Hi guys,

I’m not sure how many of you watched the Horizon documentary ‘Clean Eating – The Dirty Truth’ a couple of weeks ago?

Unfortunately, there is controversy surrounding ‘clean eating’ in the media and the press seem to be taking quite a negative stance on the term, so I thought I would share my opinion on ‘clean eating’ and my reaction to the programme with you.

There was a genuinely terrible story featured in the documentary. That of a despicable fake doctor in America, Robert O. Young, who has made millions of dollars from his ‘pH Miracle’ diet book and giving false hope to cancer sufferers at his ‘Miracle Ranch’. The facts speak for themselves: He has been convicted on two counts of practising medicine without a license and is facing a three year prison sentence. Has this got anything to do with Ella Mills, The Hemsley sisters, Natasha Corrett and ‘clean eating’? Absolutely not in my opinion.

The documentary WAS correct in its findings that clean eating is undefined and can mean whatever the ‘user’ intends.

What you need to do is to look behind the headline and understand what is meant by ‘clean eating’ and then decide whether it s for you or not. You really can’t say ‘I eat clean’ and it means just one thing.

My definition of clean eating is maximising the amount of fresh, unprocessed, unrefined, organic produce in your diet as possible. Food in it’s ‘clean’, or ‘natural’ state.

It is my (informed) belief that eating in this way, combined with being active, is the best way of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. And although my brand essentially revolves around ‘clean eating,’ I’ve always promoted balance – whether it’s a few cocktails at the weekend or a slice of chocolate cake with a cappuccino. However, I truly, truly believe that we owe it to ourselves (and our waistlines) to eat ‘clean’, unprocessed foods the majority of the time.

Unfortunately the term ‘clean eating’ has become very fashionable of late – and as a result, it has become overly commercialised. Add to this, hundreds of non-qualified (often very beautiful) ‘foodies’ with thousands of followers on Instagram, videoing themselves eating a tonne of maple syrup-filled, gluten-free pancakes. Their videos are accompanied by advice to impressionable followers ‘if you eat refined sugar-free foods you will be super healthy’. The implication is ‘go ahead and eat as much of the stuff as you like without the consequences of putting on weight or having diminished energy levels!’ That is simply wrong! Too much of anything is not going to be the best for you or your waistline!!! We need to eat a balanced diet to maintain our health and wellness.

I have an extensive list of clients that have done really well on my detox programmes and weightloss plans. Simply by following certain ‘clean eating rules’, or ‘cooking from scratch’, they have overhauled their lifestyle and regularly tell me (and thank me for!) how much better they feel. Yes, of course you are going to feel better and lost weight when you are detoxing, I get that, but what I am trying to say is that once people make these changes and they start to feel the difference, they can tell for themselves that it really works. I do not promote detoxes as long-term programmes but for a couple of weeks they will truly bring out the best in you (by bringing out the worst, first).

My ethos is that the majority of your diet should be free from gluten, dairy and refined sugar and as I mentioned above balance is key. I am an advocate of the 80/20 rule which promotes eating ‘clean’, unprocessed food the majority of the time while the remaining 20% can be left to enjoy ‘naughty’ treats. I use the word ‘naughty’ in quotes because once we categorise certain food as being ‘naughty’, we then tend to have guilt attached to eating it. Often this will then result in us not enjoying these treats as we should and we are left asking ourselves ‘why did I just eat that?’ as well as telling ourselves how rubbish we now feel. If you are only eating treats 20% of the time, I really think they should be enjoyed to the max with no guilt attached!

There is a stack of evidence pointing towards the fact that gluten is very inflammatory for the gut lining. Gluten can cause all sorts of long-term health problems including leaky gut (a condition where small molecules of food leak through the gut wall undigested). With so many people eating the quantity of gluten they do, it’s no wonder that gluten intolerance is so prevalent. It’s one of the first foods we are fed as babies in the form of rusks, bread, biscuits and Weetabix simply because they are easy weaning foods. However, before you know it, every meal and snack is full of gluten. This is just another example of ‘balance’. If we were to eat just a little gluten here and there, the chances of becoming intolerant to it are much reduced.

Refined sugar is hidden in lots of products including fizzy drinks, chocolate bars and ready-made sauces. The average Briton eats approximately 60g of refined sugar per day when the recommended amount is approximately 30g per day (including naturally occurring sugars found in fruit). An excess of refined sugar in the diet can result in diabetes, an increase in trips to the dentist and of course serious weight gain. It’s yet another example of why going ‘clean’ can massively prevent such problems. You can rest assured that when I promote homemade ‘clean’ recipes, there isn’t going to be a grain of refined sugar in sight! Of course, the problem here is that loads of people are now thinking that maple syrup is fine to eat by the truck load since although it’s still sugar, it’s more natural. I can feel the words BALANCE wanting to jump out!

Dairy is something that I personally class as an ‘unclean’ food because it’s so highly processed and quite frankly, we as humans aren’t designed to eat it! Lactose intolerances are on the rise, one of the symptoms being an excess of mucus, especially in children. Feta or goat’s cheese is slightly easier for us humans to digest but personally I avoid all cheese where I can. I do have to admit that grilled halloumi is one of my all time favourites. I do have it from time to time, I just don’t eat it every day. There it is again … BALANCE!!!

The Horizon programme expressed concern that there is no scientific evidence base for encouraging ‘real’, ‘clean’, ‘unprocessed’ food (whatever you want to call it) over processed food. However, even the ‘five a day’ marketing campaign was never the outcome of an evidence-based, scientific investigation. However, I’d much rather use my common sense and live off what the planet provides over fast food and ready meals any day of the week.

The Horizon programme wasn’t really about ‘clean eating’. Ella Mills and The Hemsley Sisters, in my opinion, were used by the programme to generate publicity and attract viewers. With almost a million and a half Insta followers between them, what better way to promote your ‘science’ programme than with the popularity of these trendy foodies??

At the end of the day, you must choose whatever lifestyle is right for you. We are all individuals with different metabolic needs. If you clean up your diet and replace processed food with organic meat, vegetables and pulses, you will see for yourself how your body will thank you for it. Follow your gut instinct (if you pardon the pun) and don’t get too hung up about all the conflicting information out there. By all means follow celebrity nutritionists on social media, but use your common sense and take any claims of miracle food with an extremely large pinch of Himalyan salt! All I want to do is encourage my clients and followers that eating healthy ‘clean’ foods doesn’t have to be hard work whilst at the same time inspiring people to cook my recipes for themselves and their families. Many health fads actually boil down to the same thing in essence – balance. Consume unprocessed foods from all the different food groups in the right quantity and you won’t go far wrong.