"Wellness" Gurus Should Carry a Health Warning

PRMinx

Popped up on my Facebook feed and wanted to share it here, since we discuss "woo" all the time.

Full article: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/apr/22/wellness-gurus-belle-gibson-pseudoscience

An excerpt:

"A classic of its kind will be published this week in the Australian Women’s Weekly magazine which has an interview with self-described “wellness guru”, 23-year-old Belle Gibson, who claimed in a blog to have cured her terminal brain cancer by cutting out gluten and sugar. Her blog spawned an app, which was downloaded more than 300,000 times, followed by an inevitable book, The Whole Pantry, featuring photos of brown food photographed in a perfect rustic kitchen.

So far, so zeitgeist. But there was one problem: Gibson had never had cancer. In the magazine interview, Gibson admits “None of it’s true.” As the magazine puts it, unimprovably: “She says she is passionate about avoiding gluten, dairy and coffee, but doesn’t really understand how cancer works.”

Gibson is not the first “wellness blogger” to be caught out by her own ignorance, and she certainly won’t be the last. Wellness bloggers are increasingly numerous, astonishingly popular and embarrassingly feted by the media which never can resist attractive young women (who make up the most prominent members of this demographic) talking about food and being photographed nibbling on a strawberry. They write blogs about healthy living, which invariably means randomly cutting out various food groups and gluten (although how many of them actually know what gluten is remains to be ascertained), even though most of them have no nutritional training beyond feeding themselves. They run stylised Instagram accounts showcasing their food and how attractive they look eating it, and they write in a chummy “just sayin’ it like it is, guys” style so suited to the internet. They usually have a story about how they fell ill and cured themselves through their diet. They often claim that the modern food industry is killing us all and they always suggest that if you follow their instructions to the letter you, too, will be as gorgeous as they are, and maybe even able to nibble a strawberry as sexily to boot."

kikichewie

The more interesting thing to me is that her app was selected to get integrated w the Apple watch. No one had the integrity to call out the fact that she's selling snake oil as a cancer cure? Somehow I doubt Steve would have approved.

PRMinx

kikichewie wrote: »

The more interesting thing to me is that her app was selected to get integrated w the Apple watch. No one had the integrity to call out the fact that she's selling snake oil as a cancer cure? Somehow I doubt Steve would have approved.

Actually, Steve would have approved. He was a follower of this nonsense and probably would have lived longer if he didn't try to cure his cancer naturally.

I think the app has now been pulled from the Apple store.

kampshoff

kikichewie wrote: »

The more interesting thing to me is that her app was selected to get integrated w the Apple watch. No one had the integrity to call out the fact that she's selling snake oil as a cancer cure? Somehow I doubt Steve would have approved.

There's a bit of irony here, in that reportedly, that's what happened to Steve.

kikichewie

Ugh.

LovelyIvy466

PRMinx wrote: »

kikichewie wrote: »

The more interesting thing to me is that her app was selected to get integrated w the Apple watch. No one had the integrity to call out the fact that she's selling snake oil as a cancer cure? Somehow I doubt Steve would have approved.

Actually, Steve would have approved. He was a follower of this nonsense and probably would have lived longer if he didn't try to cure his cancer naturally.

I think the app has now been pulled from the Apple store.

Just goes to show why woo woo is SO dangerous. It's not just teas and detoxes, it can actually shorten your lifespan.

PeachyCarol

You know what else is insidiously awful about the whole "food as cure" woo woo bs? The culture of victim blaming that springs up around it.

There was a recent hypothyroidism thread posted here, and someone sprang up and posted a link to a book about a woman who "cured" her Hashimoto's by eliminating gluten and dairy.

Well, I have celiac disease and didn't eat dairy for the time that I nursed my daughter because she didn't tolerate it. I still have Hashi's. The unspoken belief is that I still didn't do something right.

There are similar beliefs among adherents of autoimmune paleo. In fact, I've been attacked on the forums and had my diet connected with my medical conditions by someone who eats paleo. I've got a thick skin and laughed it off, though.

Of course, these are just autoimmune diseases. When you get to deadly illnesses like cancer, you're really raising the stakes.

There's nothing wrong with trying to eat in a way that maximizes how you feel, but to believe it will actually affect a CURE? That notion needs to be fought at every turn.

PRMinx

mamapeach910 wrote: »

You know what else is insidiously awful about the whole "food as cure" woo woo bs? The culture of victim blaming that springs up around it.

There was a recent hypothyroidism thread posted here, and someone sprang up and posted a link to a book about a woman who "cured" her Hashimoto's by eliminating gluten and dairy.

Well, I have celiac disease and didn't eat dairy for the time that I nursed my daughter because she didn't tolerate it. I still have Hashi's. The unspoken belief is that I still didn't do something right.

There are similar beliefs among adherents of autoimmune paleo. In fact, I've been attacked on the forums and had my diet connected with my medical conditions by someone who eats paleo. I've got a thick skin and laughed it off, though.

Of course, these are just autoimmune diseases. When you get to deadly illnesses like cancer, you're really raising the stakes.

There's nothing wrong with trying to eat in a way that maximizes how you feel, but to believe it will actually affect a CURE? That notion needs to be fought at every turn.

Very well said. I have noticed that tone as well.

LovelyIvy466

mamapeach910 wrote: »

You know what else is insidiously awful about the whole "food as cure" woo woo bs? The culture of victim blaming that springs up around it.

There was a recent hypothyroidism thread posted here, and someone sprang up and posted a link to a book about a woman who "cured" her Hashimoto's by eliminating gluten and dairy.

Well, I have celiac disease and didn't eat dairy for the time that I nursed my daughter because she didn't tolerate it. I still have Hashi's. The unspoken belief is that I still didn't do something right.

There are similar beliefs among adherents of autoimmune paleo. In fact, I've been attacked on the forums and had my diet connected with my medical conditions by someone who eats paleo. I've got a thick skin and laughed it off, though.

Of course, these are just autoimmune diseases. When you get to deadly illnesses like cancer, you're really raising the stakes.

There's nothing wrong with trying to eat in a way that maximizes how you feel, but to believe it will actually affect a CURE? That notion needs to be fought at every turn.

Word.

The belief that if ONLY you could be a raw vegan/paleo/low carb/gluten free then all of your health problems would magically disappear, and since you don't eat their way anything that happens to you is your fault. Totally infuriating.

Need2Exerc1se

I'd like to be able to say I'm surprised by this. But I'm not.

jddnw

I'm afraid a health warning from the establishment would just increase their street cred as anti-establishment mavericks who are just "sayin’ it like it is, guys."

janejellyroll

mamapeach910 wrote: »

You know what else is insidiously awful about the whole "food as cure" woo woo bs? The culture of victim blaming that springs up around it.

There was a recent hypothyroidism thread posted here, and someone sprang up and posted a link to a book about a woman who "cured" her Hashimoto's by eliminating gluten and dairy.

Well, I have celiac disease and didn't eat dairy for the time that I nursed my daughter because she didn't tolerate it. I still have Hashi's. The unspoken belief is that I still didn't do something right.

There are similar beliefs among adherents of autoimmune paleo. In fact, I've been attacked on the forums and had my diet connected with my medical conditions by someone who eats paleo. I've got a thick skin and laughed it off, though.

Of course, these are just autoimmune diseases. When you get to deadly illnesses like cancer, you're really raising the stakes.

There's nothing wrong with trying to eat in a way that maximizes how you feel, but to believe it will actually affect a CURE? That notion needs to be fought at every turn.

YES. Gena Hamshaw, who writes the "Choosing Raw" blog (which isn't promoting all raw, just ways to integrate more raw foods into your diet) has written about the culture of victim blaming in the vegan/raw community. There is a too-common assumption that if you get "sick" you were doing something wrong. If it wasn't your food, then you didn't manage your stress or something like that.

The idea that if you do everything "right" you won't get sick is incredibly hurtful to people who are sick. And there is little factual basis for it. Right now it seems to disproportionally impact women as well. I've seen women with migraines, severe PMS, fertility issues, and PCOS told that they are to blame for their illnesses.

Michael190lbs

Its been going on for hundreds of years.. Snake oil is in every industry..

TR0berts

jddnw wrote: »

I'm afraid a health warning from the establishment would just increase their street cred as anti-establishment mavericks who are just "sayin’ it like it is, guys."

Unfortunately, you're probably right. Too much woo.