Eating Clean
It is summer of 2022. I just wrote a post about Keeping Kosher, which translates somewhat literally as “eating clean.” Lately, I have been hearing the phrase, “eating clean,” in the miasma. Friends are doing it, or trying it. Someone actually claimed that I claimed to do it. I don’t know what it means, so I search it online.
Here are some of the clickbait headlines in the results:
11 Simple Ways to Eat Whole Today – Healthline
7 Tips for Clean Eating – EatingWell
Clean eating: 3 myths and truths – Medical News Today
Clean Eating Magazine – Clean Eating
Why are the listicles all odd numbers? I decide to check them out, see if they have anything in common, and if “eating clean” has a coherent, agreed-upon definition. There is a lot of overlap, but it seems there is far from unanimous agreement. Here are the tips and my comparison with whole food, plant-based eating:
| Tip | Whole food, plant-based |
| Eat more vegetables and fruits | 100% agreement |
| Limit processed foods | Eliminate processed foods |
| Read labels, skip artificial ingredients | Also skip added sugars, oils, and sodium |
| Limit refined carbs | Eliminate refined flours and added sugars |
| Choose oils and spreads wisely | Oil is highly processed, pure fat. There are no healthy oils. No, not olive oil. |
| Limit alcohol consumption | Agreed. I drink a beer or two a week, that I brewed myself. |
| Avoid packaged snack foods | Agreed. Virtually all are high in added fat, salt, sugar, and chemical ingredients. |
| Make water your primary beverage | Agreed |
| Choose food from ethically raised or antibiotic-free animals | Eat no animal-based foods |
| Pick whole foods | Eat whole plants |
| Eat whole grains | Agreed |
| Reduce salt intake | The less, the better. |
| Limit caffeine | I have one cup of strong coffee each morning. It’s my toughest addiction. |
| Decide if you’ll go organic | Organic is marginally better for many plant foods. Eschew all meat, including organic. |
| Eat less meat | Eat no meat. |
Does “eating clean” just mean eat slightly healthier than you were before? Eat modestly healthier variations of the foods you love that are bad for you? Or slightly smaller amounts of poison? It appears to be a vaguely defined term suitable for giving people excuses to continue bad nutritional practices, and selling advertisements and magazines, by making minimal incremental improvements to them.
If one eats whole food, plant-based, one is eating clean. Unfortunately, if one is eating clean but not whole food, plant-based, that may not be a healthy diet.
