actually look forward to the taste of fresh foods such as fruit and veg....i love fat free cottage cheese with salad and the thought of eating processed foods from the freezer...as i used to do every day, makes me feel sick.....just give it a go and it becomes easier every day

I recommend the Clean Eating magazine, or even online, where you find really great recipes and great tips to eat clean!! Clean eating is basically eating fresh and local - nothing to it.. when you go to supermarkets, try to avoid the middle aisles - stick to the outside where you find all your veggies, fruit, breads, meats, cheeses, etc..

It's not really a hard transition - just think, all that processed stuff you've been putting into your body is junk, it wasen't meant to be consumed by humans.. just eat like you would if all that food didn't exist.. you'll get the hang of it, just keep at it and involve the entire family- If junk isn't in your house, you will be less tempted to eat it! Good luck! :happy:

In all honesty eating healthy is a way of life for me know, although I must agree with the above posts its at about 90-95%. Its all a step by step process. A rule that helps is when you walk into a grocery store try and keep most of your purchases along the walls of the building. As they are the healthiest products such as fruits and vegetables. Instead of granola bars and 100 calorie b.s snacks grab natural products like dry roasted and unsalted almonds, peanuts, cashews, pistachios, etc.. The whole point to eating healthy is putting in natural items in your body that it will break down and get the proper nutrition from. Processed foods have plenty of added chemicals, extra sugars, fats, and calories. When you actually read what you are eating, its actually empty calories. It makes it difficult for your body to breakdown and grab nutrients when your adding foreign chemicals and excess sugars and fats that werent meant to be put in our bodies. It seems like a struggle and it is but I used to eat 3/4 of a large pizza in one sitting, 2 cheeseburgers 1 large fry and 2 large powerades with ice cream cone, 8 count chicken strips 1 large fry 1 large coke with a large cookies n cream shake, 1 footlong cuban sandwich 1 ground beef stuffed potato ball 4 ham croquetes and a 32 ounce powerade. These all were examples of a so called "meal" I would have. Yeah tell me about it REDICULOUS!!!! I've only been doing this for going on 4 weeks now and I have lost 14 pounds. I wouldnt change the way I feel for anything! If you need any support, feel free to add me and I'll try my best to help out.

I try to eat grassfed, organic, etc...as long as it's not terribly cost prohibitive....we probably spend about $500 on food each month....it gets easier when you are not trying to straddle the fence and buy *some* dirty foods, and *some* clean foods.