"This Is Such An Important Message": This Registered Dietician Went Viral For Debunking Toxic Food Myths, And It's Something We All Need To Hear
Warning: Discussion of disordered eating.
Eating Disorders Awareness Week takes place from February 26 to March 4, 2024.
Recently, I came across a video by @WholesomeChickNutrition, aka Kate Regan, a registered dietitian and nutritionist. In the video, she debunks toxic myths we often hear about food that just aren't true.
Kate's video spread across social media for combatting misinformation and debunking popular myths online, and honestly, it felt like a breath of fresh air in a world where fad diets and non-scientific wellness trends run amok.
Registered dietitians are sick and tired of weird food myths and I love it. https://t.co/G5a8iS8iAD
— Thighler, the Creator 🇵🇸 🇨🇩 (@floomflams) January 19, 2024
Kate Regan, Dietitian and Founder of Wholesome Chick Nutrition / Via tiktok.com
Kate owns her own virtual private practice, Wholesome Chick Nutrition, which helps people learn to eat without dieting or counting calories and build a positive relationship with food and their bodies.
She told BuzzFeed, "We believe that your health isn’t determined by your weight, restrictive diets don’t actually teach you about healthy eating, and food should be simple, fun, and stress-free. We help humans from the age of 14 and up recover from disordered eating, yo-yo dieting, and poor body image."
Kate often utilizes the "intuitive eating" self-care framework in her practice and in videos, which she says focuses on "connecting with your body’s hunger and fullness cues to guide eating patterns, removing guilt and shame from your food choices, and learning to eat for your health without obsession or restriction."
She said that this framework helps "build trust with your body and establish a positive relationship with food, especially if you’ve been dieting or struggling with disordered eating for a long time." Kate added that intuitive eating can help take the focus away from the way your body looks, and instead make choices based on how different behaviors make your body feel.
She told BuzzFeed, "It is a refreshing change of pace compared to the weight- and appearance-obsessed diet culture we are forced to navigate on a daily basis."
So, if you find this framework appealing and are looking to develop a more positive relationship with food, below are all of Kate's friendly intuitive eating reminders:
1."Fruit and carrots don't have too much sugar."
2."Dairy is not inflammatory."
"It is commonly thought that dairy is inflammatory, however research shows that dairy actually may have a neutral to beneficial effect on biomarkers of inflammation," Kate told BuzzFeed. She said that dairy is only inflammatory if someone has a milk allergy — in this case, the allergen (milk) triggers an inflammatory response from the immune system to protect the body.
Kate added, "One might think that dairy is inflammatory if they experience uncomfortable or painful digestive symptoms after consuming dairy products, but that may just mean they have an intolerance which does not trigger a response from the immune system. Just because a person doesn’t feel well after consuming a specific type of food, it does not mean that food is inflammatory."
3."Colostrum is a weird wellness trend and you do not have to partake."
Colostrum is the first form of breastmilk released by the mammary glands. It's nutrient-dense and high in antibodies and antioxidants that help establish a baby's immune system after birth. Because of its benefits for newborns, supplement manufacturers have created a colostrum powder taken from cows that claims to have skin regeneration, weight loss, and anti-aging effects.
Dr. Per Sangild, a professor of comparative pediatrics and nutrition at the University of Copenhagen, told the New York Times that while human colostrum provides extra immune defenses in newborns, it's still unclear if it's what a healthy adult needs, and it could carry risks. Currently, there are no rigorous, long-term trials to back up the supplement's current claims, and while some studies have found positive findings, the observations have failed to replicate or found no benefit. The New York Times reported it would take "much larger and longer clinical trials" to prove current claims and rule out adverse effects.
4."It's better to get your nutrition from food than from greens powders or 30 different supplements."
This is because vitamins and minerals are most potent when they come directly from food. Per Harvard Health, as food, they are accompanied by many other beneficial nutrients, including hundreds of carotenoids, flavonoids, minerals, and antioxidants that supplements don't contain.
5."You're probably not bloated because you have leaky gut, you might just not be eating enough food."
“'Leaky gut syndrome' is a term used commonly in the wellness world even though it is not a recognized medical diagnosis," Kate told BuzzFeed. While the gut has a certain amount of permeability to allow nutrients to be absorbed, leaky gut is a hypothetical condition that suggests that the gut lining is too permeable, meaning that things like toxins and bacteria are also passing into the bloodstream and causing symptoms such as digestive issues like bloating, fatigue, and autoimmune conditions, Kate said.
"Since bloating is a supposed symptom of leaky gut, some may think that’s what they are struggling with when, in reality, a much more likely cause is either not eating enough food or not eating a wide enough variety of food," Kate told BuzzFeed. Contrary to popular belief, under-eating or depriving your gut of nutrients can actually trigger a stress response in your gut causing bloating as the digestive system slows down to conserve energy (meaning that it takes a longer amount of time for food to move through you).
Additionally, if you're not eating enough food, Kate said your organs (including your intestines) can start to weaken so that they won’t function as they are meant to, furthering digestive issues.
6."It's okay to drink beverages that have calories."
7."You don't have to save pizza and bagels and chips for the weekend. You can have them any day of the week."
8."Cheat days are essentially planned binges."
Many dietitians argue that the concept of "cheat days" promote an unhealthy relationship with food. A Canadian study done in 2022 found that, despite the "normalization" of cheat meals in the public and fitness communities, among adolescents, having cheat meals “is linked to greater eating disorder behaviors and psychopathology, including binge-eating episodes.“
9."You don't have to only shop on the perimeter of the grocery store. Foods that come in boxes or cans or packages also provide nutrition to the body."
10."White rice is not all that different from brown rice, so eat whatever rice you enjoy."
While we often hear white rice slandered, especially compared to brown rice, that's actually not the case. White rice has been a staple in many cuisines for centuries and often serves as a base for many other nutrient-dense foods, so it's not without benefit.
And while it's true that brown rice does have "a slight advantage" over white rice when it comes to nutrient content, as Healthline noted, these differences aren’t hugely significant, and either type of rice can be part of a healthy, balanced diet.
11."Genetics account for up to 70% of your weight."
According to Harvard Health, researchers suggest that for some people, genes may account for just 25% of the predisposition to be overweight, while for others the genetic influence is as high as 70% to 80%. Genes affect appetite, satiety, metabolism, food cravings, body-fat distribution, and the tendency to use eating as a way to cope with stress, which all contribute to a person's weight and predisposition for obesity.
12."You're allowed to eat past 8 o'clock at night. The body's digestive system doesn't just shut down."
Kate told BuzzFeed, "Some doctors recommend not eating at night because you will not be active enough to 'burn off the calories' since you are going straight to bed. However, this advice is rooted in fatphobia and places shame on people who eat before bedtime. The only time I ever suggest someone be mindful of their eating habits at night is if eating before bed interferes with their sleep quality or they have GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease, or acid reflux)."
She added, "Honoring your hunger, no matter the time of day, is important in order to build trust and connection with your body. If your body is asking for food through the form of hunger cues, it has a reason to do so (it needs energy!). Your digestive system doesn’t just shut off at a certain time of the night."
13."You're not a bad person for eating fast food or take out."
14."BMI is a silly way to measure health and self-worth."
Many doctors have argued that BMI is a poor metric for measuring people’s health, as it does not take into account muscle mass, bone density, overall body composition, and racial and sex differences. Critics have called it a “flawed, crude, archaic, and overrated proxy for health" originally based on white European men with little validity for other racial and ethnic groups.
15."You shouldn't be getting your nutrition advice from men running around a grocery store barefoot."
Kate's likely referring to the alpha-male wellness influencers who've popped up in recent years spreading misinformation and using pseudoscience.
16.And lastly, "It's really not important to know what your weight is unless you're going under anesthesia or your doctor needs to dose a medication appropriately."
Honestly, I needed to hear all of these reminders today, and I'm so thankful a positive video on eating and body image came across my feed. So often, especially as women, we're marketed the latest trendy wellness hack, and it's often at the sacrifice of our well-being. And typically, it's all about thinness — thinner waist, cheekbones, jawline (I'm looking at you, mewing) — any body part, you name it. It's been picked apart, prodded, and told to be smaller.
imagine how many women wouldn’t suffer from undiagnosed eating disorders their whole lives if they grew up w this kind of messaging…
— 🧚🏾♀️DNM (@My_Moment95) January 19, 2024
According to one study, in the United States 69%–84% of women experience body dissatisfaction, desiring to be a lower weight than they currently are. An estimated 9% of the US population, or 28.8 million Americans, will have an eating disorder in their lifetime. (Personally, I think this is even higher because it is estimated so many cases are underreported, especially if you are considered above what faulty BMI charts call a "normal" weight.)
Unsurprisingly, many others poured into Kate's comments thanking her for these reminders:
Regarding the motivation behind her video, Kate told BuzzFeed, "There is an alarming amount of misinformation and conflicting information about nutrition, health, and weight on the internet which is why I love making these 'friendly reminder' videos debunking popular myths. Most people sharing advice online don’t even have the necessary credentials or background to do so, which can be dangerous."
She added, "I think it’s important for people to hear evidence-based and realistic information from a dietitian so that they don’t fall prey to 'trendy wellness hacks' or biased, anecdotal statements. I also want to help others see that nutrition doesn’t have to be so complicated or confusing, and you don’t have to buy into the latest fads in order to pursue health."
As for discerning what's a myth and what's fact amid the many food and wellness trends that percolate through culture, Kate reminded us that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is.
She told BuzzFeed, "Many wellness trends that circulate in our culture today are usually tied back to some product or service for profit. Just remember that you can’t 'wellness hack' your way to true, lasting health, and there are no quick fixes."
She added, "Don’t take advice from anyone who is spreading messages using fear-mongering or shame as 'motivation' to change. It’s also important to check out the creator’s credentials and credibility. I am not saying that dietitians are the only people in the world who know a lot about nutrition, but we are considered the subject-matter experts."
She added, "If you believed any of these myths before watching my video debunking them, you can move forward knowing that you no longer have to buy into any of them!"
Kate creates these videos not only to dispel widespread misinformation, but also because she also struggled with an eating disorder and wants to reach out to others who may be in a similar situation, particularly online, where an image-obsessed diet culture runs rampant.
When she initially got into studying nutrition, she told BuzzFeed she was influenced with a different purpose than the intuitive eating principles she follows today. She said, "I wanted to learn everything I could about nutrition to manage my own 'health,' aka how to shrink my body and maintain it."
Ironically, trying to control her "health" actually landed her in what she said was the "unhealthiest place" she had been "physically and mentally." She said, "I worked very hard to heal my relationship with food and with my body. I firmly believe my experience with disordered eating allows me to connect on a deep level with others who are struggling in a similar way. I am so passionate about helping others reclaim their health and happiness through healing."
Kate noted the importance of seeking help if you or someone you love is struggling with disordered eating. She said, "If you feel like you might be struggling with any level of disordered eating, it can be really scary and overwhelming. I encourage you to reach out to an eating disorder therapist or registered dietitian for support. It also could be helpful to share that you are struggling with someone you feel close to in your life so that you feel less alone on your healing journey."
And if you are looking for general nutrition advice, Kate advised seeking out the platforms of registered dietitians, or consider working with a dietitian in an individual or group setting.
For more intuitive eating reminders and support, you can keep up with Kate on TikTok and Instagram, or work with her directly at her private practice, Wholesome Chick Nutrition.
The National Eating Disorders Association helpline is 1-800-931-2237; for 24/7 crisis support, text “NEDA” to 741741.
