13 Celebrities Who Slammed Toxic Diet Culture And I Totally Support What They Had To Say
There's no denying that diet culture has become super prevalent in today's society — and honestly, it's become toxic and damaging to a lot of people.
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With the never-ending pressure to lose weight (often in an unhealthy way) or try a new diet, a lot of public figures have had enough, and they're finally speaking out.
Here's what these celebs had to say about diet culture:
1.Lili Reinhart
Lili Reinhart has long been an advocate for body positivity, so when Kim Kardashian made some controversial comments about going on an extreme diet to fit into her Met Gala gown, Lili knew she had to speak out. She called Kim's decision to discuss her diet, which saw her lose 16 pounds in a matter of weeks, "so wrong" and "fucked on 100s of levels."
"To openly admit to starving yourself for the sake of the Met Gala. When you know very well that millions of young men and women are looking up to you and listening to your every word...The ignorance is other-worldly and disgusting. Please stop supporting these stupid, harmful celebrities whose entire image revolves around their bodies," Lili wrote.
2.Jameela Jamil
Jameela Jamil has called out toxic diet culture on numerous occasions. In fact, she actually started an online community and podcast called I Weigh in order to help people realize that they are so much more than numbers on a scale. Jameela has called out celebrities who promote appetite suppressant teas and other products that are major contributors to unhealthy dieting.
"I am so sick of the lies," Jameela wrote on Instagram. "I was so riddled with eating disorders when I was young. I listened to irresponsible celebrities and bought all these bad products and followed their TERRIBLE and toxic diet tips for how they maintained the tiny weight they were... and I fucked up my metabolism and digestive system for life. I damaged my fertility, I was consumed and mentally ill. I was obsessed and didn’t eat a meal for over three years as a growing teen. I am not going to stop until we teach people to be better allies to women and stop selling this not at all medically sound shit and rhetoric to us."
3.Demi Lovato
Demi Lovato has been a champion for body positivity after dealing with food disorders throughout their life. And as someone who knows how prevalent diets are in our culture, Demi wants to make sure everyone knows that dieting isn't what's going to make them happy in life.
"I think that’s something in our society we get caught up in diet culture. Every commercial on TV is either about a weight loss pill or piece of fitness equipment or it’s all food-based. As someone recovering from a food disorder, it’s something that I want to put out there that you don’t have to diet in order to be happy. I don’t think I’ve heard that message out there in the public and of course, it’s important to be healthy and everything in moderation is fine," Demi told People.
4.Iskra Lawrence
Model Iskra Lawrence slammed "toxic diet culture" in an Instagram post that compared her current appearance to a photo of herself as a teen. Iskra explained that she's now healthier than ever. As a young person, she says she had an "unhealthy" mindset toward eating, exercise, and her well-being, and she was overly concerned with thigh gaps and goal measurements.
"I’m disgusted that people / companies profit off of toxic diet culture, a perfected unrealistic beauty ideal, (including photoshop) and promoting that health looks like one thing. Millions of us have been and still are fighting our eating disorders, seeing weight watchers targeting children - showing before and afters, congratulating restrictive guilt ridden eating behaviours is awful and heart breaking...Health is so much more than just hitting a certain weight or being skinny," Iskra wrote.
5.Mindy Kaling
Mindy Kaling says she's drastically changed the way she looks at dieting since her early 20s — and now sees how unhealthy she used to be. She explained that the crash dieting and intense workouts she put herself through never helped and only deprived her body of what she needed.
"I used to be this person that would be like, 'Okay, I have a big event coming up, the pressure's on. I have six weeks to just like, stop eating, juice cleanse, do the boot camps' — whatever. And I have completely let go of that...It never worked for me. It wasn't healthy and I was in a state of deprivation...Right now, I think I'm in the best shape of my life. I'm the healthiest I've been. And it's not because I'm preparing for anything! I wanna stop a cycle of yo-yo dieting and all that. I would love to never think about that again," Mindy told InStyle.
6.Camila Mendes
In 2018, Camila Mendes declared she was "done with dieting" and encouraged her followers to give up their unhealthy dieting habits too. She explained that she had recently spoken with a naturopath, who reminded her that there were much better ways to spend her time than constantly obsessing and thinking about her diet.
"i’m done believing in the idea that there's a thinner, happier version of me on the other side of all the tireless effort. your body type is subject to genetics, and while eating nutrient-dense foods and exercising regularly will make you healthier, it will not necessarily make you thinner, and the current system fails to make that distinction. i’m sick of the toxic narrative that the media consistently feeds us: that being thin is the ideal body type. a healthy body is the ideal body type, and that will look different for every person. i’m #donewithdieting," Camila wrote.
7.Jennifer Lawrence
Early on in her career, Jennifer Lawrence slammed the idea that people had to lose weight and have perfect bodies in order to fit into society. She even threw some shade at shows like Fashion Police that often critiqued women about their bodies.
"You just have to look past it. You look how you look. Be comfortable. Like, what are you going to do? Be hungry every single day to make other people happy? That’s just dumb. And shows like the Fashion Police, and things like that, are just showing these generations of young people to judge people based on things that — they put values in all the things that are wrong. That it’s okay to point at people and call them ‘ugly’ or call them ‘fat.’ They call it ‘fun’ and ‘Welcome to the real word’ and it’s like, that shouldn’t be the real world. It’s disappointing that the media keeps these [unrealistic expectations] for women alive and fuels that fire. It’s something that really bothers me," Jennifer said.
8.Rihanna
Rihanna has long been a believer that people are beautiful no matter their shape or size. In fact, back in 2010, she spoke out to tell young people that they didn't need to diet or slim down in order to be like the women they saw on the runway.
“You shouldn’t be pressured into trying to be thin by the fashion industry, because they only want models that are like human mannequins. They know that if we see an outfit on a mannequin in a shop window, we will love it and want to buy it, whatever size we are. That’s why they have size-zero models — they want to sell clothes. But you have to remember that it’s not practical or possible for an everyday woman to look like that...It’s not realistic, and it’s not healthy," Rihanna told You magazine.
9.Sophie Turner
Sophie Turner slammed toxic diet culture by way of a parody video, poking fun at influencers who promote weight loss products. In the video, Sophie pretended to be an influencer, pointing out the dangerous side effects of the items that are often shared with impressionable young people.
"Today, I just wanted to promote this new powdered stuff that you put in your tea, and basically it makes you shit your brains out, and is totally really, really bad for me to be promoting to young women and young people everywhere but I don't really give a fuck because I'm getting paid money for it,” Sophie said in the video.
10.Lena Dunham
During quarantine, Lena Dunham reflected on how diet culture had impacted her entire life and how it seemed to be making a resurgence as people spent more time at home. She explained that the numerous articles surfacing that encouraged people to lose weight while they didn't have anything else to do was triggering for her — and probably was for a lot of other people too.
"I’ve been thinking a lot about my pot belly in quarantine- especially as I notice an unusual amount of articles with titles like 'how I lost the weight' and 'diet is everything.' Are there more of them or do I just have more time to notice? ...For most people pandemic life has not proven to be a break from the world or themselves... and the suggestion of a revamped clean eating plan in my newsfeed somehow feels like a personal assault," Lena wrote on Instagram.
She added, "Growing up chubby, fat, thicc, whatever you wanna call it- I always felt my body was a sign that read 'I’m lazy and I have done less.' Like if I just found the will to invest 30% more I could be okay. Over the years, as my body guided me through my career and illness and disability, I started to appreciate what it was capable of."
Instead of adding weight loss to a check list, Lena recommended readers do something more fulfilling like learning a language.
11.Chrissy Teigen
Chrissy Teigen has given up dieting for good, especially after she realized what a toll it was taking on her. She says she has now learned to appreciate the more important things in life and hopes others can do the same.
"I've thrown all of that out of the window. I think now at this point in my life it's more important for me to enjoy things as they come...I've lived a whole life. I've spent way too many years counting calories, scheduling way too many workouts and trying to figure out what my term for wellness was for myself. I've been trying to figure that out for so so long," Chrissy told People, adding that she now knows it's all about being with her family.
12.Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer says she's always been pressured to lose weight in Hollywood, and in an interview with Howard Stern, he once even asked her why she didn't diet to lose "like 30 pounds." She had the perfect response — which was all about not subjecting yourself to an unachievable diet just to please others.
"I was like, ‘I don’t want to. I’ll be hungry.’ And I lost some weight for Trainwreck, and I was like, beauty and body, that’s not my currency, that’s not my thing. I feel beautiful and I feel strong and sexy, but I’m not going to be the most beautiful girl, so I’m not gonna try to market myself or get myself there. And I don’t think that sends a good message. How about not striving for some other version of yourself? Like, why not love what you’ve got going on right now rather than this eternal dissatisfaction?" Amy said on Katie Couric's podcast.
13.Bryce Dallas Howard
Bryce Dallas Howard says she's given up on dieting, calling them a "waste of time." Not only did the pressure to be thinner leave her craving foods her body needed, but she believe she almost ended up with an eating disorder.
"When I started working, I felt like I should look a different way, and try and do a diet. Then I would have a six-month period afterwards where I kept thinking about food and having cravings. It was such a waste of time. I wondered why I fantasized about bread! Now, I feel really fortunate that I never got into a space where there was an eating disorder, but I also feel like that easily could have happened if I didn’t say, 'Hang on a second, this doesn’t feel right.'”
