this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2024
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thebirdspapaya_snark

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Hello new Lemmy friends!

Word on the street tells us our community is regularly making it the all page. While this is very cool news to hear, we can see how the sudden emergence of our posts in your feed might feel jarring and probably raises some questions. And also how, without knowing the backstory, our community might appear less than virtuous, so here’s a very brief introduction which hopefully will clear a few things up.

The woman we’re discussing is a body positive influencer and media personality who has gained fame and wealth by lying, manipulating, exploiting her children for content, plagiarizing BIPOC creators and blaming her BIPOC content editor for it (thereby ruining her career), among other things. Her fraudulent behavior is no different (I’d argue worse) from the likes of Jay Shetty (google him if you don’t know who he is or what he did). She’s the latest in a long line of grifting influencers who are abusing their power, taking advantage of their position and exploiting their followers. The difference is that she’s Canadian. Our laws around social media and advertising aren’t as clear (and where they are she’s disobeyed them), add to that, our mainstream media has protected her from those who’ve tried to expose her grift and silenced/intimidated anyone who’s tried to speak out.

Our Reddit sub was taken down due to reports of copyright infringement, which is unfounded and categorically untrue as no one ever tried to steal her work and pass it off as their own. The mods have made an appeal. While at first glance it may seem like we’re just “shitting on her” the sub has been more devoted to investigation and posting proof of her lies than just bitching for the sake of bitching. The reality is that she’s hurt, manipulated and let down a lot of people. She stole intellectual property and employment, caused mental distress and has repeatedly told lies to boost engagement and profit off her audience, so people are understandably upset that their voices are being silenced.

We’re grateful to have been welcomed so kindly by so many of you, and to those sticking around to watch the drama unfold, we’re glad to have you!

**all posts are alleged.

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submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

First of all... 🙄 "Influencers" should not be shilling any sort of vitamin, pill, etc, unless they have a career in medicine. This is so wrong on so many levels, and should absolutely be regulated. That is all.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Found a Healthline article written by a dietitian on this brand of vitamins. Firstly no vitamins are approved by the FDA. These vitamins require a month.y subscription ! Contain fewer vitamins and minerals than others on the market. Cost is $94.50 a month for two bottles each containing 30 pills. Dosage is 2 pills a day. Hmm do the math , going to run you $1134 a year people. Oh and it’s an American company. Ask me if I’m buying. ETA this just makes me very angry and glaringly proves that the influencer industry (because it surely is not a profession or ethical career) needs to be regulated.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Woooow. Thanks for sharing that! Really just confirms how much of a scam it is.

edit: and agreed, as a health care professional, this kind of lack of accountability makes me SO ANGRY. She will most likely have followers who purchase these, not knowing any better, because they "trust" her. 😤

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 months ago (1 children)

She lost 100LBS by starving herself and gained fame from it. It totally makes sense that now that she’s no longer on the cover of magazines revealing her “secrets to weight loss” that she becomes a charlatan peddling products to make $ off vulnerable people during an actually economic crisis. This is shameful behaviour.

DO NOT take health advice from people without medical degrees or a background in nutrition, especially when they profit from selling you something. Supplement and vitamin companies relying on (or reaching out to) influencers to sell their products are the worst kind of scum too.

She talks about having headaches, gluten intolerance, dairy intolerance, anxiety, bloating, PMDD, cankers, and she’s morphing from big to skinny all day long with hair that won’t grow? Oh yes, perfect partner for a vitamin brand 🙄.

And I’m not saying that healthy people don’t have health issues beyond their control, but expensive vitamins do not help you get these things under control. If your hair is breaking and won’t grow (always needing extensions to cover this fact), and you get cankers from stress, have anxiety, PMDD, bloating, headaches, etc, then you need to go see a DOCTOR! These are symptoms of quite a few things (possibly PCOS, type 2 diabetes, and even perimenopause to name a few) that might require medical intervention. Doctors can then refer you to specialists (all free in Canada by the way).

As someone with serious health problems and multiple surgeries in my past (all not caused by lifestyle, so beyond my control), I have never been healed by vitamins, but I have been saved by medical experts! And doctors aren’t immediately suggesting surgeries or prescriptions, but they are giving patients requisitions for blood work done and urinalysis, sometimes ultrasounds, and appointments with specialists. Food isn’t medicine (thank you Dr Joshua Wolrich) but often increasing dark leafy greens, whole grains, veggies, reducing or eliminating alcohol, cutting back on sugar, sleeping, getting outside, exercising (or movement if that’s the word you want to use) reducing allergens in the home, and reporting health changes TO YOUR DOCTOR is beneficial.

Not everyone has the privilege to be able to afford vacations to unwind, or buy nutritionally, dense foods, or work in an environment free of stress, or get adequate sleep (or in the United States even afford basic medical appointments) or even live in an area with clean air or access to medical assistance. Her act, that followers will benefit health wise from listening to her advice, is very dangerous, entitled and deplorable. Vitamins and supplements can of course be used for certain ailments : before iron infusions, often you’ll get on iron supplements for example, taking vitamin D can help with some health conditions and even magnesium is suggested by some pros. But diabetics cannot just “wing it” they need insulin. Babies that can’t get breast milk need formula to supplement what they will be missing. People with feeding tubes need a special concoction (created by experts) to survive. Depressed people on drugs can’t just drop it. Trans people depend on gender affirming care. People with kidney or liver disease cannot just take vitamins to heal themselves.

Giving health advice while selling a product is , as the kids would say , SUS. Nobody should be trusting a rando on the internet (who complains about feeling sh*tty on the regular) for health advice.

And no, I am not enough medical expert, which is why I would not give medical advice that would profit me. Read medical journals (and check sources and citations), talk to experts and if $ is involved, then it’s a scam.

While I’m here venting, go check out Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without borders) who actually help people in health crisis). If you have $ to give to a scam vitamin brand, spend it on helping people access actual medical care instead.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Could not have said it better myself 👏👏👏

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Totally agree!