Clean Eating is a Lie

Nutrition is the key to body transformation.  And clean eating has been marketed as the true path to best health.

But is cleaning eating the best diet to be healthy?

Wait, before I go any further let’s define what clean eating is.

Clean eating means to only eat whole foods.  This can vary widely based on who you talk to and their beliefs but typically it  means no sugar, no cheat foods – or only once per week, no gluten, no dairy, no liquid calories, no fructose, mostly eating vegetables over carbs, low fat meat, no red meat, organic foods, and no boxed food.

You may have your own ideas about what clean eating is.

There are so many definitions that your “clean eating” might be considered “dirty” to someone else.

But you’ve been lied to about clean eating.

It’s a label to define someone’s eating style – and can quickly become a belief system for many who refuse to stray outside the guidelines.

The Dangers of Clean Eating

Clean eating can quickly turn into box that traps you into restricting entire food groups for no reason. It can turn into an obsession.

Avoiding any refined foods out of fear.  It can lead to obsessively thinking about food, excessive meal planning, and unnecessary stress about avoiding foods in social situations.

Dogma can turn followers into defining every food as good or bad, black or white.  Although this seems easier, in long run it can lead to bingeing, stress, and other behaviors that backfire.

For example if I don’t eat dairy because it causes skin rashes – that is very different than cutting out dairy because someone told me to.

Clean eating is a dogma that will keep you trapped without any flexibility.

Take for example, my client Jennifer.  When she began coaching, she wanted to look better in her clothes.  She had been doing clean eating and was afraid to eat anything off the meal plan.  And her body was bloated after eating certain foods because she only allowed a handful of foods to eat.  But she wouldn’t eat egg yolks or treats because she had been told they weren’t healthy and should be eliminated.

You may be nodding your head because you’ve been told to avoid fatty foods like egg yolks or saturated fat,  and to only eat “clean” treats – made from scratch without any sugar.

But there’s another way to eat which gives you flexibility, ease around food, and helps you achieve your goals.

Flexible nutrition gives you balance of wholesome foods and eating the dessert too.  In the long run, studies show if you are satisfied with your meals, you’re more consistent.

So you can dig yourself into the ground trying to be more hardcore with clean eating, or you can give yourself pleasure and enjoy variety of foods in any social situation, traveling, or at home.

Once you embrace you can have both – pleasure and satisfaction around eating automatically increases.   You don’t have to choose between being hardcore to reach your goals and enjoying your favorite foods.

Flexible nutrition is a framework that caters to your preferences and helps you achieve your goals  — so you can finally kick all those fad diets to curb like a bad ex.

To learn more about flexible nutrition, download my cheat sheet to flexible nutrition.