clean eating dairy question

I think I usually eat pretty "clean."  I usually eat organic chicken and fish, fresh or frozen veggies and fruit, and whole grains.  I'm thinking about going completely "clean" and also cutting out the occasional canned beans or tomatoes, crackers, etc.

I'm a little confused about dairy though.  I usually drink soy milk or almond breeze, but I am a huge cheese and yogurt fan.  Are cheese and yogurt considered "clean?"  I know they are processed/preserved to a certain extent, but I can't imagine they would want you to cut them out completely.  Yogurt is supposed to be healthy!

I would also love some advice on packed lunch... I teach school, so I NEVER eat the cafeteria food and we can't leave for lunch.  What would be QUICK and easy to prepare and bring to work?  I have problems getting enough protein...

the best yogurts for the type of eating style you are doing would probably be Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt, its high in protein with no added sweeteners and is higher in protein that other yogurts.  This can help with your low protein intake.  I choose the fat free version which is 100 calories and I think 16 grams of protein.  I feel yogurt and cottage cheese are a valuable addition to my diet and wouldnt want to cut them out b/c the calcium and protein they provide helps improve my overall diet quality.  I dont think that answers your question completely but in my opinion an organic greek yogurt seems "clean" to me.

I bring salads to work just about everyday, since your not doing canned products, maybe some cooked fish/chicken made the night before.  You can maybe make a big salad on Sunday's and then portion it out for lunch throughout the week.  Some tofu slices are great in salads.  I use a lot of canned fishes for lunches only b/c of the convience it provides so to avoid canned meats it might take a little extra prep work the night before.  How about maybe some hard-boiled eggs? Im not sure if you eat eggs or not.

Hope this helps somewhat, what have you taken for lunch in the past ?

In the past, I've either used leftover chicken or deli meat, and made salads and wraps.  I don't want to do the deli meat thing anymore, and the leftover chicken only works sometimes.

Tofu is an interesting idea.  I've never had it cold though, does it taste decent?  I also never thought to try hard boiled eggs.

Thanks!

Still curious about the dairy thing though...  cheese...  yum.

If you're eating a clean diet, the best thing to buy are organic dairy products. The big issue with non-organic dairy is the amount of antibiotics and growth hormones fed to the cows, goats or sheep to make them produce more milk. Organically sourced dairy products don't have them. As for sugar, anything other than just plain yogurt has a lot of it. You're better off with organic yogurt again because they wouldn't add as much or all the sugar would be naturally sourced.

I have some excellent lunch ideas for you! I got these Big Salad recipes from Women's Health magazine. I've made the Lime Briyani & the shrimp & feta tabbouleh and they were great. I made them on Sunday, got 4 lunches out of the batch and they took very little work to prepare. Here's the link: http://www.womenshealthmag.com/nutrition/summ er-salads

Here's a good tofu recipe too... This tastes really good (heated) in a whole wheat wrap. http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/10221

I'm afraid I don't consider soy milk and almond breeze as clean because their ingredients include sweetners and thickeners.  I'd rate organic dairy products over them every time.