Food Freedom Coaches & Influencers are SCAMMING You! (I’m Calling Out the LIES!)
This is the ultimate in irresponsible influencing and once I open your eyes you will see it nonstop hey everyone I’m Abby sharp welcome to aby’s [Music] Kitchen as you guys know I’m a nobs dietician who’s devoted her career to dismantling
00:00:25
problematic Wellness content online after over a decade of this work I’ve seen everything from calling a bowl of cereal a carad for bulking to creating fearmongering PSAs about how much sugar is in your festive holiday coffee drink and all of this overt die culture content obviously makes me
00:00:43
mad are you feeling mad but what possibly makes me even more mad is when I see influencers trying to sneakily sell diet culture rebranded as Wellness food Freedom or intuitive eating and specifically targeting folks with EDS this Wellness culture can be so seductive for those who have been burned by
00:01:05
explicit die culture know they need to escape it but are still aroused by the fantasy of a socially desirable body and all the perks that come along with it now quick heads up that I will be talking about EDS and sharing restrictive content and explicit images of thin bodies here I’ll also be
00:01:22
using specific creators content as examples and as irresponsible and dangerous as this specific breed of Wellness culture content can be this is not meant to shame or bully these creators I mean ultimately they are victims of die culture too but if they’re going to put this out into the
00:01:38
world I feel the need to help you unpack it in a kind supportive space okay super quick here folks I really want to talk about my sponsor today homog glow ask my husband I am a super organized person I love a good to-do list and plan but I also tend to be a physically messy person and this is quite
00:01:57
the Dilemma for me because I have a really hard time feeling organized and willing to get things done when everything around me is a mess 2024 is set up to be the biggest and busiest of my career so I know that I really need to lean on as many supports as I can and since cleaning is apparently
00:02:15
not one of my strong suits I have been so grateful for homag glow so homag glow is a five-star cleaning service with super affordable prices way cheaper than any of the cleaning services that we’ve paid for in the past and definitely worth it for my mental health and marriage but
00:02:33
the way it works is you go to Hom Glow’s website to choose the time and day that you’re looking for and the duration of your cleaning and you’ll see all of their available cleaners along with their background checks photos and reviews so if you have someone that you’ve worked with before you
00:02:46
can rebook that same person and you can schedule it for that week or like a month from now if you want to rebook your cleanings on a regular basis you can also sign up for their forever clean membership which saves you about $30 $ an hour on all future cleanings or unlimited cleanings
00:03:03
for $19 an hour all of which are backed by their happiness guarantee and the cleaners are really incentivized to do a good job because 100% of the cleaning tips and fees go directly to them I am definitely feeling overwhelmed about the next few months ahead so this is one huge
00:03:20
task off of my plate and it really allows me to focus on all the exciting things that I’ve got in store for you this service is only available in the United States but definitely go to homag glow.com Abby or scan the QR code on screen to get your first cleaning for only $19 so let’s dive in
00:03:39
with the bride that broke the internet for her alleged almond mom wedding AKA Sam from the fit fatel so I did a whole video on this controversial wedding situation right here but content creators like Sam tend to build their following these inspirational Health transformation stories
00:03:55
before and after images of them when they were inflamed and unhappy and then sell a bunch of meal plans and coaching sessions to teach you how you can do it too despite having zero legitimate qualifications to do so and a lot of these accounts have a pinned video that looks sort of
00:04:11
like this here is how I completely changed my life through 8020 eating and how you can do the same I was suffering from chronic bloating severe adult acne extreme inflammation anxiety and mood swings all resulting in low energy feeling lethargic irregular sleep patterns and weight gain I had
00:04:28
no idea what Foods worked for my body would go from yo-yo diet to the next and was unable to listen to my Hunger cues because I was constantly riding a sugar roller coaster it was impacting my productivity at work my relationships at home and my daily happiness today I have balanced my blood
00:04:44
sugar cleared my skin lowered inflammation and regulated my mood and anxiety all through 8020 eating where 80% of the foods I eat are in their natural state and the other 20% is really whatever I want them to be through that process I also learned what I was intolerant to and worked to
00:05:00
cut out the foods that were causing so much of my inflammation and chronic gut issues 5 years ago the idea that I could have a healthy relationship with food and eat to feel good seemed so different than my Norm almost impossible I wish at the time that I would have had someone help guide
00:05:14
me through the process of discovering what foods worked for my body so that it could have taken me weeks not years that’s why I created my 4-we meal plan program where you too can explore my take on 8020 eating giving your body the chance to see what lowering inflammation eating Whole Foods
00:05:30
and managing your sugar intake feels like you get the gist it FS a very specific and very effective formula particularly attracting folks with complicated histories with food basically girl is constantly bloated inflamed not comfortable in her own body starts eating real food or in Sam’s
00:05:47
case specifically the 8020 way of eating which is a lifestyle apparently not a diet because remember diets are a dirty word suddenly hair is longer skin is clearer she loses 20 lbs and simultaneously improves her relationship with food interestingly this carefully compiled reel comes
00:06:05
with a countless stream of body checks and ends in a strong sales pitch for her one-on-one coaching and you know what maybe her coaching sessions are great maybe her meal plans are great but it’s confusing for a lot of folks to see countless references to mindful eating intuitive eating and
00:06:24
fostering a healthy relationship with food while simultaneously sharing tips on how to distract your yourself from Cravings how to achieve a discipline mentality and non-stop references to a very thin body I don’t know who needs to hear this but intuitive eating is not a set of
00:06:41
rules dictating that you can only eat clean Foods 80% of the time and only allow yourself whatever you want to eat the other 20% when one has truly achieved food Freedom there is no dichotomizing food as clean or junk there isn’t an emphasis on needing to distract yourself from your Cravings or
00:07:00
true needs and most importantly the focus is never on changing your body with non-stop Unapologetic body checks and before and after body shots this content is not about intuitive eating or self-care it’s about selling a body that is achieved through discipline and control and there’s a
00:07:19
real risk that vulnerable populations exchange one Ed like binge eating or anorexia for another like orthorexia the f focuses on clean eating but let’s take a look at another example that I’ve recently featured on this channel paig Shay so first of all we are checking all the boxes on the red flag body
00:07:39
checks yeah our girl pige definitely understood that assignment but another common tactic is talking a lot about her former diets that never yielded any results Paige talks about how she did the keto animal diet and also used to be on a strict calorie restricted diet but was always
00:07:56
so miserable that she would end up just needing to have a cheat day because she felt so deprived I deserve to have a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut the biggest problem here is the mindset around this whole thing because if you feel like you are so deprived in your current diet that you
00:08:13
have to have a cheat meal every weekend and then she paints this in opposition to her so-called non-restrictive fruit-based diet featuring 8 to 12 lbs of food a day the whole sales pitch here is that you don’t have to calorie count and you never need to worry about your weight again because with
00:08:30
her diet you achieve the mental freedom of eating in abundance again page appeals to folks who have been burned by diet culture who have complicated histories with food who are seeking food freedom but who are still holding on to this hope of looking like this you might not be restricted
00:08:49
by volume but allowing yourself a choice of just watermelon bananas mango or potatoes in the quest of physique results is not mental freedom or abundance but here’s another one a fasting coach who uses intuitive eating hashtags in her videos the obligatory body checks and the before
00:09:07
and after story wheal that points out how fat and miserable she was before she took on the diet she now sells it’s like you’ve got to make sure it’s really clear to everyone that life was so terrible when you were larger with a big Struggle Bus Sigh No but seriously while I appreciate that Emma does
00:09:26
often say if you have an ed fasting isn’t for you this to me is kind of just like lip service when you’re making claims like this fasting is one of the most powerful ways to improve your health heal your relationship with food and prevent obesity related diseases fasting is one of the
00:09:43
fastest ways to heal your relationship with food please show me the data in the Journal of osaurus that suggest that this is the fastest way to heal your relationship with food it’s like waiting for Christmas times a thousand and if you are seeking out a diet that will heal your relationship with
00:10:00
food there is a good chance that you have a problematic relationship with food likely disordered eating Tendencies and possibly even an undiagnosed or diagnosed eating disorder and the rest of this account furthers this disconnect in a way that cons vulnerable populations into
00:10:16
a potentially extreme diet on the one hand Emma’s opening up about her experiences with binge eating and how intuitive eating became her superpower and then the next she’s telling people how to lose 15 lbs of a month and pointing out which types of lip chap will break your fast and to all the
00:10:34
people she’s talking to who are currently in the throws of binge eating which may or may not be an actual clinical Ed she gives this advice and you need to embrace the discomfort you’re a big girl or boy and you need to start to get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable if you’re ever going
00:10:51
to reach your goals that is potentially really damning advice for someone with a complicated relationship with food especially in the context of a hyper unintuitive diet like I don’t know not eating more than once a day or even for several days at a time we know that one of the greatest
00:11:10
predictors of a binge is restriction and this is actually why for some people fasting can actually result in weight gain because if you feel deprived you’re going to go Hog Wild and put yourself in a potential Surplus really fast now if I were to give the benefit of the doubt to the creators
00:11:28
I just disc just I might say that perhaps they don’t realize the pull that they have with the past recovering or active Ed population when they promise food Freedom or intuitive eating and a very thin body but this Creator really took it to the next level what I did to get my period back
00:11:47
and shape my body I stopped seeing food as good or bad stop all the stress and guilt I associated with food but I eat right I stop over a training and all canide allow me to recover from Ving shape my body’s a weight I want and balance my hormone As Natural consequences of taking good care of
00:12:05
my body this lead to period back and I did all my clients did so you can please my dear do not take it light it’s a serious issue with longterm non-reversible consequences okay but this one just really made me mad this Creator wrote the Bible on promising a specific body shape to people with
00:12:25
active EDS here we get a whole page of minimally Clos body shots some obligatory before and after testimonials and a lot of explicit discussion on e disorder recovery this is literally the definition of Ed catfishing you rope them in with a hypertone thin body and Gaslight them
00:12:44
into convincing themselves that this is a recovery safe place with a bunch of inspirational quotes I mean it’s a pretty big red flag when Instagram has to censor some of the images of the Creator’s body because they go against Community guidelines and this goes further than a problematic social media
00:13:02
page this Creator’s website brings you to a sales page where she promotes one-on-one coaching calls to heal your active binge e disorder and also to help you achieve the body shape you desire active Ed recovery and intentional weight loss diets are generally contraindicated like it takes a
00:13:21
very very careful skillful professional team to even consider weight loss with the risk of relapse now remind a young girl with Zero nutrition or counseling qualifications now there are a few really important takeaways that I want to leave you guys with right here first of all for the
00:13:37
haters I’m not skinny shaming or gatekeeping intuitive eating intuitive eaters come in all different sizes and shapes and achieving food Freedom will definitely look different to different people I’m also not suggesting that weight loss can’t or shouldn’t happen when you’ve
00:13:52
achieved food Freedom or eating intuitively these things coexist all the time but the intention behind food freedom is body respect it’s not control through a new set of food rules that looked different than the last changing your body especially to an extreme level of thinness is not
00:14:11
the goal and folks with complicated histories with food and their body are particularly vulnerable to the draw of the promise of weight loss without dieting they’re also at very high risk of transferring one Ed like Bing cheating or anorexia for another like orthorx the restriction or food
00:14:30
rules may look different or feel different than the last one but the underlying mental illness is not healed so the next time a content creator tries to sell you a program or a movement or even just his or her brand claiming that it’s grounded in intuitive eating I want you to look
00:14:45
for The Telltale red flag signs the body check the before and after narrative the promise of extreme thinness with a non-diet diet in the name of Wellness gut health or food freedom because I promise promise you once you see it it’s probably all you will see but I would love to hear
00:15:04
your thoughts on content like this a reminder to please be kind in the comments this is really not meant to bully or harass anyone just to inform and warn of the dangers a pervasive Wellness culture content like this so if you guys like this video don’t forget to give it the thumbs up leave
