What is eating clean?

Eating clean is a phrase that’s thrown around a lot these days by foodies, dieters, trainers, and many others. There are dozens of books on it; a search for Clean Eating on Amazon returns 20+ pages of books, magazines, and cookbooks. And each one of them gives a little different definition. Some of the definitions are pretty extreme: You cannot combine proteins with carbs in the same meal, or example. Or you have to eat every 3 hours. Or you have to consume 90% of your food raw.

I don’t subscribe to the extreme points of view, myself. So for the purposes of this blog, this post, and my life – here’s my definition of eating clean: Eating food that is, or is made from ingredients that are, as close to a natural state as possible. To expand on that, it means that I try to avoid foods that are processed, that contain preservatives, artificial flavors or colors, and other non-natural ingredients. Or, to put it more simply, if my grandmother couldn’t make it in her kitchen, I avoid it.

Now, I’m gonna add a couple of caveats: No one is perfect. And we all live in the real modern world. And, quite frankly some artificial/non-natural stuff tastes pretty darned good.

So my personal goal is to aim for a 90/10 split. Meaning 90% of the time I eat clean and the other 10% of the time, I allow myself to indulge in something like .. oh … a candy bar, or a serving of potato chips, or something like that.

There are other elements that I try to incorporate into my eating clean; things like trying to source my food locally by buying things from regional farms, dairies, and butchers; or making it a point to hit the farmer’s market every Saturday; or even growing my own veggies and herbs to the extent that I can. But that’s all stuff to for another post.

So to keep things simple for the purposes of the food and recipes I’ll post here, let’s just limit the definition to “minimally processed food”. The recipes and ideas I post will conform to what I consider to be minimally processed and all of you reading can decide where you draw your personal lines in that area.

The other thing to keep in mind is that “eating clean” doesn’t always mean eating healthy. A dozen eggs from a local free range farm, fried in bacon grease from pigs humanely and locally raised and slaughtered, accompanied by half a loaf of whole grain toast, and slathered with homemade butter from local cows? That’s an all natural and very clean meal. But I wouldn’t call it healthy or conducive to weight loss (if that’s your goal). Ice cream made with local cream, local eggs, honey, and local fruit is clean food, but not low calorie, and eating a half-gallon of it a day wouldn’t be healthy. So keep in mind that you can eat “clean” and still be unhealthy and overweight.

Ok, enough discussion! On with the food!