Is clean eating making you feel dirty?
The #instafriendly diet fad could be more trouble than it’s worth
Gluten-free oats, soaked overnight, infused with berries, unicorn dust and virgin’s blood—if recipes from your ‘clean-eating’ friends have you scouring supermarkets for exacting ingredients, that makes two of us. And when a pizza and beer binge leads to anxiety sweats, calculating that your next ‘cheat’ meal is 200 light years away, you’ve likely caught the clean eating diet bug.
A fad diet, first associated with British blogger Ella Mills of Deliciously Ella, it gained infamy in 2011 and rose to prominence with wellness experts, restaurants and influencers riding the wave of #eatclean. Think cauliflower crust pizzas, dates as dessert, and kombucha and kefir replacing food you can actually pronounce. So why are doctors criticising it and does clean eating do more than attract likes to your Instagram posts? Dr Vishakha Shivdasani, a medical doctor specialising in nutrition, and Dr Jaini Savla, psychologist at Mindsight clinic, discuss.
What is clean eating?
According to Shivdasani, “There is no clear-cut definition for clean eating—it involves consuming more whole foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains and healthy fats — and limiting processed snacks, sweets and other packaged foods. But the definition can get more restrictive depending on the person doing it.” With benefits including fat and weight loss, higher energy levels, improved skin and hair texture, mental well-being and sleep quality—why shouldn’t you clean up your act right now?
More of a holistic lifestyle change than a diet, Shivdasani clarifies that this doesn’t automatically mean gluten and dairy are your enemies. Randomly cutting out food groups could lead to deficiencies and pose health risks, and should only be done on a doctor’s recommendation.
She adds, “If someone adopts a couple of rules like cutting out sugar and processed foods, and doesn’t see benefits, they might keep adding rules and cutting out food groups until they do. So it’s a slippery slope.”
Can clean eating cause anxiety?
The Spice Girls said it best with their song ‘Too Much’ (…of something is bad enough). Medical professionals believe that vilifying foods and following a diet with military precision can lead to an increase in stress and anxiety, social isolation and a wholly negative relationship with one of the most pleasurable parts of being alive—eating.
Says Savla, “When we restrict our food based on sweeping generalisations, we paralyse ourselves with fear. We have an intimate relationship with food. When we label some as clean, and others as not, our disgust reflex responds strongly, which has a negative effect on us. Rather than categorising foods, we need to equalise the amount of proteins, carbs and fats we intake.” A balanced diet, just like everyone and their naani has been preaching for years.
Savla explains why eating a few Doritos can make you feel like you’ve committed murder as you look down at your cheese-stained fingertips in shame, “The clean eating diet has gone so far that people have stopped relishing what they are eating, leading to binge-eating at times. The fear with which they put the food inside their body also creates so much anxiety that the digestive system secretes excessive juices, further leading to digestion and gastrointestinal problems.”
Along with acidity, smelly farts and bouts of diarrhoea, an obsession with clean eating could change relationships. Faced with constant ridicule and nagging when you’re out with friends, you’d rather just stay home.
Says Savla, “People avoid social gatherings, leading to social isolation. Others start showing signs of obsessive compulsive disorder as they micro-analyse calorie intake, and become more susceptible to eating disorders like anorexia, and bulimia, and orthorexia nervosa (a yet-to-be-verified term for an obsession with eating food that one considers healthy).”
The middle path
No food is dirty (unless we’re talking aphrodisiacs), there’s nothing wrong with adopting healthy habits, taking a swig of the trendy Kombucha, or swearing off shiver-inducing candy binges. As long as you’re not chaining yourself down with calculations, checklists, claustrophobic rules and ‘healthy’ substitutes that are conning you. As food god Anthony Bourdain said, “your body is not a temple, it’s an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.”
