Clean eating may be BAD for you and cause 'orthorexia' health experts warn as wellness trend faces backlash

The likes of bloggers Deliciously Ella and Madeline Shaw have made the new craze trendy – but it might not be as healthy as it seems

Eve Simmons and Laura Dennison have set up an organisation to help other sufferers

Trendy “wellness diets” promoted by self-styled clean eating gurus can ruin your health , experts have warned.
They say eating disorders are on the increase as young and impressionable women battling weight issues turn for advice to food bloggers who may have no formal training.
Many victims have a condition doctors call orthorexi

Steve Bainbridge/Sunday People Laura Dennison and Eve Simmons

The pair have both suffered from eating disorders

It is a multi-million pound business. Sales of free-from foods in the UK are expected to reach £531million this year – up by £60million.
The poster girl of wellness eating is blogger Ella Mills, known as Deliciously Ella, has also released two-best selling cookery books which extol the virtues of eliminating meat, dairy, processed foods, sugar and gluten – which she boasts of doing overnight.

Madeline Shaw got a grilling at Cheltenham Literature festival

Others include Madeleine Shaw, whose philosophy is finding “the hottest, happiest and healthiest you”. There were ugly scenes at the Cheltenham Literature festival this month, when food writer Bee Wilson challenged her claims.
Bee, who considers clean eating a “dangerous creed”, was reduced to tears after being jeered by an angry crowd of Madeleine’s fans.
But Bee later warned that a doctor treating eating disorders told her 80 to 90 per cent of patients had been on clean eating regimes.
She told the Sunday People: “Black and white rules are not the answer. I’ve lost count of the women I’ve met who tried clean eating to control their diet and it made them more unhappy and unhealthy. Clean eating is a dangerous creed for those vulnerable to eating disorders. Anorexia is a complex mental condition.”
Kitchen queen Nigella Lawson fell out of the top 20 cookery books sales chart, thanks to the success of a spate of healthy eating titles.
She said: “People use diets to hide eating disorders or unhappiness with their bodies.”

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Eve's story

When Eve Simmons landed her first job in fashion she was keen to fit in and fell under the spell of the clean eating fad.
Within a year, 8 stone Eve was in the grip of anorexia and her weight had plunged to 5st 2lb. Now she believes bloggers who claim to be nutritionists can talk rubbish.
Eve said: “Growing up I never had a bad relationship with food. I became increasingly terrified of every grain of sugar, splash of milk or trace of oil.”

She found work stress and trying to be accepted in a “world I didn’t really belong in” was a toxic combination.
She said: “I started to focus on the one thing I could control – food. But it quickly became a problem.”
Taken in by clean eating sites she started eliminating more food.
She recalled: “Bloggers might not intend their recipes to appeal to anorexics but their focus on lean eating and cutting out food groups resonates with them. In months I was on a strict plant-only diet – cutting out everything my increasingly emaciated body desperately need

Ella Mills (formerly Woodward) sparked the wellness trend

In five months Eve, of West London, declined to 6st 2lb. She lost another stone over last summer. She realised what was happening when she went to a GP with back pain.
Eve said: “I was in the grip of anorexia. I couldn’t just start eating all the foods I loved again. After months of bone scans, meal plans and vitamin supplements, I now realise my dietitian was right.
“The bloggers I’d followed, claiming to be nutritionists, were all talking rubbish not based on any scientific research. Most are not properly trained.

“I’m not saying these websites cause anorexia but they normalised a lot of my behaviour and so disguised it – making it worse.
“These sites are also adorned by skinny girls doing yoga and you think, ‘Yeah, I want to look like that’, they suck you in.”
Eve said people should seek proper advice from a trained nutritionist or dietitian and need to double check bloggers’ information, qualifications and if they are sponsored by a brand.

Laura's story

Former bulimic Laura Dennison embraced the glamorous image of clean eating. What was really going on was it became a neat way to hide her condition.
Laura, who suffered from a variety of eating disorders, mainly bulimia, from 16 to 21, said: “When I first became ill, clean eating wasn’t something I’d heard of, so it was much harder to cover up my troubles with food.
“With the rise in popularity of plant-based diets, I finally found a way to chop lots of things out of my diet and lose weight without anyone questioning me.

Eve Simmons and Laura Dennison founders of the website Not Plant Based — Eve and Laura Dennison have founded website Not Plant Based

Laura, from East London, said she did not like the “clean” eating tag as it implies other ways are dirty or incorrect.
She said: “I also believe if you have a large platform, you have a responsibility to be honest and to back up your preachings with advice from certified experts.”

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