Clean Eating Diet
 

Anyone follow just a basic 'Clean Eating Diet' plan? Here is what I am thinking to start with...


* Eat as much fresh as possible
* Little to no partially hydrogenated and high fructose
* 10 glasses water daily
* No counting calories, etc....
*

What other guidelines would you use? I am trying to find something I can live with and will work....

You should look in to clean eating magazine, it's really great and filled with tons of recipes. It's healthy meals, made the "cleanest" way. I've had a subscription for two years and counting.

With the exception of a couple days a month, I'm usually a clean eater. It's a little easier for me to do so right now because I'm living in a developing country where food in restaurants and grocery stores are prepared from veggies/fruits from local farms and I have little access to processed/packaged food from the west.

I love clean eating. My typical diet is: B: homemade smoothie with fruits and freshly made yogurt and honey. L: big spinach salad or leftover dinner D: stir fry from homemade/fresh veggies, homemade fresh veg lasagna, homemade cauliflower puree soup, homemade veg chili, etc etc. Usually 2-3 750 ml bottles of water a day.

That said, I still gained weight when I moved here even though my diet was extremely clean. The local diet here has a lot of cream and butter and portions were a huge issue. I also am a grazer, so even when I was eating fresh cheese or nuts, I was eating too much. (I also sometimes break down and have candy or cookies from home, Diet Coke, etc so I can't claim I'm 100% clean).

So I started counting calories and that has helped a LOT with portion control and limiting the amount of fat I was consuming (even if it was clean fat).

I totally hear you that you need a diet/life change that you can live with. It's important to find something that makes sense for your own life. I've found clean eating is actually pretty easy because it involves making decisions about what you are going to eat at a different time than you are actually going to eat: at the grocery store. As long as you don't bring processed food into your home that makes eating clean easy most of the time. If you go to make dinner and the only food you have in your pantry are fresh fruits/vegetable and whole grains, that's 90% of the battle right there. (eating out, vending machines, etc are another story).

Clean eating alone may be all you need to lose weight. For me it took the extra step of counting calories. Either way taking the first step of cleaning up the diet is a big one and hopefully you'll see and feel some good results very quickly :)

A couple of other thoughts I have:

what about sleep? lack of sleep actually stalls/slows weight loss. I think IMHO that it should be part of any well rounded health plan.

Also what does fresh mean? Fresh homemade bread? whole grains? no canned vegetables?

Agreed re. "fresh": when I used the word fresh I mean fresh homemade bread, whole grains, no canned vegetables. Fresh fruits/vegetables means they came directly from a farm, not from a bag or a can. Right now for me because I'm living in a developing country that means they were brought in by a farmer that morning, but I know that in the US that isn't always an option.

And I think you're totally right regarding sleep! I've heard the same thing you have- that a good 7-8 hours of sleep helps weight loss a lot.

Do you mean 'clean eating' as in the magazine/book or do you just mean 'clean eating' in general? I don't know anything about the book/magazine but the term 'clean eating' has been around a lot longer than the book/magazine.

I lean towards a whole foods diet which is minimally processed foods, as close to nature as possible. We even have a forum here dedicated to those following a whole foods diet.
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/whol...lifestyle-209/

In terms of frozen veggies in the US, I've read that they actually have more nutrients than fresh because they are frozen close to picking time and veggies lose nutrients after being harvested. I do a variety of fresh/frozen veggies and for convenience used canned beans/tomatoes sometimes.

Perhaps that's true- I really don't know. Obviously the best option is buying from a local farmer's market if one is available. It's more expensive than what you'd buy at the supermarket, but it evens out if you cut out buying chips, cookies, and other processed foods. Small price to pay for health.

Our farmer's markets are seasonal. They usually start in May and end in October. There are some local farms I visit until December for winter squash/apples. Also, I don't say it is more expensive than a regular market. I'm 'picky' in that I mostly buy organic veggies or veggies that I've been able to talk to the farmer about their growing methods. I am lucky in that I have an all organic produce market near me with reasonable prices and they focus on local when they can. I do keep frozen veggies on hand though and things like organic frozen spinach and organic frozen berries are often cheaper than fresh.