I'll have a clean martini instead of a dirty one

Capitalism works hard, but the wellness influencer chastising you for not eating “whole foods” while simultaneously selling their protein powder works harder.

“All you need to do is make sure you’re consuming clean calories.” This was an actual quote from a post I read from a wellness influencer. Clean calories. What the hell does that even mean because that can be interpreted in many different ways. We definitely need calories in order to survive, which is why we eat food, but “clean calories?” That’s where I am lost.

 If we were to look up the term clean eating, it would bring up many varying results that could leave you wondering what the exact definition and meaning actually is. Here’s the interesting part of this concept: clean eating is just a buzzword, and it’s not actually defined by the nutrition space or government. This means your favorite influencer or blogger can slap the word "clean" in front of an ingredient, recipe, or food and call it a day. 

Personally speaking, it’s not my favorite term, but it is one that has become popular (and clearly not going away anytime soon), with many using clean as a way to describe how they eat. In 2022, 52% of Americans reported that they followed some sort of diet or eating pattern, with one of the most common including clean eating (16%). When surveyed on shopping habits, a preference for products labeled “natural” and “clean” also increased in 2022, with 39% of people looking for labels that contained “natural ingredients” and 27% looking for labels that contained “clean ingredients.”

It’s not a surprise that there are many interpretations because you might notice many of these words used on packaging to describe its contents. Nearly half of “clean eaters” define it as eating foods that are not highly processed: fresh produce, organic, and simple ingredient lists. I will say this now: there is nothing inherently wrong about wanting to find a way to eat that works for you individually, or that will make you feel better, whether that’s giving you more energy or maybe helping you stay, ahem, regular. All of that is well and good, but this is also where I get picky and remind people that the words we use are important. If some foods are clean, then are others dirty and impure? Is someone morally superior for eating clean? Is everyone else inferior?

Clean (adj) - free from dirt, marks, or stains. morally uncontaminated; pure; innocent.

When looking at the definition of clean, I find it odd that we attach food to this meaning. Free from dirt. Many of us wash our produce before consuming it. Many of us don’t eat off floors (things drop, and we can enlist the 5-second rule). Pure. Innocent. I’m assuming this is a nod at processed foods. The word processed is another word that puts the fear in people even though everything we eat is processed to some degree. Unless you go to an apple orchard and pick the apple off of the tree, and consume it right then and there, your food is processed in some capacity. There are multiple versions of processed foods, of course, but at the end of the day, many processed foods are incredibly helpful and even life-saving, so it shouldn’t be a dirty word. Being a dietitian, I think of the processed foods such as meal replacement shakes that are used in nursing homes or that some cancer patients on chemotherapy purchase because they are the only foods that can be tolerated. This is an important part of these populations getting in nutrients. Those shakes are processed with vitamins and minerals as well as calories and are life-saving to many. I think about snacks that we deem “garbage,” such as chips, and know that they can bring joy to someone’s life for a short while. So, because these foods are more heavily processed, does that make them impure? Dirty? 

When do foods become too clean and pure?

We are a nation that loves to aspire to be healthy. We love to talk about health. We love to proclaim that we eat so healthy and that our lifestyles are so healthy. There is something so interesting about holding health to a moral standard to me. The way this topic is discussed, if you are not the pillar of what society deems healthy by lab values and, most importantly, appearance, then you must not be trying hard enough. It’s as if genetics don’t exist, and even when genetics are mentioned and acknowledged, the social determinants of health or one’s socioeconomic status are often ignored. 

Here’s the thing: being obsessed with health is a disorder. Orthorexia nervosa is perhaps best summarized as an obsession with healthy eating with associated restrictive behaviors. First named by Steven Bratman in 1997, orthorexia nervosa (ON) from the Greek ortho, meaning correct, and orexi, meaning appetite. Orthorexia mostly revolves around food quality, not quantity. Unlike those with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, people with orthorexia mostly focus on the perceived healthfulness of food rather than on losing weight or being thin. Some symptoms of ON can include:

• Compulsive checking of ingredient lists and nutritional labels

• An increase in concern about the health of ingredients

• Cutting out an increasing number of food groups 

• An inability to eat anything but a narrow group of foods that are deemed ‘healthy’ or ‘pure’

• Unusual interest in the health of what others are eating

• A feeling of superiority around their nutrition and intolerance of other people’s food behaviors and beliefs

• High levels of perfectionism

• Spending hours per day thinking about what food might be served at upcoming events

• Showing high levels of distress when ‘safe’ or ‘healthy’ foods aren’t available

• Obsessive following of food and ‘healthy lifestyle’ blogs on social media

• Body image concerns may or may not be present

• Psychosocial impairments in different areas of life

*The above is for educational purposes only and does not represent diagnoses, nutrition therapy, or medical care.*

Orthorexia is not formally recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual DSM-5 TR, like anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. However, it is a condition that is on the rise and can still lead to eating disorders in addition to malnourishment, loss of relationships, and poor quality of life. I often think about these conditions and statistics whenever I see diet culture posts under the guise of wellness. There is so much talk about the desire for “clean foods,” “pure foods,” or foods with only ingredients you can pronounce. In other words, processed foods are scary and should be avoided. In order to be your most virtuous and moral self, avoid them at all costs. In my opinion, what makes this rhetoric the most fascinating is knowing the history behind it.

You will never look at graham crackers the same knowing that they were invented by Reverend Sylvester Graham (1794 – 1851). Graham invented the Graham Diet in order to curb sexual desires. Physical lust, particularly for oneself (aka masturbation), Graham believed, caused mental health issues and blindness. From this belief came the invention of the graham cracker. Yes, you read that correctly. ​​Graham, a former farmhand and teacher turned Presbyterian minister, believed that adhering to a vegetarian diet and abstaining from sugars, spices, and foods made with overly processed flour and chemical additives would enforce purity of thoughts and acts and curb the sexual appetite. Pure foods. Clean foods.

At the end of the day, eating clean can come off as an incredibly elitist term that plays into the idea of putting food on a hierarchy. I write about this constantly, but I will say it again, that different foods have different meanings. I can’t help but notice that most of the same folks who are promoting "clean" foods are the same ones denouncing processed foods and anything with a shelf life while simultaneously eating (and selling) their protein powders, supplements, and bars (all processed FYI). These “clean foods” aren't superior just because someone says so and because they might be more expensive and harder to access. We can't ignore the fact that something that isn't easily attainable is more attractive to the wellness industry. We also can't ignore the fact that clean food lists aren’t usually culturally inclusive. Many cultural foods aren't deemed as healthy, nutritious, or acceptable until they become mainstream enough to be seen as profitable.

In conclusion, the notion of superiority that's implied when discussing how someone chooses to eat or not to eat needs to stop. We all make choices for a variety of reasons that are individual. So no, your food isn't dirty unless it's unwashed produce or if it dropped on the floor, and even that's debatable. Clean eating will personally never be a term in my vocabulary because it reeks of not only diet culture (under the guise of wellness) but also it’s super elitist. Again, I implore you to truly think about the words that we use and their meaning and implications. It seems nonsensical because we are so used to seeing the word clean and I know that many just ignore it when they see it, however, it’s still important to recognize how words are used in marketing and their meaning. It is more than okay to eat in a way that is healthy and accessible for you as an individual. The keyword here is individual, as methods are never universal.

So I say this with all seriousness: this is and will always be a dirty eating promoting account.

Clean eating is when we don’t get our hands dirty while eating pizza, right? Photo by Aurélien Lemasson-Théobald on Unsplash

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Like what you just read, or maybe you have more questions on the topic? This is a friendly reminder that I wrote a book on this topic and much more. Live Nourished is available for preorder now! Please click this link to get your copy.