Clean Eating Grocery List

Say a person (such as myself) wanted to start eating *clean.* What items would be on my grocery list? I know fruits, vegetables, Rolled Oats, natural Almonds...but is whole wheat bread allowed? Or is it just grains such as the oats I mentioned? If you are a clean eater could you please give me examples of what is on your grocery list every week? Is it more expensive then the way you use to shop? What results did you start feeling/seeing once you started eating this way? Thanks!

I personally eat around 90% clean, as it allows me that little bit of room to enjoy processed products once in a while and because my lactose intolerance makes it pretty much impossible to avoid things like soya alternatives (that are often inherently processed in some way). So... I'm probably totally unhelpful on the shopping list front, but I think really you're sticking to as close to natural as you can get with a product.

That said I don't think bread is off of the list. If you have the option of making it yourself, however, that'd be great - it's actually quite easy and affordable if you've the time to make a loaf! :]

Thanks Lala. :)

I eat a lot of low cal things and don't get me wrong I eat a lot of veggies and fruits, but my main concern is most of my low cal stuff is processed and loaded with salt (or splenda...eeek.). My sodium has been outragious lately and I thought maybe if I start clean eating (with an occasional treat of course) it would help a bit.

Mmm homemade bread sounds great. I might venture into that. Right now I eat the *light* whole wheat bread. But homemade just sounds really tasty even if more caloric. Yeah, because the lean cuisines in my freezer and special K waffles just aren't cutting it. Lmao!

Isn't there like that Ezekial bread in the freezer section?  I think that stuff is supposed to be unprocessed and pretty low calorie. 

I'm trying to eat more clean as well and it was so hard passing the frozen meal and granola bar section at the store the other day!

I've heard of that stuff. It's made from sprouts, right? I heard the price is a little outragious though..Ha ha. I know a grocery in my hometown sells it in the freezer section, but where I'm living now I don't seem to see it anywhere. Ah poo. :(

Yeah, clean eating seems like it would be easier (grab some veggies and fruits or whatever.) but really its for non lazy people who don't want the convenience of the microwave...damn I'm screwed. :P

Good luck with the clean eating as well runningbuns!

I'm about 99.9% certain splenda isn't part of clean eating I'm afraid! xD

Sodium, sodium, joyous sodium. D: I can see why cleaner eating appeals there. It's actually very easy to make meals, home cooked, that AREN'T inherently caloric - and to do so from scratch. For example, my mum made a chicken casserole tonight. Whilst I bulked my portion out with extra dumplings and a larger serving (and some bread to mop the gravy) it was, by itself, actually a fairly low calorie-per-serving dish.

What sort of things do you like to eat? Got any favourite foods, cuisines, flavours?

And if time is your problem, or dedication, set aside a day or evening in the week to do some HARDCORE (brutal) cooking. Cook up some basic grains (rice, or quinoa), two recipes you could eat over the week - casseroles, stews, bakes and one pot dishes work well for this as do pasta dishes - and possibly some plain or fairly plain proteins as well, if you want stuff like chicken for your sandwich. Then freeze your leftovers and bob's your uncle. :]

The basic rule of thumbi use for clean eating falls under two rules...

The first one is to stick to the sides of the grocery store. This is where you find the raw meats/seafood. Fresh fruit and veg, things like that. Then, when you do venture down the isles, look at the ingredients. The less ingredients in somthing the more 'clean' something is. Like with the oatmeal, the only ingredienct is rolled oats, totes clean. Whole wheat bread is also okay just be careful with shich one you buy, alot of them contain alot of HFCS which is fine but you wanna keep it in moderation. 

Typical list for me: Apples, grapefruit, kimi, strawberries and bananas.      & nbsp;      &nbs p;  

Veg: Red peppers, Tomatos, onion, garlic, mushrooms, squash, baby spinach

Carbs: Sweet Potatos, Oatmeal, Oroweat double fiber bread, low carb tortillas, hot multigrain cereal, brown rice, all types of beans, natural peanut butter and whole wheat flour for the pancakes

Protein: Tuna fish, chicken breast, ground turkey/lean beef. Shrimp, and steak if i feelin fancy

Funsies: Graham crackers, some protein bars. (depends on how im feeling)

http://www.answerfitness.com/204/clean-eating -eating-clean-answer-fitness/

I just read this article and it helped give me some guidelines of what to look for/avoid.  I think it would be impossible for ME to do clean eating 100% but like lalabanana I want to aim for around 90%.  One of my main issues is splenda..I might try gradually reducing how much I put in my coffee/tea but it's going to be hard because I'm pretty much addicted to it.

I eat pretty clean, my grocery list kind of combine health and quick/portable foods because I am pretty busy during the week : bananas, berries (whatever is in season) plums, grapes, nectarines, minute oats(?), green tea, fish, brown rice, whole wheat bread, tuna (in the tin for sandwiches), sardines, eggs...I can go on and on...HTH

"clean eating" is just another way to say "healthy eating." as long as you eat nutritious foods most of the time and treats/junk sometimes, you'll be ok.

this is my typical grocery list:

• fat free/lactose free milk
• egg substitutes
• fat free cheese
• no sugar added yogurt
• fat free turkey slices
• skinless/boneless chicken breasts
• tilapia fillets
• tuna in water
• salmon fillets
• light sweet onion dressing
• bran cereal
• plain oats
• light whole wheat bread
• whole grain crackers
• brown rice
• dried beans (black, kidney, etc)
• reduced fat peanut butter
• mixed raw nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc)
• extra virgin olive oil spray
• raisins
• bananas
• avocados
• blueberries
• strawberries
• ggrapes
• apples
• oranges
• watermelon
• prunes
• spinach
• peas
• broccoli
• asparagus
• mushrooms
• peppers
• tomatoes
• onions
• carrots
• sweet potatoes
• green tea

The ultimate eat clean grocery list: http://www.eatcleandiet.com/grocery_list/ecd_ grocery_list.pdf

Cello, I scanned through that link you provided and I think that is an excellent example of clean eating with only a couple of exceptions.   If one is shooting to eat better, that's the target to shoot for!!!  Rose, the best advice you can get is, I think, the further something is from it's natural state, the worse it is for you, generally speaking.   Vegetables and fruits are in your fridge, pretty much as they grew in nature, same as most nuts and seeds and pulses (beans).  Very little processing to get to your table.   Now as soon as beans for example, enter a can, instead of being dried and sold in a bag, now you have to read the label and see what they added to it, and figure out if it's acceptable to you.   Same with most stuff in a can.  You'll find salmon on the store shelves without salt, but when it hits the can, it can have as much as 1000 mg in one small can.

It's tough to go wrong with unprocessed foods, and I find it's actually cheaper, if you shop smart and find smaller stores that might carry specialty stuff, and keep looking around in your town for places to go.   Whole grains for example are dirt cheap if you buy them in bulk.   A lb of oatmeal is less than a dollar, but makes maybe 5 or 6 lbs of food when you add water.  That's 16 cents a pound.  Same with most whole grains.   If you want to save money, going natural is a definite advantage...

I'd split clean eating into three categories.   Wholefoods.... so things that are straight off the tree, out of the ground or of animal origin.    Ingredients/Flavourings ..... I'm thinking condiments like soy sauce, mustard, herbs and other things to make the wholefoods taste good.  And then there are 'ready-made' foods which even the mostly saintly clean-eater is going to need.   Unless you plan to start making your own cheese or pasta you'll need some of these!

A good, practical rule of thumb for ready-made foods - as suggested by Michael Pollan in his book 'In Defense of Food' - is 'avoid anything with more than five ingredients' and he also suggests 'avoid anything making health-claims'.   So when you're checking out a tub of butter, pot of yoghurt or a loaf of bread, those are good ones to bear in mind.  The simpler the better.

Final thing for your grocery list..... some pots, pans, wooden spoons, knives..... and a good cook-book!  You'll be able to afford them with all the money you save.

Jane, I don't mean to be picky, but if one accepts that even a saintly clean eater must have pasta  or cheese, then you can never avoid those foods.  I don't eat cheese or pasta and there is no dietary need to eat either.  Pasta is just ground up grains, so why not just eat the grains, instead of pasta?  Far less processed, far more variety and far healthier.  I love cheese, but it's so high in saturated animal fat and calories, I don't bother with it and it's not vital to health so why do I have to eat it?

I think the goal of true healthy eating is to eliminate all processed foods, as much saturated animal fat as possible.  There are plenty of places for indulgences, like eating out or parties, that eating in my home is a like a sanctuary of goodness and I like it that way. 

You clearly have a different interpretation of 'clean eating'.  

In my interpretation , the clean eater takes mostly raw, unprocessed, single ingredient foods and then turns them into different things to eat through preparation, combination and cooking..   Grains are good, of course,  but a bowl of wheat grains doesn't strike me as particularly versatile.   What do you do with yours?   Most people would call rolled oats a whole grain but even those have been steamed and pressed....steel-cut ones have been chopped....  do they still count or does that render them unnecessary?

The 100% saintly 'clean eater' would eat pasta therefore.... only it would be hand-made pasta from durum wheat flour they'd ground themselves and mixed with fresh eggs etc..  A clean eater would also eat cheese.... but they'd milk the cow, ferment the whey, add the rennet.... etc.   The practical clean eater with less time on their hands would buy ready-made pasta and cheese but choose the best quality with the fewest added nasties

Incidentally, just because something is high in saturated fat does not preclude it from being a 'clean' food or a healthy food.  

Original Post by johnnypenso:

I think the goal of true healthy eating is to eliminate all processed foods, as much saturated animal fat as possible. 

 Saturated fat gets a bad rap.  The studies that the whole 'saturated fat is the devil' line of thinking are based on are all seriously flawed.

Animal fats (milk, eggs, animal body fat) are natural foods which were part of the diets humans evolved to eat.  If you're trying to eat a natural 'clean' diet then these natural/'clean' foods should be a part of it.

This article does a decent job at explaining how the flawed way of thinking about saturated fats came to be.

Original Post by runningbuns:

Isn't there like that Ezekial bread in the freezer section?  I think that stuff is supposed to be unprocessed and pretty low calorie. 

I'm trying to eat more clean as well and it was so hard passing the frozen meal and granola bar section at the store the other day!

Ezekial bread is the best! i eat the tortillas... sugar free and 80 calories... high in fiber. it is the only bread i will by these days! 

Jane, maybe I can explain what I would call excessive processing by comparing a couple of examples you used above. 

Oatmeal is made by mechanically separating the hulls from the grain or seed of the oat grasses.  The hulls are used for animal feed or used in chemical processes to create all kinds of things.  The hulls are generally not suited to human consumption.  The oats are then steamed and either cut or rolled depending on the desired consistency.  The important thing is, nothing that is edible or nutritious is removed during processing and what processing is used, is to kind of precook the oats and turn them into a size or shape that allows for relatively quick cooking.  The process for creating your regular oatmeal or steel cut oats, removes none of the nutritive value of the original oat seed.

Durum Semolina wheat based pasta is made by passing whole grain wheat through a mill, where the rollers flake off the bran and the germ, by far the most nutritious parts of the grain, leaving only the starch or endosperm.  It is cracked into coarse pieces and through sifting, the particles are separated from the bran.  The result is known as farina or Cream of Wheat, and when made from the hard wheat, makes Durum Semolina flour, the prime ingredient in your everyday pasta. 

To me, the big difference is that pasta  is basically the same as white bread from a nutritional stand point, with the two most important and nutritious parts of the grain removed, to enhance the shelf life and make the flavour more palatable to our North American bland tastebuds.  Oatmeal is as close as you can get to the original grain, processed to make it edible and quicker cooking, not to remove nutrients to enhance shelf life or make it a palatable, nutritional wasteland.  Pasta is lower on the glycemic index than white bread only because it's more dense and harder to digest and if it wasn't for that, there would be no reason to recommend it at all.  It's basically slow digesting white bread and who eats white bread anymore? 

To me, pasta is just too processed as is anything made with less than pure whole grain flours. And I don't believe that whole grain flours, are as good for you as their whole grain counterparts.  Why not just eat the grain?  Which brings me to the answer of your other question about what you do with whole grains.  Well you have your typical oatmeal type breakfast, sweetened with fruit or berries.  But why not make up whole grains, with a bit of salt, and just put it under pasta, like spaghetti, but with all the fibre and protein intact, and virtually unprocessed?  Pasta is virtually tasteless, but whole grains actually have unique flavours and textures of your own.  Quinoa under pasta sauce is an excellent, highly nutritious alternative to pasta under pasta sauce.  Any whole grain would do like wheat berries, millet, etc.   Give it a shot and if one can get the whole idea of spaghetti out of their head, you'll find it a great alternative tastewise and healthwise.     

Oh Johnny, lighten up.   When food is nothing more to you than a combination of 'nutrition' and 'calories' then that's the time to give up on life.   Seriously.  The whole point of 'clean eating' is getting back to the simple enjoyment of good, basic, tradiitonal food that hasn't been spiked with dodgy ingredients. 

You might not appreciate it but some of us really like eating pasta...  and white bread (delicious).... and oats... and we're very healthy people in spite of everything.   And quite a few of us even like wholemeal pasta.... I can recommend it for not being 'tasteless'.  I don't actually want to get spaghetti out of my head.... it's not going to make me unwell.   'Quinoa Bolognese' I'm sure is wonderful, but it doesn't have the same ring to it really, does it?  

Don't worry Jane I am always light

You sound like most of my friends who say they can't eat healthy because they want to enjoy their food, as if somehow by eating unprocessed foods all of a sudden nothing will taste good.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I believe their pallettes are dulled by a steady lifetime diet of processed foods full of sugar and salt and blandness in the food without it.   I just like to think of myself as having an open mind towards new tastes and non-traditional combinations.  I don't "need" to eat pasta.  I don't "need" to eat white bread. I don't live to eat, I eat to live, and believe me, I enjoy my food more than anyone I know of.   Of course I could eat white bread and pasta and in combination with the rest of my healthy diet I'd probably be fine.   But if one is committed to having both feet in and  eating truly healthy, you wouldn't want to eat that stuff.   And why would I when I find the alternatives so much tastier and healthier as a bonus? 

Has anyone tried Stevia? Its an all natural no calorie sweetener...there seems to be a splenda debate, and splenda Does have  chemicals, so I thought Id offer an alternative!