If you missed it, Kim wore Marilyn Monroe’s “Happy Birthday” dress to the Met Gala. To be able to fit into it, she lost 16 pounds in 21 days — as the dress could not be altered. Subsequently, many criticized Kim for perpetuating harmful diet culture rhetoric and dangerous weight loss ideals.
It is important to note that when it comes to restricting food in a similar way as Kim, dietitian Elaina Efird said, “Losing 16 pounds in 21 days is technically possible, but only through extreme and VERY unhealthy measures such as starvation or semi-starvation. It perpetuates the narrative that you shouldn’t wear clothes at your current size and that instead you should be changing your body.”
However, in a new interview with Allure, Kim revealed that eating meat for her pre-Met Gala diet led to a flare-up of her psoriatic arthritis — which she typically partially manages through a plant-based diet.
“Psoriasis broke out over my body and I got psoriatic arthritis so I couldn’t really move my hands,” she recalled.
“It was really painful, and I had to go to a rheumatologist who put me on a steroid. I was freaking out. I cut out the meat again, and it’s calmed down.”
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Despite literally being unable to move her hands properly, Kim maintained that her weight loss was fine. “If I was starving and doing it really unhealthy, I would say that, of course, that’s not a good message. But I had a nutritionist, I had a trainer. I have never drunk more water in my life,” she added.
“When you severely restrict foods like she did, you are at risk for passing out and for your essential electrolytes dropping to a point where you may need to be admitted to a hospital to replenish those electrolytes,” Efird said.