Kylie Kelce Takes on the Most Toxic Diet Culture Phrases and We're Here for It

"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!"

"A minute on the lips, forever on the hips!"

"Sweat is fat crying."

Can you believe I was actually naive enough to think we had purged our world of these toxic phrases?

Unfortunately, they've made a comeback thanks in large part to skinnytok (ugh, skinnytok). And it's on us as women's health advocates to work against the diet culture that's resurfacing in such a mainstream way.

That's why we're handing it to Kylie Kelce for speaking up on her podcast about how she models a healthier relationship with food as a mom and a coach. She understands the responsbility she carries, takes setting a healthy example seriously, and we love that.  

"As a mom of four little girls and a coach to high school girls...this ain't it," she says of the diet culture phrases. "I have purposely changed the way that I speak about myself both to myself, in front of my kids, and in front of my athletes. Also, you don't earn a treat when you work out. You should be working out to feel stronger, to have better endurance, to feel healthy, to feel better overall. But you should not be working out to earn any type of food."

Amen. 

Why Do We Expect Women To Remain Frozen in Time?

It seems like every week there's another extremely public victim of the vicious beauty standards we hold for women. And this summer, we saw indisputable proof that our world treats aging like it's a curse (but only for women). 

Jennifer Love Hewitt was a '90s screen queen. She was a bona fide movie star…and then she stepped out of the spotlight, at least to some degree.

But now that Jennifer Love Hewitt is back on the big screen (ICYMI: a reboot of the cult classic I Know What You Did Last Summer dropped this summer), people seem fixated on the fact that she doesn’t look exactly the same as she did while filming the original film — which was *checks notes* nearly 30 years ago.

But I mean…of course she’s changed? Of course she doesn’t look like a literal teenager now, as a 46-year-old mother of three.

The commentary has been truly gross, with people saying she has “let herself go”. And this isn’t just about the pressures of fame, the narrow beauty standards, or the constant stream of commentary on women’s bodies. It’s also about the idea that women need to chase youth constantly. Because we expect women to be mature...but also to remain frozen in time.

The reality is, we evolve. Our bodies and faces change. So do our souls and minds and hearts and goals and our priorities. And that’s not just okay, that’s beautiful.

I am not here to say that we shouldn't ever bow to the expectation that women stay stuck in their teenage bodies. If botox and filler and hair dye make you feel more confident, that’s fantastic. But I think we all need to remind ourselves that this world wants women to remain fixed…and we were never meant to do that.

Ask Clara: How do beauty standars affect women in middle age?

‘Princess Treatment’ is Not a Fairy Tale. Here's Why it's a Big Deal.

This summer, a video went viral. Like, mega-viral. And TBH, I'm still thinking about it. 

In the clip, an influencer (who frequently shares how she receives “princess treatment” from her husband) revealed the ways she earns this treament when they go to restaurants. And, well…let’s just say the internet had a lot to say about it — which is interesting, because the video itself is all about women...not having much to say at all.

The influencer’s date night behavior involves not talking to restaurant staff, not opening her own door — not even ordering her own food. She prefers to let her husband “lead”. She insists it’s all in good fun, that she doesn’t ignore service industry staff to be “hoity toity”, and that she’s perfectly capable of speaking for herself.

But we need to make one thing clear: This is not cute. It’s not aspirational. It’s not relationship goals. What it is is patriarchal.

The idea that in order to be “feminine” and “elegant” and worthy of good treatment, a woman needs to shrink herself down and silence herself is nothing new. In fact, it’s downright archaic. But, thanks to this social media discourse, it is being sold as a way for women to live pampered, luxurious, loved-up lives.

We can’t let these narratives get under our skin. Because not only does this seem like an exhausting way to live (the creator even says she doesn’t “laugh loudly” in the name of embodying this princess caricature). It also feels like a way for women to diminish themselves under a patriarchal set of gender norms.

Our take? Get loud. Take up space. Laugh with abandon. Princess treatment may sound fun, but the deeper messages this type of content carries? It’s anything but.

Serena Williams is Promoting Weight Loss Medication — and Reviews are Mixed

Here's the thing about GLP-1 drugs: We don't have the right to judge anyone for the choices they make for their bodies and personal health. At the same time, the rise of GLP-1 drugs (think: Ozempic and the like) does affect cultural beauty standards and ideas about what it means to be healthy. And we can be critical of those larger implications.

The tricky part, though, is finding the line between body shaming and cultural criticism.

Because this is a murky issue, people are split in their reactions to Serena Williams not only revealing that she has been using a GLP-1 medication, but appearing in a paid partnership for it.

Context matters. Serena Williams is a Black woman — a member of a demographic that is always on the receiving end of additional stigma. She's also an elite athlete — the picture of health and discipline. And to some, her endorsement of weight loss medications feels like a reinforcement of the narrative that health and weight are one and the same. 

For many, it wasn't the fact that Williams promoted weight loss drugs, but the wording she used to do so. “I never was able to get to the weight I needed to be no matter what I did, no matter how much I trained,” Williams told PEOPLE. And there it is: The idea that we "need" to be a certain size or body type to be worthy.

On the other hand, Williams is doing the thing so few celebrities dare to do: She's giving us the full story. She's not gatekeeping. And while this is a nuanced issue, with so many cultural elements at play, we have to give her credit for that.

Millennial women are the real heroes of women’s health.

A little over a decade ago, I began my career as a health journalist. It was the moment of normalizing conversations around miscarriage and pregnancy loss, which bled into the moment of discussing the realities of pregnancy, postpartum, and perinatal mental health conditions.

Along the way, we talked about endometriosis and PCOS and egg freezing and IVF and everything in between. We began to get real about periods and sexual health, diet culture and mental health, health misinformation and medical gaslighting…and so much more. Eventually, as millennial women aged into perimenopause and menopause, we opened doors to unfiltered conversations about those issues too. It is thanks to millennial women that perimenopause and menopause are finally getting mainstream attention.

With attention comes resources, conversation, and, perhaps most important of it, information. The medical community became compelled to learn more, real women began to share their stories, and suddenly normalization of women’s health issues and conditions seemed within reach.

And we won’t stop talking about it. All of it. The realities of women’s bodies. The taboo stuff. The policies that affect our ability to take control of our health. The things we’ve been told are “TMI”...because when it comes to information about our bodies, there is no such thing as “too much”.

Tune in Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for “BodyTalk”,  my column on demystifying the ins and outs of women’s health, highlighting the people who are committed to talking about the real stuff, and giving women more information about their bodies. Because when we know about what’s really going on on the inside, we get to rescript our own stories.

So come on, ladies, let’s get information.