Eating Clean - Do you do it?

[tinker*dust]

It's my dream - to eat clean every meal. The prep worries me. Full-full time job and 3 kids, it's so easy to open a box or bag or add things out of a bottle. Who eat's clean? And what's it take?

 

[mombrontrent]

I am a vegan so I consider that clean enough In all seriousness prep and eat all my meals at home. I do use some boxed/bottled things like pasta, cereal, tortilla chips, bread, canned tomatoes ect.. I consider myself a from scratch cook for the most part. I make all my own salad dressings, sauces, soups, beans ect.

I eat ALOT of produce, think about $120/wk worth for a family of 5, maybe more. That part takes a lot of time, chopping and prepping but I'll prep a lot at once. I'll make a HUGE fruit salad, tupperwares full of chopped veggies, a bag of dried beans, a pasta salad on a Sun, to use for lunches and quick dinner prep for the rest of the week. Breakfast is easy, I usually have a bowl of granola with a fruit and almond milk.

 

[Tiggeroo]

I eat clean about 80 percent of the time. It takes planning and work but once you get used to it gets easier. When I'm not eating clean it's because I got way too busy to plan or didn't do any prep on the weekend. Keep some easy things around like frozen chicken breasts. There are some pre-made things that could be considered clean, certain brands of pasta sauce, frozen rice and oatmeal... Make a bigger batch of rice on the weekends. There are good resources online now.

 

[aaarcher86]

Mostly. I'll get my kids a happy meal or we get greasy pizza every now and again.

 

[bettymae1121]

I'm not at 100% but I do pretty well. I bake my own bread, make my own salad dressing, get local grass raised meats and eggs, wild caught fish, local (as much as possible) organic produce, and organic "everything else", stuff like dairy (grass fed as much as possible), pasta, and pantry items (baking supplies and the few canned/boxed items we still eat). We aren't perfect but don't aim to be. The goal (for us) is to eat a much as possible "clean" so when we can't/don't eat clean it's not a big deal.

It's a lot more work and a lot more expensive. But my DH is a type 2 diabetic and got off his insulin, I've lost weight and LO is thriving. Plus the food really just tastes SO much better! I do have a "leg up" on this in that I work from home so I can do a certain amount of cooking or prep work on my breaks and I don't waste part of my day driving to/from work. But it still takes planning and effort, and there are days I just say "screw it, we're having tuna salad sandwiches and tator tots for diner" (which was just last night actually...). I made the tuna salad from scratch and had a loaf of bread that I baked from a few days ago, but still it was a low-effort meal using Starkist tuna...

It took about 6 years to get to this point, it didn't happen over night by any means. What I would suggest is to pick just one thing you'd like to change and start there. That might be just cooking from scratch conventional foods for most of your meals (say 5 out of 7 dinners a week for example). Once you're in the habit of cooking more, then start buying organic ingredients or searching out local farms for pasture raised meat. Slowly build on that. Also the internet is your friend, that's where I found the lady that runs the farm where I get my meat and eggs and find recipes for when I buy a veggie I've never cooked before.

 

[deedeetoo]

What is eating clean? I've never heard that term before. Do you mean no junk food? No prepared foods? Less fat? Less salt? Less high fructose corn syrup? I'm not really sure what you are referring to.

 

[lizabu]

I rarely eat prepared foods. It's easy because I'm doing low carb. A typical meal is a protein and vegetables. I buy spring mix and find it takes just as long to whip up a healthy salad as it does to cook a frozen pizza or cook a box of Kraft dinner. I will often roast a chicken or roast beef and get two or three meals out of it. Make a nice salad or roast vegetables on the side and there you go. I started in July and I'm rarely hungry, feel good all the time and lost 22lbs.

 

[lizabu]

What is eating clean? I've never heard that term before. Do you mean no junk food? No prepared foods? Less fat? Less salt? Less high fructose corn syrup? I'm not really sure what you are referring to.

Typically it means cutting out processed foods.

 

[bettymae1121]

What is eating clean? I've never heard that term before. Do you mean no junk food? No prepared foods? Less fat? Less salt? Less high fructose corn syrup? I'm not really sure what you are referring to.

Basically it just means eating "whole foods" or foods that are not processed or minimally processed (if you can't pronounce it, don't eat it is a good rule of thumb). It also means avoided refined sugar but I've been unwilling to go quite that far. I'd rather cut down than cut out in that area.

 

[Mazel]

What is eating clean? I've never heard that term before. Do you mean no junk food? No prepared foods? Less fat? Less salt? Less high fructose corn syrup? I'm not really sure what you are referring to.

All of the above. It means no processed foods, nothing out of a box or bag. Basically when you food shop, you shop the outside edge of the food store, the aisles are where the processed foods are.

 

[wiigirl]

Mostly. I'll get my kids a happy meal or we get greasy pizza every now and again.

Same here...but mostly I got for fresh clean food.

 

[Pakey]

We do, for the most part. I have a weekly pickup of a large produce box from a local organic farm co-op (box is based on family size and is supposed to provide enough for 5 meals per week). I make my own salad dressings and stir fry sauces. I add a protein. I do roast potatoes about once a week but we eat very few carb type dishes. We do go out for sushi on occasion but all other meals are made at home and leftovers are used for lunch.

I think this would be much more work if I didn't get that large box every Wednesday from the co-op. My meals are planned ahead and I usually start as soon as I get home and changed after work.

I've lost weight and my cooking skills have improved. I honestly don't think the cost has increased because there's no junk food purchased.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

I'm trying to!

My baby had some yucky GI issues last week that led the pediatrician to believe it was a dairy allergy...meaning I had to cut dairy from my diet since she is nursed. Pedi also recommended cutting soy, as many babies who have a milk allergy also have a soy allergy. I was also planning on cutting gluten last week for a bit just to lose some weight, so things just snowballed from there.

Last week I just ate fruits, veggies, meats, eggs and nuts. I felt great--not wanting to snack all the time and I finally lost a bit more baby weight.

The pediatrician is thinking that my baby had a GI bug and not an allergy now, but I'm hoping to keep things up. Even if I just ate that way Sunday - Thursday and had some dinners out or treats on Friday and Saturday, that would be way better than what I was eating before.

As a new mom, I can say it does take a bit more time to cook this way. I was doing mostly crock pot meals and casseroles because I couldn't count on being free at dinner time to cook, and many of the recipes I was using called for cans of cream soup and things like that.

 

[Dancind]

We do. And I cook a LOT. About to get a freezer full of grass fed beef, that should keep me busy for a while. I do enjoy leftover days!

We don't eat out much anymore, but there is a New Mexican place a block away that doesn't add flour to their chile, and they don't cook with vegetable oil! When we do go out, it's there for breakfast or a "farm to table" type place.

Not because I'm OCD about this, but because I get sick from a lot of stuff restaurants usually use.

 

[Tiggeroo]

For dinner tomorrow I'm either making these http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/health/stuffed-roasted-yellow-peppers-or-red-peppers-in-tomato-sauce.html or I have some leftover roast veggies that I'm going to try to turn in to a frittata and a salad. Either one of these will give us lunch leftovers.

 

[aristocatz]

Is this considered "eating clean"??

-I read labels of everything. I don't buy anything that contains artificial colors, flavors, ingredients. I rarely buy anything with preservatives.

-I mostly cook crockpot meals for our family, but we do keep some boxed and frozen meals around the house for quick meals, but we always organic &/or from Whole Foods (i.e. organic mac & cheese, Whole Foods frozen meatballs & frozen mini waffles)

-I gave up Diet soda's, etc.. (though I do treat myself to a Diet Coke on infrequent occasions)

Is that considered "eating clean"?

 

[Deb & Bill]

I don't eat the Butterfinger wrappers or I buy the Butterfinger bites (no wrappers).

 

[LisaR]

I am a vegan so I consider that clean enough In all seriousness prep and eat all my meals at home. I do use some boxed/bottled things like pasta, cereal, tortilla chips, bread, canned tomatoes ect.. I consider myself a from scratch cook for the most part. I make all my own salad dressings, sauces, soups, beans ect.

I eat ALOT of produce, think about $120/wk worth for a family of 5, maybe more. That part takes a lot of time, chopping and prepping but I'll prep a lot at once. I'll make a HUGE fruit salad, tupperwares full of chopped veggies, a bag of dried beans, a pasta salad on a Sun, to use for lunches and quick dinner prep for the rest of the week. Breakfast is easy, I usually have a bowl of granola with a fruit and almond milk.

This pretty much sums up the way we eat, as well. I make everything I can from scratch. I am very lucky in that I have a wonderful fruit market at the end of my subdivision! I either walk there or stop in as I am coming home from errands almost every day. I spend very little at the regular grocery store, but I spend over $100 a week at the fruit market.

Do you have one of these choppers:
http://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-...=1382583069&sr=8-2&keywords=vegetable+chopper

I've broken a few, but I can't live without it. It makes prepping veggies for salads, soups, stews, and other entrees so quick and easy.

 

[mombrontrent]

This pretty much sums up the way we eat, as well. I make everything I can from scratch. I am very lucky in that I have a wonderful fruit market at the end of my subdivision! I either walk there or stop in as I am coming home from errands almost every day. I spend very little at the regular grocery store, but I spend over $100 a week at the fruit market.

Do you have one of these choppers:
http://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-...=1382583069&sr=8-2&keywords=vegetable+chopper

I've broken a few, but I can't live without it. It makes prepping veggies for salads, soups, stews, and other entrees so quick and easy.

No, all I have is my knife and cutting board. Good knives are essential I don't even have my food processer anymore as it broke last year and I haven't replaced it yet. My favourite appliance that I cannot live without is my Blendtec, I swear I should be a sales rep for them I love it so much I use it everyday for smoothies, soups, sauces, salad dressing ect. It makes the best frozen fruit sorbet and cashew cream that is so smooth and rich. I love that machine and the quick and easy cleanup.

I just plan ahead whenever I can. Yesterday I was off work so I cooked a bag black beans. Whatever we don't use I freeze in 2 cup Tupperware containers. I roasted and pureed a pumpkin and froze that in one cup Tupperware containers for future uses. I made croutons and salad dressing for salads the next couple days. I made salsa and chopped a bunch of cilantro. Sliced some onions and bell peppers (something Mexican in the near future) I made a huge pasta salad using some of chopped veggies and salad dressing I made. Than I made a batch of chocolate zucchini muffins and 2 loaves of banana bread (one to be frozen). This sounds like a lot but I started cooking around 3:00 and was done everything including eating dinner and doing all the dishes by 6:00pm. We ate rice (leftover from yesterday)with black beans and pumpkin in a chimichurra sauce I made on the weekend with a salad (we eat salad pretty much everyday).

Now we all have muffins and banana bread for breakfast/snacks and pasta salad for lunch the next couple days. I can make a couple quick dinners tonight and tomorrow after work since I have already got a heard start. Plus I now have black beans, pumpkin puree and banana bread in the freezer

 

[mikron]

Clean is different to each person. We eat as clean as each meal can be for the time and place. Eating out is never going to be clean asn if at home. I am in construction and have worked im many restraunts. All I can say is eat at home always if you are crazy about 100% clean.