Is clean eating really good for you?

What is Clean Eating?

While there is no official definition, clean eating is the ultimately eating foods which are free-from: free of refined sugar, gluten, grains or entire food groups such as dairy, or food that has been kept as close to its natural state as possible.

What is so bad about Clean Eating?

Clean eating has fast become a dirty phrase. The backlash is now becoming so great that the influential bloggers who encouraged its principles are even starting to distance themselves from it.

‘Removing entire food groups from the diet is unnecessary, unless you have a medically diagnosed intolerance or allergy, and not advisable as this can result in nutrient deficiencies,’ explains Dr. Stacey Lockyer, a nutrition scientist from the British Nutrition Foundation. So, why is it so popular?

Clean Eating Claims

Take your pick: that it detoxes you, that you’ll lose weight, that you’ll restore your body’s pH (note: crazy pseudoscience), that it’s ‘bad’ or ‘dirty’ to want to enjoy a meaty burger occasionally. Add to that it’s almost 100% promoted by aesthetically-pleasing unqualified advocates and you’ve got a recipe for a runaway bandwagon of people following unsubstantiated health claims to the letter.

Variety is important for a healthy, in other words a balanced diet. A diet that is very restrictive can lead to nutrient deficiencies, for example if all grain foods are avoided this makes it difficult to get enough fibre, dairy foods are an important source of calcium and iodine in the diet. What we eat needs to be in line with the UK Eatwell Guide or the equivalent Irish Food Pyramid.

What should we be doing instead?

A healthy balanced diet containing lots of variety should be based on either the Eatwell Guide or the Pyramid. This ensures you’re getting all the nutrients you need for good health and to reduce your risk of developing chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol.

Here’s some of the more sane advice we can all enjoy:

● Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables. It’s never a bad thing to add more to your diet. In fact, most of us aren’t getting our daily quota right now. But remember: you don’t need to exist only on fruit and vegetables.

● Eat wholegrains. Choosing wholegrain or high fibre versions of starchy carbohydrates is good as many of us aren’t eating enough and we should be basing our meals on these foods.

● Reduce/limit processed foods. They often contain high amounts of saturates, sugar and salt, which evidence shows increases our risk of disease.

● Cook your meals from scratch. Because not only is it enjoyable, it’s cheaper and easier to achieve a healthy, balanced diet.

Clean eating pitfalls to avoid.

● Taking advice from an unqualified source. If you want robust dietary guidance based on scientific evidence, search Freelance Dietitians or the Association for Nutrition.

● Going dairy free unless medically advised.

● Cutting out – it cuts out so many important food groups! See the Eatwell Guide.

● Overuse of unrefined sugars. They’re not ‘healthier’. Unrefined sugar is still sugar. Honey, syrups and nectars such as agave and date syrup are classed as ‘free sugars’ (the same as table sugar and fruit juice), which is the type of sugar that needs to be reduced in our diets in order to meet government dietary recommendations.

● Promotes disordered eating. Never, ever a good thing.