I thought that with the rise of body positivity, the grip diet culture had on us was slightly less than what it was when I was on the pro-ana side of Tumblr back in 2016.
But I've been seeing the terms 'almond mom' and 'skinny tok,' as well as "what I eat in a day" videos that show me one full meal and a snack throughout the whole day. Oh, and let me not forget 'guilt-free brownies' made with black beans. Stop. Obviously, I am a black bean brownie hater, but I'm even more of a hater of the term guilt-free. You don't have to feel guilty when you eat a normal, fudgy, dark chocolate brownie. Enjoy it, let your cells feel the LOVE.
It's no secret that The Cosmic Club stands for wellness that doesn’t make you restrict. It’s a proven fact that restricting only makes you want what is restricted, more. Denying yourself this adds stress to your body.
We live in an extremely stressful world. The state of our Earth, the state of our politics, the lack of empathy, polluted air, the very high cost of living. These things add up, and the long-term effects of stress are horrible.
When there is a lot of stress, our smart bodies start prioritizing the processes that are essential to our survival. This means there is no space for creativity, for a thriving immune system, for a juicy sex life, for clarity in the brain. I could keep going, but you get the gist. A lot of the things that make life worth it are pushed to the side.
I've seen the rise of the term almond mom, and it’s been so surprising. People posting videos saying, "My future kids will hate me" or "Almond mom incoming"—and even though I get that we're talking about your healthy grocery haul, this needs to stop.
We need to take a step back: where did this term come from? WTF is an almond mom?
"The term "almond mom" gained prominence in late 2022 and early 2023, stemming from a 2013 episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills where Yolanda Hadid advised her daughter Gigi to "have a couple of almonds and chew them really well" when she felt weak from dieting.
This clip resurfaced years later, sparking discussions on social media about restrictive eating habits, leading to the viral use of the term "almond mom" to describe parents who impose unhealthy dietary practices on their children."
Who wants to be that, fr?
The funny thing is that people are posting terms they don’t even know the history of. They post WIEIADs that show calorie deficiency. They promote unhealthy relationships with food.
The thing is: there are days when you eat less. Sometimes it's not as much as you need, and that happens because we’re all living life. Not every day is how it should be.
But we need to be asking ourselves: should I post this?
Women have always had to deal with unrealistic beauty standards and damaging diets. Shouldn’t we be a little more empathetic and try not to feed these delusions?
I love food, but it hasn’t always been like that. My pro-ana friends and I shared tips that I will not repeat, but if I had continued down that path, I don’t think it would have taken long for me to be six feet under. When you're a young, insecure girl on the internet, and you see accessible ideas to change something about yourself, you grab them. Weight is something you can have control over, and this is exactly why we have to be careful with what we show online. Very small things can be a gateway drug to something that ruins your relationship with food forever.
I realized I had to eat when walking up the stairs or biking uphill became difficult. That, along with comments from others, woke me up.
But it woke me up to orthorexia: the obsession with eating healthy food.
I went vegan for the animals (as I said). Freelee the Banana Girl and Rawvana had me eating nine bananas a day with a side of cooked potatoes for dinner, and I was still insecure about my body.
Food freedom was never a thing for me until I saw the joy around a dinner table. I started a job in a high-end restaurant, where wine and food were joys in life. I saw the bonds between people sharing starters and plates of pasta. People licking the last drops of their dessert off their plates. People who found such joy in nourishing themselves.
I stopped being vegan when I realized it was too much of a restriction on my mental health, and at some point, I even stopped being vegetarian. It happened when I had something to celebrate and decided to eat a pasta carbonara. It had been my craving for a while, and let me tell you—it was life-changing. With every bite of spaghetti, I felt more free.
So here's my idea:
Let’s stop labeling food as good or bad. Let’s eat to nourish ourselves, to enjoy our lives.
Let’s try to make other women feel good about themselves.
Let’s stop raising almond kids.
And let’s just fucking LIVE!