On Monday we discussed Kelly Clarkson’s 37-pound weight loss. Although noticeably slimmer, Kelly had avoided commenting on her new figure for some time. When she did address the comments, she admitted to eating ‘clean’ to treat an undisclosed thyroid and autoimmune disorder. Kelly has become known as a body positivity role model, one who embraces the notion of love the skin you’re in. So, of course, now that she’s slimmed down, people are trying to accuse her of being a hypocrite. Kelly is doubling down on the fact that her weight loss is a result of managing her health and not because she felt she needed to lose weight.
Kelly Clarkson is known for loving the skin she’s in, and even with her new look, that body positive attitude hasn’t changed.
In this week’s issue, a source tells PEOPLE that the changes Clarkson has made are for her overall health and wellness. “Weight loss wasn’t the goal,” says the source, confirming that Clarkson has now lost about 37 lbs. “This was an overall health approach.”
After being diagnosed with a problem relating to her thyroid (an endocrine gland that stores and produces hormones and can affect energy and weight), the singer picked up The Plant Paradox, a 2017 book and corresponding dietary regimen that advocates so-called clean eating and reducing consumption of foods high in proteins called lectins.
Clarkson based her diet on the bestseller by Dr. Steven R. Gundry — which advises cutting several types of whole grains, dairy products, nuts and vegetables such as tomatoes, claiming they cause harmful inflammation, a theory that has been debated.According to the source, “[Kelly] had already lost a ton of weight when I saw her in March.” But the outspokenly body positive singer — who’s taken body shamers to task over the years and once told Attitude magazine she was “miserable” being skinny — never set out to change her appearance.
I like Kelly so I am still giving her the benefit of the doubt. I think she made changes for her health, whatever was going on, and it resulted in a weight loss. Beyond that, I don’t know what happened. It could be that the doctor said that losing weight would improve her condition. But at this point, I still believe Kelly’s motivation was her health and not a desire to obtain a more marketable silhouette. And I do think it’s important to her that her fans know that and still feel good about their bodies regardless of size.
I am concerned about her promotion for this book, though. If the intent is to promote clean eating and educating ourselves on where our food comes from and how our bodies process it, then say that. Instead, Kelly’s weight loss discussion centers around this particular book and author. Is Kelly schilling for it? I’m very happy that Kelly’s health has benefitted so dramatically with her new-found diet. But I assumed that it’s being done under a doctor’s supervision giving her pre-existing issues because the book itself has been debated and fact–checked and found lacking. At best, professionals advise caution if you plan to follow it. So I’m more concerned with Kelly promoting the book than I am the message she’s sending.
Photo credit: WENN Photos
I finally caved and watched The Voice she has crazy personality.
I have Hashimoto. Whenever I change my eating habits to remove food that is considered harmful, I lose weight very quickly (almost 10 pounds per month). If I start eating again these food groups, I put on weight quickly as well. I believe her.
I have Hashimoto with a history of juvenile arthritis, and just googled lectins. I’m in the midst of a Whole 30 (which eliminates grains and legumes, two sources of lectins), and have been feeling f*cking phenominal, which I did not expect. I: 1) can’t believe I never heard of this; 2) feel like I’m going to go from being a foodie, to a health nut who can eat like three things, as I’m also a pescetarian.
Regarding Clarkson and the dubiousness of the lectin theory — I can’t blame her for wanting to acknowledge something that is helping her. It got me to do some quick googling and learn about another theory of nutrition. But I do think celebrities need to be very careful when it comes to crossing the line into: “don’t vaccinate your kids!/follow this quack doctor/macrobiotic juice fasts are for everyone!”
My sister has Hashimoto’s and I think Kelly might be dealing with it too. Good for her, for finding a way to deal with it and losing the weight as a side effect. I know for my sister that the right nutrition and loads of exercise keep her happy and stable.
I believe her. She did an interview on tv with Hoda and said she’s now off her medication for her illness. Good for her. She is not a sell out for getting healthy. Ugh. I bet she feels amazing getting off the medication!
My take on this is that we still know very little about the impact of nutrition on our health. And the reason is simply that there is no such thing as a universal body. Therefore, it makes it difficult to know exactly how to get results in general. Therefore these books sometimes hit the mark because they almost accidentally discover something for a specific disease or a specific kind of body and condition.
There’s a ton of info out there, and with qualified Registered Dieticians. But the problem is that people don’t want that info. The focus is on the quick fix and the ‘new’ miracle weight loss item. It doesn’t sell.
We do, actually. It’s just locked up in higher institutions and scholarly publications. We’re discovering new things about nutrition every day, and it is insanely complicated and complex, but we do know an awful lot. There is no ONE healthy diet, and depending on your own individual makeup what is healthiest for you will be different than the next person but there are several overarching themes to all healthy diets that we are fully aware of.
Where it goes awry is in the food industry. Nobody makes much money off people eating healthy diets, except farmers and ranchers. But farmers and ranchers don’t have much money and don’t influence our available food landscape as much as the processed food industry and anyone else peddling packaged junk. That’s where the money is, and because we’ve been able to engineer our packaged junk to be quite literally addictive, that’s where the money keeps going. Remember how fat was the devil? Yeah, that was based off of one shady study sponsored by….. dun dun dunnnnnn…. the sugar industry! Like how the tobacco industry tried to tell us all cigarettes were safe and actually good for you, so too do the big processed food industries do the same today. Add in the fact that everyone wants a magic pill to melt off the fat while they change absolutely nothing, and yeah, it sure does seem like we don’t know how to eat.
@Wren, agree 100%. We just don’t know, and years of eating processed food and taking prescription and over the counter drugs changes the way people metabolize food. We all just want to feel good and not think so much about what we eat. We should be able to eat without worrying about if we will feel like crap afterward.
The science on lectins is pretty sparse, but this diet has helped me with pain I thought I’d just have to live with as a 50+ woman.
I have hypothyroidism and haven’t lost any weight, even with the correct dose of medication. However, she might have Hashimoto’s, which is a different type of hypothyroidism.
Anyway, it seems obvious her eating habits were contributing to her weight gain so if she has her illness under control and has added the benefits of reaching a healthy weight, more power to her.
@CEE: me too. I only lose with with a very restrictive diet. The meds ameliorate the symptom. But losing weight?! It didnt happen to me…
I’m glad she is happy and healthier but is it wrong of me to say I prefer her with her old plumper figure? She was so pretty and relatable and now she just looks like a generic showbiz person, sort of like a version of Hillary Duff. Maybe some of it is the heavy makeup, IDK.
I agree. There are people who ‘wear’ (what people consider) ‘excess’ (or ‘extra’ – for what our society / doctors endorse now) weight well. It’s true she was* so pretty, relatable, non-generic before .. she also seems to have embraced more of a fashion plate look which I don’t remember her doing before, not that I have followed her. I can understand wanting to have fun with it but it is a major change from what she has always put forth as who she is.
I have not watched The Voice or seen any of her recent videos (she would sometimes wear no makeup and baseball caps, drinking wine, talking to fans in one or two I saw). The book and program doesn’t sound that different from a lot of programs out there… to me, maybe a few tweaks. Sounds healthy.
You have a point. A lot of pressure in LA. Folks in the business want people looking all manicured.
She looks great, and more importantly probably feels better if she was having health issues. Hopefully she has a good doctor who is working with her.
She is really delightful on the voice, I hope she returns again. She’s funny and genuine, and so supremely talented.
YES! Agree 100%! Love her. Move on! She’s RAD.
I am starting to find her kind of annoying.i lost weight easier when I ommitted some foods. I also have an autoimmune disorder. But i think she is also shilling this book which I dont agree with. A book does not solve peoples medical issues. Everyone is different. And I know she lost weight but she also looks a bit different like she had work done.
I think she still has some normal curves and looks healthy. Sometimes Health problems tell us what’s going on w our bodies and that we need to change habits. I thought before she looked happy (which I ❤️) but like my dad when he had excess weight I could see it in his face and he looked bloated, not right (and he started to get immune issues too). I’m thin and for several years I ate too many sweets from infamous candy jar at work, my body lost weight and I had abdominal pain/ poor gut health . I changed my diet more veggies/fruit (no wheat, no lactose, only dark chocolate (no sweets/white flour) and my abdominal pain is much less. I did this w help of dietician, PT, GI, OB bc I have endometriosis. So whatever you do, do it under care of doctor.
I love your comment overall, but one quibble re being under a doctor’s care. I say do it under the care of a doctor if you have a condition you are actively managing, or live in a major metropolitan area and have access to good healthcare and doctors who don’t make the bulk of their living prescribing statins to baby boomers. I have suffered from major gastrointestinal issues since I was a kid, and even the doctor who thought it was a wheat allergy just gave me a pamphlet on eating a diet based on the 1990’s food pyramid of grains, with some low-fat dairy and fruits and vegetables. I also have a history of autoimmune disease, and this slightly-quackish theory on lectins might explain why I’ve felt so good doing a Whole 30. I don’t really think I need a doctor to supervise cutting legumes and beans for a bit to see if I feel better. (This is a rant against the medical establishment…not barrett!)
omg I don’t even care. She is a RIOT! I love her energy! She gives no Fu*s about her crazy beautiful dorky bubbly cry baby laugh personality and its so refreshing! She’s pretty damn real. I think she’s definitely been buying into the game a wee bit lately…an awful lot of appearances and extra contractual work certainly inspire some shaping up even if “not intended”. Who doesn’t love looking good and feeling though? There is NOTHIN wrong with that! to each their own with their health. She went through many years of somewhat marginal attention on her regardless of her voice and she is probably just finally stepping up her game and being a bit shameless about it. I say don’t give her a hard time…worse fish to fry than lil ol Kelly
I love her, too! She rocks!!! Real person, and seems like a sweetheart.
The first link debunking “The Plant Paradox” is thoughtful and convincing. The second “fact-checking” article, on the other hand, presents a quotation from Genesis as a fact. Fact-checker, fact-check thyself.
She doesn’t owe anyone an explanation on what she does with her body. She looks great.
It is not our business why she lost weight. It is her body. And being Body Positive does not change the fact that she is allowed to do as she chooses and still be ‘allowed’ to be Body Positive.
“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants”
She figured out what a lot of people never do. You don’t lose weight and then get healthy. You get healthy and then you’ll lose the weight.
I believe her. The lost weight is a side effect. If you look up the Plant Paradox on You Tube, there are people who have used the diet to control autoimmune disorders. My friend and I began Keto and it reduced a lot of pain and inflammation, but heard about this and have now incorporated some of it. It has truly made a difference. No pain pills for me or my friend for weeks since we started one month ago. Thankfully, you can add foods back in after a phase that is supposed to heal you. The book is all car sales-sounding, but it seems to work well for the people who’ve used it. A friend who has also been “eating healthy” for years just came back from her doctor after a month on the diet and her blood pressure is now normal. Hasn’t been for years. I haven’t lost weight, but that’s not why I’m doing it. Just trying to lower my crazy-high cholesterol.
People keep telling me I’ve lost weight. I haven’t. It was the inflammation. Hip pain that has woken me up for the last two years is almost gone. Tests and imaging couldn’t determine the cause, but now I’m free from pain requiring meds, and that is what matters.
I learned more new stuff on this losing weight issue.
1 issue is that good nutrition is highly vital whenever dieting.
A huge reduction in junk food, sugary food, fried foods, sugary foods, red meat, and
white flour products may perhaps be necessary. Keeping wastes organisms, and poisons may prevent desired goals for losing
belly fat. While specified drugs in the short term solve
the situation, the unpleasant side effects aren’t worth it, and so they never provide more
than a short-term solution. It is just a known
indisputable fact that 95% of diet plans fail. Many thanks for sharing your ideas on this web site.
I’m in the middle of this book and its very interesting. Have done a few Whole 30’s and have been Paleo in the past. I read a lot about gut health and how food actually affects our body. There is definitely some interesting things in all of these and the PP is similar to W30. I think its disingenuous to completely discredit something you haven’t read. No one knows everything about human digestion, autoimmune diseases and how what we consume affects our overall well being. I find these days if you choose to eliminate things from your diet that you think might be causing you to be ill or inflamed, people accuse you of being crazy! Its not, its called personal choice.