The Five Elements Podcast

26. Eat Clean or Be Dirty? // The Problem with "Clean Eating"

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On this week's episode of the pod, Coach Dylan and Coach Sam take another shot at dismantling one of diet culture's most famous narratives. After another edition of  ✨ roses & thorns ✨  the coaches break down the potential problems with "clean eating" and how this mindset could contribute to a disordered relationship with food. 


Things we touched on:

  • Dylan's tender MH growing pains, boundary crossings, and ceaseless rosy-thorns. Plus, an update on his latest passion project: the Five Elements Collective Exercise Trough
  • Sam's namaste-empathy pain moment / feeling disempowered by our social systems, and learning to hold space for both, and: seeing through the eyes of the child Self & seeking radical joy
  • bonus: who is your sense of disempowerment serving?
  • the origins of clean-eating: from health fears to orthorexia and fat-phobia
  • Dylan's experience // how clean eating turned disordered
  • Sam's experience // orthorexia, food-phobia, ARFID & owning her insufferable self-righteousness / nutrition piety 
  • gluten-free, grass-fed, organic, non-gmo, soy-free, everything
  • the infamous Wheat Belly scandal of 2013
  • how and why clean eating contributes to the binge/restrict cycle of compensation
  • in defence of the white potato
  • why the Wellness Industrial Complex is catered to middle-class white folks
  • the unaffordable reality of the clean eating movement & your favourite word, "privilege"
  • the great clean vs. dirty snickers debate
  • understanding glycemic index
  • the power of language: using a reference scale of more or less nutritious 
  • how to take the snickers off the pedestal
  • the power of choosing the dial vs. switch approach
  • tips to begin the process of destigmatizing food

    • And for the love of all things good and holy – don't be so damn hard on yourself. 

    As always, thank you for tuning in - we love and appreciate you! And if you feel the same way, please share this episode with a friend you think would benefit from some evidence based & empathy based support in their health journey. ☺️

    If you're looking for someone to help you tailor, troubleshoot & individualize your strategy to your unique body and your goals, hit the link below: https://www.five-elements.ca/online-coaching

    If you're looking for evidence based fitness content from the Weekly Recap, or some empathy based mindset help from the Friday Feels,

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