"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
BuzzFeed
·13 min read
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
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."
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."
3."Colostrum is a weird wellness trend and you do not have to partake."
4."It's better to get your nutrition from food than from greens powders or 30 different supplements."
5."You're probably not bloated because you have leaky gut, you might just not be eating enough food."
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."
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."
11."Genetics account for up to 70% of your weight."
12."You're allowed to eat past 8 o'clock at night. The body's digestive system doesn't just shut down."
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."
15."You shouldn't be getting your nutrition advice from men running around a grocery store barefoot."
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…
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."
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 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.
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."
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.
An Alberta RCMP officer has been charged with sexually assaulting two males in an Airdrie hotel room in 2022. Leduc Const. Bridget Morla faces two counts of sexual assault. Morla was off-duty at the time of the alleged assaults, according to the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT).ASIRT announced the charges Monday following a two-year investigation. Morla, 39, has been a police officer for 13 years. She has been suspended with pay since the investigation commenced in late 2022, accor
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) vented his displeasure Monday after two Democratic-appointed federal judges reversed their decisions to retire in what appear to be efforts to stop President-elect Trump from nominating their successors. McConnell called the unusual decisions to forgo retirement following Trump’s sweeping victory last month a “partisan” gambit that would undermine the…
An Ohio woman has been jailed for a year for killing and eating a cat. Allexis T. Ferrell’s arrest received worldwide attention after it was falsely used as proof of claims by Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating their pets. Ferrell, 27, from Canton, Ohio, pleaded guilty on Monday to cruelty to animals and was given the maximum prison sentence by Stark County Common Pleas Ferrell’s Frank G. Forchione, according to the Canton Repository.
After wearing a custom Primark suit to The 2024 Fashion Awards, Rita Ora donned a comic strip dress with sheer mesh cut-outs to free the nip for the afterparty.
Princess Anne looked breathtaking as she enjoyed the rare opportunity to wear a tiara on Tuesday night. The Princess Royal slipped into a gorgeous cream dress and diamond jewels to welcome the Emir of Qatar to Buckingham Palace
OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is not escalating a war of words with Mexico, after the Mexican president criticized Canada's culture and its framing of border issues.
Comedian Bill Maher said in a podcast that he is tempted to quit his show, citing the prospect of President-elect Trump’s second term. “I’m s‑‑‑ting my pants,” Maher said. “I mean, I may quit because I don’t want to do another — I did Trump. I did all the Trump stuff before anybody.” “I called…
A woman who admitted to drinking and who was driving well over twice the speed limit when she smashed into a golf cart, killing a bride who had just got married at a South Carolina beach, was sentenced Monday to 25 years in prison.
President-elect Donald Trump’s defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth faced reporters on Capitol Hill Monday but refused to answer questions surrounding accusations about his drinking habits. Arriving for meetings, Hegseth, 44, was directly asked at one point, “Do you have an alcohol problem?” The former Fox News host ignored the question and continued on.
Once presenting itself as one of the world's most welcoming countries to refugees and immigrants, Canada is launching a global online ad campaign cautioning asylum-seekers that making a claim is hard. The C$250,000 ($178,662) in advertisements will run through March in 11 languages, including Spanish, Urdu, Ukrainian, Hindi and Tamil, the immigration department told Reuters. Search queries such as "how to claim asylum in Canada" and "refugee Canada" will prompt sponsored content titled "Canada's asylum system – Asylum Facts," the ministry said.