You hear it all the time “stick to unprocessed foods and eat clean” and I have a lot of respect for the people on this sub so I was curious what y’all’s definition of these terms are
For me it means eating foods that are in a state as close to their natural form as possible. Minimal refining-only what is required to make something edible (like milling a grain) minimal processing/packaging if any.
Unprocessed (for me): cooking from scratch with vegetables, meat, eggs, dairy. Or eating foods that are traditionally processed (cheese, traditionally cured meats). Not eating food with the trifecta of processed ingredients: flour, sugar, seed oils.
Clean - not sure what that is supposed to mean, maybe foods that don’t contain any preservatives? Although that still depends, for example I eat mustard that contains vinegar…
when I refer to processed foods I mean mostly stuff that comes in a box or bag or has more than a couple ingredients. I mean rice comes in a bag, but that is only 1 ingredient: rice. Like I don’t buy prepared foods other than yogurt (because I do not make my own yogurt) for example. I buy tempeh and that is obviously processed by fermentation.
Whole foods. Foods that have not been processed. Foods that have not been processed to the point where it would be easy to consume a volume that you wouldn’t be able to consume in whole form.
Technically a diced potato is processed. But that processing wouldn’t lead you to consume more of the food product than you otherwise would just eating a whole potato.
Mashed potatoes do make it easier to consume a volume you wouldn’t otherwise be able to easily consume in whole form.
Juicing.
Can’t sit down and eat a whole table full of fruits and veggies, but you can jam them into a 16oz glass.
Nut butters also qualify.
In almost all cases, even cases of processing foods we would consider healthy, can be made unhealthy through processing.
If it enables you to eat more of it, probably not a great thing and we should limit our consumption or be mindful of our consumption.
In defining unprocessed vs processed it is important to differentiate between processed and ultra processed. By definition cut broccoli is processed. Ultra processed foods tend to contain ingredients to make them hyper palatable, extend shelf life etc.
For me, “clean” eating is eating real foods that are as close to their natural state as possible. That being said, I do buy packaged foods. It is almost impossible to get around this unless you literally make everything from scratch. When choosing packaged foods I want to be able to recognize the ingredients. For example, I could buy every ingredient in its whole form at the store and make the item myself if I wanted. Obviously I don’t care to do this but it is helpful for deciding if a packaged food aligns with my wishes to eat real foods. I also avoid vegetable oils as I do not think they are the best choice. When eating out it is almost impossible to avoid them. I also avoid added sugars in my daily eating. Obviously if I am buying a dessert there will be added sugar. When I buy something with an added sugar I avoid corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup etc.
I used to be on the paleo diet so to me it means you make everything from scratch but to a degree, you’re obviously not going to start making your own olive oil or coconut oil and you’re not expected to ferment things yourself such as vinegar unless you’re THAT motivated so it really boils to limiting the processed part as much as physically possible
Eating clean for me is getting as close to scratch cooking as I possibly can. I could make bread but I don’t really want to so its not a hardcore rule I live by. I definitely try to avoid anything frozen(other than veggies or fruit) or from a box, can or jar unless its an ingredient for something I’m making that I can’t or don’t want to make myself.
I still drink soda on occasion, order take out and have my vices but my main goal for “clean eating “ is a veggie with every meal. Spinach in my morning smoothie or wraps/sammies at lunch time and a large serving of what ever was on sale, roasted with oil, salt and what ever other seasoning I’m feeling with dinner. I’m anemic so got to keep up those iron levels with some green stuff and good protein sources.
Eating clean means substantially nothing. As of Monteiro et al. (2019), for the FAO NOVA classification:
> Unprocessed food: Edible parts of plants (fruit, seeds, leaves, stems, roots, tubers) or of or from animals (muscle, fat, offal, eggs, milk), and also fungi, algae, all after separation from nature. Spring and tap water.
> Minimally processed food: foods altered by industrial processes such as removal of inedible or unwanted parts, drying, powdering, squeezing, crushing, grinding, fractioning, steaming, poaching, boiling, roasting, and pasteurization, chilling, freezing, placing in containers, vacuum packaging, non-alcoholic fermentation, and other methods that do not add salt, sugar, oils or fats or other food substances to the original food. The main aim of these processes is to extend the life of unprocessed foods, enabling their storage for longer use, or to make them edible, and, often, to make their preparation easier or more diverse. Infrequently, minimally processed foods contain additives that prolong product duration, protect original properties or prevent proliferation of microorganisms.
Everyone’s definition will vary for what works for them. One of my friends won’t eat anything store bought that has more than 5 or 6 ingredients on the label. If any of those ingredients is difficult to pronounce or not something easily identified, they won’t eat it. I try to stick to this, though I care less about the number of ingredients, but if there is some long ass chemical name that takes me more than about a 10 second glance on Google to find out what it really is, I’ll shy away.
All cooking is processing food to some degree. I think a good definition for “unprocessed foods” is foodstuffs that you have to do something to in order to truly make it edible and tasty, even if that is just washing it and cutting it up into serving sizes. Yes, you can just start taking bites out of a stalk of celery or a whole potato, but neither of those are particularly desirable. But once you wash and cut the celery into sticks and cook the potato somehow, they are quite pleasant to eat.
Eating “clean” can come in different forms, but I think the key there is to avoid excess, particularly when it comes to any one macro nutrient. I haven’t done the research, but I think that keeping caloric intake to within your TDEE is the top concern, and balancing macros to fit your lifestyle comes second.
Basically whole food ingredients you can pronounce is a good starting point.
Organic for the dirty dozen foods.
No preservatives, chemicals, added fortifications.
Also for meats and dairy I get at least hormone free and best case is 100% free range organic.
If I can’t make it myself with every day ingredients I’m going to question if I want to eat it.
Eating from scratch homemade foods with ingredients that are pretty much like they were when they were picked and died. Most any food that comes in a box with more than one ingredient is processed. Restaurant food is processed, with few exceptions.
Cutting up a food you just picked isn’t significant processing. The difference between eating an apple and a cut apples isn’t much. Cooking without deep frying is usually a good starting point.
No overly processed deli meats, traditional/artisan cheese, fresh veggies, fresh dairy (my mom even makes her own yoghurt and buttermilk - i buy them, as i don’t have the patience nor the space). Overall, i buy ingredients, not meals, if that makes sense. Also, when buying oil, i will get the first press one, for chocolate, i will choose one with higher cocoa percentage and that contains cocoa butter, brown sugar over white sugar etc.
Where i am from is almost mandatory to make food at home, and not buy ready meals, but this has changed over the past few years. I still think that homemade meals are the best and the healthiest, even when we are talking about fried stuff.