The Chairman's Fitness Challenge Blog

It seems like everyone has a different idea of what "eating clean" means - to some it is about calories, some include fat/carb/protein targets, and for others, just avoiding too many pints of beer over the course of a day makes it "clean".  To me, it's all of the above, and I think dietary goals need to be personal given the complex ways that exercise, food, metabolism, sleep, stress, and all those other variables interact in forming and maintaining the physical self.  Rest assured, for virtually every diet, there are some studies somewhere both proving they are effective and debunking them as ineffective, so it is really about being aware of your own body and how it is reacting to the fuel it is given.   

For the record, my target range is 2200-2400 calories a day, and a 30/30/40 protein/fat/carb split, and two or less drinks for it to considered a clean day.  I will count it as "clean" at less than 2200, but I am also eating up to five meals a day on workout days, so below 2200 doesn't happen too much. 

On a much more basic level, though, I believe more and more that "clean eating" is about food that is as close to its natural state as possible.  I'm not a vegan, and I'm not a proponent of raw eating, but I can sense the difference in taste, and in my own energy level, when I eat natural whole foods as opposed to the ground/processed/enriched stuff that is so widely available.

Tonight, dinner was an air-chilled chicken done on a rotisserie, along with the first farm-fresh asparagus of the season and sweet potato wedges (both tossed with olive oil, salt, and pepper - the asparagus was grilled and the potato roasted with fresh rosemary.)  It took a couple of hours to cook, but total effort was minimal - there is nothing difficult about shoving a half a lemon in the back end of the chicken and letting it spin for a couple of hours on low heat!  The food was delicious, and in typical fashion, I was able to stick to smaller portions and feel satred.  Over half the chicken was left over (after feeding three) and we'll have low-fat, high-protein chicken meat for leftovers during the week.  (If we buy the lowest-cost chicken at the grocery store, we're lucky to get one meal out of it and the taste doesn't even compare.  I have really bought into paying a little bit more for the air-chilled, naturally-raised poultry.)

I haven't checked the calorie count tonight, or tried to figure out the split between carbs and protein, but when I cook like this I have no qualms about chalking up a clean eat.