Food for thought: What is Clean Eating?

Happy Friday! Is it just me, or was this week brutal? After three weeks off from school and two weeks off from work, I was abruptly reintroduced to both on Monday. I think my brain was still on holiday break for the first few days. Like that time I tried to “pull” open a “push” door. Repeatedly. But thankfully around mid-week I was able to get back into my groove. 

Now that I’ve officially “put myself out there” by sharing content from this blog, I have heard from a lot of people hoping to become healthier. I wanted to start off by addressing a very broad topic – clean eating. These days, we’ve all seen the topic of clean eating a lot on social media. Everywhere you look you clean eating challenges, support groups, meal plans and #eatclean following every food picture on Instagram. But what exactly does “clean eating” mean? And is “clean eating” truly what’s good for us? Let’s discuss.

The concept of “eating clean” was popularized by fitness maven Tosca Reno, who published The Eat-Clean Diet in 2007. Since then nearly every personal trainer, coach, nutritionist and social media wellness guru has sung the praises of clean eating. Generally speaking, clean eating emphasizes eating unprocessed or minimally processed foods while getting adequate amounts of complex carbohydrates, lean protein and healthy fats. Staples of a clean diet include:

• Whole grains such as brown rice, quinoa and oats
• Fresh produce
• Minimally processed proteins such as eggs, wild-caught fish, legumes and grass-fed meat
• Nuts and seeds

Sounds good to me. So we should all run out and start eating 100% clean immediately right? 

Well, not so fast.

From a nutritional standpoint, I agree with the concept of eating clean. I’m a firm believer that the body functions best on a diet filled with whole foods, and we need adequate carbs, protein and healthy fats to thrive. The less pre-packaged a food is, the better. So what’s wrong with eating clean?

The label. 

If we decide to start calling ourselves “clean eaters”, what happens when we eat something that isn’t so clean? When we start labeling foods from certain categories as being holy grail, then where do foods outside of those categories fit in? I used to struggle a lot with this. I would do so well for weeks eating perfectly “clean”. Then the second I ate a food that wasn’t “clean” I was overcome with guilt, which led to an ugly binge/restrict cycle. Were those foods bad because they weren’t “clean”? Was I bad because I didn’t eat “clean”? The answer is no, but that can be incredibly hard for many of us to decipher. I have learned that labeling the way I eat just doesn’t work for me. And honestly, it doesn’t work for many of us. 

Yes, I do believe a majority of our diets should consist of whole unprocessed foods. But I’m also realistic. The occasional processed treat, or down-home cooked meal that is nowhere near clean is going to happen. And chances are it’s going to be delicious. Eat it, enjoy it, move on and make your next choice a healthier one. 

I encourage you to eat foods you enjoy, while keeping the principles above in mind. Certain foods are absolutely more beneficial for your body than others, but falling into the trap of labeling foods as good, bad or off-limits is potentially harmful to your physical or mental health. 

Have you ever experienced food guilt? 

Do you follow a particular style of eating? 

-Les