Every time I see an article like this my faith in the "mystic diet" is confirmed.  Some people may call it Clean Eating but Ilike the term "mystic diet" because it underscores the idea that real food and the interactions of foods is too complicated to be scientifically reduced to something as simple as "low fat" or "omega-3"

I love to use honey as an example because to a scientist honey is a combination of Fructose and Glucose so, in theory, combine the two, add some artifical color and flavor and you have cheap imitation honey.  BUT, honey is more that that: it's Bee Spit.  Confirmed by its use for nearly 3000 years as an antiseptic.

I'm inclined to borrow a few eating ideas from Michael Pollan:
* Eating a little meat isn’t going to kill you

* If you’re concerned about your health, you should probably avoid products that make health claims.  A health claim on a food product is a strong indication it’s not really food

* Sooner or later, everything solid we’ve been told about the links between our diet and our health seems to get blown away in the gust of the most recent study

* Most of what we’re consuming today is no longer, strictly speaking, food at all, and how we’re consuming it—in the car, in front of the TV, and, increasingly, alone—is not really eating

I like the way that I've begun thinking about food...the more processed it is, the less I want to eat it. My family has gotten stuck in the Stoffer's rut where a big hunk of frozen something is tossed in the nuker or the oven and it's easy but...all that sodium and hardly any protein? Come ON! with just alittle effort and half the time, fried fish, fresh veggies and a potato are on the table in 15 minutes..I love my meat and potatoes but that easy, convenience stuff has just become evil in my mind...If you don't have 15 minutes, what the hell!

You are killing me w/ the Bee Spit  LOL!!!!

This (clean eating) brings to mind the movie Food.inc. - Have you seen it?
Ive not seen it yet - in its entirety, only bits & pieces of it in class - but from what Ive seen, its well worth putting it in the Netflix queue.
Another worth while (especially for the younger generation) is The Meatrix, II, & II.5 on youtube http://www.themeatrix.com/

Modern life does require convenience food concessions from time to time, just like if you dump after surgery real sugar may not be possible.  That said, not all convenience foods are created equal.  Here is an example

Stouffer's Classic Five Cheese Lasagne
Tomatoes, Cooked Macaroni Product (Semolina, Water), Water, Ricotta Cheese (Whole Milk, Cream, Skim Milk, Whey, Vinegar And Salt), Low-Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese (Cultured Skim Milk, Enzymes), Dry Curd Cottage Cheese (Cultured Skim Milk, Enzymes), Onions, Romano Cheese ([Made From Cow's Milk], Part-Skim, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Bread Crumbs (Bleached Enriched Flour [Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Reduced Iron, Riboflavin, Folic Acid], Water, Yeast, Vital Wheat Gluten. Contains 2% Or Less Of The Following Ingredients: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Acetic Acid, Lactic Acid, Malt, Partially-Hydrogenated Soybean And/Or Cottonseed And/Or Canola Oil, Mono Calcium Phosphate, Ammonium Sulfate, Calcium Propionate [A Preservative]), Parmesan Cheese (Part-Skim Milk, Cheese Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), Canola Oil, Modified Cornstarch, Salt, Sugar, Xanthan Gum, Spices, Garlic Puree, Erythorbic Acid, Dehydrated Garlic, Dried Onions, Soluble Bay Salt, Antioxidant (BHT, TBHQ And Citric Acid).

Amy's Kitchen Cheese Lasagne
LASAGNA PASTA ( SEMOLINA FLOUR,  WHOLE WHEAT DURUM FLOUR, WATER),  TOMATO PUREE, RICOTTA CHEESE, FILTERED WATER,  ONIONS,  LOWFAT MILK,  MONTEREY JACK CHEESE,  CHEDDAR CHEESE, PART SKIM MOZZARELLA CHEESE, PARMESAN CHEESE,  EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL, SEA SALT,  HONEY, SPICES,  GARLIC. CONTAINS MILK AND WHEAT.

Now both are a microwavable meal and Amy's, despite splashing ORGANIC all over, still has a lot of sodium but I ask you: which one is food and which one looks more like a food-like substance?

And don't even get me started on Egg Beaters.  I fail to see how cracking an egg could be seen as less convenient than opening the carton of "egg product" and in the process of making that carton what did the factory do to the molecules?

Hey "j"

I'm going to put in my two cents and say that it depends on what the term "clean eating" means to you...

To me "clean eating" is choosing real food choices, that is foods that are NOT mainly based in preprocessing or a having a long list of ingredients I cannot say (even with a phonetic breakdown  )...Honey is on my clean eating list, although I never thought of the bee spit thing before, locally bought honey is medically proven to inprove your immune system and honey is a sugar that is not processed, milk sugars fall in the same catagory in my mind to...I do eat things with sugar substitute and yes splenda is one of my BEST friends, but what I try to do is make my own sweets so I control the other parts of the recipe and can still keep it pretty "clean"...

You are right, it is all a big balancing act and yes to me that means really reading and understanding most of what is on the label of the foods I eat that come with one...That includes fresh foods ( unprocessed meat, cheese, veggies - fresh or frozen & canned sometimes, some fresh fruit ) and drinks that have splenda or aspartime ( use both crystal lite & splenda ) & just plain water sometimes...What I rarely eat is pre-made meals ( tv dinners, gourmet grocery meals, etc ) ...I want to control most of what goes into what I eat, that way I am making active decisions about how "clean" I eat...

And finally, I follow one of the main tenants of my surgeon & NUT post surgery - which is DO NOT eat on the go in the car, distracted by the TV or even my fav pre-surgery practice of eating while reading a good book ( although I will take a good book in the pott occasionally )
...Instead I savor the flavor by focusing on the conversation around me and the meal at hand...

Thanks for being open to all ideas...
 

Since humans are omnivores, we are adapted to all kinds of foods, not just plants and not just meats.  I think that leaves room for the occaisonal Big Mac and small fry.

Obessive healthy eating has turned into an eating disorder: Othrorexia.  WLS patients could be at a higher risk of developing a crossover addiction to this eating disorder I would think.

So, in the end, Eat Food, Mostly Plants, and not too much.