How I fell for #cleaneating
An article in The Guardian has been circulating today and as I read (the aptly hashtaged #longread) Why we fell for clean eating I realised how relatable it is to me and my ‘diet’ history. The article creates a timeline detailing the process of how clean eating became such an influencing and lasting trend and as the years progressed in the article, my diet life to date was blatantly relayed to me.
As you may have read in my previous blog Discovering the Non-Diet Approach, I have been a long term dieter and I like to reflect on this as I move forward in my journey of becoming an Accredited Nutritionist and practicing Dietitian. I know I am not alone in this; #cleaneating has had an extensive impact world wide!!
Let me take you on my personal journey of how I fell for clean eating....
The very first memory that came flooding back to me was actually taken from the biggest loser about 9 years ago now. The contestants were in the house and it did the flash back of what they ate prior at home and then it brought in the ‘food rules’ whilst in the house. I remember the message that if it was in a wrapper or any packaging then it was no good and shouldn’t be eaten. As a high school student this blew my mind and I literally thought that there was nothing in the world that I could eat.
Some years later, I was told by a personal trainer that I need to be on an “alkaline diet” and so I eagerly sought out and drank blk water: which yes is black water with ancient minerals in it. The alkaline naturally balances your pH and neutralising acidity in the body and don’t worry it has no carbs, no calories and no sugar! (It’s water – at just under $5.00 a bottle too).
For a while I went down the ‘no milk’ path based on the idea that we are the only animal that continues to drink milk after infancy. I was on the almond milk ban wagon! Or long black with a dash of cold milk.
I feel that it is at this point that I should highlight the foods that I did NOT enjoy the taste of throughout this process:
***1) Blk Water 2) Almond Milk 3) Melbourne Long blacks ***
Side note for the coffee lovers: Queensland does great coffee, much better than Victoria in my opinion.
Someone at work was gluten intolerant - but they seemed so fit and healthy: maybe gluten was the way to do it. Yup one of those people - actively avoiding gluten, despite not suffering from coeliac disease - this lasted as long as my first loaf of gluten free bread which cost an arm and a leg and tasted like cardboard.
*** 4) gluten free bread ***
(It is good however, to see the advancements made in GF products since then for those who do suffer the condition).
The Sarah Wilson 'I Quit Sugar' really captivated me: and so began the chapter of green smoothies, coconut oil, chia seeds, kale chips and oven roasted almonds. My first time at the football with my now fiancé and for dinner I had my smoothie and almonds. Someone told me that they didn’t eat fruit anymore because it had too much sugar; it crossed my mind if I too should do this – thankfully I never went that far!
*** 5) Paprika almonds 6) Kale chips ***
There was so much judgement of food: but it was as if it was a new found ‘faith’ and there was so much magic and charisma from the health gurus that these extreme actions were empowering!
I managed to be nicely sold on ‘herbalife’ and started following the program with guidance of my ‘health coaches’; who have since seen the light and cut ties with the cult. It involved popping pills, drinking two shakes a day and drinking ‘fat burning tea’. It got to the point where my diet was 600-800 calories a day … and many people do this! The health coaches are captivating human beings and they really truly believe it themselves; “they drink the koolaid.” Not to mention they won’t tolerate their happy belief bubble being punctured by anyone; regardless of truth or fiction.
*** 7) Herbalife Shake ***
Side tangent: Then there is the other extreme that our food needs to not only be ‘clean’ but also look like works of art – I considered buying food dye to add to my yogurt to fit the unicorn craze and galaxy bowls! When I look back on this … so silly!! Instagram has created hype about food and pushes the notion of photoworthy. Follow Nina Mills @whatsforeats on instagram for a refreshing non-diet, non-judgmental approach to food!
When I look back at all of the money I would have spent on these clean foods which I didn’t even LIKE the taste of ... agh! I’ll be honest, sometimes I get flickering thoughts back to when I was the thinnest I have ever been and there is a slight thought that I should maybe eat this way again. I followed these clean eating practices and I was skinny... But in reality I ate in an unorthodox, unconventional, unsustainable way which was harmful and I excessively went to the gym!! Never again!
There is some good in the clean eating message of eating more vegetables, less meat and less refined sugar, but for the rest it’s a jungle of misinformation and it is truly “difficult to pick out the sensible bits and ignore the rest”. Clean eating is an ‘all or nothing’ approach and overall when you have adopted this way of living and eating it’s hard to know how else to do it; to this date this is still a big challenge for me which I am personally working to overcome. I really like how the article phrased it:
"Clean eating confirms how vulnerable and lost millions of us feel about diet – which really means how lost we feel about our own bodies".
You’re not alone. If you are feeling lost and want to do some more reading some great areas to look into are:
The non-diet approach #nondietapproach
Health At Every Size #HAES
Body positivity
There are alot of really great professionals on social media platforms who you can follow who practice on evidenced based science. But more so they really care about people and will never dish out information which could cause harm simply for a quick dollar or rise to fame.
Let’s shift our focus – move away from #cleaneating and into #nondiet #nonjudgment #allfoodisequal #selflove
xx
