I was on the sofa the other night, scrolling through my Facebook feed, when I came across a link a girl I used to go to college with had shared. Entitled “Clean Eating’s Dirty Secrets”, the screen cap showed a young girl unknown to me (who, it turns out, is Grace Victory: “the internet’s big sister” and UK lifestyle and advice blogger with 106,000 Instagram followers and 209,600 YouTube subscribers…oops) holding a green smoothie and a plate of that hipster go-to of the moment - avocado on toast. The original Facebook post was by a girl I don’t know, who’d written a rather long paragraph about how “dangerous and unhealthy” she feels the clean eating regime has become, from personal experience with it. I was a bit skeptical at first - the clue is in the name, how bad can clean eating really be? - but the original poster claimed to have come to this conclusion from studying nutrition, and my curiosity was really quite piqued, so I clicked on the link. I figured I would watch the first five minutes or so and see whether it would be worth a watch. I ended up stuck to my iPhone screen, watching the whole thing right through to the end. It’s a really fascinating and somewhat unnerving look into a fad that seems innocent on the surface but actually harbours some disturbing information that definitely isn’t advertised under #cleaneating. I’m always a bit wary when writing these opinion posts, because I don’t want to pretend I’m some huge expert and expect some people will be offended by what I say, but I think this is an important issue that needs more coverage. 
Funnily enough, pretending to be an expert is exactly the charge being levied at members of the clean eating clan. The premise of the programme is for Grace to try some of the various diets being championed by well-known, popular wellness bloggers who call themselves “clean eaters”. Her quick, initial YouTube search of “clean eating” throws up most of the health b/vloggers you’ve probably heard of: Deliciously Ella (real name: Ella Woodward); Madeline Shaw; and the Hemsley sisters. Straight away, Grace gets to the point: “are these people trained in this stuff? Do they know what they’re talking about?” As Grace highlights, the Hemsley sisters’ website has the disclaimer “we are not qualified nutritionists, or dieticians. The information on this website has been developed following years of personal research, case studies and our own experiences with nutrition”, and they recommend you “consult a healthcare professional” before following any of their - or anyone else’s - recipes and tips. Deliciously Ella also “work[s] with a nutritionist” and follows “an exercise program from my doctor”, as well as mentioning that she is “not a trained chef”. Madeline Shaw does have a qualfiication, from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (INN), who at least partner with professional educational facilities (such as some of the state universities of New York and California), as well as offering online courses sometimes taught by people with MD (Medical Doctor) certificates. However, whilst I was researching the INN, I found this rather interesting article which probes further into its practices - with somewhat worrying results.
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| Grace with her "diploma" |
Because being a “nutritionist” is actually something anyone can do. Grace proves this by finding a voucher to become a “raw food nutritionist” - and what does it cost her? £29 (down from £270) and under 20 hours of actual studying. Now, I have £29 in my bank account in the moment, and I could probably fit 20 hours of studying into the next 20 days of my life. So, in just less than three weeks, I could be presenting myself as a raw food nutritionist and influencing what people eat. That’s just plain scary, because I frequently eat chocolate for breakfast and had fish and chips twice in one day just last week…
Grace’s main point in the documentary is to show that the focus on “plant-based” (aka vegan) diets, isn’t really to do with health but more to do with image. I know I’ve been guilt of lusting over someone’s colourful, fruity Instagram and going out that afternoon to buy overpriced ingredients that I can barely pronounce, in the hopes of assembling the same snap-worthy breakfast. But the foods that we’re being told to cut out are often full of nutrients that those who know what they’re talking about (proper scientists, real dieticians, the NHS, etc.) encourage us to eat. At several points, the contrast between these wellness bloggers and science is zeroed in on. A quote from Deliciously Ella’s website sounds bizarre even to me, with my minimal knowledge on anything green and/or healthy: “…when we drink milk, calcium is drawn from our bones in order to rebalance the acidity it causes, which can result in a calcium deficit.” Hang on, isn’t milk a source of calcium? The NHS say so, and also recommends that you take in 700mg of calcium a day (milk contains around 250mg per 200ml*) “by eating a varied and balanced diet” (source here; emphasis mine). So who to listen to? My common sense would tell me, the NHS are probably the more reliable source. Grace puts it to Dr (emphasis on that title please) Sarah Schenker from the British Dietetic Association, the “professional association and trade union for UK dietitians”, who - unlike self-named “nutritionists” - are regulated by law. She calls the claim “scientific nonsense” and warns against giving up milk as it may lead to a calcium deficiency, which would result in “long-term consequences for your bone health” - so at least Ella is right in some respects.
This continues throughout the documentary, and I don’t want to run through it all here because I think it’s something that’s really good to watch and think about. The supplementary cases - that this way of eating excludes the lower classes and those with limited income, for example - are plentiful and equally fascinating. Grace’s investigation of “orthorexia” comes as a warning to someone (hi) who sometimes forces herself to eat things she doesn’t enjoy because every fit, slim, beautiful blogger on her Instagram feed is raving about it.
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| The topic has been getting more attention recently |
I know I may very well alienate some people by writing this post, and obviously I’m not trying to attack people who suffer from coeliac disease or various other food intolerances. But if your body does accept these foods we’ve been eating for thousands of years, and fully accredited and respected scientists are actively recommending we consume and benefit from them, why are we resisting? Because it’s “cool”? Definitely not Grace, who fails to feel better - indeed, claims to feel much worse - whilst following any of the diets she records, and not me either, now.
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