Clean eating is considered a healthy diet, where highly processed foods should be avoided, and the focus should instead be on whole foods. Clean eating, literally pure or clean food, is attributed with a positive effect on health. But how healthy is Clean Eating really? And how can you incorporate it into your healthy breakfast ?
What is Clean Eating?
Clean eating is considered a healthy lifestyle diet. But what exactly makes this diet a health promise for many people?
Basically, Clean Eating is about consuming as unprocessed and whole foods as possible. Highly processed products or artificial ingredients should be avoided as much as possible . All together should lead to more well-being and energy .
How healthy is Clean Eating?
Now, of course, you could ask yourself how healthy clean eating actually is. Is it simply a form of diet among many, or is there perhaps more to it?
In fact, it seems to be the latter. Because, as mentioned earlier, it makes perfect sense from a health point of view to follow the basic rules. A high nutrient density and dosed amounts of calories through little processed and as natural as possible food can in no way harm. Too much sugar or empty calories without important vitamins and minerals, on the other hand, would not necessarily be recommended.
Clean Eating – These are the benefits
From a health point of view, it makes sense to prefer less processed foods to more processed products. That's because processed products are mostly high in calories, high amounts of unhealthy fats, and plenty of salt and sugar. All this is intended to optimize the taste but provides some nutrient compositions that are questionable for health.
Low-processed foods , on the other hand, ideally have a high nutrient density and thus plenty of healthy micronutrients . Below is a brief summary of the most important advantages:
- Less highly processed foods
- Less sugar, salt and unhealthy fats
- Higher nutrient density
- Plenty of vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals
- Fiber for healthy digestion
All this together ideally means more energy for the day , no unnecessary break-ins or cravings during the day and a generally higher level of well-being .
Clean Eating – Potential Disadvantages
However, clean eating is not a panacea. Avoiding processed foods does not mean that the diet is healthy. In addition, the deliberate abandonment and the strong involvement with one's own diet can lead to eating disorders .
So that this does not happen to you, you should not see the concept of clean eating too narrowly. Because as you know, the dose makes the poison. Using the principles of clean eating can be extremely helpful in making your own diet healthier. However, aiming to avoid some foods altogether and seeing them as extremely unhealthy is overshooting the mark.
The most important basic rules of clean eating
To see how healthy clean eating really is, the basic rules of the diet should be briefly explained. This is primarily about classifying foods according to their health benefits – should they be avoided or preferred?
Avoid these foods
Let's start with those foods that you should mostly avoid if you want to eat clean . We have divided the foods in the left column into groups below. In the right column, you will find the reason for the recommendation to reduce these products in your diet.
| Foods to avoid | Reason for referral |
| Ready meals (e.g. canned ravioli) | Lots of salt, sugar and often with artificial ingredients |
| Packaged Cheese | Often contains artificial colours and flavourings |
| Sausages | Plenty of salt, unhealthy fats and artificial ingredients |
| Soft drinks | Plenty of sugar or artificial sweeteners |
| Nutella, jam, etc. | High in sugar, few vitamins and minerals |
| Sweetened dairy products (e.g. fruit yoghurt) | Sugary |
| Nibbles (e.g. chips or salt sticks) | Lots of salt, lots of calories and low nutrient density |
| Biscuits, cakes and sweet baked goods | Lots of fat, sugar and hardly any fibre |
Of course, the table is only a selection of foods considered unhealthy. There are always more extensive lists, but the reasons for the waiver are more important to understand than simply blindly waiving certain products just because they are on a list.
After all, it's all about the nutrients , as they fulfil important functions in the body and have an impact on our health and well-being. Too much sugar , for example, causes blood sugar levels to rise sharply and can lead to unwanted food cravings. The same applies to carbohydrate-rich foods with low amounts of fiber.
In summary, it is about avoiding foods that are either rich in unhealthy nutrients or lack healthy nutrients.
These clean foods are considered to be particularly healthy
This summary also indirectly explains what healthy foods are. They are also known as clean foods and include those foods that are rich in healthy nutrients and poor in unhealthy ones.
| Clean Foods | Reason for referral |
| Fruit and vegetables | High nutrient density and thus plenty of vitamins and minerals with a low amount of calories at the same time |
| Legumes (e.g. lentils or beans) | Healthy fibre , minerals and protein-rich |
| Nuts and seeds | Fiber, protein-rich and healthy fatty acids |
| Vegetable fats | Healthy fatty acids |
| Whole grains | Complex Carbohydrates and High Fiber |
| Pseudocereals (e.g. quinoa or bulgur) | Complex carbohydrates and high in fibre and protein |
| Unsweetened dairy products (e.g. natural yoghurt) | Mineral-rich and full of proteins |
| Eggs, fish and meat (in organic quality) | Protein-rich, partially healthy fatty acids such as omega-3 fatty acids |
Again, it is important to understand the reasons for the recommendation and not to follow the list blindly as a matter of principle. Eggs, fish and meat, for example, are among the clean foods, but eating them in large quantities does not correspond to the current dietary recommendations from science.
After all, it's all about the ingredients. And even though fish contains healthy omega-3 fatty acids, it is not necessarily recommended to eat it every day. One to two servings per week is a common recommendation, for example, if the omega-3 fatty acids are not supplied from another source.
Is Clean Eating vegan?
As you can see from the table, the list does not only include plant-based products, but they are not at the top of the table for nothing. Because the plant-based foods form the basis of the diet.
Of course, you can also adapt the Clean Eating diet to your current diet and do without animal products altogether. However, with a vegetarian and, above all, a vegan diet, you should note that the omission also means that a few micronutrients are absorbed in reduced amounts. For example, vitamin B12 supplementation or the intake of omega-3-rich vegetable oils could be useful.
Losing weight with Clean Eating – does it work?
However, many people not only associate their diet with the health aspect, but also expect a slim figure from it. Consequently, it does not hurt that many people are aiming for weight loss with the Clean Eating diet. But can this work?
The answer is the same as for other diets. Yes, clean eating can help you lose weight – no, clean eating is not a miracle cure for your dream figure.
How to lose weight with Clean Eating
As with all other diets, the goal should not be to lose as much weight as possible in the shortest possible time. Instead, long-term healthy diets are about being able to adhere to the appropriate diet permanently.
Excessive restrictions can be promising in the short term. In the long run , however, they are almost never successful and sometimes even pose serious health risks. These begin with the yo-yo effect and range up to serious eating disorders.
So in order to lose weight healthily and benefit from it in the long term , you should take the following tips to heart:
- Choose a diet that fits your lifestyle
- Don't limit yourself too much
- Be creative and try the variety of vegetables
- Be aware that healthy weight loss takes time
Clean eating at breakfast
If you want to eat healthy and use clean foods, it's best to start with breakfast. Healthy oatmeal, vitamin-rich fruits or even fiber-rich chia seeds are among the clean foods that can easily be integrated into your breakfast.
For example, a tasty porridge full of high-fiber oatmeal and vitamin-rich berries as a topping can make for an ideal start to your healthy day.
Clean Eating Breakfast Ideas
Below you will find a few recipes to inspire your breakfast in the spirit of clean eating.
Basic recipe: oatmeal
Ingredients
- 250 ml milk or a plant-based alternative for vegans (oat milk, almond milk, soy milk,...)
- 50 g oatmeal (grams of oatmeal)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 tsp agave syrup optional
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon of your choice
Preparation
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Boil the oatmeal with the pinch of salt and the sweetener of your choice in the milk or plant drink (preferably with constant stirring). Cooking the cereal flakes only with hot water is also a possible variant.
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Let the porridge steep for 3 minutes.
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Empty the porridge into a bowl and sprinkle with cinnamon.
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Enjoy!
Nutritional values
Sugar-free porridge balls
Ingredients
- 60g Bircher Porridge (or other Verival Porridge)
- 1 carrot grated
- Coconut chips
- 3 dates, finely chopped
- Some milk or water
Preparation
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All ingredients are mixed.
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Balls are formed from the dough.
Nutritional values
Conclusion : Balance is also important when it comes to clean eating
Finally, clean eating should not be about avoiding some foods at all costs. Instead, the focus should be on healthy products that are as complete as possible. This gives your body more healthy nutrients.
Reducing the amount of highly processed and high-sugar foods can help to derive a health benefit from the diet. However, a compulsive renunciation should never occur. Rather, it is about finding a healthy balance and developing a feeling for the products and their health effects.
