A number of folks mention "clean eating." I'm curious about what that means exactly. Can anyone suggest a good book that might explain the concept and practice is?

Thanks!

Clean eating to me means eating as best I can. Eating whole foods including veggies, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins.

There are a couple of books including Body For Life and Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (an ebook).

Others may chime in on what clean eating means to them.

This is probably another in the eye of the beholder subject.

I think it means as close to natural as you can do it. Ideally, for me, 40% protein, 40% carbs and 20% fats ... as nonprocessed as possible ... as best as I can afford.

Have you checked in with the Whole Foods threads?

You might want to check out The Eat-Clean Diet by Tosca Reno, who is somehow affiliated with Oxygen magazine.

It's on my to-buy list but I haven't read it yet, so I can't offer a review. Who knows - it might be just what you're looking for.

Good luck!

To me it is Superfoods RX and Superfoods Healthstyle by Dr. Steven Pratt.
Whole good for me foods. The superfoods are beans, blueberries, broccoli, oats, oranges, pumpkin, wild salmon, soy, spinach, tea, tomatoes, turkey, walnuts, yogurt. Each has sidekicks which means there are additional foods.
Hope this helps.

Yep, I agree with everyone so far. Eat whole unprocessed foods as much as possible. I remember a quote (can't remember who said it though ) that you should try for eating clean 90% of the time. That leaves room for indulgences now and then. I try for 90% but probably am closer to 75%.

I have both of the books Mrs B and sharonrr suggested. They are both really good. IMO the Superfoods Rx is a must. Tosca's book is good but a lot of her info is covered in SuperFoods and lots was stuff I already knew. BUT still it's a good book and if you can I'd recommend buying that one as well as SuperFoods Rx.

Beth

To me, and I'm a novice, clean eating means nothing processed. No "hydrogenated" anything. No HFCS. No white sugar. Whole grains. No artificial sweeteners (although I don't follow that one rigorously.) No caffeine. Lots of green leafies. Fruit. Lean proteins. Good fats - avocados, nuts, olive oil, etc.

Oh my Beez - I love that avatar! It makes me think of:

"Married?" "Yes, Mahwwied." "Married?" "Yes, Mahwwied, to big hunk."

and

"Oh American Guuurrrrlfriend!!!!"

Thanks for the chuckle!

Thanks all! I really appreciate the advice. I'll check out superfoods rx!

My favorite quote from Long Duk Dong would probably get me banned!

And take a look at the Whole Foods Lifestyle area here for ideas on what to eat and how to fix it.

To me it means eating "real" food (vs processed), prepared reasonably low-fat and low-cal. I probably hit clean about 90% of the time lately.

Will do, WaterRat. Thanks!!

I think it also means not OVEREATING. It's still possible to eat Whole Foods and eat way too much of them (esp since they really can be all yummy!)

Isn't that the truth! Portion size is a big challenge for me right now. While I've been losing weight, I expected to lose a little faster and I think it has to do with portion sizes since I'm not good at managing my total calories.

With clean eating you eat 5-6 smaller meals instead of 3 large meals (make sure your 5-6 meals are not so big that they exceed the daily number of calories you want to eat) You eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Every meal should include protein and complex carbs. I have Tosca Reno's book and a special edition of Oxygen magazine called "Clean Eating". The books mentioned earlier in the thread are good too, especially the ebook, Fit Over Forty. I have lots of info on body building websites. I am not a body builder as you can see from my tracker, but I have gotten info from these sites.