Celebrity Chef Nigella Lawson Slams Clean-Eating: 'It Masks Eating Disorders'

Clean eating may be the trendy diet du jour, but not everyone is a fan. TV personality and celebrity chef Nigella Lawson has spoken up about her disdain for clean eating, which she says is often used as a crutch to hide an eating disorder.

Clean eating is a trend that emphasizes lifestyle change just as much as a shift in diet: Clean eaters shop at farmers' markets, fill their fridge and cupboards with organic fruits and vegetables, and are sure to stay away from most processed foods.

"There is a way in which food is used to either self-congratulate – you're a better person because you're eating like that – or to self-persecute, because you'll not allow yourself to eat what you want," she said at the JW3 speaker series, a series of lectures by high-profile orators held in London. "I generally think it is not food if it is thought that being thinner is always better. What happens as a result is that somehow you are seen as a better person."

This is not the first time the Simply Nigella TV host has spoken up about her disdain for the new clean eating trend. During an interview with the BBC TV show, Woman's Hour, she expressed disgust over the trend.

Lawson has a personal gripe with unhealthy food obsession, and has recently opened up about her own mother's struggle with an eating disorder.

"To wait until you have a terminal disease for you to enjoy eating is an awful thing," she said.