Fitness celebrity Jillian Michaels made headlines when she ridiculed the popular keto diet. She urged people to choose a balanced approach instead of cutting entire food groups from their diets.
But then she made a huge blunder:
“…go organic whenever possible so you’re not getting pesticides and all the processed crap.”
-Jillian Michaels, People Magazine, January 2019
Michaels’ organic obsession isn’t new. She often told competitors on The Biggest Loser, a weight-loss competition show, to eat organic. And she obviously didn’t learn anything since then.
But Michaels insistence on organic produce is wrong and dangerous.
Eating conventionally-grown foods isn’t the same as eating pesticides. Any pesticide residue found on produce is negligble. And, even if it wasn’t, organic farmers can–and do–use pesticides too. So her comment doesn’t even make sense.
But Michaels’ casual comments turn people away from eating produce entirely. Research shows that consumers hearing these messages will walk away from eating any produce if they can’t afford the higher-priced organic options. That hits low-income families the hardest. And Michaels’ careless comments only make it worse.
I’ll let my Registered-Dietician and other-qualified friends discuss the Keto diet. But based on the comments I’ve seen, Michaels was probably correct. Yet it brings up an important point: Michaels isn’t really qualified to give this type of advice. She has no nutrition or medical training. She’s simply a fitness instructor. And while she was physically blessed, it doesn’t mean she has all the answers.
Michaels needs to stay in her own lane. And her lane isn’t agricultural production, food safety, or chemistry.
She’s very wrong about Keto:
https://youtu.be/E5qxVVKvQ9k
Like I said, I’ll leave that to my RD friends–their the experts.
And I’m not sure who that guy is, but his stuff looks like it might be questionable (based on a cursory and, albeit, shallow look).
While I’m not going to argue the substance of this article, I am going to say that disqualifying JM’s opinion because she is a fitness coach, and not a food producer, is the same as telling someone who beat cancer with natural methods that they are wrong because they aren’t a doctor.
Title DOES NOT make an opinion more qualified… or disqualified. That thinking WILL bite you in the hind end.
You don’t beat cancer with natural remedies. So there’s that.
But I think you’re taking it too literally. If she had relied on food producers to form her opinion or had experience with it, that’s one thing. But I spoke with a lot of RDs who are concerned that she doesn’t consult anyone and doesn’t have any training or credentials to give her credibility. That’s the problem.
You don’t “beat cancer with natural methods.” Using “natural methods” is the same thing as not treating it at all. Those who claim otherwise fall into three groups: they never actually had cancer or they mistakenly believe that, because their cancer hasn’t killed them yet, their “natural therapy” is working. And, please, spare me the YouTube videos and self-promoting Mommy bloggers who claim otherwise.