Nigella Lawson isn’t interested in “clean eating”.
The celebrity cook is out promoting her latest book, Simply Nigella, and says clean eating is a mask for eating disorders.
“People are using certain diets as a way to hide an eating disorder or a great sense of unhappiness and unease with their own body,” she said at a recent speaking event in London.
“Clean eating” is a diet trend that encourages eating unprocessed foods, and is linked with other food trends like cutting out sugar and paleo diets.
It’s synonymous with “superfoods” and #fitspo posts on Instagram, and has been widely adopted among health and fitness communities.
It is also widely mocked.
Lawson’s latest cookbook is based around the idea of “feel good food” and she says how clean eating makes people feel about food is one of her biggest concerns.
She says talking about some foods as “clean” made others appear to be “dirty” or “shameful”.
“There is a way in which food is being 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 the foods you want to eat,” she said.