Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop may be considered a wellness bible to some, but one former exec says following the company's advice made her feel unhealthy.
The company's former Chief Content Officer Elise Loehnen claims she developed a distorted body image after participating various cleanses. Upon leaving the company two years ago, Loehnen says she swore off the restrictive resets that Goop promotes.
"To me, it had become synonymous with dieting and restriction," she said in an Instagram video, posted March 22. "I felt like I was not in a healthy relationship with my body, where I was always trying to punish it [and] bring it under control."
Loehnen said that she realized her former eating habits were problematic while talking with a friend who reminded her "that wellness culture can be toxic" just like eating an abundance of overly processed foods can be toxic.
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Today, in addition to not weighing herself, Loehnen explained she has been "healthy in terms of letting go of ideas of what my body should look like as a 42-year-old who has had two kids."
She continued, "I needed to break a tendency to be critical and punishing. To chastise myself. All of it. I stopped weighing myself completely."
The "Pulling the Thread" podcast host admitted she eventually did try another cleanse but is doing it "very differently." She's trying a program called Kroma Wellness, which she says allows her to eat veggies or protein as snacks and doesn't force her to get on the scale.
"I refuse to punish myself with food, or hold myself under the weight my body seems to want to be anymore," she wrote in the post's caption. "I don't have the energy or the interest, thankfully. (And more importantly, I've come to realize that I really like my body and am grateful it is mine.) Hopefully I've broken that cycle for good."
E News! has reached out to Loehnen, Paltrow and Goop for comment, but have not yet heard back.
This is not the first time the actress' wellness company has drawn criticism over its claims. A February 2018 article entitled "Busting Diet Myths," led to outcry after Traci Mann, Ph. D, urged Goop followers "to aim for their leanest livable weight."
One Twitter user replied, "How about encouraging women and girls to be a healthy weight?" While another wrote, "Leanest livable weight????? WTF is wrong with you people?!"
Just months earlier, Goop was accused of endorsing an unhealthy diet plan after it published weight loss advice from celebrity fitness guru Tracy Anderson.
Anderson, who has worked with stars like Jennifer Lopez and Madonna, wrote that if women wish to see fast results and "do a 14-lb. weight loss in four weeks," they should "get off gluten and go very low carb." She also suggested the use of her meal replacement bars.
In response, a Goop representative told E! News the company "would never advocate for an unhealthy diet or extreme routine."
