Nigella Lawson- 'Clean eating' is masking eating disorders

[lilypad]

Sorry, but I'm going to have a rant about this!

From what I've seen, 'clean eating' is about eating food as close to it's natural state as possible and shunning processed food. Which is pretty much how I eat now. I eat mainly potatoes, brown rice and other starches and fruit and veg. And I feel AMAZING!

I find her comments extremely offensive as I've had REAL eating disorders- anorexia, bulimia and binge eating. I was purposely punishing myself with food, I was extremely ill to the point I was vomiting blood, I did it out of hatred for my body due to childhood issues. I never ate fruit or veg, I either starved myself or ate junk food.

I had a lot of therapy to get well, and then slowly began to transition to a McDougall way of eating. And I credit it with healing my body and disordered eating. I enjoy nourishing my body.

To me this is 'normal' eating, we are built to eat pure food.

I am so sick of people bashing people who want to take care of their bodies. I know a lot of you have a history of disordered or unhealthy eating and so can relate to this. Some have had to drastically change their diets to save their lives or due to illness.

One of my Mum's friends is extremely judgmental towards people who do 'healthy eating' and doesn't believe people should cut out food groups such as dairy from their diet. She has severe diverticulitis and has been told to go on elimination diet, but doesn't. She's one of the 'everything in moderation' people and thinks a lot of diets are 'extreme'.

I have to bite my tongue when she judges people who choose to eat healthily, she knows I'm plant based. I refuse to feel shame about how I eat.

What is wrong with not eating processed food?

Ok, phew. Just needed to vent this!

Here's the article
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... g-fad.html

[arugula]

Agree 100%. Nigella has a weight problem and promotes food poisoning.

Here is the very articulate Kerry McCarpet on Nigella Lawson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7NKFuiq8gM

[katgirl55]

I think that chefs have a good reason to criticize clean eating - it threatens their "brand". I don't recall watching her shows, but in general the cooking shows are full of meat meat dairy oil oil salt. Their livelihood is based on cooking highly palatable food. Even if they do a special show on "light" cooking, it is usually still very fatty and salty. Top Chef a few years back, I just got disgusted from watching them cook meat all the time, and any time they would get a challenge to cook vegetarian (not even VEGAN) they would scratch their heads and be lost.

I refuse to comment on any chef's weight, health issues or appearance. But the message they put out there in the media and the way they profit off of selling unhealthy food is fair game.

[lilypad]

Nigella was, and still is, very popular in the UK so what she says does have influence.

Although her recent show, Simply Nigella, has been ripped to pieces because she's including things like 'Chia Seed Muffins' which is very different from her usual high fat, meat and dairy recipes.

I think she's trying to cash in on the change in how people eat, you only have to look online to see that people, especially younger, are eating more healthily, and veganism is growing. She even commented on this in a recent interview.

She even made a vegan chocolate cake on her TV show.

If you look at the comments below the article, people are in agreement with her
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/ar ... g-fad.html

People are using certain diets as a way to hide an eating disorder or a great sense of unhappiness with their own body,’ she told the JW3 Speaker Series in London this week

Comments like this are upsetting and she has no idea how eating disorders work.

And also, she's not saying these things out of concern about eating disorders, she's being judgmental and blaming.

"There is a way in which food is used to either self-congratulate - you're a better person because you're eating like that - or to self-persecute, because you'll not allow yourself to eat what you want."

In October she dismissed clean eating as a fad and said following a balanced diet should not involve "being smug".

[lmggallagher]

LilyPad - Thank you for your "rant" on this subject. I am so happy for you to have found this WOE and a new relationship with food and body! Well done! And thank goodness we have each other in these forums to do that!

I have not had an eating disorder myself - but I really relate to how Nigella has pigeon-holed this WOE into relating to bad body images and eating disorders and that affects us all. Not to discount that her disservice to those with eating disorders that are getting better on this WOE is the most important part of this discussion. Just saying that I am very aware that some people in my life feel that this is what I am doing, what is really irritating is that the worst of these is a nurse! So this is my rant to add to yours

To this day my nurse friend calls me to tell me she has gotten a 2 for 1 coupon for some meat and potatoes restaurant I can't eat at ever. When I decline - she inevitably states - "when you get over this fad diet and start eating in moderation again your health will be fine" and it is in that know-it-all tone we all just love.

Meanwhile, I can recollect that before I started this WOE - when we did meals out - she swallowed about 5 pills before taking a bite - and none were vitamins. Anyway - your mother's friend sounds like a clone of my friend on this subject - so I too just had to vent. Mind you she is a really wonderful person aside from this one sticking point.

I would add to the blame and judgmental - just plain old denial. My friend is on cholesterol meds and was upset that her cholesterol had still gone up (gee could be that restaurant food). One day when she mentioned this again was right after my annual blood labs. My medical facility has all the information on line and you can compare results over several years plotted as a line graph. I just pulled out my Smart phone and showed her my cholesterol results since before and after this WOE. One picture worth a thousand words - there is a huge obvious drop Despite this she said "Lucky you for your good genes".

I feel so much better for the chance to share, lol! But back on point -- I used to watch Nigella and she does have a following - it's pretty disturbing that she would make such an unfounded statement. I didn't do this but a friend did - I have fibromyalgia - a pain and fatigue condition. A dear friend with the same condition heard a host on a local radio show say something about it that was just wrong - instead of picking up a phone or writing herself - she contacted a fibro education organization and asked if they would contact the radio host and set the record straight. They did and sent her a copy of the letter. I am sure there was no over the air redaction, but I wonder if that host ever made that error again???

[petero]

I think that chefs have a good reason to criticize clean eating - it threatens their "brand". I don't recall watching her shows, but in general the cooking shows are full of meat meat dairy oil oil salt. Their livelihood is based on cooking highly palatable food. Even if they do a special show on "light" cooking, it is usually still very fatty and salty. Top Chef a few years back, I just got disgusted from watching them cook meat all the time, and any time they would get a challenge to cook vegetarian (not even VEGAN) they would scratch their heads and be lost.

Clean eating isn't really compatible with molecular gastronomy, LOL. I used to love those shows but have no reason to watch them anymore. The contests are fun but they don't make anything I can eat. They call it "protein" but it always means meat, where is the person choosing tofu or lentils as their protein? Not in the contest, that's for sure.

[dailycarbs]

Who is Nigella Lawson, what expertise does she have on this topic, and why should I care what she says? /rhetorical

I don't see the point of getting worked up over this or anything else posted about "he said this and she said that." It's up to every individual to rid themselves of delusional beliefs by testing them against reality. If people are to be led over a cliff by one or another pied piper, there is precious little I can do to help them, I've found. So I'd rather not waste my time suffering in angst at my inability to change the outcomes produced by the idiocracy parade of "experts" and their would be minions. My only concern of Nigella is whether she'll make this list.

https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4495

[lilypad]

LilyPad - Thank you for your "rant" on this subject. I am so happy for you to have found this WOE and a new relationship with food and body! Well done! And thank goodness we have each other in these forums to do that!

I have not had an eating disorder myself - but I really relate to how Nigella has pigeon-holed this WOE into relating to bad body images and eating disorders and that affects us all. Not to discount that her disservice to those with eating disorders that are getting better on this WOE is the most important part of this discussion. Just saying that I am very aware that some people in my life feel that this is what I am doing, what is really irritating is that the worst of these is a nurse! So this is my rant to add to yours

No, I don't think you are discounting her disservice to people with eating disorders at all.

I'm sorry your friend is being unhelpful. But good for you with the cholesterol issue. The thing is, everyone has a different idea of what 'moderation' is, and can end up kidding themselves over what they eat.

Btw, fibromyalgia sucks. I have Ehlers Danlos Syndrome so have chronic pain. Being in constant pain is draining and tiring, so of course you want to support your body as best you can to get through the day! Eating this WOE has given me tonnes of energy.

I would say that people on here have great body image issues- we want to heal and nourish our bodies! That's very positive!

I just find it bizarre that she's against such a small minority- the 'clean eating' movement really isn't that big. I've only seen the term a few times, I had to look up what it meant!

In the UK, we have an obesity epidemic and the NHS is going bust due to lifestyle/ diet related illnesses. That's what we should be focusing on, not a very small minority of people who practice 'clean eating'.

Dailycarbs, I can see where you're coming from. But Nigella Lawson is a big influence in the UK and her TV shows and books are very popular, and her comments have been all over the big newspapers here. It's also spread to a lot of blogs like Jezebel.
http://jezebel.com/nigella-lawson-think ... 1747244413

And like lmggallagher said, this is our place to rant about things like this! I normally wouldn't be bothered, but anything related to eating disorders is upsetting. I just needed to discuss it somewhere, that's all.

[lmggallagher]

LilyPad:

I'd never heard of EDS - I just read some about it - and now in return that sucks!! I am thrilled though to hear your energy is way up on this WOE and I am hoping other improvements come with time.

One of the big take aways I had from reading "China Study" is that eating as we do does not allow genes to express themselves - I don't know how deep that goes in a case like EDS, but let's hope really really deep. The other thing I know is the women on this board that have helped me the most are folks that I refer to as my "pain sisters" - women with RA, PA, MS, fibro and so on. A bunch of these women have improved to the point of becoming Star McDougaller's and living pretty close to the lives they had previously - but it's all about the food, exercise and ample rest for them. That's the way it is for me too and I reckon you as well . The thing they all had in common before getting to the end of their pain tunnels was that it was one rocky road and really slow going at times - I am still in that phase, but boy have those ladies given me hope, encouragement and lots of leads how to improve things for myself. Slowly but surely if I stick with it I think I will see big improvements too

Back to "Clean Eating" it is a movement here too - starting about 10-years ago, but people really jumped on board - and no push back over it - not like what is happening with Nigella. I even subscribed to a magazine called "Clean Eating" and used many of their vegetarian recipes before I found this path. Anyway, I am surprised that she'd make it an issue at all. Wait maybe I am not - here's one from this side of the pond - alternative non-dairy milks like almond, oat, rice and so on are making a big dent in cow milk sales. How do we know that - the dairy industry here came out with silly ads about what a pain it is to shake the cartons to distribute the alt. milk boxes contents. Seriously, that is the best they could do, lol!!

[lilypad]

LilyPad:
The other thing I know is the women on this board that have helped me the most are folks that I refer to as my "pain sisters" - women with RA, PA, MS, fibro and so on. A bunch of these women have improved to the point of becoming Star McDougaller's and living pretty close to the lives they had previously - but it's all about the food, exercise and ample rest for them. That's the way it is for me too and I reckon you as well

I will never be 'close to the life I had previously', because I was born with EDS. I didn't develop it, it will never go away or go 'into remission'. This WOE won't affect the progression of EDS at all.

This WOE won't have any affect on EDS at all, nor is it curable, as it's muscular-skeletal/ neurological/ faulty connective tissue, I see it more as a disability than an illness. It's something people have from birth, with walking and development problems and such. It's not related to the immune system like RA.

This WOE has given me more energy in general, but it hasn't affected the EDS at all. EDS is not caused by or helped by diet. But being generally healthy is important for everyone.

Let's not assume that diet helps or cures everything, or that other disorders will react similarly to yours or other people.

The poor neurological muscle tone/ dislocations can only be managed with physio and surgeries and things like splints to hold the joints in place. For example, my neck is unstable and is partially dislocating, so I will have to have surgery to stabilise it. This is caused by the muscles being too neurologically weak to support my head. I've had this since birth.

The brain doesn't tell the muscles to tense up enough, so it doesn't protect the joints. No amount of diet and exercise can fix that. And people with EDS are born with faulty collagen and it affects everything- joints, muscles, heart, vision etc.
The only good thing now, is that doctors are able to recognise EDS at birth, so kids get physio from an early age.

[lmggallagher]

Hi LilyPad:

Thanks for the education! Your write up here is so much more informative to me than what I read on line.

Nothing beats the firsthand account of what is going on - when I read some articles about what fibromyalgia is I just am stunned by disbelief that the authors could be so off.

Ironically - I have a neurological disorder, by many research accounts, where my muscles are instructed to tense up causing joint and muscle pain and you have the opposite, but we both get the pain.

I have never read that there is a genetic component to what I have but my Grandmother had the same thing (and some say her mom as well). Back then in the 30's and 40's it was just diagnosed as an odd arthritis - but as yours is not an immune issue, neither is mine. However, family members have told me that her symptoms and mine are mirror images - which makes me think there might be some genes involved??

Just kidding here - I see you are from the UK - but that doesn't necessarily mean that you are English, so I won't make that assumption - but I had a thought that made me chuckle as my Grandmother was English. Maybe you and I have what we have due to genetic over-corrections in a smaller gene pool, as we may be opposite ends of the spectrum to a small degree.

I hear you on the assumption that all people get well on this diet - not a miracle for all for sure! But as you point out we are doing a big favor to our general health, which is much more than most folk try for.

I am so happy, for both of us, that there is increased energy. That happened really fast for me and was a big and happy surprise - enough to keep me going. When I tell people that they think that is not enough to keep "sacrificing" for this WOE - I know I can tell you that it most certainly is and you will completely get it

Best - Michelle