The Messiness of Eating “Clean”
While I like to consider myself “above” the world of diets and restrictive eating, diet-culture influences so much of how we operate around food and how we view ourselves. We established some foundational problems with diet culture in one of our earliest articles, “Unpairing Sustainability from Diet Culture,” which provides our perspectives about the toxicity of our global fixation on diet and body image, and how it is NOT a part of sustainable eating.
A really popular dieting philosophy that you may have heard floating around the internet, magazines and social media influencer sites is “clean eating.” Clean eating always found its way on to my phone screen, but I never delved into it because I try my hardest to avoid getting swept up in whatever fad diet is coming along. Still, the obsession with eating “clean” has stuck around for a while and seems to have an extraordinary capacity to lead to more confusion and mistrust of certain foods, so we decided to take a dive in and deconstruct what “clean eating” is, what is looks like practically, why it can lead to unhealthy relationships with food and how it can lead to racist undertones in our discussions around food.
An initial search for a definition of clean eating leads to a definition that can seem simple at first glance: “Clean eating is a diet concept where a person avoids refined and processed foods and those that have artificial ingredients, such as certain preservatives and additives. Instead, the goal is to eat whole, natural foods” (from Medical News Today).
But like most things, there’s a variety of ways that people go about eating “clean.” Some people avoid all chemicals by eating organic and avoid preservatives in their food. Some won’t eat anything found in a jar or a box, or anything that is packaged in any way. And others take it even farther, creating a diet that is gluten-free, vegan, GMO-free, and basically just “whole foods.” Often clean eating is also associated with reduced oils, sugars, and fats—all parts of food that people see as “bad” or in this case dirty. Like most things with a wide definition that manifests in different ways to a lot of people, it can lead to confusion and extremism. While some people may be eating “clean” for improved health and wellness, and do so in a healthy and moderate way, this diet (like most diets!) can be taken too far and lead to unhealthy behaviors.
Obsessive restrictive diets are never healthy:
While “clean” eating is usually touted as a healthy way to eat, and can be a great way to focus on eating with an emphasis on fruits and vegetables, any diet that is restricted at such a level can be problematic. Orthorexia nervosa is when individuals begin to limit the amount of food that they are eating due to perceived health restrictions and obsession with what is in their food. According to Medical News Today, “While people with orthorexia nervosa may be eating healthful foods, their fixation on the foods is unhealthful.” This is particularly common with people who are trying to follow a “clean eating” diet because they are eating healthy food, but begin to feel disgusted by other foods. This can also lead to feelings of guilt and inadequacy for when they break their diet or eating something viewed as “dirty.” If food is free dirt, bacteria and mold, it is clean and safe to eat.
Some processed foods can lead to better health:
A complete aversion to processed food can have potentially negative health implications, especially for children or those without an abundance of fresh-options. “Clean eating” is based on the elitist concept of grocery stores stocked full of organic foods, and a wallet full of money to buy whatever you’d like, no matter the price. Fortified juices and milks can lead to better health for kids who are picky eaters, and can help pregnant moms get the nutrients they need to improve their health with means beyond what is in their normal diet. Clean eating is also based on a food system that doesn’t require us to process foods so that they are available year round (canning), and food that can be accessed from around the world (they definitely aren’t growing chia seeds in Manhattan!). This is a hyper-nutritional take on eating in our current food system, but it doesn’t actually have roots in equitable access to the nutrients that will feed our bellies and bodies the best.
The Racially Charged Context of “Clean” Eating
Diet culture is already inherently racist in the way it promotes a thin-white beauty ideal, but it also can be racist in the way that it talks about certain types of foods. This is really prevalent in the way that most nutrition education promotes a mediterranean diet and rarely includes traditional diets around the world. Diets which have often led to long vibrant lives before industrialized food systems took over.
“Clean” eating can often perpetuate this racist language in nutrition by shaming traditional food or trying to “remake it.” Perhaps most famously was when Arielle Haspel, a social media blogger and health coach opened Lucky Lee’s, a Clean-Chinese restaurant in New York City. Haspel used promotional material and language in her marketing that had pretty blunt racist undertones, especially considering that Haspel is white. She said that other Chinese food makes you feel “icky and bloated” and that she wanted to reduce the oil in dishes that were traditionally “doused in brown sauces” (read the full NYT article here.) Haspel tried to defend her choices by saying that clean eating is “all about finding a healthier alternative to your favorite indulgent food”—but this can become so problematic when it is in the context of remaking traditional meals, AND inferring that they’re dirty in the process. Lucky Lee’s closed its doors in December 2019 after being open for 6 months.
Unfortunately Haspel is not the first person to try and “remake” classic traditional dishes to make them be healthier. There are countless cookbooks and recipes online that often feature someone “discovering” or “remaking” foods to make them healthier. Often these people have nutrition backgrounds but are not of the cultural background of the dish they’re “remaking.” Sometimes these “remakes” can be great for people with food allergies, or can come from someone with extensive experience with cooking and that culture. In those cases, I’m all for respectfully and sensitively expanding our pallets and experiencing new dishes that make us feel good. I am so grateful for the people who have brought their cultural foods to my city and community and allowed me to understand more about what people love and enjoy around the world. The issue with “clean” eating is that it makes some food “bad” and can make the people who enjoy it full of shame. Haspel herself said “I love health-ifying bad food so you can treat yourself, guilt-free”—a statement seeped in heavy diet culture language that implies that you should feel guilty about food you eat! No food is “bad” and especially in the context of appropriating other cultures dishes—all food represents history, culture and community and should be appreciated as such.
Are you interested in more issues of cultural appropriation of food? We really like this extensive article from Food First: “Decolonize Your Diet: Notes Towards Decolonization” by Catrióna Rueda Esquibel.
We understand the appeal of “clean” eating—it’s a catchy catch-all term for healthy eating that focuses on reduced processing food, but we hope that this article helped you understand how negative language in diet culture can affect the way we talk about food and culture, beyond just nutrition and health. Many people are able to follow diets like eating “clean” in a positive way that encourages appreciation of healthy food, but there can be extreme examples that showcase the toxic nature of all strict diets. Here at Grounded Grub, we like to continue to reiterate that sustainable eating is not the same as diet culture, and we hope we can foster a community where we promote intuitive eating and appreciating every bite as much as possible.
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