Ok, I've heard everybody talking about eating "clean". What the hell does that mean? 
Typically eating "clean" means eating mostly meat, veggies and fruit, eliminating sugar and processed foods, sometimes also grains in general.
"Clean" = food that looks like what it is and doesn't come in boxes.
Ring Girl - Typically eating "clean" means eating mostly meat, veggies and fruit, eliminating sugar and processed foods, sometimes also grains in general.
"Clean" = food that looks like what it is and doesn't come in boxes.
Sound advice.
I just ate a whole grilled boiler. It came in paperback but was marinatd, helpz me was I'm eating cleanz??! :(
I'm torn on that.I eat mostly clean, fish, chicken, lean beef cuts, veggies every single meal no exception etc etc.
However, i run and swim a lot, and sometimes i just need to up the calories for the day, and that involves pasta, rice, etc.
Also i find it hard to eat totally clean with 2 kids and the wife cooking (she's asian), she cooks awesome noodles, dumplings etc and i don't pass up on that. We don't eat out a lot but when we do it's usually family gathering etc and i just eat like everyone else, but it's then about portion control.
I'm 5'10 and 171 right now, about 10 percent body fat, to me the last 4 percent of body fat is not worth the effort it would involve to get there.
I tell my athletes who do a lot of endurance work to add in sweet potatoes, oatmeal or brown rice. Just enough to keep up the energy levels and keep them fueled.
Pizza is definitely the best advice on this thread, lol!
You can get away with some slop depending on your genetics and activity level, Michael Phelps is the king of this, looking back at my 20's I was ridiculous as well. (Thai food and pizza with low BF while training for endurance events)
Not healthy, won't last your whole life. There is no set definition of clean, but some have said natural is clean and a box isn't. Life isn't black and white, and I like the A-F rating scale that Tom Venuto uses in his books. (Yes, he's a bodybuilder but has VERY sound nutrition advice)
For instance, a grilled chicken breast gets an A. A pre-cooked frozen chicken in the supermarket (probably injected with salt water, seasonings, maybe other stuff) is not perfect but still good and would get a B. On down the line to something like KFC fried chicken which would get a F.
^^
What books are those bro?
If man made it, don't eat it.
BrutalMedic - If man made it, don't eat it.
Not to get picky, but most current agricultural products do not closely resemble their wild antecedents.
It's possible to argue that cows and bananas are 'man made' since they would not be anything like what they are today without thousands of years of selective breeding and cultivation.
I like the A-F scale described above. Making perfect dietary choices all the time is probably largely irrelevant for both performance and health. But making 'good' choices 'most' of the time will dramatically improve the quality of your life and performance over the long term.
His best known is "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle" and he mentions the A-F scale there. There is a supplement to that book (if you buy the e-book online) that is dedicated to the subject. Tom's books were some of the first I purchased when I started caring about nutrition instead of just working out. They're still excellent today because they preach a lifestyle change in eating as well as setting goals and tracking results rather than just shooting blind.
Andy the man - ^^
What books are those bro?
Tough enough to eat clean in general....good article about doing it on the run
Eating Clean on the Run