Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop ‘doctor’ wants women to reach their ‘leanest liveable weight’

Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop empire was always going to be problematic. It was always going to be for clueless, rich white women. It was always going to be just another fraud. Gwyneth’s thing was just to dress up Goop as something else: wellness. Under the wellness banner, Gwyneth can sell her creepy elimination diets and fake science (stickers that cure cancer, jade vadge eggs). The beginning of Goop was about this too, and that was before she even figured out a way to monetize her main interests (fake science and diets). It reminds me of the reviews from her cookbook It’s All Good. Critics slammed Gwyneth’s ode to extreme elimination dieting by saying it “takes laughable Hollywood neuroticism about eating to the next level.” And: “The book reads like the manifesto to some sort of creepy healthy-girl sorority with members who use beet juice rather than permanent marker to circle the ‘problem areas’ on each other’s bodies.” That was six years ago. Guess what? Gwyneth and Goop are still on the same bulls–t:

Gwyneth Paltrow has come under fire from diet experts after her lifestyle website told readers to try to reach their ‘leanest liveable weight’. Scientists say the article on the actress’ Goop site sends out a dangerous message which glorifies ‘skinniness’ and encourages eating disorders such as anorexia. Goop’s advice follows other bizarre and controversial endorsements by Miss Paltrow for the likes of bee-sting facials, ‘moon dust’ smoothies and animal bone broth.

The article – headlined Busting Diet Myths and taglined ‘supported by science’ – features an interview with US psychologist Dr Traci Mann in which she says people should aim to be at the lowest end of their ‘set range’. She explains that this means a genetically-determined range of weights which a generally healthy person tends to stick to.

But Cambridge University scientist Dr Giles Yeo says the advice to be at the ‘low end’ is confusing and irresponsible, suggesting people should be ‘as skinny as possible’ without dying. The geneticist and author, who has presented programmes for the BBC’s Horizon and Trust Me, I’m a Doctor on how the brain controls our eating, added: ‘This is a dangerous suggestion, as many people will take it to mean they should be as thin as possible. It is irresponsible because the idea is so open to misinterpretation, especially for young girls susceptible to eating disorders. The problem with many of Goop’s recommendations is that they are not based on science, but pseudoscience.’

Dr Yeo has long warned about the dangers of dieting, saying people should try to eat less of everything rather than ‘blindly’ counting calories. He told the New Scientist Live event in London yesterday that the ‘fear of food’ created by articles like that on Goop sends people on fad diets. He said: ‘It’s a silly idea because there is no clear way to determine what your leanest liveable weight is. It is therefore nigh-on impossible to find a target to stick to. People should not be afraid of food, and ‘diet’ should not have become such a loaded term. Goop is part of the reason that people have become afraid of eating. We need to love our food, just eat less of it.’

Dr Mann said last night: ‘I am strongly and clearly opposed to strict dieting. In fact, the article is specifically about not dieting, not trying to lose too much weight and not doing anything unhealthy or extreme. The phrase ‘leanest liveable weight’ refers to the leanest weight you can be without doing any strict dieting or unhealthy behaviour.’

[From The Daily Mail]

“The phrase ‘leanest liveable weight’ refers to the leanest weight you can be without doing any strict dieting or unhealthy behaviour.” LOL. Of course that’s what it really means Dr. Quackery. The thing is, if this was just a one-off issue, I would say okay, I’ll give this person the benefit of the doubt, maybe that IS what she meant. But Gwyneth Paltrow’s neurosis about food, weight and “health” has seeped into everything about Goop. It is the original sin of Goop – Goop was initially just a glimpse into Gwyneth’s neurotic and starved mind, a place where she could brag about all of her extreme diets and “cleanses.” It was always going to evolve into this: a “wellness” site which told women to go to any (unhealthy) length to be as skinny as possible.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.

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