Sorry, Celebrities: Eating Clay Won't Make You Skinnier

Elise Solé
Getty Images
Getty Images

We’ve heard about some pretty crazy diets celebrities have tried in order to lose weight for movie roles before (ahem, Anne Hathaway), but this one wins: Zoe Kravitz (daughter of rocker Lenny Kravtiz and actress Lisa Bonet) drank clay to prep for her part in the upcoming film "The Road Within." Yup, she drank clay.

During the film’s premiere in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Kravitz, 25, who plays a character struggling with bulimia and anorexia in the movie, told US Weekly, "I ended up drinking clay. Because it cleans out your body and fills you up. I was eating like a Mason jar of pureed vegetables a day and running." She also said of eating disorders: “I’ve struggled with it myself in the past. I think all young women do. There are a bunch of images that are thrown in our faces all the time about what we're supposed to look like at 14, 15, 16. It's confusing. I think every woman can identify with that struggle."

A curious diet for anyone, much less for someone who has struggled with eating issues in the past. Also, given how much time celebs have to prep for movie roles, isn’t there a healthier way to lose weight?

“The Fault in Our Stars” actress Shailene Woodley has copped to the clay diet as well, telling David Letterman in May, "Clay binds to other material in your body and helps your body excrete those materials that are not necessarily the best for you.” Um, OK.

Unsurprisingly, an all-clay diet is not a good idea. “Eating clay is not proven to help people lose weight and there are potential short and long term adverse effects such as bloating, constipation, and abdominal pain,” Joseph Pinzone, MD, a Santa Monica, Calif.-based internist and endocrinologist tells Yahoo Shine. “You might also ingest parasites in the clay and disrupt the absorption of food and medication from the clay coating the wall of stomach and intestine.”

Eating clay could also be a sign of something more serious. “With the prevalence of eating disorders among the population, including celebrities, eating clay could indicate that a person has Pica, a condition in which they consume foreign substances. It could even become an addiction."

You heard it. So, please, don't let clay become the new diet du jour!