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Like most health movements, the premise of clean eating stems from the well-intentioned purpose of it being a lifestyle choice, rather than a fad diet. It stands as different from the other diets in its core philosophy of consuming whole and unprocessed foods and its focus on the natural.
Today, it has become one of the most popular movements, transcending generations and cultures. It has been deemed practical and realistic, as it aims at ensuring nutrition as the main goal, as opposed to calorie-counting and weight-loss as the only goal seen in other diets.
Why has this become a problem, then?
While, at first, it sounds straightforward and simple at its core, clean eating has become more than just nutrition-focused. It has become a judgement on one바카라s choices which emphasises the idea that the way people eat is not just unhealthy but 바카라impure바카라.
Psychological Impact of Clean Eating
For some individuals, the negative association between health, food and 바카라impurity바카라 becomes the driving force behind the idea of 바카라perfect health바카라. The pursuit of a perfect, healthy lifestyle at all times, becomes an urgent need바카라a necessity almost바카라and drives a highly restrictive and obsessive eating disorder (i.e. orthorexia), for some.
There is a fine line between clean eating and orthorexia that gets easily blurred for many. Orthorexia was first coined in 1997 by Steve Bratman and 바카라describes a pathological obsession with proper nutrition that is characterised by a restrictive diet, ritualised eating and rigid avoidance of food believed to be unhealthy or impure바카라 (Koven and Abry, 2015).
A healthy diet in itself is not the concern바카라it is the overwhelming nature of the diet that includes aspects of obsessively and ritualistically researching and planning meals to ensure their 바카라purity바카라 to the point of dysfunction in all aspects of their lives (McComb and Mills, 2019). There is also excessive emotional distress experienced when confronted with the possibility of eating 바카라unclean바카라 food, extreme nutritional deficiencies and an avoidance of social gatherings and finally, even avoiding eating with others at meal time i.e. extreme social isolation.
No Pasta For A Year
바카라I haven바카라t eaten pasta in a year바카라 says Keya proudly, a 16-year-old client, in one of our sessions. Having eliminated all carbs completely, following a restrictive routine of skipping dinner and unhealthily monitoring all food for any sign of unhealthy ingredient, Keya바카라s free time is spent in avoidance바카라of all carbs, of any sign of being 바카라unhealthy바카라 and of herself. Like many girls of her age in her class, Keya바카라s body image and self-worth are closely tied to eating clean all the time and following the herd바카라 to achieve the ideal: a 바카라clean바카라 body which has become a large aspect of being 바카라fit바카라.
Being increasingly susceptible to 바카라trends바카라, Keya and young individuals like her are constantly being bombarded with these messages바카라from social media (i.e. the health and beauty 바카라gurus바카라 on all social media platforms) and from the notion of an 바카라ideal바카라 body that is being portrayed in the entertainment industry.
The focus on 바카라clean food바카라 slowly tips over into an association with one바카라s identity i.e. 바카라I am clean/unclean if I eat this바카라.
This pursuit for clean perfectionism is then fuelled by intense fear and shame바카라of eating the 바카라wrong바카라 food, of making a mistake and 바카라slipping up바카라 and ultimately, fear of disease if the clean food is not had.
The Clean Eating Cult
Furthermore, the community of Clean Eaters has transformed into a cult, exacting punishment in the form of verbal slander to those who are not 바카라true바카라 clean eaters. This unfiltered focus on the absolutism of clean eating (unclean being associated with all foods that were not in the category of clean versus clean being associated with only natural and raw vegetables) has ended up perpetuating the notion of being healthy and unhealthy as two ends of that spectrum, with nothing in between.
On one hand, there is ample evidence to prove that clean eating (in a moderated manner) has multiple benefits and can be a healthy lifestyle change to make. While on the other hand, it has also driven individuals to orthorexia and resulted in a deterioration of their overall health바카라contradictory to its so-called base premise.
Just as with any fad diet, it is vital to understand the different ways it may impact each one바카라s physical and mental health and make an informed choice, before diving headfirst into the ocean of new trends, unchecked by any sound, scientific regulation.
Dishaa Desai is a psychologist and the outreach associate of Mpower바카라The Centre, Mumbai
