The "Eating Enough" Myth
What Protein Moms are missing when they teach their daughters to meal prep.
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CW: Today’s essay requires some necessary discussion of specific disordered eating behaviors. Take care of yourself!
The Protein Mamas Are Not Okay
As someone who has been professionally identifying and analyzing diet culture for over a decade now, I’ll admit, I can get a little jaded.
Ozempic being an off-hand B plot in the last season of And Just Like That? Not remotely surprised.
#SkinnyTok influencer Liv Schmidt claiming she’s a victim because she’s too thin and pretty? Of course, she’s an Evie Magazine cover model.
Gwyneth Paltrow subsisting on bone broth? Do we even have to discuss it.
Ballerina Farm releasing her own brand of protein powder? Absolutely called it.
It’s not that I don’t worry about the consequences of these mega diet culture stars’ actions; it’s that I don’t expect them to be anything other than themselves. The sun must rise in the east; so too must Hannah Neeleman market the thin/fit/blonde ideal. Not only do they not influence me to buy their plans and powders, I just don’t even get all that enraged about it. I can critique them as a rich cultural text, but retain a solid professional distance.
But when I saw this viral reel from fitness influencer Breanna Cox, I felt all the things.
