Model Iskra Lawrence brands diet culture 'toxic' in viral post

Caroline Allen
·Contributor
Model, Iskra Lawrence, opened up about the “toxic” diet culture on her Instagram post. [Photo: Getty]
Model, Iskra Lawrence, opened up about the “toxic” diet culture on her Instagram post. [Photo: Getty]

Model, Iskra Lawrence, has branded the diet culture surrounding weight-loss tea as “toxic” in a strongly worded post about her weight.

She took to Instagram to share her story of weight-loss tea addiction in a bid to help others facing similar problems.

Weight-loss tea is often promoted by celebrities, but has faced massive criticism from the likes of body-positivity advocate, Jameela Jamil.

In her post, Iskra Lawrence says “toxic diet culture should be made illegal or have health warnings”.

View this post on Instagram

🚫I don’t want your detox tea 🚫I don’t want your toxic diet culture 🚫I don’t want to pick up a bag for promoting a diet 🚫I don’t want to join a bunch of celebs who have enough money to not promote something that could damage the health of their followers 🚫My Insta fam don’t want your detox tea either . It’s been years since I’ve spoken against detox tea because I didn’t want to give the industry anymore attention but I STILL get emails with offers and No $$$ in the world (and they offer more than any other brand has for posting) would ever “incentivise” me to post about detox tea and there was multiple emails sent to my team just last week!!! – one even started with “We saw you opened and read our last email”! [trigger warning] I actually got sucked into buying a detox weight loss tea when I was a teenager, at the time I had body dysmorphia and ED and would do anything to lose weight. So an online marketed tea that would make you drop inches fast and was “healthy, vegan etc” had me grab my parents card (so sorry) and order a “monthly supply”. In fact this monthly supply auto renewed and this tea was actually ridiculously overpriced and my parents ended up having to cancel their card and I’m so embarrassed that I ever felt that desperate but I was not mentally healthy and I was taken advantage of with marketing and that’s why I’m so passionate about challenging the way the media advertises and the messaging that’s used to make us “motivated consumers”. Toxic diet culture should be made illegal or have health warnings. . #idontwantyourdetoxtea Wearing all @aerie #aeriereal . . #notanAD #detoxtea #dietcultureistoxic #eatingdisorderrecovery #selfcare #selflove #loveyourbody #everyBODYisbeautiful

A post shared by i s k r a (@iskra) on Apr 26, 2019 at 7:19am PDT

She starts with a message to detox tea companies: “I don’t want to join a bunch of celebs who have enough money to not promote something that could damage the health of their followers. My Insta fam don’t want your detox tea either”.

At the height of her “addiction” she used her parents card to buy a monthly supply of the detox tea. This resulted in her parents eventually having to cancel their card.

“I’m so embarrassed that I ever felt that desperate but I was not mentally healthy and I was taken advantage of.” Iskra continues.

READ MORE: New study recommends a low-carb, high-fat breakfast

At the time, she was suffering from body dysmorphia and an eating disorder. She said she would “do anything to lose weight.”

Within minutes of posting her honest account, messages of support came flooding in.

One user wrote: “My mother did the same thing. She ordered a detox tea pill and it automatically renewed even after he bank disputed it. She ordered these for me as a birthday gift!!!! What a great gift.”

READ MORE: Jameela Jamil apologises for airbrushed pictures

The post also encouraged a number of other celebrities to come forward against detox tea, too.

Entrepreneur, Jenna Kutcher, wrote: “I get those emails all the time, too. No way, Jose.”

It’s not the first time the model has used her celebrity status to slam diet culture. She previously revealed that fad dieting and magazines had left her measuring every inch of her body.

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