Stop Saying You Eat "Clean"

Use of the term “clean eating” needs to stop. I’ll tell you why.

The term “clean eating” itself is heavily ambiguous. Does it imply that you wash your food? What foods are considered “dirty”? While we’re at it, what constitutes as a processed food and what doesn’t? The exact meaning of “clean eating” differs depending on who you ask; that’s probably the biggest gripe I have against the term.

I think the clean eating trend began with good intentions. Initially, the movement enforced the idea that it is best to eat minimally processed, locally sourced, and fresh foods. It encouraged eating primarily: whole grains, unprocessed and ethically raised meat, fresh produce, nuts, and healthy oils. This type of eating is somewhat reminiscent of the mediterranean diet, which is heavily evidence based as a diet associated with lower risks of heart disease and obesity. My personal favorite part of what clean eating pioneers supported was becoming aware of where your food comes from, and the process it takes for food to get to the table. The sustainability aspect of eating locally sourced food will always be of great importance to those concerned with their personal environmental impact, and clean eating once adhered to high sustainability standards.

Today, the clean eating movement has evolved. It has become less about what foods make us and the environment healthy, and more about what makes us thin. Essentially, it has become another diet. It’s even marketed as a quick, feel good weight loss method.

Modern clean eating boxes foods into the categories of good and bad. If something isn’t considered clean, then it must otherwise be considered dirty. This mindset is overly simplistic and it takes a lot of what makes eating enjoyable away by tacking stigma onto certain foods. In a nutshell, clean eating is yet another manifestation of a way to hate our bodies and obsess over food, packaged in a way to make it look like it isn’t a part of diet culture. “Bad” foods do not exist. Everything can and should be eaten in moderation.

It’s insulting to believe that those who don’t eat clean by modern standards are therefore unconcerned with sustainability and are choosing to eat terribly. The fact is, many people either don’t have easy access to “clean” foods, or they can’t afford them. Clean eating is an elitist movement reserved for the wealthy. Agave is still sugar, coconut oil still has saturated fat, and gluten free cake is still cake. These types of ingredients all have marked up prices that are just unattainable for the average person, and they don’t necessarily make you any healthier. It is a misconception that if you can’t afford to eat clean, you therefore can’t afford to eat healthily.

The term clean eating is being used so colloquially now a days, that “clean” is practically synonymous with “healthy”. The word “healthy” is already ambiguous enough as it is; the word “clean” doesn’t need to make things any more complicated. My hope is that clean eating is just a fad that will eventually fade into the past like those before it.