After I watched a few youtube videos about kpop idols’ weight loss journeys from that year to present and seen what they ate to lose weight, I had to question myself.
Are kpop diets healthy?
I will present this blog post by dividing into sections which are..
Section 1 : What is a diet (in general) and why people do it?
Section 1.1: K-diet and weight loss
Section 2: Extreme diets and after results
Section 2.1 : Does it cause health issues?
Section 2.2: Yo-Yo dieting
Section 2.3: Are female idols more pressured to diet?
Section 3: Youtubers trying different kpop diets and does it influence others like myself to try it?
Section 4: What does others say about it?
Section 5: Healthy K-pop diets
Section 6: My thoughts and opinions
Disclaimer: This blog post is opinion-based with online sources to back up my points and if you disagree with what I wrote, email me sharifahtaiwo31@gmail.com to share your thoughts.
Section 1
What is a diet (in general)
Why do people diet?
The main reason people diet is 1, to lose weight and 2, for medical reasons such as allergies.
Section 1.1: K-diet and weight loss
K-diet
The Korean diet is a whole-food-based diet inspired by traditional Korean food. Korean weight loss diet mostly involves vegetables, fruit and protein (Kim, Kim, Lee and Park, 2016). The diet is mostly promoted by k-celebs as a method to lose weight. To see results, the person has to exercise regularly, eat a few calories, minimize added sugar, eat less fat and avoid snacking (Petre,2019). The main reason they diet is to lose weight.
Section 2
Extreme diets and after results (with examples)
Extreme diet: An extreme diet is when someone decides or is told to take their diet plan to the next level; basically going overboard.
These are the examples
The IU diet
To prepare for one of her comebacks, IU ate one apple for breakfast, 1 or 2 sweet potatoes for lunch, and a protein shake for dinner. Furthermore, she was active during the day while being on a strict diet. This diet can make someone lose a lot of weight within a couple of days.
How can someone eat very little and still train, exercise and walk around for the whole day?
Red Velvet Seulgi diet
During her trainee days, her company told her to go on an extreme diet. She had to drink only soy milk and lost two kilograms.
It’s upsetting to see someone like her to do an extreme diet that only contains drinking soy milk to lose weight. This diet method can cause issues in the body since it doesn’t involve important food groups.
Section 2.1 : Does it cause health issues?
The answer is YES!
The extreme diets that I stated above can damage someone mentally and physically. Tiredness is one common case of doing the IU diet and Seulgi’s diet. Having a poorly balanced diet can cause stress, fatigue and can develop health issues and illnesses (SAHealth, 2020).
These diets are dangerous to our body!
Example: Momo from Twice
In the video clip below, Momo mentioned to the others how she barley ate during the week, “I thought that if i fell asleep, I wouldn’t wake up and i just cried”.
Section 2.2: Yo-Yo dieting (example: Wendy)
Yoyo-dieting which is also called weight cycling is when someone loses weight and regain it back. Yoyo-dieting is a dangerous cycle that causes mental along with physical issues. Moreover, it can cause illnesses such as ed (eating disorder).
Red Velvet Wendy
AMFG Videos
Section 2.3: Are female idols more pressured to look “perfect”?
Yes, all the time and here’s why.
To me, 90% of the k-pop industry is based on appearance and the rest is based on talent; however, I think female idols are more pressured to look and act in a certain way than male idols when it comes to public spaces or when the camera is on. This is because we live in a society where women are expected to behave in a certain way such as having an innocent personality and an angelic/cute appearance (being presentable) to please and make others feel comfortable which isn’t right. Moreover, everyone should have a right to express themselves in their own way and not have to fit into a box.
Section 3
Youtubers trying different k-pop diets
When I first started to eat healthy and exercise last year, k-pop diet videos were recommended to me on YouTube.
Are they doing it for clicks/views?
Some videos, no but most videos, definitely!
Since k-pop is more talked about nowadays worldwide, I feel like people who are creating k-pop based content are doing it so their videos will get clicks/views from k-pop fans.
I feel like it’s not genuine; however, other k-pop diet videos are for experimental purposes so they can educate others on how dangerous these diets are.
If k pop wasn’t as successful as today, would they still make k-pop-based content?
Does it influence others like myself to try it?
Depends what type of person.
People who are easily influenced are likely to try it out, but others who are not are less likely since they already know the consequences.
Section 4
What does others say about it?
Youtubers
“I don’t think these kpop diets are sustainable and are extremely risky to your body” – Chloe Ting
The UI diet
“It’s not really healthy and it”s not really effective” – Yoora Jung
“I think there’s a lot of danger in just following these diets, especially for younger people who are looking up to these k-pop idols” – Tyen from Clicknetwork
Red Velvet Seulgi diet
“I don’t recommend this diet method, it’s dangerous” – BABYLLOW VLOGS
“I did this diet for 3 days and it left me tired, moody and ill” – Ellbat
Dietitians
One Reddit user said
“It’s so unhealthy and they need to think about their fans who are mostly insecure teenagers”
Section 5
Healthy kpop diets
Blackpink Rose
All I know is that She doesn’t follow a strict diet but instead control her portion sizes like the rest of the Blackpink members (Jennie, Lisa and Jisoo).
“she always reportedly prefers fruits and vegetables more than chips” – micky.com.au/
Jeon Somi
In one of the episodes of I am somi, she made a healthy meal that contained paprika, tomatoes, cabbage, and carrots. Then she poured noodle broth into a bowl.
She then put Konjak jelly string and fried tofu into her bowel and drizzled mala oil.
It’s really good that she makes sure she’s eating the right amount of food that have health benefits.
Section 6
My thoughts and opinions
K-pop has grown a lot; I’ve seen how K-pop can influence people especially children and teens to explore more; However, I agree with what one Reddit user said about how k-pop diets such as the IU diet can become dangerous.
Some diets that I’ve heard of actually made me baffled and people need to realize that eating less to become “skinny” is not healthy.
I’ve seen changes in term of dieting by how k-idols that I know of don’t have a strict diet.
Most of them can eat whatever they want.
All I want to say is that people especially children and teens need to be careful when it comes to trying k-pop crash diets since it can cause problems.
Thank you for reading my “semi-academic” article/ opinion-based blog post on Are kpop diets healthy?
I’ve never wrote something like this before and I hope you like it 🙂
To end this post, I want to ask you a question.
Do you think K-pop diets are healthy?
Products I usually buy to look after my body
Twinings Pure Green Tea, 320 Bags (Multipack of 4 x 80 Bags)
Bibliography
Kim, S.H., Kim, M.S., Lee, M.S., Park, Y.S., Lee, H.J., Kang, S.A., Lee, H.S., Lee, K.E., Yang, H.J., Kim, M.J. and Lee, Y.E., 2016. Korean diet: characteristics and historical background. Journal of Ethnic Foods, 3(1), pp.26-31.
Petre,, A., 2019. Korean Weight Loss Diet Review: Does The K-Pop Diet Work?. [Online] Healthline. Available at: <https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/korean-kpop-diet> [Accessed 13 August 2020].
sahealth. 2020. SA Health, “The Risks Of Poor Nutrition,” 2012. Available: Http://Www.Sahealth.Sa.Gov.Au/Wps/Wcm/Connect/Public+Content/Sa+Health+Internet/Healthy+Living/Is+ Your+Health+At+Risk/The+Risks+Of+Poor+Nutrition.. [online] Available at: <https://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/> [Accessed 14 August 2020].
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