A group of fashion designers has been criticised for providing juice cleanses to models during Fashion Week. The trade group has partnered up with a leading juice cleanse company which claims to provide convenient and nutritious food. Critics say that the move is dangerous, as eating disorders are a prominent mental health condition suffered by models. The fear is that providing this type of nutrition will put too much pressure on models to take their weight loss to extremes.
Whitney Thompson, the first plus size model to win TV show America’s Next Top Model has criticised the move, saying in her role as ambassador for the National Eating Disorders Association that she believes it could be detrimental to the models’ long term wellness and wellbeing.
The design group, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, teamed up with Organic Avenue, a company which provides weight loss juices and foods and the deal will see the company offering 50 percent discounts to models during the New York City-based week-long fashion event.
Juice cleansing involves drinking juice and nothing else for several days in a row. This dangerously low calorie form of diet is thought to be popular with models today, as the pressure is on for them to be size zero. Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are common, as the trend for models to be a size zero.
Organic Avenue defended their offerings, saying that they offer solid food as well as juice diets, but a closer look at their menu revealed that even their solid food is frighteningly low in calories.
There is no evidence to support the use of Juice Cleanses, and in fact they can result in diarrhoea which can in turn lead to electrolyte deficiency and dehydration. Many models are willing to risk these dangerous side effects as the pressure to be thin during the most important week in the fashion calendar is immense.
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