clean eating

J

JeanBe

Cathlete
Hi all- I ws hoping some of you could help me out. I was wondering if someone can epxlain what "clean eating" means. I realize that it means no "junk" but does it also mean chicken and salads or does it mean no meat or does it mean no pretzels or processed foods? Should I be trying to eat a lot of protein and fewer carbs?

I am really struggling with trying to lose weight and I feel as though I've tried all convential(sp) diets but nothing seems to work. I had my metabolism checked and found it was on the high side(you'd think the weight would just fall off!) so I was told to eat between 1500 and 1900 calories per day. I would like to use the calories wisely but I'm unsure as to what to do.

I do workout 4-5 times per week and have been concentrating on cardio because I was told that cardio would burn the fat.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated especially since I know people here really know what they are talking about!!

Thanks,
Jean
 
Hi!

If you do a search under "clean eating" you'll come up with more threads than you can count.

Basically, eating clean is eating foods in as close to their natural state as you can. My fave analogy, and one which I'm sure most of the people on here are so sick of by now it's not even funny, is this:

Apple = clean
Applesauce = a little less clean
Apple pie = not clean in the least (but delicious!)

Basically, the less processed it is, the better. Whole grains, fruit, vegetables, lean proteins... that kinda thing.:)
 
"Clean eating" and it's definition varies from person to person. What one may consider "clean", another would disagree.

Now that I have you all excited, I'll tell you the basic concept is to grab unprocessed foods, as close to their natural state as possible.

My diet is not sparkling clean, but I try to grab foods that have 1 item listed under the ingredients. Most importanatly, I ask myself what my body needs.

As for more protein or less carbs, that is also individual. Some people need more carbs, others require less. Depends on the person and the activity level. I, personally, need more carbs because I run distance so 60% carbs keeps me happy. I just make sure they are healthy carbs (whole grains, fruits and veggies, no refined sugar).

Now that you are completely dizzy from my post, I will go to another thread and thoroughly confuse someone else!:7
 
There are lots of perceptions of clean eating.

In "The new rules of lifting" by Lou schuler and Alwyn Cosgrove,
I like this quote about clean eating:

"You should only eat food that you can picture in its natural, pre-porcessed state. When you see a hunk of beef, you can visualize a cow. When you see a salad, you can visualize lettuce growing out of the ground....So what do you contemplate when you look at a Twinkie or a bottle of Snapple? Can you conceive of herds of wild Snapple stampeding through an Arizona canyon? A Twinkie vine growing up the canyon wall?"

He also says:

"A few good foods take some mental gymnastics to picture: Whole grains, for example, require a visual leap from the hunk of bread or pasta in front of you to the grains that were milled to produce it, to the plants growing in a farmer's field.
You can make a game of it: Three Degrees of Clean Eating. If you need more than three visual images to get to the food in its natural state, than its probably not worth eating."
 
Thanks to everyone who posted a response. Have any of you ever sought the advice of a nutritionist? I am really struggling with "cleaning" up my diet and the more I read the more confused I become. I was wondering if anyone consulted a nutritionist and found him/her to be helpful.

Thanks again-
Jean
 
I noticed that the definition of truly "clean" seems to differ amongst people. I do like the analogy previously mentioned from "The new rules of lifting" It's a good way to avoid the crap you may not know, or appreciate, that is lurking in processed food.
 
Yes, Jean, I saw a nutritionist as a gift to myself for my 48th birthday, I think it was. She was great, and made things so simple and easy. She wrote everything down so I could take it home and refer to it often. I highly recommend it.

In a nutshell what was recommended for me: an eating plan that includes a hearty breakfast of old-fashioned oatmeal with skim milk and some cheese. Carbs are fine, as long as they're complex carbs. Simple carbs are a no-no. Lunch and dinner generally consist of LOTS of veggies, about 3 ozs. of lean protein and 1-3 teaspoons of oil. Lunch should also contain about a half cup of legumes or other complex carbs. She generally recommended lots of fruit as snacks and dessert. She gave me the Glycemic Index scale and recommended that I stick to foods with lower GIs.

I found the guidelines to be very simple and easy to follow, and I've pretty much been following it ever since (if you don't count the ice cream.) :p

-Nancy
 
The terminology sounds amusing. It always makes me think of being cleaned with laundry detergent for some reason ;-)
 
I'm currently reading a great book called Ultra Metabolism by Mark Hyman and he says to eat 'anything without a label on it" - I love that. Great book by the way, I started reading it after finishing "Intuitive Eating" which was FANTASTIC.

Kelly
 
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