The Dangers of Clean Eating
[This blog post was originally published in 2012 and updated now.]
Diet culture has become the norm. It’s infused in the way we speak (“I’ve earned this piece of cake,” “You’re so self-disciplined!”) and in the way we behave (restricting or fasting after eating a large meal, trying to lose weight to attain a “beach body”). Eating disorders are on the rise, with a 107.4% increase in eating disorder diagnoses for Americans under 18 between 2018–2022 (Trilliant Health, 2023). What are we doing to ourselves?
Wellness culture gone bad
I was always complimented on my eating habits: “How do you eat so healthy? I see a bag of chips and have to eat them all!” “You’re so good” and “You’re like the master of eating well.” My preoccupation with healthy food was noticeable and acknowledged, sometimes with jealousy.
The problem was, I wasn’t “so good.” I was obsessed with eating only foods I considered pure (what some call “clean eating”). Meaning: unprocessed, chemical-free, non-GMO and organic. Which sounds healthy, right?
Our fixation on food is making us sick
But there is a fine line between being healthy and being fixated on food. I should know: my preoccupation with the purity of food led to a six-year battle with bulimia (and almost as long a recovery).
Starting a new relationship with food was difficult, as I was continually rewarded for my damaging behaviour. My pickiness was seen as admirable and my need to exercise excessively was seen as exemplary behaviour (instead of as a sort of insanity).
“Clean eating” is just another diet (even Wikipedia labels it as a fad diet), even though advocates and bloggers label it as a lifestyle (although in the past several years they’ve distanced themselves from the term altogether). Often those who follow it also restrict things like wheat, grain, dairy and sugar.
It has a moral undertone that subtly shames those who “choose” to eat processed food, as if eating “clean” foods makes you a wholesome person. I can now see that a lot of our society is infatuated with “clean eating.” And it’s harming us.
Is the way we eat just as (or more?) important than what we eat?
The quest to eat “clean food” is understandable. We’re constantly hearing about food production controversies through the news and in graphic documentaries.
These controversies create anxiety around where our food comes from and how it’s grown and manufactured. It seems that the more we know, the more anxiety and anger is produced.
But is it possible to go too far in our concern? To reach a level of obsession, which, though perhaps warranted on some level, becomes an affliction in itself?
We need to separate the anger we feel at the companies who have turned food production into a more-money-at-any-cost assembly line and direct it back at them in the form of advocacy. Otherwise, it gets internalized within ourselves.
We cannot allow this anger to transform into anxiety at mealtimes, where we re-consume it all over again. This is making us sick. Eating is a time to let go of these emotions and enjoy the meal in front of us. If we can’t, we’ll be consuming even the most local, organic and chemical-free food with anxious thoughts and tension-filled bodies.
Healthy eating
Healthy eating has no room for obsessive thoughts and behaviour, even if our intentions are good. I believe that our cultural preoccupation with “clean food” can actually be dangerous and is creating a society of people balancing precariously on the line of Orthorexia, a type of disordered eating.
If we can remove anxiety from mealtimes, we will naturally enjoy food as an experience larger than ingredients and nutrition. Instead of dieting and putting food into categories of “clean” and “dirty”, “good” and “bad,” let’s simply eat foods that make us feel satisfied and provide us with energy to focus on the wider world around us.
Recommended anti-dieting books: Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating and The F*ck It Diet: Eating Should Be Easy.
