There's been an enormous amount of hype surrounding the term "clean eating" these days. Amazingly, I've watched so many unsuspecting consumers get sucked into the trend with very little effort on the part of its promoters. With wild health and weight loss claims being made by so-called nutrition experts, chefs and celebrities, it's easy to see how people get drawn in.
In my opinion, however, the craze itself is nothing shy of a cult with millions of die-hard supporters eagerly seeking to either lose weight and get fit or just make money.
Widespread popularity aside, the term "clean eating" is not new. The phenomenon itself is reminiscent of the bell-bottoms craze where if one waits long enough, what's old becomes new again within a matter of years. The concept actually dates back to the natural food movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s - A movement that essentially commercialized and profitized the health food store and organic food retail markets.
I first heard the term "clean" associated with the word "eating" well over a decade and a half ago when I was a newly converted vegan. During that time, seasoned vegans were always stressing the importance of "clean eating" for good health, often also referring to plant-based foods as "clean foods".
Despite my living as a faithful vegan back then I never truly accepted this notion. To me the idea of clean eating was itself blatantly pompous, judgmental and self-righteous. In my mind, suggesting that we as vegans were eating clean inherently implied that ... Read the full commentary here - http://www.healthyway.com/content/clean-ea...
