To want to completely go 'clean eating'

[CapricornCalling]

I'm on a very low calorie diet/strict exercise programme at the moment. When I reach my target weight after a week or so I want to start on a complete clean eating programme. Just eating fresh fish, nuts , fruit and veg and drinking just water. In some ways, it's boring - no tasty treats etc!! Having said that - I did this precise eating programme for a few weeks back in 2013 - and felt so much more 'alive'!! Also my teeth have suffered over the years due to all the processed rubbish I've eaten.

[MatildaTheCat]

Is there anything stopping you from this? And can you find a middle ground so you don't get bored? I believe the A listers do 80/20 so they can have a couple of treats each week but mainly eat clean.

[CapricornCalling]

You've got a point Matilda - maybe a treat once a week or something would give me something to look forward to - it's just I feel I've eaten enough 'treats' overt the years for about 3 lifetimes!

When I did clean eating for a few weeks 3 years ago - as I say, I just felt so much more 'alive' - even crying was a nicer experience as even my tears felt so real somehow! - sorry that sounds a bit very affected!

[vulgarbunting]

I also feel a million times better without any processed food in my diet. Clean eating gets a bad rep, but really it just means no processed food or rubbish with added sugar (though I also do no gluten).

My advice is to up your calorie allowance (I do 1,800) and never let yourself get too hungry. As soon as I'm starving all I want is Mars Bars.

[Lilaclily]

Yanbu
It's your life, eat how you Like!

[CapricornCalling]

Thanks vulgarbunting - I really don't understand why clean eating gets such a bad rep

[gamerwidow]

Eat what you like but be careful to make sure your diet is nutritionally balanced. It's easy to end up with malnutrition if you don't put a bit of thought into a restrictive diet.

[WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeG0es]

I think it only gets a bad rep because some people take it to extremes and find it impacting their family or social lives. So I think you need some flexibility for eating out or at other people's houses.

[wowfudge]

Clean eating gets a bad rap because it demonises some foods. Half-baked 'nutritionists' pedal this crap and it leads to eating disorders in impressionable people.

If you think clean eating made your tears more real OP you may have some psychological issues. Fixating on what you eat is not the answer.

[lordsteatime]

Sounds mad to ban whole food groups from diet and view that as healthy and 'clean'.

[MoosLikeJagger]

Google Grace Victory and her 30-minute documentary 'Clean Eating's Dirty Secrets'. You can watch it on iPlayer.

It depends what 'clean eating' means to you - if it's cooking your own meals and snacking on fruit more often, knock yourself out. If it involves spending £££ on organic date syrup then YABU.

[MoosLikeJagger]

Your teeth will have been damaged by acid, either produced by plaque or in acidic food and drink, such as fruit, or Coke.

It is very good for your teeth to eat cheese at the end of a meal - it helps remineralise your tooth enamel.

[reallyanotherone]

Fish, nuts, fruit and vegetables?

Sounds like a recipe for vitamin deficiency to me.

[annandale]

moos

Eat how you like but sounds as if you might have been hallucinating from hunger before so don't restrict too much.

I'm a big believer in enjoying food that grows well in the local area, so hello apple pie and cream.

[ILostItInTheEarlyNineties]

Well done on your weight loss. It's great that that you want to be healthier but be careful that you don't make food/meals more of an obsession than they need to be.
I agree with the notion that foods should not be labelled as good or bad. Everything in moderation is fine without cutting out food groups. From what you've described, your clean diet will definitely be lacking in calcium.

You don't want to develop a mindset that you are eating virtuously or suffering guilt if you have an occasional treat.
It is hard after you have lost weight on a restricted diet to readjust to 'normal' eating without a fear of slipping back to your old habits.
Keeping a food diary for a while might help you feel more in control and you might be able to assess when/why you overeat and curb that. It's better I think to aim to eat healthily 80% and relax 20% of the time. This will avoid any cravings or bingeing on "forbidden' foods.

[Imfinehowareyou]

Grace Victory's documentary is biased, sensationalist crap. She has focused on extreme cases and obviously wacky diets. Clean eating in that you use natural ingredients and avoid highly processed food is a sensible way to eat. You don't need to cut out any food groups.

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Why would that be unreasonable? sounds fine!

[lordsteatime]

there is nothing wrong with cheese, milk or iron rich lean red meat.

equally its perfectly possible to be a healthy vegan if you do it correctly.

this however is not healthy imo

[OuchLegoHurts]

Sorry OP but that tears comment was totally off the wall! I don't think you have a normal attitude to food...what's wrong with just eating healthily? The odd bad day won't affect your health at all. How else are you going to have a social life?

[PoptartPoptart]

Has anyone got any clean eating meal plans that they wouldn't mind sharing please?

[CapricornCalling]

I appreciate that the 'tears' thing may have sounded a bit off the wall - but then again - tears are essentially physical - eating is a physical act - they say 'we are what we eat'!!

[CapricornCalling]

MoosLikeJagger - don't worry I will never be eating organic date syrup as it doesn't occur 'naturally' iyswim - dates occur naturally - organic date syrup doesn't!!

[CapricornCalling]

reallyanotherone - you may be right, in that there may be something I'm missing. But I thought you got a wide range of vitamins in different types of veg and nuts and fish were quite vitamin laden?

[TheGruffaloMother]

I was going to post asking why eating the way you want to was unreasonable but have been completely sidetracked by the comments about your tears! Were you sat crying, assessing how real your tears felt and attributing that to having eaten less additives?? While crying?

[AnthonyPandy]

Can you cook the food? Can you eat yogurt? If you just milked a cow and left it it would turn to yogurt naturally so is that ok? Or not as to get the milk you need to 'milk' the cow so it's not natural?

[CapricornCalling]

TheGruffaloMother - about the crying comment - I realise with hindsight it sounds a bit daft and affected - what I meant was when I was doing the clean eating thing - no additives etc - all my emotions felt much more 'real' - hard to explain I know. Before that I drank loads of caffeine which has a somewhat regulating effect on your emotions - makes you alert when you just want to crash out etc etc