Yahoo Lifestyle 13 Extremely Harmful Ways Celebs Have Contributed To Diet Culture
This post contains discussion of disordered and restrictive eating, weight loss, and body dysmorphia. Every body is different, so before please consult a doctor before getting diet advice online.
1.Earlier this year, Rebel Wilson spoke about her weight loss journey and promoted a program where she was told that humans "don’t really need as many calories as [they] think."
"The truth is your body doesn’t need a lot of calories and I know that might sound crazy to some people, but if you eat right and you eat small portions you’ll be just fine," she said. "I learned that you really only need about 600 calories a day, you don’t need 1,500 or 2,000."
"The problem is that people are stuck at a desk or in their car and they tend to get hungry and they want to eat because that’s how they deal with stress or it’s a habit, but the truth is you just don’t need all that food," she added.
However, the National Health Service (NHS) recommends adults should be consuming around 2,000–2,500 calories a day.
Shortly after Rebel's interview came out, registered dietician Sammi Brondo debunked this quote saying that a 600-calorie-per-day diet is "completely unnecessary and most likely unsafe."
"We also have to take into account the fact that our bodies burn calories at rest — most adults burn much more than 600 calories at rest, even if you are doing nothing all day but laying in bed, and we need to replenish those calories. Six hundred is just far too few. Even if it's considered a 'detox,' it's just not enough food," she explained.
2.Kim Kardashian faced scrutiny after sharing that she crash-dieted in order to lose weight so that she could fit into her dress for the Met Gala. While on the red carpet, Kim said that she lost 16 pounds in 21 days. "I didn’t starve myself," Kim said. "But I was so strict."
She explained that in order to do this she "would wear a sauna suit twice a day, run on the treadmill, completely cut out all sugar and all carbs, and just eat the cleanest veggies and protein."
Registered dietician and eating disorder specialist Elaina Efird told BuzzFeed just why this method of weight loss is "not sustainable at all and should NEVER be the goal or attempted."
"Losing 16 pounds in 21 days is technically possible, but only through extreme and VERY unhealthy measures such as starvation or semi-starvation," said. "Most notably, it perpetuates the narrative that you shouldn't wear clothes at your current size and that instead you should be changing your body. It perpetuates the narrative that thinner is 'better.' It perpetuates the narrative that you have to look a certain way in order to wear nice clothes, which is absolutely NOT true; you can wear nice clothes at ANY size."
She added that she felt Kim's behavior was "perpetuating eating disorders" and explained that there are severe health risks to crash dieting like this. "The health risks of what Kim did include many of the serious side effects of starvation such as altered electrolytes, dehydration, dizziness, fatigue, and lightheadedness," she said. "When you severely restrict foods like she did, you are at risk for passing out and for your essential electrolytes dropping to a point where you may need to be admitted to a hospital to replenish those electrolytes. The impact of cutting out those foods causes increased obsession, negative body image thoughts, and oftentimes, an unhealthy relationship with food and body."
3.Back in 2018, Kim Kardashian also did an Instagram sponsorship for appetite-suppressing lollipops and received extreme backlash from users who called the ad "abhorrent" and "irresponsible."
Many commenters pointed out that a majority of Kim's fan base was made up of young people who might be influenced into buying products like these in order to fit into "ridiculous beauty standards."
Even Jameela Jamil took to Twitter to share her distaste for Kim's behavior. In a now-deleted tweet, Jameela said, "No. Fuck off. No. You terrible and toxic influence on young girls. I admire their mother’s branding capabilities, she is an exploitative but innovative genius, however this family makes me feel actual despair over what women are reduced to. ☹️"
4.Before her 2018 Coachella performance, Beyoncé promoted the 22 Days Nutrition diet that helped her lose weight after having her twins Sir and Rumi. Beyoncé followed the program for 44 days and said, "In order for me to meet my goals, I’m limiting myself to no bread, no carbs, no sugar, no dairy, no meat, no fish, no alcohol — and I’m hungry."
In a video she posted while prepping for the performance, she started off by weighing herself and calling it, "every woman's nightmare."
Angela Lemond, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, went on to explain that this diet is not sustainable for anybody and she doesn't recommend following it to lose weight. "We have to remember that food is energy for our body, and we should not be afraid to eat whole wholesome foods, and we should focus on the foods that we should eat versus ones we shouldn’t eat," she said.
Angela also said that it's much better to have a balanced diet than to get rid of certain food groups completely because by demonizing and eliminating certain foods, we lose beneficial nutrients. "For someone like her who's dancing a lot, fatty fish is going to be good for having her muscles broken down and for rebuilding," she said. "It’s good for cardiovascular health as she’s pushing hard to dance for hours and out of everything that she’s deleting, it’s sad to see that that was one of the things [Beyoncé couldn't eat.]"
5.Earlier this year, Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes released a docuseries Smartless: On the Road that took viewers behind the scenes of their country-wide podcast tour. Throughout the series, Will, Sean, and several crew members were quick to call out Jason's obsession with the food he ate himself, as well as what those around him ate.
During one scene, Jason called Will a "fat fuck" and a "chunk" as he ate, also commenting on the amount of sauces Will put on his meal and the size of his bites. In a later scene, Will even admitted, "I feel like I've put on some weight on this tour. My body dysmorphia, which has been aided by my friend, is pretty bad."
Several fans of the series and podcast even took to social media to express their feelings about Jason's comments, calling his relationship with food "concerning" and even suggesting that every episode needs to come with a trigger warning.
It's also revealed in another episode of the series that a crew member tells Jason that when rewatching the footage he'd be surprised with how much he obsesses over food and maybe didn't realize it.
6.Lizzo received a lot of backlash after she shared she was doing a juice cleanse on Instagram back in 2020. Amidst the cleanse she also shared "before and after" photos of her face and body. her defense for the cleanse was that she “drank a lot and ate a lot of foods and fucked [her] stomach up in Mexico," and hoped to "reset" her stomach.
Several fans left concerned comments on her post, but Lizzo responded saying “I look and feel like a bad bitch,” and that she was proud of herself and her results.
7.In 2020, Kelly Ripa participated in a "What I Eat In A Day" video for Harper's Bazaar, and shared some questionable and restrictive eating habits. In the video, which has been deleted from the Harper's Bazaar YouTube channel but still exists on it's Facebook page, Kelly explains that doesn't eat any "chewing food" until after she's done filming her show Live With Kelly and Mark. Her first "chewable food" of the day is a cut-up apple with nut butter, and the rest of the day is very heavy in greens.
Kelly also says throughout the video that she loves to snack on a "handful" of nuts throughout the day. She said she "never" eats more than a handful at a time, though she does have multiple handfuls as the day goes on.
Registered dietician and content creator Abbey Sharp made a reaction video of her own in response to Kelly's and explained that the diet feels very "compulsive" because of how limited the food options are. She adds that while all the foods Kelly eats are healthy, the diet is limited in nutrients.
In the video, Kelly also said she starts her morning with a glass of water mixed with a powder supplement that is supposed to "[alkaline] your digestive system." However, Abbey fact-checked the supplement Kelly took and shared that it actually "supplies pretty insignificant amounts of pretty much every nutrient except for Vitamin K and Vitamin C." Abbey went on to explain that if a person is already consuming greens or proteins like eggs in their diet, they'd already be getting those vitamins anyway. She even explained that it's actually "impossible" to change the pH of your blood, so this drink can't actually alkaline your digestive system.
Kelly later mentions that she does "cheat" on her diet sometimes by eating chocolate-covered nuts. Abbey further explained that the "rigidity and repetitiveness" of the diet meant that there was no "room for regular, mindful treats."
Abbey concluded by saying while this diet may be sustainable to Kelly, it "would probably be really unsustainable for a lot of people long term, and those 'cheat days' would probably get completely out of control."
8.Earlier this year, Gwyneth Paltrow was called out by many after she shared her "wellness routine" which consisted of an extremely limited diet. She said that in her routine she will eat dinner early in the evening and does a "nice intermittent fast," adding that she doesn't begin eating until noon. In the mornings she'll "have some things that won't spike [her] blood sugar" like coffee or celery juice. And then for lunch, she has a bone broth soup most days. She said that she likes to have at least "one hour of movement" every day as well, and then spends 30 minutes in the sauna.
Gwyneth also eats a paleo diet, also known as the "caveman diet," where one eats foods similar to those that were around during the Paleolithic era. She added "it's really important" for her to "support" her detox.
According to UC Davis Health, the paleo diet has the potential for health risks like heart disease, osteoporosis, rickets, and bone fractures.
Registered dietician Sammi Brondo explained that the diet is "actually not that healthy-sounding at all" because of how little food is being eaten.
She added, "In the morning, [Gwyneth has] coffee, celery juice, lemon water — those aren't meals, those are beverages. Even when she has lunch, and she said she has green soup and bone broth, that's also barely food, those are liquid, those are beverages. At night, she has just a really vegetable-heavy meal. This is really restrictive eating."
"We need enough energy to exercise. She's not giving herself enough calories or energy to exercise," she continued. "I can't and don't want to diagnose anyone without knowing the full picture or knowing them, but it definitely screams disordered eating to me. It's not enough food for anyone."
9.Hilary Duff compared her diet to Gwyneth's saying "I wake up really hungry ... Sometimes, I try to just drink coffee in the morning and stave off my hunger."
She added that she also exercises a lot, and said she does "a lot of cardio" including hiking and tennis. Hilary also discussed her fears of getting "too bulky," saying, "I would love to have the skinniest little pencil arms."
However, it is totally normal to wake up each morning hungry, it's the body's response to not eating food for a number of hours. However, in more extreme cases, intense hunger may be a sign that not enough nutrients are being consumed during the day.
10.In 2021, when asked about what she eats when she's stressed, Jennifer Aniston responded by saying, "A chip. Crunch, crunch, crunch." Caught off-guard, the interviewer asked, "Just one?" to which Jennifer elaborated, "Usually. I'm good at that. I can have one M&M, one chip. I know, that's so annoying." She later added that her go-to alcoholic drink is a margarita that is "clean, [with] no sugar."
Several Twitter users felt that this idea of indulging in one single chip or piece of candy was encouragimg disordered eating.
I just read an interview where Jennifer Aniston says that when she gets stressed, she eats 1 chip, or 1 M&M. This is why women my age develop eating disorders, myself included. 2021 is not the time for her humblebragging.
— Amy (@farty115) August 4, 2021
11.In 2022, Aaron Rodgers talked about completing a 12-day Panchakarma cleanse, which consisted of drinking 2 ounces of ghee in the morning, taking laxatives at night, and abstaining from sugar, alcohol, and sex. The cleanse is meant to remove toxins from the body.
In some cases, this cleanse can include "therapeutic vomiting," enemas, and bloodletting.
According to registered dietician Bonnie Taub-Dix, there are no evidence-based health benefits to cleanse diets. She explained, "We were given livers and kidneys to help with detox, we don't need to do something like this to make yourself healthier."
"Cleanses are short term practices that bring unrealistic results. The focus is to lubricate your system and push foods out, when you should be focusing on what you're putting into your body," she added.
12.In 2019, Jennifer Lopez promoted a 10-day "no sugar, no carb" challenge while sharing her own progress on Instagram. Her reasoning behind the challenge was to "reset" her body and claimed that the diet made her realize she was "addicted to sugar." "You will lose a bunch of pounds on it, you will lose inches because...once you get rid of that sugar and those carbs it just starts coming off," she added.
The challenge is also meant to help boost energy and overall mood.
However, when Carson Daly tried the diet he admitted he couldn't last more than 24 hours. His main gripe with the challenge was that it "didn't make sense" to him. He added, “I thought it would be easier because I don’t eat a ton of carbs anyway… there’s just a lot of sugar in everything, it turns out. So when you start making these micro decisions in the day you’re like, ‘This sucks. My life sucks now.'”
13.Finally, earlier this year, Chris Martin shared that he stops eating past 4 p.m. and was inspired to only eat one meal a day after learning that's what Bruce Springsteen does. "I was on a really strict diet anyway. But I said, 'Bruce looks even more in shape than me.' I was like 'Well, there we go, that's my next challenge.'"
"I don't actually have dinner anymore," said Martin. "I stop eating at 4 [p.m.], and I learned that from having lunch with Bruce Springsteen."
Abigail Roberts, a sports nutritionist, said that this kind of dieting is an "extreme" type of intermittent fasting. She said, “For the general population, consuming only one meal per day can potentially pose health risks, particularly if done for weight loss reasons and without sufficient knowledge of nutrition."
This kind of diet doesn't come without consequences either, she said, “Eating one meal per day may increase the risk of binge eating during that meal, causing digestive discomfort such as bloating and constipation."
The National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.
