"Clean Eating"

One of the topics on Newsnight last night was the subject of "Clean Eating" - They refer to Nigella's comments about how clean eating is just a way to mask eating disorders and that "one doesn't eat food because it's good for you."

Well, I don't know about you but I'm planning to live til I'm 100 and all the experts on aging suggest that part of the way to make that happen is to eat a certain kind of diet, i.e., food that is good for you (whole grains, legumes, veg, fruit, nuts, fish, etc.) I don't think there is a damn thing wrong with being conscious of consuming healthy food. In fact we could all do with paying a little bit more attention to consuming food that we know is better for us.

I do concede that there probably are a few women out there who use clean eating as an excuse for pathological ways to control their environment (like any fad eating disorder) but for me clean eating means eschewing chemical additives, avoiding pesticides, transfats, and fake colouring. I cannot tolerate cow dairy any more, and I know I feel more energetic when I avoid gluten. I feel especially zingy when I drink a green smoothie. I feel like curling up and going to sleep when I eat pizza. I have learned which way I'd rather feel and I lead my life accordingly.

Pedants seem to think that given the tag "clean eating" one is taking a virtuous path and that the opposite is dirty which must be bad. For me it's just eating in a way that makes my body sing must be good (FOR ME) and eating in a way that makes me feel sluggish and lethargic is not the way forward. Of course I eat things that don't qualify as "clean": my daughter's candy-coated gingerbread house being the most recent example.

But we can all make an effort in cleaning up our diets and in the words of Michael Pollen "eat (real) food, not too much, mostly plants."

Your thoughts?