Unless you’ve been hiding in a Maccy D’s toilet cubicle for the past year, you’ll have undoubtedly heard about the latest fad convincing us we’re not slim, healthy or happy enough.
‘Clean Eating’ is big business. Sold to us by photogenic, middle-class white women promising us happier lives in return for eating kale and drinking turmeric lattes. Many of them promote dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free and joy-free existences.
But the latest addition to the steamroller movement really takes the McVities Digestive.
It’s a documentary called What The Health, and it’s been watched by millions on the streaming service Netflix.
What The Health explores the links between eating animal products and the risk of cancer. Essentially it claims the only way to be healthy and cutting your risk of an early death is by going vegan.
It’s everything you would expect from a West Coast 30-something-year-old with bleached teeth and a baseball cap. And if he doesn’t sound American enough for you, he’s even called Kip.
Kip Andersen claims that food such as sandwich meat, sausages and even eggs cause a risk to our health due to the high levels of saturated fat, as he simulateously ‘debunks myths’ that sugar is not as much a danger as doctors suggest.
While I’ll not deny the absurd claims made in the documentary have some meagre factual basis, diet, I’ve learned, is not a black and white matter and there is no correct answer.
But claims such as “eating an egg a day is as bad as smoking five cigarettes” (yes, really) are not just absurd. They’re dangerous. Many of these foods contain nutrients, like Vitamin B12, not found in plant products.
Meanwhile, orthorexia – an eating disorder involving an unhealthy obsession with eating healthily – is on the rise. And I’ll admit for the purpose of this article that it’s something I’ve had a close encounter with.
Like most teenagers, I was obsessed with body image. I’ve gone from starving myself to being overweight. You name the diet, I’ve tried it. Weight Watchers and the 5:2. I’ve dabbled with veganism and tried cutting out entire food groups. None with success.
The claims in What The Health insidiously tap into these insecurities, showing provocative shots of kids biting into hotdogs containing a fat, smouldering cigar as a sausage. It’s diet shaming produced for the age of alternative facts.
But what I’m concerned about is vulnerable people eating it up and then eating little else. Apart from carrots and quinoa.
There is nothing wrong with veganism and eating loads of fruit and veg. But there is something fundamentally wrong with scaremongering people over their diets. Let’s face the reality, most of the world’s fittest people and Olympic medal winners eat meat. As a keen gym-goer and runner, I couldn’t get by without it.
Ignore the claims, the fads, the trends. A balanced diet, five a day and regular exercise. Oh, and the occasional Jaffa Cake. It’s as simple as that.
