Clean Eater’s Dirty Secrets
This week I watched The BBC’s documentary ‘Clean Eating’s Dirty Secrets’, where host Grace Victory (vlogger/Youtuber) explores the ‘clean eating’ lifestyle and whether it’s just a current trend or actually something we should all be doing. Well, let me tell you something about this ridiculous documentary:
From the start of the documentary it was clear that Grace was completely biased and against ‘clean eating’. The subject was approached in a negative way and although some accurate facts were given, many things were manipulated to make Veganism appear unhealthy and wrong. For example:
- Grace confuses ‘clean eating’ diets and plant-based diets with Veganism (which is a lifestyle not a diet).
- The programme involved no Vegan professionals and so the Dietician who was interviewed could get away with claiming things like ‘not drinking milk can harm bones and will have serious consequences’.
- Grace tries out a plant-based diet in which she can’t eat any carbs, sugars, additives, gluten AND she only eats tiny quantities – so effectively the most restrictive and unrealistic diet ever. (She throws out pickles from her fridge?! – they’re vegetables too hun!)
- To do her food shop, she goes to the most expensive ‘Organic Healthfood’ shop in London making Veganism appear as a thing that only middle/upper class people can take part in.
- She pretty much equates Veganism with Orthorexia (an obsession with eating healthy foods)
- The real reason why most people become Vegans was never even mentioned! It is a fight against animal cruelty not just about health.
Grace even decides to name and shame several ‘clean eating’ figures such as Deliciously Ella and Madeline Shaw – both of whose cookbooks are in my kitchen and Instagram’s I follow. Grace also uses Youtuber Freelee the Banana Girl (she eats about 40 bananas a day and clearly is a tad crazy) to demonstrate some of the false facts ‘clean eaters’ share and to show the viewers that they shouldn’t believe everything they read– DUH?!?!?!?! If I did believe everything I read then I would be a Caribbean ship saver mermaid (yes I just wasted time doing that quiz on Buzzfeed).
Youtubers have struck back against this documentary with response videos explaining their frustration with the documentary and exposing the real truth about clean eating. It’s clear that Grace has not just irritated me but a whole nation of people, especially those in the Vegan community. So, if you decide to give this documentary a watch please promise me you’ll also watch the Youtube video responses! I’m not even a Vegan (respect to those of you who are) and I still feel that Grace’s portrayal of Veganism was not only inaccurate, but offensive too!