Tag: Diet

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Instagram Just Implemented a Great Policy About Diet Products


Instagram has been criticized for ages for its tolerance of pervasive (and, let’s face it, annoying) diet spon-con. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, go check one of the Kardashians’ profiles right now. Scroll down a bit, and chances are you’ll see an “#ad” for Flat Tummy Tea or another product that promises miracle weight loss. Actor Jameela Jamil is just one of the many people who have called out these ads for encouraging toxic diet culture. Earlier this year Jamil directly took Khloé Kardashian to task for promoting Flat Tummy Tea.

“It’s incredibly awful that this industry bullied you until you became this fixated on your appearance,” she wrote to the reality star in March. “That’s the media’s fault. But now please don’t put that back into the world, and hurt other girls, the way you have been hurt.”

It appears Instagram has taken notice of the issue. The social media platform has announced several new policies about spon-con and ads, calling out ones that revolve around weight loss, in particular. Under the new rules, users under 18 won’t be able to see posts promoting weight loss or cosmetic procedures with incentive to purchase product. Also, IG has nixed posts that make “miraculous claims” about a product. Translation: If an influencer insists she lost 10 pounds in 72 hours just by drinking a shake, that post is going down. And good riddance.

“We want Instagram to be a positive place for everyone that uses it, and this policy is part of our ongoing work to reduce the pressure that people can sometimes feel as a result of social media,” Emma Collins, a public policy manager at Instagram, said in a press release.

Jamil is, no surprise, thrilled about these changes. “It sets the tone that this is not okay in our society,” she told British Elle. “We have hyper-normalized flogging nonsense to young impressionable people. These people are selling hair-growth gummies but wearing extensions, or photoshopping themselves to look slimmer and selling a weight-loss shake. There are so many lies being told, and we’ve accepted that as a cultural norm.”

While social media still has considerable room for improvement, moves like this one are a step in the right direction.

In her cover interview with Glamour, Jamil clarified that her criticism of the Kardashians doesn’t mean she hates them. “I just want them to stop selling laxatives, and then I will get off that dick,” she said, laughing. “That’s all I’m trying to do. I’m not trying to attack anyone. But if you have a lot of power and influence and money, and you’re using yours irresponsibly, and other people aren’t aware that they’re being sold a lie, I’m gonna step on that dick.”



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Forever 21 Included Atkins Diet Bars With Plus-Sized Orders


It’s not uncommon for companies to send free samples or test products with online orders. But Forever 21 made an incredibly offensive choice recently by stuffing diet bars into its packages, including those that contained plus-sized items. Rightfully, tons of customers were not okay with this.

Several people took to social media to share photos of the packages that had Atkins diet bars inside. “YES shame on me for ordering from @Forever21 but why do they have to push diet food on me?? It came with an Atkins bar??” one person wrote on Twitter.

“From time to time, Forever 21 surprises our customers with free test products from third parties in their e-commerce orders,” the brand said in a statement provided to Glamour. “The freebie items in question were included in all online orders, across all sizes and categories, for a limited time and have since been removed. This was an oversight on our part and we sincerely apologize for any offense this may have caused to our customers, as this was not our intention in any way.”

Jesse Sae Lao Negron, a customer from Oregon, posted an image of the Atkins bar her mother received after she ordered from the company’s plus-sized collection. She said in a message to Glamour that her mother was “not outraged,” but still surprised and offended to see the bars. “Everyone who ordered from them (recently, I’m assuming) would have received a product they didn’t order,” she told Glamour. “My mother explained to me, ‘regardless of their intent, Forever 21’s marketing fat-shamed the customers, the clients, me.’ And you know it’s just one example you see on a daily basis of campaigns promoting dieting and being thin.”

Even if the freebies were an oversight, it’s unsettling that a clothing brand is shipping diet bars to any woman, regardless of her size.



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Will a Keto Diet Mess With Your Period?


When it comes to periods, I consider myself lucky—mine shows up each month like clockwork; no need for tracking apps or a flag on my g-cal. But a few months ago, my regularly-scheduled programming went dark. I went through possible reasons for the ghosting: Pregnant? Not a chance. Birth control? Used every time. Meds? Nothing new there. Then it hit me: The only change was my diet.

I’d been test-driving the Ketogenic diet—the trendy but oh-so-restrictive eating plan that has people pumped over its ability to burn through body fat by seriously restricting carbohydrates in favor of meals packed with healthy high-fat foods. By limiting carbs, you drain your body’s main source of fuel, which forces your body to use fuel from fat, or ketones, as a substitute source of energy, says Ariane Hundt, a clinical nutritionist in New York City.

The radical shift can produce crazy results: I lost 11 pounds and three percent body fat in a month. That’s not necessarily a dangerous amount of weight to drop, but it’s certainly more than the recommended one-to-two pounds per week, and that alone could explain why I skipped my period, says Rekha Kumar, M.D., an endocrinologist specializing in weight control at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. When you lose weight quickly, your body registers the loss as a threat, and any system deemed unnecessary for survival begins to shut down to conserve resources. For women, the baby-making machine is typically first to go.

But that’s not the only way rapid weight loss might affect your period. “If you do one extreme thing to your body, there’s likely other downstream effects on important hormones,” Dr. Kumar says. Losing weight fast creates a state of stress in your body, which can trigger your adrenal glands to fire out more cortisol. Also known as the stress hormone, extra cortisol coursing through your system can lead to libido and menstrual changes and potentially suppress ovarian function if levels get too high. The potential end result: a disappearing period.

Skipping a period isn’t necessarily a big deal—it’s normal for your cycle to fluctuate every now and again, Dr. Kumar says—but when connected to a change in your diet, it could signal bigger health risks if your period is MIA long-term. In that case, you have to worry about the same things that postmenopausal women worry about, says Zandra Palma, M.D., a functional medicine physician at Parsley Health in New York City. Think: loss of muscle mass and bone mineral density. If you miss Aunt Flo too long, you can also risk potential fertility problems down the line—difficulty with ovulation is the reason about a quarter of all infertile couples can’t conceive, according to the Mayo Clinic.

It’s unclear how many women on Keto have had their periods pull a disappearing act. Forums like Reddit are filled with stories like mine but exact stats are hard to pin down. And many patients may not mention it to a doctor because, like me, a month or two of having a rogue cycle could be enough to scare them back to a well-balanced eating plan ASAP. As soon as that happens, the body starts to recover. (Dr. Palma says it can take up to three months for your period and the rest of your body to rebound.)

Even though your body will bounce back once you return to a balanced eating plan, doctors say it’s important to recognize just how much extreme diets can affect your body beyond the number that shows up on the scale. “It is unfortunate that some young women have placed such an emphasis on being thin that they would sacrifice their long-term health,” Dr. Kumar says.

That’s not to say the keto diet is bad for everyone, she adds. “When someone goes on the keto diet, [the question is], ‘are they an appropriate candidate for it?’” says Dr. Kumar. For someone who has a high body fat percentage, the keto diet may actually help restore an irregular cycle. But for those who just want to lose a couple extra pounds, “that’s where you really see a potential risk in terms of somebody jeopardizing their fertility or menstrual cycle,” Dr. Kumar says. To find a healthy balance, talk to a doctor or nutrition expert who can help you understand how a diet like keto might affect your reproductive health.

In my case, Keto wasn’t the right pick. I’ve found a more balanced diet—higher in protein, a little less fat, and moderate helpings of carbs—that’s allowed my ovulation to return to its regularly scheduled programming while I enjoy cauliflower pizza, tons of leafy greens, and even a slice (or two) out of the bread basket.



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