Gwyneth Paltrow gets dragged on TikTok for sharing ‘bone broth’ starvation diet

Not that one can expect anyone in Hollywood—or anyone over a certain tax bracket, really—to have a firm grasp on how to relate to the plebian masses, especially not Gwyneth Paltrow. She’s been touting her toxic “wellness” ideals since 2008, which usually consist of harmful messaging disguised as “health.” And now she’s going viral on TikTok for sharing the Gwyneth Paltrow Bone Broth Diet.

Fortunately, the women of TikTok aren’t having it.

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In an interview for the Dear Media podcast, Paltrow was asked about her “wellness routine.” And while nothing about what she says is particularly new or even surprising, it’s still startling to hear someone with a huge platform casually discuss their own starvation methods in 2023.

“I eat dinner early in the evening,” she begins. “I do a nice intermittent fast. I usually eat something around 12? And in the morning, I’ll have some things that won’t spike my blood sugar, so I have coffee.”

Don’t worry, it gets worse.

“But I really like soup for lunch,” she says, as the host nods along. Because he’s probably expecting her to, you know, talk about her favorite soup. And, just so we’re clear, the dictionary defines “soup” as “a liquid dish, typically made by boiling meat, fish, or vegetables, etc., in stock or water.” So while soup is, yes, a liquid—it should typically contain some sort of protein or enough nutrients to sustain you.

“I have bone broth for lunch a lot of the days,” she continues. Then she describes how she does one hour of exercise, and 30 minutes in her sauna.

So what does dinner consist of? Glad you asked.

“For dinner, I try to do it according to paleo. So lots of vegetables,” she explains. “It’s important for me to support my detox.”

Sigh. Detox from what, exactly? Can you “detox” from nothing?

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Fortunately, because the rest of us millennials survived the horrible diet culture toxicity of the early 2000s and actually learned from it, many women are calling her out for spreading harmful messaging. (Not that it matters to Gwyneth, who’s gonna Goop all the way to the bank for the rest of her life. But it matters to us plebs who know we all need real food.)

The most liked and viewed response comes from TikTok user @iputtheiaminamerica, who shows us all her beautiful, glowing face and skin and says it’s because “I have fat in my body.”

This next one is just for LOLs.

“This is being promoted as ‘wellness,’ which is really messed up. Especially coming from someone so prominent,” TikTok user @alegrakastens says.

Another woman calls Gwyneth out while also supporting everyone who’s called her out, “because that is what we should be doing when someone is promoting disordered eating.”

Model and mom Tess Holliday has a perfect, nuanced response to it. She makes it clear that she’s not judging what Gwyneth puts in her body or if she has an eating disorder—instead, she takes issue with the fact that after so many years of Gwyneth sharing her problematic diet tips disguised as “wellness,” people continue to give her airtime and a platform to influence other women.

“This sh*t isn’t normal, and it’s affecting a whole other generation of young folks who think that eating like GP is appropriate or OK,” Holliday explains. “It is OK to feed your body. Carbs are not the devil. Fat isn’t bad—and I mean fat in your food and fat on your body. It’s not bad.”

While it’s also not my place to confirm whether Gwyneth has an eating disorder or orthorexia, I can definitely confirm that what she’s describing is disordered eating. And the anti-fat mentality so ingrained in Hollywood and popular culture that she probably doesn’t even realize she’s doing it.

The difference between eating disorders vs. disordered eating

According to The National Eating Disorders Association, people who have a healthy relationship with food can still classify themselves as “disordered eaters.” This is someone who eats when they’re bored, eats the same thing for lunch each day, cuts out a main food group (think: “low carb” diets), etc. These people manipulate their food intake depending on factors like weight loss and exercise. But disordered eating does not interfere with someone’s daily functioning—they can eat at restaurants, they don’t have a desire to change, etc.

On the flip side, the level of obsession around eating disorder thoughts and behaviors is what distinguishes it from disordered eating.

When an individual is struggling with an eating disorder, they generally engage in multiple behaviors that can involve food or relate to body image or mood. Judging by these behaviors alone would be insufficient: many people eat health foods or consume large quantities of food and do not have eating disorders. The quantity of behaviors may be an indication; for instance, this person engages in behaviors multiple times per week or even per day. This being said, many people keep their behaviors a secret and it is therefore difficult to gauge based on behaviors alone. When someone’s eating patterns take them away from normal functioning, this can be a strong indication of an eating disorder. 

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Though I’ve personally engaged in disordered eating patterns since childhood, I don’t find Gwyneth’s comments to be triggering. Why? Well, because I know better than to seek any sort of health advice from Gwyneth Paltrow. And because my own logic and knowledge overpower my negative thinking when it comes to food and my own body image. Because despite wishing I too could wear a single feather over my bust and call it an Oscar look without scorn, I know I need to eat food. For nutrition purposes, sustenance, and also for pleasure.

Because food is NOT the enemy. Toxic diet culture is.