We rinse our apples before slicing them or wash our lettuce before making a salad, but when did referring to our eating habits as “clean” become such a fad?
Clean eating is a trend that has been picked up by celebrities, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Jessica Alba. It involves a strict diet where processed foods, gluten, dairy, and excess sugar do not belong. Since when do we take advice from celebrities on what to eat? It’s become a fad that has generated millions in book deals, and countless hashtags.
No nutritionist will disagree that avoiding processed foods and excess sugar will reap benefits for your health. Almost every diet on the planet recommends at least cutting back on processed and sugary foods.
But clean eating is criticized for creating a lot of “if then” dichotomies. Foods are labelled as clean or unclean. If you’re not eating clean, then you’re automatically unhealthy—and sometimes lazy. When taken to extremes, the National Eating Disorders Association has given this craze a name. Orthorexia defines a pathological fixation on eating proper food—or in other words, someone who is health obsessed.
But if you remove the celebrity filters and advertisement campaigns, there’s no official definition of clean eating. So if you’re looking to avoid the cultural fixation and go for a more sustainable way of eating, try some of these tried and true expert tips.
Fruits and vegetables: With summer coming, it should be easy to add more fruits and veggies to your diet. There are plenty of fun recipes to try which are better tasting and better for you than processed foods. Fruits and veggies are high in fiber but low in calories, which helps to fill you up with nutritionally dense food.
Cook from home: Exams are approaching, and it’s inevitable that pizza will become a substantial portion of our diets for the next two weeks—clean eaters beware. But once exams are over, most of us will have more free time on our hands. Restaurants and takeout are often more concerned with flavour and appearance than with nutrition. Try out a few recipes at home, and use the time off school to teach yourself new cooking techniques.
Moderation: You’ve heard it before, but remember indulging is part of a healthy lifestyle. Obsessing over labels and ingredients to determine how “clean” our foods are is no way to live. What is life without a piece of cake or an ice cream cone the odd time?
Eating healthy isn’t something we should do because hashtags prove it’s popular or famous people tell us it’s the thing to do. Try pursuing a diet that favours moderation, not a fad that doesn’t have its own official definition. Define your own diet and eat the way that makes you feel your best.
