In what has to be THE craziest diet move of all times, 23-year-old model Bria Murphy (Eddie Murphy’s daughter), has revealed that many models eat cotton balls to stay thin. Unfortunately, she is not the only one to have brought this frightening fact into the limelight – enough models and minders have spoken about the “cotton ball diet” in the past to have us realise that this is indeed a “trend”.
And exactly how is this savoury dish served up? Cotton balls are dipped in orange juice and then swallowed. The reason? You feel full sans any calories as the cotton balls just dissolve away after a while – they don’t add any fat or calories to your body.
Sick as it sounds, this is just another version of extreme dieting that’s prevalent in the look-good-despite-feeling-awful circles. Earlier in the year, former Vogue Australia editor-in-chief Kristie Clements described similar behavior in The Vogue Factor, but with a twist: models eating tissues to stay off the calories. Different means, same effect.
Forgive me for sounding lame and untrendy but I was always under the impression that one ate food for the nutrition that a body needs to function. Am sure that nobody here needs a refresher course in what happens when the body is starved of life-sustaining vitamins, minerals, proteins and even (gasp!) fats and carbohydrates. Not to say anything about what a steady infusion of cotton balls and tissues would do to the digestive system.
Head. Spinning.
What about you? Tempted by the cotton ball diet? What’s the craziest or most extreme diet trend that you’ve come across?
![Buy a perfume and save the earth? Sounds lofty and no one product can actually undo the mess we have made of our planet. But kudos to brands that are trying.
One of my favorites is @guerlain, which supports the super-endangered bee population through its Guerlain for Bees Conservation Programme. Through this weekend, 20% of the brand's sales will go to the Programme, which runs bee schools, sustainability initiatives & supports beekeepers through the year.
A great fit, given the beauty brand's long association with bees — ever noticed that their iconic perfume bottles are adorned with a myriad of bees?
[Scroll through for closeups — and click the link in bio for whole history of Guerlain and the bees. Trust me, it's FASCINATING.]
But why are bees so important? Aren’t they just a pain? And can’t we just live without honey? 🤷🏻♀️
Well, when you consider that 90% of the world’s flowering plants & more than 35% of the food crops rely on these tiny, buzzy workers for pollination — and hence survival — do you still think we can live without them?
It’s not just honey, it’s about EVERYTHING. The food we eat, the flowers we love, the life we enjoy. Basically, bees may be the third most important thing for humans after the sun & water. 🐝🐝
As Einstein said: “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, man would only have four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” 🌾🌺🥀🌻
And these bees ARE disappearing at a frightening rate. Think pesticides, deforestation, WiFi signals, mono-cropping… it’s all causing bees to die out. 🌍🌏
The problem is so serious that the United Nations has designated a World Bee Day (it’s today!). So, how can we help? Some of the easiest ways:
🐝 Buy raw honey from local farmers
🐝 Reduce the use of pesticides, fungicides or herbicides
🐝 Get bee-friendly plants for your garden
🐝 Leave a water bowl outside for the pollinators
🐝 Support bee-conscious brands — my other favorites are @burtsbees, @trudon and @gisou
And share this post to raise awareness... the decline of bees affects us all!
Drop a 🐝 in the comments if you agree!](https://thebeautygypsy.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png)
Becky says
Someone needs to tell them that the brain needs at least 250 calories a day to keep functioning, this is insane!
Becs
Miscriant.blogspot.co.uk
Nathalia says
The sad truth is that nobody gives them a job because they use their brains. Maybe they get those 250 calories from the Orange-Juice.
Nathalia says
What I find even more disturbing is that people who eat cotton balls serve as a standard for what women should look like and that if they do not look like this they are just lazy and not trying hard enough. Really? I am supposed to like a cotton-ball eating, nearly dead and possibly-mentally-damaged-because-they-don’t-have-enough-nutrition-to-function clotheshanger?