Is green the new black? How healthy replaced hottie as our social obsession and why it’s just as dangerous.
Green superfood bowl: http://blakekitchen.tumblr.com/
Healthy eating and general “wellbeing” is having a huge moment right now. Just check out instagram’s swarms of good food gurus or any bestseller list to find the latest kale-praising cookbook. Not to mention the fact that you can barely move for the opening of another artisan farmshop café serving organic manuka and turnip muffins or gluten-free beetroot brownies at close to £5 a pop. Social media is a festival of perfectly filtered food and fitness pics, eggs baked in avocados and quinoa stuffed butternut squashes scream at you from every corner of the internet.
Our whole lives are documented on social media now, there’s immense pressure to look good all the time in case of impromptu posts to any one of dozens of feeds. Fitness is the new fashion, and huge numbers of people are cashing in on the trend. Healthy eating gurus are the new fashion bloggers, with their #juicecleanses and #superfoodsalads, they seem to be most often pictured flashing pearly whites over bowls of chia seed pudding or blitzing up odd fruit and veg concoctions to serve in mason jars with pastel coloured straws (natch.) Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for living healthily. Recipes which cover nutritious, beautiful and tasty all in one? Sign me up, I want that as much as the next girl. But exactly how much do these intended role models actually know about nutrition? And with hosts of foods being condemned owing to the detox/non-dairy/vegan/raw/gluten-free aspirations of today’s it-crowd, where do we draw the line?
Scores of dieticians have branded some of these trends as unrealistic and ultimately unhealthy. For example, swathes of people including various celebrities, athletes and the insta-famous laud the benefits of a gluten-free diet. However, there are few reasons to avoid gluten. Unless you have a particular sensitivity or allergy, it is doing you no harm and there is little scientific evidence which supports the diet as beneficial.
Juice detoxes have been hugely in vogue, and advocators boast a mass of advantages including weight loss and the flushing of “toxins” from the body. However there are huge downsides to this fad. Many juice diets include little or no protein, meaning energy is used quickly and, due to the fact that during juicing fibre is removed from the fruits and vegetables being used, you are much more likely to experience cravings and feel the need to snack. Often large amounts of fresh fruits are required and, while packed with vitamins, fruit is full of sugar. This means sugar consumption is often through the roof during a detox. There is no scientific evidence to say that juice cleanses are a good approach to nutrition. Unless you suffer from a gastrointestinal complaint, your digestive system is designed to digest! It doesn’t need a break.
Kale Everywhere: http://memegenerator.net/instance/62927799
Other experts have warned of the dangers of a vegan diet, and, while this is very much a personal lifestyle choice, vegans risk developing B12 deficiency, protein deficiency, anaemia and a lack of Omega-3 Fatty Acids. The vegan diet is typically promoted as the guilt free diet low in cholesterol and fat. What most people don’t consider is that these are two things which, in moderation and in the right way, are key to keeping a balanced diet. It is crucial that anyone following a vegan regime takes care to get their fill of protein, fats and essential vitamins and iron.
This entire obsession has even thrown into common use an eating disorder called Orthorexia – a medical condition in which the sufferer systematically avoids foods they believe to be unhealthy.
The main point here is that it is vital to eat a balanced diet. If wellness is your thing, go for it, I admire your strength and give you huge props for being so disciplined – just make sure you’re getting everything your body needs. Eat what makes you happy, and keeps you well. The obsession we have with #cleaneating at the moment, and cleansing in particular, encourages the idea that indulgence should be punished. This isn’t a notion that I can personally agree with. We live in a society, especially as women, where people tell us on a daily basis how we should look and what we should be eating. It’s overwhelming and incredibly difficult to deal with sometimes. It’s a dangerous game to be involved in. I’m going to continue admiring those perfectly innocent looking kale-bakes from afar and, but in the words of the ever-inspiring Jennifer Lawrence, “Where’s the pizza?”
Jennifer Lawrence Eating: http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/things-you-can-learn-about-eating-from-jennifer-lawrence