Why Two Bloggers Are Taking A Stand Against ‘Clean Eating’

[Photo: Twitter/Eve Simmons]

Clean eating is pretty intense, and if you’re really strict about it, pretty expensive too.

The idea is that you eat whole foods in their most natural state, which means you often have to shop in stores like Whole Foods (go figure), and wave goodbye to any processed edible items including microwave meals and cereals.

Sounds exhausting, right? Two journalists called Laura Dennison and Eve Simmons think so too, and they’re taking a stand against clean eating.

Their idea is to cut through all the nonsense, scaremongering and dodgy nutritional advice that some of these diets encourage, and make people feel happy about eating again.

After connecting over their past eating disorders, Dennison and Simmons set up NOT PLANT BASED earlier this year - Dennison approached Simmons after she saw her in a BBC documentary called Clean Eating’s Dirty Secrets.

“As a journalist and writer, I have committed much of my time since coming out of treatment to write about my experiences with the aim of helping others and dispelling unhelpful information which aided me in becoming very, very ill,“ Simmons told the Metro.

“When I learnt what [Dennison] was doing, I was desperate to be involved.”

They say that NOT PLANT BASED offers “an alternative to those who feel isolated by the whole ‘wellness’ thing” - but without “belittling anyone who has found their happiness through plant-based diets”.

Simmons says that it’s all about giving people the right information:

“There’s not enough valid, reliable information getting to those who seek it out – I feel like the value of expert opinion is diminished by a ‘trend’ which essentially is a money-making scheme for unqualified individuals.”

While Dennison has battled bulimia for years, Simmons says that while she’d once been a happy eater, she became fixated on food during unstable periods. And she says that while the ‘wellness’ trend didn’t cause her problems, it did allow her to normalise it.

“It’s about offering a safe, reliable and positive place where anyone can come to find useful and factual information about their concerns,” Simmons continues.

“Women (and men, for that matter) can be amazing for any number of reasons and there’s so much more to life than counting your bloody chia seeds in your overnight-soaked oat mush.”

What do you think about Dennison and Simmons’ project? Tweet us at @YahooStyleUK.

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