The Clean Eating Myth (It’s Actually How Much)
“I only eat clean…” is something we hear almost as often as we do frustration with lack of progress.
Eating “clean” is a solid foundation for a healthy diet but it misses the most important component in improving your health.
Losing weight will make you heathier whether you’re eating “clean” or not. The vast majority of health issues facing Americans are from being overweight, not from the type of food they’re eating.
There’s a reason we’re told to “maintain a healthy weight.”
Diseases like Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, higher risk of stroke and heart attacks, high cholesterol and coronary artery disease are a direct consequence of carrying excess body weight, not because you don’t eat organic. So are mental health issues like depression and anxiety, sleep apnea, arthritis, and an increased risk of certain cancers.
Losing weight is the fastest way to get rid of them.
The great news is, one of the best ways to do it is with a diet that includes desserts, restaurants and foods that would never be classified as “clean.”
Here’s a step-by-step description of a system that will keep you healthy for life. You’ll lose weight – and then keep it off – while having a lot more fun. It’s made up of both clean foods and the treats we love, and it includes restaurants, holidays and special occasions.
Keep up with the amount of energy (calories) and protein in the foods you’re eating by tracking them with an app, spreadsheet or journal, or by using either a plate-filling guide or the size of your hands to determine proper portion size. Until you know what and how much you’re eating, you’ll never control your weight.
If you’re dieting to lose weight, then stay relatively close to your calorie and protein targets each day with a reasonable treat meal once per week. If you’re trying to maintain your current weight, stay within your targets 80% of the time while using the other 20% to indulge reasonably.
Learn to work things like desserts, restaurant meals and a glass of wine or a beer into your normal day’s eating. It takes time and you’ll make lots of mistakes but it’s the most worthwhile thing you can do.
Realize that processed foods such as bread, tortillas, chips, cheese, chocolate and alcohol can be part of a healthy diet and will have a negligible impact on your health if they’re eaten in moderate amounts.
Don’t eat anything that’s not worth it to you or that you’re not willing to pay the price for in terms of your progress.
Allow yourself to enjoy special occasions and then get back to your normal, healthy diet immediately.
Adjust the amount you’re eating based on your average weight (over a week or month), periodic waist measurements and how your clothes fit.
Understand that big change doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a challenging but rewarding journey that never ends.
Always learn from your mistakes, move on from them and never give up.
Remember that being healthy is an everyday state of mind. It comes from hard work, perseverance and getting up every time you fall.
Clean and organic foods are a great foundation for a healthy diet because they’re high in vitamin and mineral content, they’re minimally processed and they have lots of volume, as well as fiber, so they keep you feeling full for longer. They’re also lower in added sugars, preservatives, chemical additives and trans fats.
While that’s not the case for processed and ultra-processed foods, a snack-size candy bar or a scoop of ice cream for dessert isn’t going to ruin your health or wreck your progress. Having a glass of wine or going out to lunch with your coworkers won’t either.
If anything, they’ll help because it’s unreasonable to think you can go through life without eating the foods you enjoy. Put in the work learning how to eat them and you’ll see excellent results while guarding against the danger of falling off the wagon from denying yourself.
Small indulgences and occasional trips to restaurants will keep you sane and on track while most of your diet provides the health benefits that come from whole foods. If your great-grandmother would recognize what’s on your plate, then you’re in the ballpark.
But don’t forget, grandma made plenty of cookies, cakes and pies so she recognized the need for a treat.
The poison is in the dose. It doesn’t matter whether it comes from junk food or clean eating. Too many calories, whether it’s from processed or unprocessed foods, leads to weight gain and, eventually, health problems. While it’s a lot harder to do with a clean diet, it will still happen if you eat more than you burn.
If you eat a Twinkie – the epitome of junk food – once a month, it’s going to have no effect on your weight. If you eat a “clean” diet to the tune of a thousand more calories than you burn each day, at some point, you’re going to become obese. Along the way, you’ll learn firsthand about all those health issues we pointed out earlier.
Learn to eat a mostly clean diet with the occasional Twinkie, or whatever your version of it is, thrown in. You’ll go year after year enjoying what you eat while maintaining that all-elusive “healthy weight.”
Every study conducted has proven that the only thing that produces weight loss is burning more calories than you consume. To get down to a healthy weight you’ll need to continue doing so for however long it takes to get the job done. If you’re trying to do it with a draconian diet that excludes food groups and enjoying holidays or desserts you won’t stay in the calorie deficit long enough to see it happen.
People, including yours truly, get into trouble by thinking “eating clean” is a silver bullet giving us permission to devour whatever we want, in any amount, without consequence, as long as it’s “clean.”
Clinical trials don’t mention the quality of the food consumed because it’s the quantity that determines whether you lose weight or not. Someone who maintains a healthy weight from conventional foods, with restaurants, desserts and treats thrown in, will always be healthier than someone who only eats “clean” but in excessive amounts. It gets worse when “only eating clean” causes them to fall off the wagon and wolf down even more making up for all the restaurants and desserts they’ve been missing out on.
Being healthy for life means controlling your weight forever. The only way to do it is to build a diet that will last forever. It has to include foods you enjoy, going out to eat with friends and being able to travel and celebrate the holidays. It will last longer and you’ll be healthier and far happier.
When we tell clients, “It will come down to how you eat” what we really mean is that it will come down to how well you’re able to control the amount you eat over time.
As we've said:
“Humans have survived for millennia because of the body’s miraculous ability to convert anything we put into our mouth into usable energy – in the form of calories – if at all possible. All of our clients will tell you how often the idea is drummed into them that our bodies will only do two things with a calorie – burn it or store it. Ignore this at your own peril.”
The journey you’re on should be fueled by your vision of becoming someone who is healthy and makes good choices. Spending the time learning to build a healthy diet from both clean and processed foods, along with the occasional junk food we all love, is the most worthwhile thing you can do for your well-being.
A lifetime of health comes from a lifetime of healthy habits.
Join us and we’ll help you reach and maintain a healthy weight. You’ll learn how to eat at restaurants with your friends while enjoying holidays and vacations, too.
Life’s too short not to celebrate it with good food.
Regards,
Henry
Our programs deliver white glove treatment with an unforgettable coaching experience. You’ll be guided through a total body transformation. We’ll help you develop a program that works for you based on your individual lifestyle, eating habits and goals. We’ll show you how to do it and you’ll realize the new way is far better than anything you’ve tried before.
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