What Nigella Lawson has to say about the 'clean eating' diet

Nigella Lawson has spoken out against "clean eating", saying the trend can be used to mask serious conditions such as eating disorders. The celebrity chef – long known for her indulgent cakes and delicious and elaborate savoury recipes – believes the problem with "clean eating" is that it makes other ways of eating seem shameful. "People are using certain diets as a way to hide an eating disorder or a great sense of unhappiness with their own body," she told the JW3 Speaker Series in London this week.

"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. "The 55-year-old, who has returned to the food scene with her new cookbook and TV series called Simply Nigella, has recently spoken about finding the balance in diet. "I love kale and I'm an avocado obsessive. But life is about balance, it's not about being smug. You don't eat things because you think they're good for you," she told Good Housekeeping magazine.

Nigella's new cookbook mixes up healthy recipes with sweet indulgent bakes

The TV presenter and food writer, whose new cookbook features lighter meals alongside the rich recipes for which she is so famous, adds: "Also, you can guarantee that what people think will be good for you this year, they won't next year. "The brunette beauty has slimmed down from a size 16 to a svelte size 12 in recent years but, she says, not thanks to dieting: "No-one should be put on this earth to go on a diet.

"It's certainly true my weight went up – that happens in life sometimes. I have never been on a diet to try to lose weight. I feel like I haven’t lost weight, but I’m possibly in better shape. "Clean eating has recently become a phenomenon in the diet world. It boasts plenty of superfoods and nothing that contains chemicals, colouring, added preservatives or that is processed.