From Fat to Fit, Kelly Clarkson's Weight Loss Regimen & All The Controversy Surrounding It

Kelly Clarkson came into the public eye when she won the inaugural season of American Idol. She has stayed in the public eye as the brunt of the harassment by body-shamers.

Those body-shamers were forced to eat their words when Kelly Clarkson debuted a leaner look at the 2018 CMT Music Awards. Clarkson admitted to losing over 37 pounds that year thanks to a new diet. This immediately brought conspiracy theorists out of the woodwork, claiming that she used dietary pills for losing weight. 

So is Kelly Clarkson being disingenuous? Is it her new diet plan that worked or is there something more sinister at work?

Kelly Clarkson's weight loss regimen

The mother of two, Kelly Clarkson attributes her drastic weight loss to a dietary regimen she adopted out of a book by Dr. Steven R. Gundry, titled The Plant Paradox. 

Clarkson admits that weight loss was not her intent when getting on the diet, rather, it was purely health-related. She approached the diet to help her with an autoimmune disease and thyroid problems. 

According to the book, a majority of the gastrointestinal problems are linked with the consumption of lectins. Lectins are a type of protein found in about 30 percent of all foods including particularly high amounts in fruits, vegetables, pulses, legumes, and whole grains.

Gundry states in the book that consumption of lectins leads to a myriad of health issues including gastrointestinal distress, leaky gut, thyroid disease, and weight gain. Hence, he suggests that lectin consumption be discontinued.

Kelly swears by this regimen and ascribes her incredible weight loss to adopting the lectin-free diet.

The Controversy Surrounding Kelly Clarkson's Diet

The controversy surrounding Clarkson's diet is two-fold. 

The first bit of controversy is regarding the authenticity of the diet itself. External research conducted on Gundry's claims pretty much refutes the hypothesis altogether. 

Lectins are found in most of the food we eat. Ceasing consumption of the foods containing lectin is neither easily achievable nor pragmatic, considering most foods considered healthy contain lectin. 

Another research points out that while consuming lectin independently might cause bodily distress, the amount of lectin we consume is diluted in the foods itself, hence, the complications are not as severe. 

Therefore, discontinuing the consumption of lectin-laced food may ultimately do more harm than good.

The other bit of controversy is regarding the sincerity of Kelly Clarkson's claims. Skeptics believe that Clarkson consumes weird pills to help her lose weight; and while Clarkson herself has come out and refuted the bogus claims, there are, nonetheless a large contingent of people who believe otherwise.

Does the Kelly Clarkson diet work?

It is important to note that each person is different. What works for one may not work for the other. Kelly Clarkson swears by her lectin-free regimen and claims that the book The Plant Paradox changed her life. 

It is also worth mentioning that the research into Gundry's book has not yielded any concrete evidence on the merit of the diet, and for anyone attempting to adopt the regimen into their diet, discretion and expert supervision is advised.