Known these days more for her crazy wellness and diet ideas and bonkers relationship quotes rather than her acting, Gwyneth Paltrow is now setting a precedent for really bad health advice.
Here we take a look at 5 of her worst ever claims and why you should avoid them:
You should detox to cleanse your body
During January, the team at Gwynnie’s Goop site all do a mass detox, in which they abstain from alcohol, wheat, dairy, gluten, soy, corn, peas, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes (you get the message, basically anything that tastes nice). This is so that the body can apparently cleanse itself of all the toxins that have built up in there.
Now then. There’s no harm in cutting back, or cutting down on foods that might make you feel sluggish or bloated, but cutting out entire food groups in the hope it will clear toxins from you is bonkers. Your body does a superb job of cleansing itself every time you pee or poop. Your liver and kidneys take care of it, as do your bladder and bowel. The best advice is to east sensibly all the time and keep hydrated.
Steamed GOOP anyone?
This is definitely not one to try at home. Or ever. Gwynnie’s GOOP team suggest something called a “V Steam”. It advises you use herbs for this – but not just that packet of Schwarz Dried Basil from the back of the cupboard, oh no…you have to sit on a:
“mini-throne, and a combination of infrared and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al”
Not only is this utterly stupid, it is also thoroughly dangerous – and has the potential to cause skin burns and encourage more bacteria to grow in an already delicate area of the female body. Never ever steam your V. OK?
Avoid Chemical Sunscreen?
The opinionated team also suggest we ought to avoid using chemical sunscreen and stick only to mineral based “clean” sun creams.
There’s no scientific evidence to show that regular sunscreen does anything other than good things for your skin (ie stopping you dying from skin cancer). Mineral sunscreens work, and work well, but you’ll need to keep applying them regularly to get the benefits. You’re better to stick to a broad spectrum, high factor SPF all year round, to get good protection.
You need to colon cleanse regularly
We refer you back to our first point. You really, really don’t need to colon cleanse. This can cause more harm than good. The GOOP team advocate doing this regularly to flush out harmful waste more quickly. However, the risks far outweigh anything positive it can do for you. Your body manages to clean itself out pretty well on its own, and unless you’re having a colonoscopy and you’ve been advised to do so by a health care professional, you should NOT attempt this.
Underwired bras are BAD!
GOOP claim that underwired bras are bad and can cause breast cancer. This is a claim that has no substantiation whatsoever. There are no scientific studies that prove this and you don’t need to worry about ditching your boulder-holders. Bras have been doing a great job of keeping our girls in place for a long time and they’ll continue to do so, without health risk.
