Cameron Diaz is effectively retired from acting these days. She never officially said that, but she did say she was going to be more selective going forward and she definitely has been. She lives pretty quietly in LA with Benji Madden and their child, has her wine label, and she’s a celebrity guest judge on this season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race All Stars. All that being said, she still runs in her celebrity circles and does interviews. In a recent interview with Gwyneth Paltrow for GOOP, Cameron talked about how she does intermittent fasting.
Cameron Diaz is the latest person to hop onto the trend of simply not eating at times in order to stay slim.
In speaking to Gwyneth Paltrow during a GOOP interview, the “Shrek” actress praised “intermittent fasting.”
“It’s worth it – it helps you stay mindful about what you’re putting in your body,” she said. “We all start off in a great place, but it’s easy to end up getting further and further away from the place that’s your optimum.”
In addition to short-term fasting, Cameron, who shares daughter Raddix with husband Benji Madden, said she cuts back on calories by not munching.
“I’m the mother of a two-year-old, so we’re both having a little of this and a little of that, and do I need to be snacking as much as she is all day?” she said. “Doing a little reset kind of brings you back. It helps you be more present in the moment, staying aware of what you’re saying and what you’re doing.”
Of course this came up in a GOOP interview, Gwyneth loves talking about dieting. Anyway, the lede sounds bad, but what Cameron says actually isn’t. I think this is fine — she’s not promoting a specific calorie count or only eating certain foods. Cameron talks about intermittent fasting in the context of being mindful about what you put in your body and it sounds like the idea of getting back to basics after changing your eating habits a bit. There are several different methods of intermittent fasting, some that are daily and others that are on different days per week, so there’s definitely a method for everyone if they do want to try it. I do it myself on days that I run or have certain types of workouts planned because I find it difficult to do cardio after having had a meal. I could probably be a bit more structured about it though, because I don’t work out at the exact same time everyday. But it is helpful and better for sleep to not eat after a certain time. It also makes sense that Cameron doesn’t want to be snacking all day along with her child. I’d much rather eat something I actually want to eat versus just eating something because it’s there.
Nothing like praising disordered eating! Why don’t people just say what it really is – you starve yourself to get thin. So gross and a highly irresponsible thing to promote.
Not true at all. Some people might use it as an excuse to not eat as much as they need to, but you’re supposed to eat the same amount of calories just in a shorter window of time.
Celebrities aren’t doing that.
Intermittent fasting often works for me, but famous people often use these phrases as “code”.
Not true. There are doctors who recommend IF for patients who are trying to lose weight or just wanting to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I know several doctors that are on board with it. My own doc described it to me as “dipping your toe in starvation mode”, but that it’s perfectly safe, reasonable, and not unhealthy. You’re still eating normal, healthy foods, you’re just eating it in very defined window of time.
To each his own. I don’t practice it, but I’m not going to condemn it. Millions of people practice it and lead healthy lifestyles. Also, my doctor’s comment about dipping your toe in starvation mode was being applied to a weight loss situation, as in jump starting your body to adjust to it. She was not promoting starving.
I never condemned it. I do it sometimes too. But the goal isn’t starvation mode or jump-starting. That’s a common myth associated with this.
It’s more that it’s not supported by scientific data. The last few control studies have shown that it’s useless without calorie cutting or exercise. A lot of people intermittent fast by nature or loosely do so unintentionally, and it doesn’t do anything. I did for a couple weeks as an active adult and watching what I ate, and it did nothing for me. I didn’t lose a single pound lol.
I didn’t say you did condemn it. I’m saying I’m not. I don’t practice IF, so it makes no difference to me. You do you.
Just generally speaking, doctors can be as messed up as the rest of us when it comes to food intake.
@Veronica S
Focus on section four:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6521152/
Even if *you* didn’t lose weight your insulin sensitivity likely rose and your serum insulin levels likely fell. That is an immense benefit in and of itself, and also has very positive effects on cholesterol and triglycerides. Ask your doctor what s/he thinks about it.
NotSoSocialB: Thanks for the link!
Thank you!!! As part of my recovery from a long standing eating disorder that included extreme anorexia, intermittent fasting is just anorexia with its fatphobia dress on.
Your body is not a closed system, so inducing periods of starvation is very bad for hormones, for metabolism, for your ability to interpret hunger & satiety, and it won’t help you lose weight over the entire arc of time. You might lose 3-4 pounds quickly, but inducing a starvation state means your body will adjust & store MORE fat later. The plateau is your body adjusting what you are doing, storing more fat to protect you from future starvation states, and can complicate every part of digestion.
Your conscious self is NOT the main driver for how your body processes food, extracts nutrients or fats, and what it does for fat storage. Your autonomous self, your bacteria microbiome, your hormone levels, are all bigger drivers of why your body stores fat.
Most importantly, stored fat is protective! Having fat on your body is the not the sole cause for any medical condition, as the human body is not a closed system. Past trauma, genetics, hormone levels, medication, gut microbiome, and age all affect when/why/how your body stores fat.
Not everyone who practices IF does it for weight loss. The benefits of improved insulin sensitivity and decreased cholesterol and triglycerides are more than enough to support its practice. Not everyone who practices IF has or develops an ED, so please don’t make a blanket statement like that.
Focus on section four:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6521152/
This is not necessarily true. I have been doing intermittent fasting since 2012 and I have not had an ulcerative colitis flare up since I started! The method I use is at least 12 hours between last meal yesterday and first meal today. I try to do 16 hours when I can and eat my meals within an 8hr window each day, but I work in surgery so I can’t always control what time I have a chance to eat “breakfast,” and I don’t cry about it if the timing doesn’t work out because of work/travel/etc. I eat whatever I would want if I wasn’t doing intermittent fasting. My intention is to let my gut rest and reduce inflammation, and not have food continuously funneling down the chute. I think the people who lose weight on it are probably taking in less calories because snacking is reduced when you aren’t “grazing” all day.
I have to admit I do side-eye some celebrities, for example Chris Martin and Twitter Jack who say they fast 5 days and only eat on 2 days a week. I think they are using “intermittent fasting” as a euphemism for anorexia, and it gives people the wrong impression.
Yep. I do this kind of “eating daily within a window” IF for reflux symptoms, it’s not good for me to eat in the evening. If it helps with a medical condition and you are getting your calories, then it seems unhelpful when people assume it can only be a form of disordered eating.
I also do this to help keep acid reflux under control. I follow a circadian routine so trying not to eat between from sundown to sunrise-ish, nothing hard and fast but works out from 6-7pm to 9 or 10 am. It has really made a huge difference for my overall health, less pain, better sleep, I’m more energetic overall.
12 hours is what I do and I don’t call it intermittent fasting. I have dinner ar 7.30 pm (usually just soup and maybe some fruit) and then breakfast at 7.30 am… In between I sleep…If that’s intermittent fasting than I’ve been doing it for my whole adult life..
How does a Chris Martin have the energy to do what he does if he’s only eating 2 days a week??
We recommend intermittent fasting to certain cancer patients. It’s not disordered eating. Look it up, it’s recommended for life longevity as well.
Intermittent Fasting is literally ordered eating! Usually it entails two things 1) delaying breakfast by allowing 12 hours minimum between final meal of one day, and first meal of the next. This allows your body its well needed rest and repair time. 2) allowing 4 to 5-plus hours between meals. Many benefits here as well. Frequent snacking or grazing all day is not ideal for most bodies, for multiple reasons. Most people doing IF are also doing some type of low-insulinemic Paleo diet with enough healthy protein and fat to provide satiety between meals. Sugary and starchy foods do not satisfy for long. Protein and fat do.
No. Stop. This is not necessarily disordered eating. There’s a lot of research that supports the health benefits of intermittent fasting.
Can IF be misused as part of a disordered eating problem? Yes, absolutely. But so can all dietary lifestyles. (And I say this as someone who struggled with an ED for years.)
Any diet can be or is an issue if someone has disordered eating.
This is not recommended disordered eating any more than any other “diet”.
It is actually tapping into our past as mammals that did NOT have access to food 24/7 from supermarkets until very, very recently in our million year evolutionary history.
All othe ranimals on teh planet also arent eating any time they feel like it, and they have to work to get their food, too.
So the premise is, “its good to not be stuffed all the time”.
Contrary to what food manufacturers want you to believe.
I don’t think intermittent fasting is disordered eating. I’ve actually tried it, and it does work to some degree and it’s not a starvation diet. Granted I am older than many people on this site, so my metabolism has slowed and I just don’t get hungry the way I did when I was younger, no matter how active I am. Sure, I felt some hunger pangs, but it was nothing debilitating.
I do a 16/8 pretty much every day. I have little desire to eat in the morning and feel that breakfast makes me sluggish. So I just have some coffee or tea before eating a light lunch. Always a big proper dinner with the family and then the window closes until the next day. It works for me and I absolutely don’t feel like I’m starving or depriving myself.
This is what I do. I like to work out in the am on an empty stomach too (coffee with cream only) and it’s just part of my daily routine not to eat until lunchtime. I am happy with my weight and body and energy level. this has kept me stable weight-wise through menopause and the stress of the pandemic and some life changes. Works for me.
Same, Sadie, same! 56 and feeling great.
That’s what I do, too. Black coffee in the morning and that’s it. And I usually don’t get hungry for lunch until 1-ish.
If I eat breakfast I’m starving all day and completely food obsessed, no matter what I eat. I don’t know what happens but eating too early for me seems to kick something in gear and I can’t control it. I haven’t eaten breakfast in over 30 years.
I have this issue (which is why I liked IF) – if I eat breakfast it ends up messing up my whole day, eating wise. But I have found that its mostly what I eat for breakfast. Bagel and cream cheese (like this morning) is worse for me than scrambled eggs – I guess the protein helps? IDK. But that’s what makes me want to try IF again….I felt better when I wasn’t eating breakfast first thing in the AM and waited until 11 or 12 to break my fast.
Same. When I don’t eat breakfast, I often don’t get hungry until late afternoon. When I do eat breakfast, particularly if it’s a high starch breakfast, I get hungry throughout the day at around every 3 or 4 hours.
Unfortunately, I once saw a nutritionist who urged me to ALWAYS eat breakfast and to force myself to eat more carbs “like bagels”. Sadly, it’s taken me decades to understand that her advice was completely wrong for my body.
My personal “normal” would ideally be to start the day with water or tea, have a high protein plus fiber lunch in the afternoon, with more protein and veggies or oatmeal and fruit later in the evening. Although it’s not my intention, that schedule conforms with some versions of IF.
Same here. I don’t usually eat a big breakfast except as occasional weekend treat, it tends to make me feel more sluggish, hungrier and more next-meal-obsessed afterward.
I do the 16/8 too. We eat around 6:30pm and I have my first meal around 10:30am. I actually don’t get hungry before that so why eat when you don’t have an appetite? I have a healthy “brunch”, take my vitamins and am full until dinner. Occasionally I’ll have some nuts or fruit and yogurt mid-afternoon if I feel snackish.
I did IF last summer for about a month (then we went on vacation and it went out the window, lol.) I did lose about 3 to 4 lbs on it and that was with eating whatever I wanted in my window. I ate for 8 hours a day, 12-8 and honestly wasn’t hungry by 12. but I did find that I ate healthier overall because thats more what my body wanted and it was easier to think about healthy meals for 2 meals a day.
but i’ve read so much since then on how its not good for you or your body so I don’t want to try it again….IDK.
I find intermittent fasting really useful. As an overweight, type 2 diabetic fasting works for me as a way to pump the breaks on too much snacking and bring down my blood sugar. A 36 hour fast makes me feel great and be more mindful of what I’m eating. It isn’t right for everyone but it is a good tool for me.
I cannot stand the way she talks about it. It’s just not eating for parts of the day. There’s no mindfulness, no reset, no staying aware of anything. That’s the thing that annoys me about celebrity diet culture.
I agree with the previous commenter. She is just not eating to stay thin. Which is FINE if that is how she wants to live her life. But worrying about snacking with your 2 year old. What high fat/high sugar snacks is she feeding that child that she needs to worry about having some of it herself.
This is definitely disordered eating disguised as spiritual practice.
At this point we all know that the only that works is a caloric deficit, balanced diet with as little sugar as possible and an active lifestyle. Losing weight is hard work and requires discipline.
Looking to a genetically blessed celebrity who has all the money and time in the world to make it happen is self-sabotage.
At this point we all know that the only thing that works is a caloric deficit, balanced diet with as little sugar as possible and an active lifestyle. Losing weight is hard work and requires discipline.
💯 agree
Snacking with a little is a real concern. I did it with my oldest but caught myself with my youngest. I fix them meals (breakfast and lunch) but usually don’t eat at the same time because I’d use their chair time to get in quick tasks. Then I’d pick at their food and still have a separate lunch later. The little snacks here and there add up. It’s not about “unhealthy” food but total calorie intake. Being mindful definitely helps to lessen the behavior.
My kids are about a decade apart. It’s kind of fun to reapproach child-raising with the benefit of hindsight. I can catch some behaviors that weren’t the best the first time around.
I think the, “not snacking just because it’s in front of you,” is the part that’s being mindful. If food is out, it’s easy to reach for even if you’re not hungry; she doesn’t sound like she’s depriving herself when she actually wants to eat. Cameron Diaz is also not problematically thin – she’s probably a pretty normal size 6? Maybe a 4?
Mindful eating is good for most of us. It’s good to eat without distractions so we enjoy what we’re eating and feel fuller afterward. What she’s doing isn’t really mindful eating.
I don’t follow Cameron Diaz, so I had no idea she had a wine label. Does anyone know if it’s any good?
It is, surprisingly.
Thanks! I looked it up and it has so-so ratings, but I don’t know anyone who has actually tried it. Good to know.
We tried it. Did not like. Pretty terrible for its price point especially.
My registered dietician SIL calls this “disordered eating.” I appreciate her education and expertise.
Yeah. I’ve done this before and it sort of works in terms of making me not feel as weighed down or bloated but I find it gets way too easy to get “competitive” and think “oh, I can go a little longer without eating” until all of a sudden it’s been 24 hours and I’ve only had 1,000 calories.
I think mindful eating is much better and more constructive and I find a lot of people are really referring to that when they say they’re talking about intermittent fasting. Eating when you are hungry, paying attention to what satisfies you, widening your palate so you can appreciate different things with a range of nutritional contents, eating what you want and paying attention to it so you can stop after a reasonable amount and not feel deprived or compelled to eat more because it’s “forbidden”.
Thank you!! Making any food forbidden or bad is the slippery slope that leads to disordered eating. No food is bad, it is literally not capable of being bad, and restricting leads to binging.
Dieting, otherwise known as restriction, does not work over the arc of time. Your body is not a closed system & will adjust to your restrictions, making your restrictions much less effective.
Moreover, the storage of fat in adipose tissue is not the demon everyone wants it to be, that’s just fatphobia.
Fasting is actually very good for many reasons. The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his discovery of autophagy, a way for the body to clean out damaged cells, in order to regenerate newer, healthier cells, and even kill off cancer cells. This can only be achieved by fasting or if you take rapamycin.
Not eating 4h before bedtime is also recommended because going to bed with a full stomach will interrupt your sleep. Cerebrospinal fluid washes your brain during sleep, and this is not as effective if your body has to digest food.
There are also plenty of studies that prove that intermittent fasting leads significant reductions in fasting glucose levels, something that is beneficial for someone with insulin resistance (like myself).
The Cretan Diet study, which is the Original Mediterranean diet, found that the men of rural Crete lived longer and had less diseases. This taught me to choose good fats instead if low fats (like evoo, as 40% of their daily calorie intake came from evoo and one person consumed a litre a week). I choose good carbs instead of no carbs. I only eat red meat once a week and fish a couple of times a week. Instead I focus on vegetarian dishes without being vegetarian. Look up Elena Paravantes if you are interested.
Other studies (Överkalix study for one) have shown that periodical famine is beneficial for not only you but even your offsprings and their children.
However, gluttony is not.
An eating disorder is not healthy wether you are over eating or under eating.
But intermittent- or periodical fasting is. You just need to educate yourself and do it right. A healthy weight person can do a fast without losing a significant amount of weight (it’s normal to lose a bit of water weight).
I don’t undertand why healthy living is considered taboo and immediately someone raises their pitchfork and yells “EATING DISORDER!” shaming it and the person doing it, when time over time in history and multiple studies show that snacking and eating all the time is bad for us. Having an abundance of food is not good. Stop the shaming.
As a person who dealt with disordered eating before, I think there’s a big difference between saying snacking and eating all the time is good, and that having multiple rituals around how you eat in order to restrict (which is how people often treat this) is the best way to go.
Nobody here shamed anyone doing IF.
“Gluttony” is a subjective term.
Most people need rituals in order to make any behavior a habit, and it doesn’t make it a disorder. Telling yourself, “no food from X – X” to practice healthy eating isn’t any different than, “no cell phones for more than two hours a day,” or, “30 minutes of reading time every morning.”
I don’t know if I agree. There’s so much more negativity about food in particular, in terms of what’s “bad” or “good”, “naughty” or “virtuous”. You’re right that most people have daily rituals, but the difference between eating and the other things you mention is that discussions about food to lead to so much more shame than other topics. Like I mentioned above, it’s so easy to get into these habits and then think “I’ve been virtuous, let’s take it further” until you’re at an unsustainable calorie deficit.
@C — But there are foods that have been proven to be bad for you. High trans and saturated fats like commercial baked goods (cakes, cookies and pies), shortening, microwave popcorn, frozen pizza, refrigerated dough (biscuits and rolls), fried foods like french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken, nondairy coffee creamer, stick margarine, etc. etc. are rightfully attracting negative attention because they are killers. Look at North Americans — obesity rates are up to around 42% of the population. Type 2 diabetes rates are skyrocketing as are rates of high cholesterol, high blood pressure and heart disease. You are what you eat, and we are not shaming when we discuss these serious diseases that are directly linked to bad diets. People need to be mindful of what goes in their mouths that can potentially lead to serious health problems and an overburdened health care system, not the potential for encouraging disordered eating.
Then your eating disorder and mental health is the problem, and not the fasting in and of itself. There are plenty of people who fast without taking it too far.
Jaded: I never said any of those foods were healthy. There is a difference between eating less of a food that is not healthy, and assigning shame to the consumption of it as a value system, which is extremely prevalent in society.
Kaykay: The advice people receive from nutritionists, their hunger cues, their biological situations, and mental health are all different, as well as the IF schedules they may follow. The messages we receive from every angle in society and culture also contribute to this (it’s a pretty weird and confusing world when you have people selling slimming products and programs and doing huge mukbangs at the same time, which some public figures do). It’s too simplistic to act as if people live in vacuums when it comes to this. There is IF for maintaining blood sugar, other health reasons, etc, and then there is IF for dieting, which is what Diaz is talking about – which many people use as the name for what is their disordered eating though not all. And IF is not necessarily the same as mindful eating, which is what I’m trying to highlight.
@C – Current scientific evidence from numerous studies shows that intermittent fasting can stabilize blood sugar levels, increase resistance to stress, and suppress inflammation. It can decrease blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and improve resting heart rate as well as improve brain health and memory. If people are unstable enough to take it to a starvation level, they are clearly suffering from eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia, avoidant/restrictive food intake and binge eating, all of which are noted on the DSM-5, the standard classification of mental disorders used by mental health professionals. For those of us like Cameron Diaz who simply want to manage our weight and maintain good health, there is every reason to do it safely. I’ve been doing it for about 10 years now and it helped greatly when I was suffering menopause symptoms.
Just adding that in many religious/spiritual cultures, fasts and food restrictions are built in also. Ramadan for Muslims, Hindus have day-of-the-week fasts, Christians have Lent, Buddhists have mindful eating (watch the video on how monks eat by the Venerable Nick).
Indian family members will often have a regular Saturday fast, or my mother and I have Monday fasts (which my partner joins me in). It’s for spiritual reasons, not a complete fast, just a pause and slowdown. Mostly fruits, dates, nuts and a light vegetarian protein meal like greens topped with a bean salad at the end of the day.
Most body systems benefit from a little rest. The three meal a day routine is a modern invention. Look it up.
Hmmm. Cameron comes from an industry where starvation, medical procedures, and medication prescribed and un-prescribed, legal and illegal, are used to keep people extremely thin because a camera lens rendering a 3D person on a flat plane has always distorted bodies.
I would not take advice on eating from Cameron.
Restriction of food in the human body does not bring about permanent fat loss, in fact it often drives the storage of fat through the induction of a starvation period. Just because your conscious self says this restriction is healthy does not mean your body agrees.
Your autonomous systems, your hormones, your age, your gut biome, the size of your stomach, your genetics, your body composition over time, your height, your trauma history, your medications are all factors in how, when, and why your autonomous systems decide to store fat. How many of those include your conscious self?
You saying I am restricting for this reason or that does not matter one iota to your actual human body, vast parts of which you do not control consciously. Your autonomous systems will work to keep you alive, and fat storage in adipose tissue is a key way to do this whether you consciously like it or not.
You and your doctors are not as in control as you would like to think you are, the definition of health will always be extremely individual and will slide over the arc of time.
Eat what you want, when you feel hungry, with what your body is asking for. Restriction, and labeling foods good or bad, is a losing game. You are not as in control as you think you are, let it go.
DIETS ARE A SCAM!
On a tangentially related note, anyone here watching All Stars? I’m obssessed with Jinx’s Snatch Game, Raja’s looks, and Monet’s terrible attempts at alliance building 😂
Jinkx as Judy Garland was everything I never knew I needed. Everyone else could have stayed home that week, sorry.
And dammit if Raja isn’t making me like and enjoy her. Manila Luzon did that too, not my favorite during Drag Race but really won me over when she was on All-stars season 4.
This topic makes me hungry. Not kidding at all. I’ve never had a problem with food or weight fortunately until Covid had me fighting depression. I’ve also always eaten less than most people I know. I don’t like feeling bloated after a big meal. I’ve loosely fasted a couple times as a sort of cleanse after vacation eating and drinking, drinks at breakfast even. It’s so different for everyone, I’m Team Listen to Your Body. And don’t believe what celebrities recommend.
Hang in there Southern Fried! Depression is rough. Despite how you may feel sometimes, you deserve compassion and healing. Sending you my best wishes.
Thank you so much. I know theres people of all ages worldwide who feel the same but I believe we can get past this with mental health issues being so out front these days.
When I was a Jesus Freak-Bible Banger I used to fast for the church and it’s “needs.” **insert eyeroll** All it did was make me hungry and I haven’t done it many, many years now. I don’t think is a healthy view of food, eating or health.
No food after 6 pm until 9 am next morning gives my gut a rest and helps prevent IBS flare ups. Nothing disordered about taking care of myself.
I agree Julia K. You don’t eat when you sleep anyway and I honestly find setting myself up to have 2 or 3 balanced meals in the middle of the day works for me. Nothing is taboo but I sleep better on an empty tummy and I snack less when I have food I’m looking forward to eating at my meals.
IF is my go to when my Crohn’s is acting up. It, for me, makes me more mindful of what I eat and drink, but also gives my digestive system a chance to rest.
Like someone upthread said, my usual “window” is at least 12 hours and up to a 16 hour one. I feel best when I am disciplined enough to get into a 16 hour groove. You sleep for 8 hours. I work for 8. I can’t eat in the morning as soon as I wake up. I will usually have breakfast around 10 or 11, lunch around 2ish, and dinner around 6 but usually a small meal/large snack (small sandwich, yogurt and fruit etc..,) around 4 pm as well. That’s an 8 hour window. That’s not a starvation diet. That’s not snacking after dinner.
Even a 12 hour window is basically not eating/snacking after dinner. wake up and have breakfast at 7am, eat all day, finish dinner by 7pm and voila! 12 hours intermittent fasting,
Can you snarf down 6,000 calories in the 8 hour window and be healthy? Yeah, probably not unless your a super athlete burning that daily. Like anything else, it can be warped into an unhealthy extreme.
CD: “…do I need to be snacking as much as she [my two year old child] is all day?”
Yes, Ms. Diaz.
You need to eat food throughout the day, when you are hungry.
The type of IF I tried messed me all the way up. My iron levels were already jacked so fasting during the day wrecked me. I had to quit after 7 days.
I try not to eat past 8 p.m. at night. Oprah recommended that and I think it’s a good practice. I definitely gain weight when I do night eating.
Eh, okay. I do it because it’s most convenient for me, and I’ve never been one to follow a rigid eating schedule, even when I had an ED. I don’t use it to stay mindful or as an excuse to skip meals, it just works better for me to eat when I’m hungry, not when the clock says. I don’t think it’s helpful to label everything a disorder—or disordered— simply because it departs from most people’s norm. We’ve gotten too used to pathologizing our behaviour and diagnosing ourselves with this or that.
Any form of eating can be made into an eating disorder. I know because I had one in my 20s that started out as “eating healthier” but really my motive was to lose weight.
Now, decades later, I unintentionally practice a form of intermittent fasting simply because I eat 3 large meals a day with no snacking in between. I do not count calories, I rarely weigh myself, and I feel at peace with food . I do find it easier to be mindful and grateful for my food now that I’m not grazing. Cameron has always struck me as having a generally healthy and moderate approach to things, especially for a celebrity, but of course I don’t know the reality of her life.
I just want to point out that Paltrow has endorsed the right-wing Rick Caruso for Los Angeles mayor.
Thread winner, for me.
I didn’t know she had weighed in on this topic (sorry) but Goop just raised my hackles.
Remember when people used to fast for religious reasons, and donated cost of uneaten food to charity (or made burnt offering of uneaten food). Sounds mindful.
If you have gastrointestinal problems I think intermittent fasting likely helps.
Food sometimes makes me sleepy so not eating while I do certain kinds of work sort of helps. That said, if I’m hungry I’ll eat what I want to eat. I suspect some people probably function better on less food while maybe more food helps others. But if your stomach isn’t working efficiently you probably wouldn’t want to eat much. For instance, a lot of people like cream in their coffee but if your body can’t digest the lactose you’re going to skip that, no matter how much you like the taste of that cream in your coffee.