Clean Eating's Dirty Secrets: My Response

My beautiful breakfast instant noodles.

I’ve been a fan of Grace Victory (aka UglyFaceOfBeauty) for literally years, so when I heard she was making a documentary exposing the clean eating trend, I was hyped. I was convinced she’s do a great job, so I made sure to watch it as soon as it came out! So there I was, sat there with my bowl of instant noodles in anticipation (yes I had instant noodles for breakfast, don't judge). But then, one minute in, I heard it.

“HEY YOU BANANA BITCHES”

My heart sunk. Freelee's in it. Please don’t use the word vegan. Please, please, please.

“The number of vegans in the UK has nearly tripled in ten years.”

Ugh.

Grace may not have realised it, but in that sentence at 1 minute and 45 seconds into the film, she made the entire thing about veganism, despite it being totally irrelevant. Yes, there are a lot of “clean” recipes that are vegan. But I see an equal amount containing salmon, or goat’s cheese, or eggs.

The documentary highlights that wellness bloggers often refer to themselves as “plant based” instead of vegan, but seems to sweep this under the carpet a little. Let’s make this very clear right now: Plant based and vegan are not the same thing. Veganism refers to a lifestyle in which the person uses as few animal products as possible. This includes all food sourced from animals, clothing such as fur and leather, cosmetics (which will also be cruelty free) and furniture. This is often done on the basis of strong ethical convictions – I’ve even known vegans to refuse medication due to its effect on animals, although I personally wouldn’t recommend this.

In contrast, plant based refers to a range of diets ranging from vegan to meat-reducing, and normally focus on eating whole foods. Plant based diets are the ones which advocate cutting out gluten, refined grains and other processed foods. Vegans don’t necessarily cut out those things – heck, look at literally any post on this blog and you’ll probably see a cake. When I’m not eating out, I basically live of Sainsbury’s basic instant noodles. My diet sucks, but I’m still vegan because I don’t eat animal products for ethical reasons!

I've had Chinese takeaway three times this week.

Veganism can be done healthily without stupid restrictions. Although people who eat a “normal” diet filled with meat may look at the concept and think “wow, how restrictive”, it’s actually not. There’s an amazing vegan replacement for every animal product you love.

Okay, now that rant’s out the way, I can quickly talk about what I liked about Clean Eating’s Dirty Secrets. I love how she highlighted that orthorexia is a thing; it’s a very serious condition that needs more attention and really needs to be added into the DSM. I also love how it called out the pseudoscientific nonsense self-proclaimed diet gurus put out. Nothing irks me more than false claims about diet, so seeing the High Carb community, alkaline diet and gluten free craze all get shot down made me a little smug.

Overall, it’s a great documentary. The majority of its information is good and Grace is a brilliant presenter. To me, it just felt like a longer YouTube video – her personality really shined through and put the audience at ease. I’d definitely recommend watching it. Just remember that vegan does not mean clean eating!!

Have you watched Clean Eating’s Dirty Secrets yet? What did you think of it? Let me know in the comments, and have a great day!

- Bethan

You can watch Clean Eating’s Dirty Secrets here.