Gwyneth Paltrow faced backlash after posting a video preparing a salmon “detox” salad on the official Goop Instagram account on Wednesday.
To promote the lifestyle brand’s $195 “G. Tox 7-Day Reset Kit,” Paltrow prepared a “grilled salad” consisting of romaine lettuce, scallions, avocado, zucchini, asparagus and broiled salmon topped with a “very simple chive maple Dijon vinaigrette.”
“I mean, look at how bountiful and beautiful. That’s a big meal,” the 50-year-old said in the video. “What’s so nice about this reset is there’s so much food in it, and it’s all really nutrient-dense.”
Once she finished putting the colorful plate together, Paltrow gave the meal a try.
“Mmm, that’s so good,” she said. “You would never know that this was a detox. Thank you so much for following along my Goop detox reset. I’m feeling really good. Check out the kit on Goop.com.”
While fans of the “Politician” actress complimented the fishy feast, others slammed her for calling the meal a “detox.”
“Girl you just make crap up to make a buck. Your liver is what takes care of cleansing the body of toxins. All this ‘cleanse’ bulls–t is just another way for you to make cash,” commented one impassioned person claiming to be a nurse practitioner. “This chick has no f–king idea what she’s talking about…It’s so full of s–t!! Your body is made in a way to cleanse yourself of all toxins. Eat right. Eat healthy, exercise, get enough sleep.”
“She’s always detoxing/resetting what she eats. It feels obsessive. It also appears like disordered eating. It appears unhealthy,” a second agreed.
“How is this a ‘big meal’? Can we stop lying to ourselves?” a third said, with another adding, “detox isnt a thing. stop trying to make it one!”
Page Six spoke to women’s health dietitian McKenzie Caldwell, MPH, RDN, to get her expert opinion on detoxing.
“A salad with salmon: There’s nothing wrong with that, and it even looks like a complete meal with starchy vegetables in it, too,” Caldwell told us on Thursday. “But the whole idea of a ‘detox’ is a really unfortunate way that diet culture tries to scare people into thinking that they need to buy something to rid their body of scary things that is not actually happening.”
The registered nutritionist added, “For the average person, your liver, lungs, kidneys and skin are detoxing your body on a daily basis, and a well-rounded eating pattern, in general, is going to support all of those organs in doing what they need to do.”
University of Exeter professor, Edzard Ernst, MD, PhD, agreed that detoxing does nothing to rid the body of toxins.
“None of the detox treatments have been shown to eliminate toxins from the body,” he tells Page Six in a statement on Thursday. “In fact, they do nothing more than eliminate some money from the consumers.
“In addition, they harm our health by making us believe we can happily over-indulge without regret.”
Other followers ripped Paltrow for allegedly using farmed salmon instead of wild-caught.
“It was going so well until she used farmed salmon instead of wild 🤦♀️,” one critic wrote.
“Why are you eating toxic FARMED SALMON??” another asked.
“The fact that women pay $ to listen to your drivel is insane. Farmed salmon is terrible for you,” one more wrote.
Netizens also called out Paltrow’s cooking technique.
“please folks, don’t murder asparagus like that. Waaaaay too much waste,” one person said, referring to how Paltrow cut off more than half of the asparagus when removing the stems.
“So much waste on the asparagus,” a second commenter added.
“What about washing the veggies 1st,” another hater wrote.
Despite the backlash, Paltrow’s devoted fans defended her.
“This looks delicious. And I can’t believe the comment section if you don’t like her, if you think she’s old, if you want to critique the salmon how much vegetable she’s cutting up or cutting off, etc. etc. then stop following Goop!” a Goopster wrote. “Jeez the negative energy is 100 times more toxic than her use of olive oil or her salmon!”
“You had me at Maple Dijon vinaigrette,” another gushed.
Over the years, Paltrow has found herself caught in several Goop controversies.
Three years ago, the wellness guru was slammed for selling a $75 vagina-scented candle. In 2015, she caught heat for promoting vaginal steaming, with Health.com listing the treatment as one of the “5 Things You Definitely Should Not Be Doing to Your Vagina.”
And in 2018, Goop was dragged for hawking vaginal jade eggs, which ended up being harmful.
A year later, attendees at a Goop wellness summit accused the founder of ripping them off, with one attendee calling Paltrow a “f - - king extortionist.”
Page Six has reached out to a Goop spokesperson for comment.
This content was originally published here.
