clean eating

[mckeev5]

What is clean eating exactly? I have heard a lot of you talk about clean eating and I was wonderng what it is. Sorry if this question has been posted before. Is there info about clean eating? Books? Web site?

Thanks for any and all reponses!!

 

[feebs21]

thanks for posting this, as I have been wondering too. I've seen so many references to "clean eating" but have never found the original thread that describes it. I can't wait to hear everybody's answer!

Thanks!

 

[SheRa329]

Clean eating is basically just eating foods in their purest form. I'm sure you will get lots of responses on this forum with better explanations. I've seen Cathe explain it w/the apple example: in the cleanest form an apple is just an apple, then it becomes applesauce, then it becomes apple pie!! (apple=clean, apple pie=unclean) You pretty much just try to eat the freshest fruits and vegetables that you can find, along with pure whole grains and fresh lean meats (unless you're a vegetarian)! Hope this helps!! I love to eat clean--I feel better and look better than ever!:9

 

[Bobbi]

Eating clean means choosing foods in as close to a natural state as possible. Choosing an apple rather than apple sauce or apple juice. Eating minimally processed foods such as brown rice over white, whole wheat over white or just wheat. Eating a grilled chicken breast with a little lemon, olive oil and salt and pepper rather than chicken parmesan. At least most of the time! Eating a lot of fruit and vegetables, chosing very lean cuts of meat or vegetarian food sources and very complex carbs with lots of natural fiber and going easy on high fat foods like butter and cheese. I tend to chose full fat products, particularly sour cream and cheese, (nonfat cheese being an oxymoron in my book) but I use no more than a teaspoon. I limit sweets to once or twice a week except for a small piece of dark chocolate most evenings and read nutriton labels so I can avoid trans fats and lots of preservatives and additives. Also go easy on added sugars like high fructose corn syrup, fructose, sucrose, dextrose. Look at sugar grams and go for the product with the lowest amount. Go easy on starches and fillers. The internet is a wonderful resource for identifying all the mystifiying ingredients in a food label and knowing what they are and whether or not you want them in your diet. I find the fewer ingredients a food item has the better I like it. I don't buy much from the grocery store bakery because they love transfats (they read "partially hydrogenated/hydrogenated fat" on a food label) although they often don't label them. I recommend beans and nuts daily and using onions, garlic and spices for flavor with minimal fat but not too minimal! I buy organic and look for animal products raised with no hormones or anitbiotics because they should not be necessary and if they are, they can't be very clean. I eat a largely vegetarian diet but I buy cage free eggs, organic free roaming chicken and grass, humanely raised beef for my carnivores because I love them too much not to! I hope this is helpful. Of course, you'll develop the version of clean eating that works best for you and I hazard to guess, you will feel more energetic and you may get leaner to boot! Have fun!
Bobbi http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmilies.de/chicken.gif "Chick's rule!"

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

- Mary Oliver

 

[cjbate]

My number one change when going to clean eating was to cut out breakfast cereals (even the "healthy" ones) and substitute a whole grain, like oatmeal (the slow cook kind). It has made a huge difference in my health and fitness.

Jen

 

[kathryn]

To me, it seems like pretty much a new term for "whole foods," which has been around since the 70's at least. I actually prefer the term "whole foods" because "clean" sounds kind of hyper obsessive. And with the apple-to-apple pie analogy, one could have a non-whole-foods version of apple pie, with white flour, white sugar, lard or shortening, peeled apples, or a healthier, more whole foods version: whole wheat pastry flour (or barley flour, which makes a great substitution for it), unpeeled apples, sweeteners like maple syrup, stevia, molasses in lesser quantity.

 

[shopgirl]

What is clean eating??? It's HARD WORK, that much I know.

Basic rules of thumb: if you think it might not be good for you, it probably isn't; if it melts in your mouth, is gooey, tastes to die-for - it probably is a no-no; if it can be found in the internal aisles of the grocery store, it's not good for you.

If you can dig it up from the dirt, wash it off, and put it on your plate - eat it.

- Shopgirl

 

[futurefitnessdyanmo]

Shopgirl,

I've been doing a lot of reading about this, and 2 resources I've found that are great are Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy by Walter Willett, Chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard Medical School of Public Health and researcher, and Eat to Live by Dr Joe Fuhrman. The first is really just a great resource about nutrition - no advice on weight loss per se, but lots on clean eating and some recipes, and the second is more of a diet, but some of the recipes in this book have become staples for me, and although I don't formally follow the diet, I am eating tons more vegetables and fruits than before, and have noticed a difference!

 

[shopgirl]

Great! I'll check it out.

Thanks.
Shopgirl :7