One female KPOP trainee said she and her friends literally bribed a male trainee to bring them food and they cooked it between the plates of their flat iron for their hair. Not to mention there are countless compilation videos of KPOP stars passing out on stage. It’s disgusting and horrifying.
As someone who has now worked and lived in Korea for 3 years I can honestly say it's not just the K-pop industry, but most of Korean diet culture in general that think this way. My first year in Korea I ended up losing like 30 lbs just from walking more and eating less pizza and my coworkers were shocked that I lost the weight the way I did. One coworker asked me how many meals a day I ate and was so shocked when I told her 3. She just couldn't believe it was possible. Another coworker of mine told me how she lost 20 lbs from only eating 1 meal a day but had to stop because she fainted and had to go to the hospital. She told the doctor what she was eating and all he said was for her to go back to eating more. I also worked at an all girl's middle school and during trainee season (the time of year when they try out to become a trainee) most of the girls were on extreme diets eating only oranges or doing stuff like that. The teachers and parents knew and didn't seem to think it was a huge problem (some teachers commented on how it was a hard diet but not much more). A lot of people here (specifically women) don't view this way of dieting as dangerous or as having anorexia tendencies. They just think this is how you diet. Side note: As for the sweet potatoes, they're seen as a safer and healthier carb compared to rice, which is why a lot of people in Korea eat them when on a diet. However, they're also just seen as super healthy and are really popular in winter time (most convenient stores sell coal roasted sweet potatoes and they are AMAZING).
This is the same in Japan! I attended international school in Japan but had part time jobs there. They think diet means barely eating, but rather than for looks, they have this one look of "health" means being skinny. And treat someone a bit chubby like they are obese, telling them to lose weight and get healthy lol.
I am Korean and grew up in Korea. I love my own country but when it comes to body image or weight, I have so many unhappy experiences. Recently, I met a Korean lady from Korea at school and she told me I have to wear heels more often to look skinnier. I barely knew her and I was only 100lbs after wisdom teeth extraction. When I grew up, I was 5’4 (163cm) and 130lbs (60kg) and people liked to talk about how fat I am in front of me including boys in class, relatives, and sometimes random people I met.
It’s worse in Korea but it’s the same all over the world. I’m from Central Europe. I’m the same height and got horribly fat shamed at that weight. And I only was 60kg because I was starving myself and I was sick for a long time. I’m just not skinny naturally.
Don't be fooled by those ridiculous and unreal standards, you're soooo much more than that! Just in case is not clear enough, you're freaking beautiful being literally just the way you are, please never never never forget that ❤️
I remember Eugene from the Try Guys talking about the amount of damage that going to Korea and having relatives immediately critique his body and face and suggested surgeries. Even as a complete outsider I can tell Korea has a lot to offer the world but the super messed up body image stuff ain’t on the list(not that it’s only an issue in Korea). They’ve literally got some of the best food in the world, why shouldn’t people eat it?!?!
I was a figure skater, triple jumps and everything that comes with that level of intensity. Thank God, my coach in the 90's valued thick ole muscley thighs that were functional. Strength, power and and a healthy functional body composition were a focus. Yes, we were weighed. But my trainer would encourage a widely varied diet with things like "you look like you need a milk shake" thrown in there. She would make sure we were menstruating, because "You might not want kids now, but you will one day". I came out of the sport in my 20's and became a long track speed skater, and had all the knowledge I needed to feed an athlete and to this day have no negative side effects of my sports. That coach taught me to love my body at the weight and shape it needed to be in order to do the job required of it. If anyone reading this is having a different experience with a coach right now, please get help....and speak out. You don't have to starve for sport and beauty. Abby - thank you for posting this video! This needs to be a topic more frequently addressed, especially among young female athletes.
This is such a helpful post! I was not an athlete in school and want to learn how to be athletic as an adult, but I had anorexia and am learning how to eat the proper amount so I can actually build muscle, endurance, power, etc. Your comment helps me know I'm on the right track! Thank you for being a healthy athlete!!
@@solus8685 To ensure that our BMI was within a healthy range for our age. If a skater dipped too low we would be counselled to consume more and if needed go to the MD. I also remember during a growth spurt I lost weight and my coach cut my off ice training so that my body could catch up with it self.
Im a 15 year old girl recovering from some nasty nasty disordered eating, and when I feel like restricting or tearing myself down over what I ate that day, I watch your videos and they help bring me clarity. Thank you so much ❤
For me I dont know if this is eating disorder but I haven't eaten most of 6 grade year only the start of the 6 grade year.. because I see beautiful k-pop girl.
I started recovering when I was 20, it's been nearly 3 years and I'm finally getting better. I had disordered eating for around 8 years. It's a long road and a hard one, but every day when you wake up and realise you've made progress, it's worth it. Also remember not to beat yourself up over setbacks! I'm so proud of you, I'm so proud of your journey, and I wish you all the strength in the world ♥️
The sad thing is a lot of these stars careers would be ended if they performed at a higher weight. I remember blackpink Jennie getting on stage and the fans calling her fat because she gained maybe 5-10 pounds at the most. The fans were outraged at their manager saying, “how come Jennie gets away with being fat while the other members have to work twice as hard”. A lot of the fans were even planning to boycott blackpink because Jennie gained weight. Unfortunately it’s the public who is pushing these unrealistic expectations and that’s something that would be extremely hard to change.
@@roselastname4528 yeah it’s more than just body image. If you are caught flirting or dating as a kpop star you will be cancelled. The public runs these stars like a puppet show and it’s not okay. They have to be innocent little girls who are on their best behaviour. The men too, if they are caught dating the female fans get jealous. Have you heard of the blackout show that ended a girl groups career because the members had pictures of them dating?
I find it very scary that fans of these K-pop groups could see these diets and try going on them to look like them. To anyone who is considering going on extreme diets, please don't. Eating like them will not necessarily make you look like them or even lose weight. I've personally starved myself and battling an eating disorder. I see you. All bodies are beautiful. All that matters is that you are healthy. Love.
CW: eating disorders Just going to throw this out there but there is also a lot of cultural context behind these idol diets. There is a pressure even for everyday women to stay below 50kg, no matter how tall they are. Also, the public usually tends to praise idols for being extremely skinny even if they got there in a very unhealthy way. So this doesn't just impact idols but also South Koreans in general. My korean family and koreans in general also comment on weight very openly, which has a big impact on how people view their bodies and self image. People are viewed as positive role models and as resilient for going on these diets instead of shamed for promoting unhealthy eating patterns. For those wondering as well, most of these diets are what idols go on while preparing for a comeback and aren't done long term. But as a result they can yoyo between promotions. IU has opened up about her struggles with bulimia and is no longer on her famous sweet potato diet. One last thing, a lot of Abbey's suggestions would be good for people in the USA or Canada, but less so for the actual idols since a lot of foods like hemp seeds, avocados, etc., are VERY expensive and difficult to obtain in Korea. Thank you for the video! When I was younger I was definitely influenced by K-pop idols to diet and work out excessively. Hopefully this will help some young K-pop fans! (Sorry if this comment is long and not super coherent, edited for grammar)
Very true. My mother in law is 50 yo, about my heights and she is 47kg. The other thing is the lack of psychological education in korea. While talking to my fiance i learnt that they dont learn anything about bulimia or anorexia and he thought that its all just lack of self control. I dont know how about your family and friends but this lack of education is one of the main problems in korea i think
Your mention of Korean families openly commenting on weight is very true for the Vietnamese too. I’m not saying this is okay, but it’s what we all grew up on. Everything else you mentioned is also spot on.
I still can’t get over the dieting stories from TWICE, with Momo’s being the most shocking. Momo was told to lose 15 lbs in 10 or she won’t feature in the debut showcase. The tens day weren’t enough, so she got an extension. She literally ate NOTHING except an ice cube per day, and would exercise like crazy. Each night, when she would go to bed, she thought she was going to die. JYP (the founder of JYP Entertainment, TWICE’s label and management) presents himself as this caring father figure for his idols, yet his idols are pressured to do this?!
Yeah, that story made no sense to me. JYP personally added her to the group after she was eliminated, so it wasn't like she was going to be cut. Plus, Jihyo was way bigger than her and didn't have to do something so drastic. I wonder if there was some staff member who suggested a diet and Momo took it very literally since she really wanted her dream to come true. I doubt JYP would support this if he knew it was going on. Poor Momo.
@@rachelmaddowswife8713JYP is obsessed with dieting and weight he’s part of an actual religious cult that emphasizes “healthy eating” and he himself has talked about only eating chicken breast. Jihyo was given a pass likely because she’d been with the company since she was like 8 years old and management probably had a soft spot for her and her family. Also she’s the main vocalist and would have been seen as a much more essential member than Momo at the time.
@@rachelmaddowswife8713jyp also did bodyshame idols, he was nicer to jihyo because she was with jyp since she was 8 and also because she was essential to twice as the main vocalist and she can dance very well while momo was not as essential since she can dance but her singing is weaker and shes not like chaeyoung tier good at rapping.
I live in Korea and have definitely felt the pressure to take up diets like these. Most stores only sell "one size" clothes for women and that size is small. Very very small.
When I was in Korea forget buying cloths there. I did lose 20lbs in three weeks due to all the walking and eating their diet. Because of Korea I fell in love with drinkable yogurt (they had it before the US) and I was obsessed with banana milk. Lol
@@equestrianwhotravels lol for me it was jellies and sweet potatoes, I ate so many of them, even in class so much that my teachers thought I was having a special diet :'DD Gotta say the lifestyle in korea was also intense like the only times you really get to sit down and eat is when you go out at night 😭
frrr i know BTS don't do diets a lot anymore but i remember seeing clips of jimin fainting back in 2016 bc of his diet ;-;;;; bruh im so glad he's gotten better because if i was a fan back then i woud've cried seeing that come out
@@brigc7755 I think in every vlive I've seen (and I am talking about recent ones) someone is either on a diet or says that he gained weight and needs to go on a diet. it's just such a norm to them that it makes me really sad
Jimin never had a eating disorder. He did one extreme diet one time by his own choice while his brothers and his label encouraged him to eat. He never did it again.
IU has spoke about his past diets saying that caused an eating disorder in her. Now she eats good and talks about the importance of it. But yes all this suck
I'm a kpop stan and i can definetely say that following girl groups has negatively impacted my body image and i am constantly comparing my body to them. Even though I am an athlete, have muscle and am healthier than most I am not 'thin'. I used too beat myself up so much for not being 'thin' and go on extreme diets (which would just result in binges and me feeling alot worse about myself). Being small is such prestige in Asian culture and its honestly toxic.
I’m 23 and I’ve been following kpop since I was 13 and I can’t tell you how much it affected me. I grew up with girls generation and they were all skinny and perfect looking that’s what I strived for most of my teen years. Now I’m just focusing on eating healthy and exercising, being sickly thin is not the goal.
There's a boygroup called Stray Kids, and in their gym episode it was a mixture of heartwarming (one of the members, Changbin, assuring everyone that none of them were overweight and most could in fact stand to eat more) and heartbreaking (how concerned most of the members were about their weight).
They're in their 20s, most in their later 20s; these are not girls but women trying to look like girls by being thin. East Asian women in particular are put under pressure to infantilize themselves.
They even hate cheekbones cause they makes them look less like a child. Many of them blessed with strong cheekbones even reduce them with a dangerous surgery
@@tantanmustdie I can understand the cheekbones, not like we hate it, it's just our faces are "flatter" (like lower noses and flatter forehead, etc), and big, wide cheekbones make our face looks "bigger"; besides, us east Asian for some reason LOVE the caucasian features... However, IMO it's not really recommended to do surgery to make them smaller, that cheekbone is our ethnic feature and we should embrace it, and not to mention PPL MAY DIE FROM THAT PROCEDURE!!!
@@mackenziehu6531 I notice it too a lot, I am half Caucasian and notice how a lot of the ideal features look a lot like a typical caucasians face. I think Korean's natural face already looks unique and beautiful but its sad seeing them wanting to have something they don't have. Sadly that is humanity, everyone wants what they dont have.
I'm sure you get this a lot, but I really appreciate the wording of your disclaimer. "If this doesn't feel supportive to your journey" is a wonderful, thoughtful, and caring way to put it that encourages me, at least, to think about my experience in ways that don't start the cycles of negative thoughts for me. Thank you. Unrelatedly: fellow musical theatre kid here! Every time I find another one of us somewhere on TH-cam it's like a delightful surprise. Someone should start a club. xD
Hope you don't get swarmed by stans crying about ~bOdY ShAminG, as if idols aren't pressured to eat half a potato a day and maintain 45kg weight while dancing for hours every day
im a stan and its not body shaming at all. they're clearly being starved and forced to practice harsh hours with no food to energize them. its sad and im glad she's talking about it.
I’m a Kpop stand and this is not body shaming and we are actually the first ones to bash and complain to the companies when we see the idols are being mistreated, and it’s a constant topic that we believe their diets are unhealthy and we don’t focus on how much they weight
@@yasmeennatalia1026 I'm also into kpop, believe me I know that #notallstans. But some are delusional and feed into the exploitation of idols from companies because they believe all criticism is a personal attack against their faves.
@@sheeeeezza406 oh i agree. it took me so long to get into kpop because of the stans. some are logical and don’t attack people like but gosh others are just ridiculous and take everything personally.
I think this is also a large issue in general east asia and is magnified by kpop. I am Chinese, 4’10, and 95lbs. My mom constantly tells me how heavy I am and how she at 5’1 was only 90lbs when she married my dad. I’m a size medium in China and I swear sometimes I just want to curl up. It doesn’t help that my mom reminds me that in high school I was 85lbs and the same height. Fml. Thank you for shedding light on this.
I'm so fcking sorry. you're literally on the low end, please know you're literally not even possible to be conceived as chubby.. I think this years of pressure to be underweight in east asian culture has caused a mindset really similar to that of anorexics in almost everyone ...
When I was in my teens and 20s my mom would always tell me how she was 123 pounds when she got married at 5'9". I was a chubby kid and fluctuated between 135 and 170 during those ages. She also used to feed me heaping servings and I'd get cursed at if I didn't finish the food. Parents are cruel. I still hate my body but working on feeling OK at 165 pounds.
I know this is completely off topic, but I just wanted to say that your videos have literally helped me overcome my eating disorder and helped me develop a healthy relationship with food. During the pandemic I started watching you when I ate and you helped me so much overcome my fear of food and kill the ed voice in my head. Now, whenever I catch myself falling into my ed habits, I just binge watch your videos. You are so great, I wish there were more TH-camrs like you out there, thank you so so much - I am eternally grateful!!
The problem of diet culture is huge in korea. Commenting relatives' bodies, lack of education on psychological diseases like eating disorder or depression, new ways and medicine for stopping the appetite. One thing i experienced as having a korean boyfriend were the comments of his family about my body. Before meeting me they asked my bf about my weight and after hearing im 60kg they said im too fat to stay young for longer (?) His mother is about my height and she is 47 kg in age of 50 yo which put a lot of pressure on me. I remember before my first visit in korea i literally starved myself to lose as much as i can to look great in front of the family which resulted in bulimia and other ed. Now since we are engaged and im on recovery i dont care what his relatives think abiut me or whether im too heavy for koreans. I just wish Koreans were more body positive and educated on eating disorders
So happy to hear you are in recovery and not paying attention to the toxicity anymore! Good for you. Just reading that they had the nerve to comment on your appearance makes me so mad.
The K-Pop industry is sooo toxic in this specific area that it makes me angry. I hate how singers/dancers use their cute smiling faces and proximity to their audience on social networks to make them believe that this is a normal, sustainable lifestyle and that they are happy just like this (when are probably starving 99% of the time). I'm still struggling with an ED (restricting one) and I know that they are thousands of young girls taking notes from these idols because they see them as their friends.
I don't get it 😕... Who's forcing these people to starve and not sleep? Their parents? Or are they in the hands of some kind of trainers / keepers? Just, if they're adults, why are they allowing other people to starve them? This is so bizarre... I can't wrap my head around it.
@@feldthausen They are basically owned by large entertainment companies who have a lot of control over their career and how successful they can be. They typically get funneled into this system as children (“trainees”) so they’re indoctrinated into this system and lifestyle before they are adults. If they choose not to follow the entertainment company’s restrictions, they could lose their whole career.
I can't even imagine eating that little a day. I have to have a snack even before I do a 30 minute HIIT workout. Hours of rehearsals on 300 calories? I would probably literally end up in the hospital.
I could see myself doing it, but gaining a binge disorder after a while...more than likely become bulimic cause you know with the whole weight check ins
Yup! I was eating about 900 cal a day a day and running/doing yoga a few times a day and I ended up bedridden for awhile. Idk how they do this. I feel so bad for them :/
IU/Jieun also admitted on a show that she suffered with bulimia for quite a while. It really is sad seeing that the TV hosts just thought that it was normal. Also, the girls in Twice went through a lot too. Like Jihyo being called a pig by a manager, even tho she was at a normal healthy weight, causing her to feel the need to lose weight (i am still really proud of her for losing it healthily and gradually tho 🥰). Momo was also told to lose 7kg in a week or she wouldnt be allowed to debute, so she only ate ice that week and went to bed one night crying because she didnt think she would wake up the next morning. Many male idols also went through this, like Jimin and Jin of BTS. Jimin went on a one meal a week diet while also practicing insane choreography everyday for hours. Before BTS' debute, Jin was also called a pig by one of his managers. Around the same time Jimin went on his "diet" Jin started *strictly* eating chicken breasts everyday for a year. Also, some idols get hate for also being to small, like IU and Wendy of Red Velvet. There really is no winning here and I wish that there could be less focus on these idol's weights and more focus on how absolutely talented they all are. It makes me really happy that icons like Jamie/Jimin Park, Hwasa of Mamamoo, and Ryujin of Itzy are being praised for their visuals, but there is still a lot more work to be done.
This catch 22 situation also happened with Sunmi. Either she was way too skinny and peole were worried about her, and constant hate, or if she did gain weight, and looked pretty good at a healthy weight, then people started calling her ugly and fat when in reality she's stunning and a beautiful woman inside and out.
Omg what you explained about their bones potentially fracturing/breaking makes SO MUCH sense because Wendy from Red Velvet did slip and fall onstage which caused a broken pelvis over a year ago and people were concerned that she basically ended her career. I found that so bizarre because as a woman in my mid twenties like Wendy, if I fall down pretty hard, I just end up with a bruise, my bones don’t shatter, I regain immediate mobility etc and yet I definitely cant perform the choreographies that she did pre-injury, so you would assume that she is more fit than me. It’s crazy to find out that the amount of cardio they do paired with their diet causes them such severe muscle loss and lack of bone density, to the point where they risk not recovering from a fall in their youth :(
@@gale8515 Even normal falls though. I had a classmate who fell off another person's shoulders playing around and shattered her pelvis. She had a history of bulimia which weakened her bones and would not have shattered it otherwise. That was 3 or 4 years ago and she's still going through intense physical therapy. Height of the fall is not the issue here, it's that their bodies are literally breaking down from starvation, including their bones.
It also makes me think of Blackpink's Jennie, who injured her leg before debut and has never fully healed. She winds up getting the same injury over and over because she just doesn't have that natural healing because of diet restrictions.
I've been a kpop fan for years now, but my favorite group was SHINee. Ever since Jonghyun took his own life I've wondered what goes on behind the scenes. Not saying diet had anything to do with it, but this is just one of many ways idols are put under immense pressure.
I think about him a lot. When Key said he wants us to feel comfortable talking about him and to say we miss him i felt that. I can't imagine what he went through plus just being a public figure in general is super hard.
SHINee is near and dear to my heart (I'm a shawol, Key biased, and Taemin is my favourite solo artist ever). Jonghyun's passing had the effect of a cold shower on me. Now I still love and support the artists, because they have nothing to do with the toxicity of the culture, but the k-pop industry makes me sick, and I feel bad for supporting it in a way :(
I watched interviews with Hyuna and Sunmi and both admitted to dieting hard, Hyuna was uner 100lbs and Sunmi said her fans like her "slimmer look" so she worked out very hard, it's SO sad :(
I legit just fucking realized after watching this video that hyunA is in her 30s now and she has a shit ton of health problems cropping up - and this is in her 30s . She's been in this industry from her teens. I can't imagine how bad it's going to be when she's older . I don't want the people I like and look up to to have such horrible problems. At this point I just want to stop encouraging all the idols I'm watching coz HyunA literally said she keeps fainting due to stress and that's not good at all
I think the world of kpop is ready for healthier eating habits. These girls know the influence they have and I can see them taking a stand to demonstrate more substantial meal choices. I have faith!
I want to have hope too but I don’t think you understand the mechanisms of Kpop; artists have zero direct agency over the message they put out. The labels will have to decide on this message, and after decades of bad health for their artists they’ve shown no signs of wanting to do this. In fact, it’s just gotten more strict over time
I like KPop myself but what makes me the most worried is that fans know about these diets that idols have to maintain and then claim that their idols are naturally this weight. Like I get that some people are slim naturally but it is not normal for anybody to naturally be severely underweight which most of them are if their stated weight to height ratio is actually real.
defff, though I will say there are idols like Rose from blackpink who have very fast metabolisms, and she tends to eat a lot and not diet often as far as i know, so at least fans don't have to worry about her.
***** Major ED Trigger Warning ***** They openly speak about severely disordered eating because it’s so normalized. Wendy from Red Velvet said she would only eat an apple & half a cup of rice all day. Jimin from BTS said he’d pass out in practice because he didn’t eat for days. IU admitted to being bulimic & only ate an apple, a sweet potato, and a protein shake in a day. Momo from Twice said the company forced her to lose 15 lbs in 1 week to debut. She wouldn’t even eat ice cubes from fear of gaining water weight. She said she was afraid to go to sleep because she thought she was going to die. Somi said she’d only eat 3 bananas all day. Some of these people were literal children at the time. Some people may be naturally thin. But there is plenty of evidence that way too many idols maintain their very low weight in ways that are NOT NORMAL. Or healthy.
@@brigc7755 do you mean to adress me? I support groups from multiple lables but my main issue is not the treatment of the artist by the lable but how blindly fans defend their idols. They have the information available for them to see how their idols maintain their low weights but they seem to be making excuses like talking about fast metabolisms. Its sad because these fans might develop unhealthy relationships with their bodies, working out and food by normalizing the way these idols live. This has got nothing to do with particular idols or lables because sure, some lables are more open to their idols not only being 45kg but then that presure is just being applied by media and toxic fans so in the end i think most idols suffer from that presure.
I lived in Seoul for a year from 2014-2015. There are a ton of things I love and respect about Korean culture. I noticed most people eat A LOT of food, way more than I could ever eat. But when it came to dieting, there was severe deprivation. It struck me as possibly past trauma from the war manifesting itself in the present. They still talk about famine/food scarcity from that time, and they still cherish the foods and dishes they were able to find during the war (some of these foods were found in the garbage of American soldiers). There was A LOT on ingenuity and tenacity to get through those difficult times. Many people still believe those qualities are needed in the present to push themselves (or others) to achieve a goal. It’s like, ‘if my grandparents could survive on a sweet potato back then, then I should be able to do this now.’ It’s not just to help the self get and hold the job, but more so to help the country become and remain an economic powerhouse on the global stage (perhaps another reaction to the devastation of the war). They push themselves extremely hard in many respects. Dieting is just one manifestation of this outlook. Younger generations are challenging this more, but it’ll be a slow burn given how much respect is given to elders and authority figures there.
That's really interesting. It makes me think of the generation of people in the U.S. that went through the Great Depression and WW2 rationing. They also had connections to highly restrictive diets, saving/ hoarding, similar mentalities around "If I could do x, you can do y", and they have a very strong (sometimes unhealthy) work ethic.
@@Nikki-lodeon Yup, that’s a good parallel. You see examples of this phenomenon all over as you study what happens to refugees, post- war countries recovering, etc. It’s super interesting what can happen to the collective consciousness. I’m in the US and expect many of us will come out of the pandemic with long term, maladaptive behavior. Even in myself, I noticed a bit of panic setting in when I ate outdoors at a beach-side restaurant with my mom last summer when cases were almost 0 in our area. Even though my mom’s a doctor and what we were doing was considered “safe” by most experts, I still felt nervous. All that to say, we’re about to have some firsthand experience with this.
one of the most famour girl groups in korea "twice" spoke about how their agency made one of the members lose 7 kgs in one week. and she had to eat one ice cube in the whole week and she worked out everyday on one of their lives. i would say luckily these agencies are treating their newer 4th gen artists a lot better and they're less strict when it comes to staying in shape
17:30 this just took me back to the time Wendy fell off those stairs on SBS Gayo Daejeon and broke her face, wrist and pelvis and was away for over a year before doing a comeback. And Ashley from Ladies Code talking about how during her trainee days some girls had to take breaks every 30 minutes during dance practice because the felt like they where about to faint.
There's a documentary on Netflix about the band Black Pink, and they follow them around, in one moment one of the girls say she is really hungry and asks the others if she eat anything today, they say that they don't think she did. How f* up is this.
YES! They always include a "disclaimer" about how you shouldn't follow the diet but then the make all these videos of themselves following the diet and how much weight they lost.
(TW): Kpop diets and kpop diet challenges helped start my 4 year long battle with anorexia. Starting with the infamous apple for brekkie, sweet potato for lunch and protein shake for din din. Never lasted a day but triggered a body shaming downward spiral.
As a dancer who have been practicing Kpop choreographies for the last decade, I can assure that this diet culture does not only effect the idols themselves. We Kpop cover-dancers have idolised and idealised their incredibly underweight bodies and physiques. This is both intentional and unintentional. We dancers spend hours of watching and referencing the original dance videos (so it puts us in a similar position to those who only follow hashtag fitspo) and that being the only pool of humans we see: dangerously skinny bodies, undereating, disordered behaviours. So a lot of dancers including myself have been on those ridiculous diets to copy the appeal in addition to the choreographies. And it effects us both physically and mentally where we are too fatigued to practice the dances, and we have lower self-esteem for having bigger bodies than the original idols. *I was only able to have a change of perspective after I started my Nutrition degree, and realise how messed up this is, especially in the long run. (surely this diet culture has such tremendous effect on Kpop fans generally, this is just what I’ve seen and experienced as a cover-dancer.)
I totally understand you. I'm also a dancer, especially Kpop Cover- Dancer & I really have to say that, since I started with KpopCovers, i eat nothing 1-2 days before shooting, to have that slim, "not puffy" boody in the camera.
@@elsaschnee4589 eeee I've been there, and I've witnessed dancers fainting in front of my eyes during outdoor shoots from undereating, overtraining, and overall fatigue. I hope the content in this video will put you in a much healthier approach to your upcoming shoots. 💗
cw for eating disorders here! abbey i just wanna say that im so grateful for your content. im recovering from an ed ive had since I was 12 (thanks mom!), but also trying to lose weight. ive become overweight and im trying to get down to a healthy weight in a healthy way. your content is constantly inspiring me to create healthy balanced meals and not deprive myself like ive done in the past. and ive slowly been growing to love food again and love cooking and creating. all while losing weight and enjoying the process. thank you for all that you do!
To be honest it's just not kpop idols fault or their management. It's unfortunately the audience in Asia thinking that if a girl or a boy is an idol they MUST fit in THEIR STANDARD which to be honest they themselves (viewer) doesn't fit in it. I remember amber being offended by an audience member because he insulted her group members weight which I must tell you isn't much different than others.
it IS their management's fault though, because they're actively putting their idols at risk for the sake of profit. just like in the west, it's been drilled into the audience that this is what to expect...so the cycle feeds itself.
@@vocaeien I agree to certain limit. But again if audience will critice the idols on looks and won't watch them. management would try to please the Audience eventually it's a show BUSINESS where one wants to earn. These trainees know what they are getting into including their parents know it as well still they continue to do because it's their dream. I am just happy that alot of idols are bringing change but it's long way to go
@@heenagidwani3696 No matter how much we try to tell ourselves it's ok & that trainees knew what they were getting into, it's still exploitative considering how much they profit off of the idols.
I love kimbap, and when I could get to a Korean grocery, I would pick up authentic ingredients to make them at home myself. (Alas, right now, crossing a state line would trigger quarantine for a few days upon my return. )
I’m surprised she didn’t add in Mina from GuGuDan and her sparkling water diet. Yep. That’s it. No sweet potatoes, no eggs, no salads. Just sparkling water and vibes (for breakfast lunch and dinner). And when she came out publicly with her “diet secret” she got heavily praised for it too. Honestly, compared to some of the diets I’ve seen idols do, they make the ones in this video look like a bastion of nutritional health and satiety 🙃 I won’t rag on them too hard though, Western/American celebrities are just as bad, some worse. They just have to keep it under wraps. For these Asian idols (it’s not isolated to just Koreans as Chinese/Japanese etc. celebrities diet just as dangerously too) it’s a toxic cycle and very little they can do to rebel/break away from the standards when being thin is so closely intertwined with their history and cultural norms/expectations...it’s to the point where being able to “manage yourself” I.e stay close to the 49kg mark is seen as a character virtue and a marker for how good and disciplined and hardworking of a person you are; makes you more worthy of success. And that standard goes for regular non-celebrities too. And for the people saying “don’t worry they only eat like this for a few weeks”, nah. This is a part of their lives. We’ve all seen the yo-yo-ing and it’s not hard to see it’s a cycle of binge-restrict-binge. And I too would like to advocate for healthier diets as the solution and alternative but any person who is taking care of themselves and eating right will never get to those levels of thin (104lbs) unless naturally that skinny. Especially not when the healthy bodies (128lbs at 5’6” for example) will almost always be considered fat and unacceptable.
A clarification of the rude food snatching, for fan signs, the artists shouldn't eat the food given to them because anti-fans may poison it or whatever. Like Yunho and the glue orange juice incident. That being said the managers can be nicer about taking the food.
@@markdarcy5256 Just precision not really it depends of the group and company when you go to the official page of for example Stray Kids who is a big group or BTS in their schedule you see that all sunday are in red meaning that it's their day off. Of course that doesn't mean that the artist don't work in solo by writing or composing or dancing by himself but the company don't make them work.
My granny always said that fame came at a price. Most celebrities aren't happy and often fall into drug abuse or commit suicide to ease the pressure. I'm so happy you covered this! Health is wealth!
@@AbbeysKitchen Maybe can you also take a look at Demi Lovato's new documentary? she's talking about her eating disorders in the first episode, and of course it was largely due to being a young child in the spotlight.
Abbey I cannot express how grateful I am for your channel. I love you. Keep informing and educating and I love how you gentle approach how dangerous this diet is, like you don’t shame but have more sympathy and concern for their overall well being. Also that little clip of the baby flopping over was too cute! I truly think you’ve grown so much as an influencer over the past few months. Thank you again for being you and existing and creating a safe space for people. I just love you. Hope you and the family are all well x
It is scary what these trainees go through. The good news is though is that there are Kpop companies that are making changes that will protect their artists from poor treatment such as unhealthy diets and workout regimes. The bad news is no all companies are doing this and the pressures on the artists can lead them to severe mental health and suicide.
when I heard that Momo (Twice) literally only allowed to eat ice cubes before she debuted or else they might cross her out, I got goosebumps, like they have to practice a lot: dancing, singing almost everyday. It is heart breaking
its funny in a really sad way how abbey usually suggests what to add TO the existing meals and now shes saying how to add these "meals" to actual, nutritious meals
The IU example she used was a ONE week diet done by IU to loose weight. She eats plenty and healthy normally. I have no idea why OP needed to generalize all Korean artists instead of just talking about the few examples where it's accurate. It's not accurate for BTS nor IU. BTS label is actually a prime example of caring for artists well being not just in Korea but in the world.
@@blueturtle1813 IU has talked about her eating disorder (bulimia) and most kpop idols are underweight- most female idols don't even get their period because of malnutrition. This is incredibly accurate for IU and crash diets like the IU diet still aren't healthy. BTS label, as you say, also doesn't take care of BTS and any army knows this, they overwork the boys, they have starved them in the past (JIn's chicken diet, not taking care of Jimin's ED) and the boys have often nearly passed out (check their tour videos) because Bighit has taken such bad care of them. Bighit can care for them and manage them well in some areas and still do poorly in these. Don't let the Kpop industry off the hook for treating idols so terribly when it comes to food.
@@jaja-cg9yd You just eat at maintenance for that lower weight. It's possible, you just need to calculate your calorie requirements for the new low weight. I've done it before lol, takes a lot of willpower though.
Now that Jackson Wang's diet doesn't look too bad right? 😭 Some kpop idols even said they didn't drink WATER a day before their weighting day cuz even thoes few grams mattered to the company 🤦🏻♀️ this literally INSANE 🤦🏻♀️ Thank you so much for this video I'll make sure to share thus video to thoes who are trying these diets 💕
Idols have also been known to spit, sometimes for hours before a weigh-in, so as to lose "water weight". One idol who did that during her trainee days was Coco, formerly of Blady. It didn't save her though. She got dropped from her (unnamed) group, because of *two measly pounds* ps: By the Jackson Wang diet, do you mean that unholy smoothie he makes, that includes steamed chicken breasts LOL
I have been a fan of IU for almost 10 years now, and her diet “inspired” me to diet like her as well-as a young girl, sometimes it’s hard to know what is good for u, especially when people you look up to eat a certain way
It blows my mind that there's so much proven research about how eating under a certain amount of calories a day has huge consequences for both your mental and physical health, yet it continues to be such a huge issue in the kpop industry
Not to mention the beauty standards in Kpop. The weight limit in kpop idols is 50 kg(110 lbs) which is underweight for most women. If you weigh more than that or if you're at a healthy body weight, you're literally force to go on a stupid restrictive diet. Kpop idols being like 5'7 and 105 pounds is super skinny. This is NOT OK. We should not normalize and praise girls for starving themselves and glorify being stick skinny. Being underweight to that point can really damage your health. Also, there are many healthier looking female idols, like Jennie from BP, Ryujin from ITZY, and Hwasa from Mamamoo who have some fat and muscle on them and are pretty strong. Those girls get fat shamed and called "chubby and obese" because the Kpop industry is so used to seeing girls who are sickly thin. They are not fat, they are actually healthy girls! Also, from my perspective, if I had to dance for 6-10 hours a day, and was put on these diets, I would not be able to make it through. I would definitely pass out while performing. These girls eat wayyyyy too little food, considering the amount of exercise they do. They should actually be eating around 3000 calories a day to stay healthy. I don't know why the Kpop industry puts so much pressure on young girls and glorifies being underweight. I genuinely feel so sorry for those idols. I wish them the best.
im glad you did this topic. I have been a fan of kpop for almost 9 years, that means I got into it when i was around 12 (a really dangerous age to be exposed to all these unhealthy diets). I would say that back in the day the kpop diets were way worse (the iu diet was from 2013). However, kpop idols doing extreme and seriously crazy diets is still very present and is such a huge problem on the industry. As a kpop fan of many years, i have seen how my favorite idols get super sick or even collapsed due to fatigue and malnourishment; and its horrible. I think one of the things that makes me the most scared about this is that fans want to recreate these diets to be as thin as their favorite artist. 12 year old me used to obsessed over this and Its so unhealthy. Hope this diet culture in south korea changes because its so inhuman
I don’t listen to kpop but I teach and my students are obsessed. This stuff has me so worried. Because I teach dance to middle schoolers I’ve gotten really blunt with them about how pervasive disordered eating is in the dance world, we talked about warning signs, I brought in my personal experience of having a friend who hid hers from me because I just didn’t know the signs(she’s in recovery and living beautifully!) and now this stuff is terrifying to watch. They are obsessed with all these performers, I had absolutely no idea it was this bad. I wanted that one girl to punch the person taking her food. I worry all the time about the things my girls watch and this is just way worse than I could have imagined......
I used to give myself a capped weight that I couldnt go over and if I did, I would do reaaally unheatlthy things. At the time, I didnt realize that this wasn't great for me and I didn't realize I had an ED. But now looking back on the other side, in recovery, I realized I did a loooot of extreme things and some of these kpop stars diets was exactly what I would put myself through!! crazy to think about ...
Thanks for making this video, Abbey. As a Korean(local) and your fan, this inhumane diet culture roots in the Korean diet world. You never see young female TV stars in diverse body shapes on media. Sadly, Korean society is putting pressure on Korean women how they SHOULD look. Not only about our body shape but about how our face looks... It is such sadness. I am 5'3 and 121lbs, and my fitness coach (Korean male) insulted me I looked like a fat pig. Luckily I am fighting for my health, but it is true to be exhausted to. Big love for your messages on your videos.
I remember when Park Bom lost ~10-15 lbs when she was already slim with chubby cheeks and she was posting on Me2day pictures of her just eating iceberg lettuce. Like that was her diet - iceberg lettuce. People were falling over themselves to praise her for it and were even calling her the Lettuce Genius.
Abby, THIS WAS AWESOME. This topic is sooo important. I am so passionate about it myself. It was so refreshing to hear someone else who understands and is passionate about the serverity of this topic as well.
It's not just days, I'm afraid. Even Mamamoo, whom I consider to be healthier examples amongst idols, diet *for weeks, if not months* before a comeback. They are open about the fact that it isn't sustainable, and that they end up gaining most, if not all of the weight back, before the comeback is over. Their stylists know this, and so do they. Hence their costumes are pinned, or have basting stitches put in, so they can be let out at the last minute, and significant weight fluctuations can be accommodated. It doesn't stop the weight loss from being a pre-comeback ritual though.
5:22 The backstory to that specific video is that the food was given to her by a random person and there have been rumours of idols being poisoned by people not liking them and that´s why the woman is taking it away. Ofc you can see how hungry she is regardless, otherwise she wouldn´t "defend" the food that much.
....I can't believe I know this much about kpop diets off the top of my head, but I'd like to offer a few corrections/clarifications -IU's first name is Ji Eun, Lee is her last name. -IU's sweet potato/apple/shake diet was when she was trying to lose weight she'd gained while filming a movie. She reportedly doesn't do this anymore. She did have a past of disordered eating, but even then I don't think this was ever her regular diet. -Same sort of thing for Soyou, that was a crazy short term diet she went on to lose 8kg, but her normal food consumption is a lot more food and a lot more balanced. She talked about her normal diet on a show called "I live alone" I'm in no way trying to defend these diets. They are harmful, and completely ridiculous. There have been a handful of idols who did develop serious eating disorders like Jine from oh my girl and sojung from ladies code, and those are just the ones we know about. Who knows about all the young trainees that never got to debut? There are also many many idols who are caught in a destructive binge restrict cycle for each comeback. Lately there has been a push towards accepting body diversity and healthier sizes, like with Hwasa, but there's still a long way to go.
it is like, genuinely difficult for me to put into words how consistently healing and validating your videos are. i have been going back and forth with recovering from an eating disorder for over a decade and now on my struggle days I go to watch your videos to feel less alone and to feel supported. Thanks for everything :)
Great that you addressed this❤️ Would love to see a video on the fitness industry and what realistic to attain for life and what social media portrays. The dangers, the fads etc...and examples of what just good ol balance active and healthy living looks like 👍🏼
I remember Ashley from ladies code talking about how she once didn't get her period for a year whilst dieting. Also just like add that is getting even more worried considering idols are getting younger, itzy's yuna is like 17.
First of all thank for you looking into these and reading my older comment! Things I wanna add (this topic is literally huge) -Sadly there are only few body positivity advocates in the industry, the most known being Hwasa from Mamamoo. She has openly talked about the strict Korean beauty standards and her experience trying to fit in. -Especially female idols always get asked about their diet on Radio shows. It's a pretty common question and most of the time you can see the girls getting a bit uncomfortable or shy and they show signs of disordered eating. Of course it shouldn't be a taboo topic because then people would think the idols are born with this weight and that it's unachievable. But this just spreads the idea of risky and dangerous diet cultures. -You can also get body shamed for being too skinny. For example Rosé and Lisa have been always talked about for being "too" skinny even tho both of them show absolutely no sign of disordered eating. It's actually the opposite both them are seeing eating big amount of foods (unprocessed and processed) and they have said before that they have been skinny ever since ("born skinnny b*tch"- Lyrics from Pretty Savage). Another idol is Sumni who has openly talked about how she struggles the gain weight and binge eats to have a more "femine" body for her sexy concepts. She got lots of hate for that and people said she was bragging about it. -Another idol who has been body shamed and later on critized for her diet is Wendy from Red Velvet. She gained weight due to the stress of a recent scandal and afterwards went on multiple really strict diets. Netizens have calld her out for looking like "a skeleton" and promoting unhealthy eating. Basically they expect everyone to fit the beauty standard naturally. -I also wanna point out the difference between female and male idols regarding diet cultures. Male idols have talked about their dangerous diets before but the pressure for female idols is way higher. The misogony smh. -Being skinny is a requirement. It's almost impossible to make it as an idol if you aren't thin. Many idols have talked about how they were rejected by many agencies just because of their weight. And when you make it into a company they usually monitor your weight sometimes even weighing you every morning (not considering that your weight changes throughout the day) and putting you on a diet. -Luckily we have seen a change in the 4th generation idols (idols that have debuted in recent years). Groups like Itzy (even though some of the members have struggled too or are still struggling, we don't have all the information) have said that they eat well because they can dance better. I hope we can continue in that direction.
I'm so happy to finally see someone address the problems in the k-pop industry because nowadays more and more people think it's cool to try drastic diets and mess their health to be just like their biases even tho asian standards are pretty extreme in general. Thank you, Abbey, for this ♥
hi! korean viewer here; just dropping in to ask, i know that westerners think many asian foods overlap, but korea (and china) have a painful history of being oppressed and colonized by japan and having our culture forcibly almost wiped out by japanese imperialism. it would be more culturally respectful to call kimbap "kimbap" and not "sushi"; even if others may think they are virtually the same food, there is a difference and it is important that we are not represented as interchangeable. although i don't think that was the intent here, the words and phrasing matters. thank you!
Thank you for that information, I really appreciate it. I only referenced sushi in reference to the kimbap to help my audience who may not know what kimbap is know what I was referring to but in the next breath I explained exactly what kimbap is. But I hear your feedback, and I will be more mindful in future videos
@@AbbeysKitchen I'm a big Lee Suji fan and I was scratching my head about her being featured in this video. (I've never heard anything said about Suji's diet.) I also could see that the picture of "Suji" in school uniform wasn't her. I've also just some research I found it's Bae Suzy. Now, I love Suji, but she's nowhere nearly as famous as Bae Suzy or IU who are both very big Korean stars, especially IU.
I’ve been anticipating this one!! Twice’s Momo had to eat only ice cubes for 3 days before she was allowed to debut. (She said this herself, on a vlive). She said that she was grateful that she could wake up the next day. 6:09 ~ btw, in Korea, they last name goes before the first name, so IU’s name isn’t Lee, it’s Ji Eun
to be more accurate, Momo was NOT forced to eat ice cubes, but they did tell her to lose an unreasonable amount of weight before debut, so she felt like the only way she could do it was to eat nothing but ice cubes. Obviously this is absolutely terrible, should never be done, and it's a huge problem that someone at the company would tell her to lose so much weight. It seems like a lot of people seem to think that companies are simply taking their food away and not allowing them to eat. I almost wish that was the case, because the problem would be so much simpler to fix. But the problem goes so much deeper than the companies forcing them to lose weight. Every company is different, and while some likely do restrict what the idols eat, more often from what I have heard from former idols and current idols (although it's a little to harder to trust what current idols say, because they can't say too much against their company), is that they just feel so pressured to lose weight. Even if the company does not say to lose weight, they don't need to say it for the idols to feel pressured to do it. Because it's like a competition. If you are the fattest trainee, you need to lose weight, if there is someone skinnier than you, you need to lose weight, if everyone else is dieting in order to lose weight, you need to diet even if you didn't really need to lose weight. It's just this whole thing that goes so deep. Simply making the company not restrict their food alone will not solve the problem. The companies need to be pro-active in helping their idols and trainees maintain proper nutrition, because there's really pressure from every angle for them to diet, and with how young they typically are when they become trainees, they usually just don't have the knowledge or experience to be able to diet safely, or feel secure enough with their current weight to not diet.
This is insane!! If these girls are expected to train like top tier athletes, for 10-12 hours a day, then they should be eating like top tier athletes. Keeping them on diets of less than 1k calories a day, and only leaving them with enough time to get a few hours sleep a night is downright abuse.
Just a clarification about IU's diet: she's said multiple times that this is a diet she does only for a few days before a comeback, and she actively encourages girls not to follow her footsteps. She's also very open about her struggle with EDs.
As a kpop fan for many years, I developed an eating disorder after seeing how normalized these diets are. Also as a teen pressured by the endless stream of beauty standards and diet culture, it was even more easy. I remember eating between 100 - 300 calories per day and crying when i had more than that, thinking i'm overeating, drinking black coffee to reduce my appetite, skipping meals, etc. I felt so fatigued all the time, my hair started falling off, i passed out several times and even if i felt okay, i was a child, so it was terrible for my health regardless. I lost 25 kg in less than a year, but i still felt fat and would often critique my body, i never was skinny enough. Anyways, i'm recovering, but having more than 1000 calories still feels wrong, kpop diets have definitely left a scar on me
Aye!!! Fellow Musical Theatre major here as well. To touch on their sleep schedules: there is NO WAY your vocal chords are able to recover and repair enough to be able sing at the level these trainees are required to. It’s shocking to me that the people in charge of their schedules aren’t aware of that...
I’m glad you’re talking about this and shining a light on it, it’s always made me sad for those in the industry and those who are influenced to emulate them. But it is a bit weird putting BTS in the title and thumbnail and then not mentioning them.
Yep. Abbey I love you and your channel but this felt like quite blatant views-baiting. I am a big BTS fan so I was naturally drawn to click on the video and I was hoping you would talk about their journey with food and dieting too but you did not :/
yup. I was kind of interested to hear here opinion on their current relationship with food. They also talk about being on a diet but then their eating vlives seem pretty healthy? Tho if you think about their constant diets, their excitement about snacks on run episodes becomes alarming
@@gen1130 Yeah, Jungkook said in their butter Vlive he had onlly had water for 5 days before they filmed the Butter MV. I really hope that as a part of their love myself campaign that they start looking at how disordered their relationship is with food.
Help to spread this message. K-pop artists deserve more labor and even human rights. Being able to eat a balanced diet for your body and age, being able to date whoever you want (they are so young!) are basic rights of any human being.
For the longest time, I used to eat pretty much the same foods/proportions as the first girl (apple, sweet potato, etc.) and work out intensely almost every day. Watching your videos has shown me that I have not had a good relationship with food for most of my adolescence/adulthood. A lot of my physical and mental health problems have probably stemmed from this issue, which is hard and, frankly, sad for me to realize. But this realization is overall beneficial because now I know how to better help myself. You have really opened up my mind to what being “healthy” actually means. Thank you so much, Abby!💕
Wow. I remember hearing about how strict everything was for kpop stars but I had no idea it was this bad. Side note: glamour put out a video a few days ago everything a pro ballerina eats in a day. It'd be super interesting to hear your thoughts on that.
You said that a young girl (IU) with a lot of activity needs to consume more than 3000 kcal. It doesn't seem quite right to me. I am a man and when I had a goal (this winter) to gain 80 kg, I consumed 3000 kcal a day, training 6 days a week for 2 hours in a gym with large weights. And I did it, but I think that for a girl, although very active, it's too much. (Besides, 3000 is hard enough to eat for 4 meals, it was a burden for me)
I feel like its the society's fault in all this. The companys in order to sell, they provide what public wants, when Hwasa got viral for her curvy body, her company let her eat whatever she wanted while wheein was starving herself. That was so upsetting to see.
At the height of my ED, I was only allowing myself 300 calories a day, forcing myself to work out for a minimum of 2 hours twice a day, and only drinking black coffee or plain water. I literally had 50-100 calorie snacks stashed away in a trunk in my bedroom that I could pick and choose from. I was so sick and thought that this was totally normal... Obviously, this is not okay and it’s not normal. I feel for these girls, I really do. Even though I used to live this way, I can now recognize that this is torture. It’s misery. I can only hope that they realize that this lifestyle is not worth it in any sort of way.
I developed pretty ugly disordered eating habits when living in Korea (for about 6 years). Between social expectations and being worked so hard every single day, I went from being a lifetime US size 8 down to a size 2/4 in less than a year. I got complimented all over the place and even had opportunities to model but I was barely eating 500 calories a day. I moved home last year and gained everything back and then some. 🙃 thanks Korea!
I've been listening to Kpop and I've honestly really loved the music,since way back in 2010. I was hardly 15 at the time, and I remember not even understanding that eating a sweet potato for lunch, or going on these diets was harmful, what mattered was that I get to look like that. I starved myself a lot, and faced dehydration, not understanding what my body was going through. Over the years, as I got to know more about Kpop, and what the trainees and idols go through, in terms of their relationship with food. Now, I don't like to advertise Kpop, or the fact that these diets are a MASSIVE TREND, because it took me a long time to get back into a healthy relationship with food, which I'm grateful for, now as a 25 year old. Our bodies are so beautifully created, and I truly believe everyone is beautiful, regardless of fads, or trends, or what social media might say. Loved this video!
Momo, a member of Twice who is a main dancer, their staff member (I don't remember who) told her to lose weight in a week. So she ate nothing but ice cubes. I mean...
One note: The companies will often lie about the weight and height of idols on their profiles, and they’re often not updated after they debut. So if a female idol’s profile *says* she weighs 104 pounds, she might actually weigh 115 or something like that. Granted, the diets are still super unsustainable, but that is something to consider. Ashley Choi from Ladies Code said that she lost her period for over a year in her early career. BoA, one of the first big kpop idols, has said that the starvation diet her company put her on at such a young age (she debuted at 15 if I’m not mistaken) stunted her growth. I can’t blame these girls for their actions. The issue is far larger than them, or even the companies. It’s the culture at large.
Hey a little nit picky here but when you suggested sweet potato recipes you kept showing orange north American sweet potatoes. In Korea, japan, and other Asia countries the Asian purple on the outside sweet potato is the most popular. They tend to eat them plain because they are already sweeter than the north American kind. So just a sweet potato alone is just simply a diet thing even though it certainly is but also a cultural thing
One female KPOP trainee said she and her friends literally bribed a male trainee to bring them food and they cooked it between the plates of their flat iron for their hair. Not to mention there are countless compilation videos of KPOP stars passing out on stage. It’s disgusting and horrifying.
Wow. That is very upsetting
I guess F(X) girl used to bribe Exo Kai to do the same thing for them.
G DRAGON G DRAGON THE KING OF KOPOP
crazy!
Stray Kids Chan also used to bring Twice food and snacks
As someone who has now worked and lived in Korea for 3 years I can honestly say it's not just the K-pop industry, but most of Korean diet culture in general that think this way. My first year in Korea I ended up losing like 30 lbs just from walking more and eating less pizza and my coworkers were shocked that I lost the weight the way I did. One coworker asked me how many meals a day I ate and was so shocked when I told her 3. She just couldn't believe it was possible. Another coworker of mine told me how she lost 20 lbs from only eating 1 meal a day but had to stop because she fainted and had to go to the hospital. She told the doctor what she was eating and all he said was for her to go back to eating more. I also worked at an all girl's middle school and during trainee season (the time of year when they try out to become a trainee) most of the girls were on extreme diets eating only oranges or doing stuff like that. The teachers and parents knew and didn't seem to think it was a huge problem (some teachers commented on how it was a hard diet but not much more). A lot of people here (specifically women) don't view this way of dieting as dangerous or as having anorexia tendencies. They just think this is how you diet.
Side note: As for the sweet potatoes, they're seen as a safer and healthier carb compared to rice, which is why a lot of people in Korea eat them when on a diet. However, they're also just seen as super healthy and are really popular in winter time (most convenient stores sell coal roasted sweet potatoes and they are AMAZING).
Wow, that is very upsetting, I'm sorry. And I'll have to try those sweet potatoes!
Oh, my...how sad actually:(
This is the same in Japan! I attended international school in Japan but had part time jobs there. They think diet means barely eating, but rather than for looks, they have this one look of "health" means being skinny. And treat someone a bit chubby like they are obese, telling them to lose weight and get healthy lol.
Holly sh*t man, this is not a good thing
@@kumarules118 they treat chubby people like that? That's horrible
I am Korean and grew up in Korea. I love my own country but when it comes to body image or weight, I have so many unhappy experiences. Recently, I met a Korean lady from Korea at school and she told me I have to wear heels more often to look skinnier. I barely knew her and I was only 100lbs after wisdom teeth extraction. When I grew up, I was 5’4 (163cm) and 130lbs (60kg) and people liked to talk about how fat I am in front of me including boys in class, relatives, and sometimes random people I met.
That sounds so f***cked up. These standards are horrible....it needs to stop :(
It’s worse in Korea but it’s the same all over the world. I’m from Central Europe. I’m the same height and got horribly fat shamed at that weight. And I only was 60kg because I was starving myself and I was sick for a long time. I’m just not skinny naturally.
Wow. I'm so sorry for your experience 🙁
Don't be fooled by those ridiculous and unreal standards, you're soooo much more than that! Just in case is not clear enough, you're freaking beautiful being literally just the way you are, please never never never forget that ❤️
I remember Eugene from the Try Guys talking about the amount of damage that going to Korea and having relatives immediately critique his body and face and suggested surgeries. Even as a complete outsider I can tell Korea has a lot to offer the world but the super messed up body image stuff ain’t on the list(not that it’s only an issue in Korea). They’ve literally got some of the best food in the world, why shouldn’t people eat it?!?!
I was a figure skater, triple jumps and everything that comes with that level of intensity. Thank God, my coach in the 90's valued thick ole muscley thighs that were functional. Strength, power and and a healthy functional body composition were a focus. Yes, we were weighed. But my trainer would encourage a widely varied diet with things like "you look like you need a milk shake" thrown in there. She would make sure we were menstruating, because "You might not want kids now, but you will one day". I came out of the sport in my 20's and became a long track speed skater, and had all the knowledge I needed to feed an athlete and to this day have no negative side effects of my sports. That coach taught me to love my body at the weight and shape it needed to be in order to do the job required of it. If anyone reading this is having a different experience with a coach right now, please get help....and speak out. You don't have to starve for sport and beauty. Abby - thank you for posting this video! This needs to be a topic more frequently addressed, especially among young female athletes.
Wow, that's an amazing experience. I'm glad the video was helpful!
This is such a helpful post! I was not an athlete in school and want to learn how to be athletic as an adult, but I had anorexia and am learning how to eat the proper amount so I can actually build muscle, endurance, power, etc. Your comment helps me know I'm on the right track! Thank you for being a healthy athlete!!
I wish my dance studio was like that
Why were you weighed tho
@@solus8685 To ensure that our BMI was within a healthy range for our age. If a skater dipped too low we would be counselled to consume more and if needed go to the MD. I also remember during a growth spurt I lost weight and my coach cut my off ice training so that my body could catch up with it self.
Im a 15 year old girl recovering from some nasty nasty disordered eating, and when I feel like restricting or tearing myself down over what I ate that day, I watch your videos and they help bring me clarity. Thank you so much ❤
Hope you are doing ok 🐻
Hope you are still doing good.
For me I dont know if this is eating disorder but I haven't eaten most of 6 grade year only the start of the 6 grade year.. because I see beautiful k-pop girl.
I started recovering when I was 20, it's been nearly 3 years and I'm finally getting better. I had disordered eating for around 8 years. It's a long road and a hard one, but every day when you wake up and realise you've made progress, it's worth it. Also remember not to beat yourself up over setbacks! I'm so proud of you, I'm so proud of your journey, and I wish you all the strength in the world ♥️
The sad thing is a lot of these stars careers would be ended if they performed at a higher weight. I remember blackpink Jennie getting on stage and the fans calling her fat because she gained maybe 5-10 pounds at the most. The fans were outraged at their manager saying, “how come Jennie gets away with being fat while the other members have to work twice as hard”. A lot of the fans were even planning to boycott blackpink because Jennie gained weight. Unfortunately it’s the public who is pushing these unrealistic expectations and that’s something that would be extremely hard to change.
"Fans" and culture are a big part of the problem too. Im saying "fans" because real fans dont body shame!!
@@roselastname4528 yeah it’s more than just body image. If you are caught flirting or dating as a kpop star you will be cancelled. The public runs these stars like a puppet show and it’s not okay. They have to be innocent little girls who are on their best behaviour. The men too, if they are caught dating the female fans get jealous. Have you heard of the blackout show that ended a girl groups career because the members had pictures of them dating?
It is very upsetting!
that’s actually disgusting those people aren’t fans they are just horrible fucking people
@Cat Vaper when you weigh under 100 pounds at 5’4 then 5 pounds is noticeable. The smaller you are the more weight you notice
I find it very scary that fans of these K-pop groups could see these diets and try going on them to look like them. To anyone who is considering going on extreme diets, please don't. Eating like them will not necessarily make you look like them or even lose weight. I've personally starved myself and battling an eating disorder. I see you. All bodies are beautiful. All that matters is that you are healthy. Love.
Truth!
Say it louder for the people in the back this is so important 🤍
It is definitely extremely concerning!
agreed
I needed to hear this.
CW: eating disorders
Just going to throw this out there but there is also a lot of cultural context behind these idol diets. There is a pressure even for everyday women to stay below 50kg, no matter how tall they are. Also, the public usually tends to praise idols for being extremely skinny even if they got there in a very unhealthy way. So this doesn't just impact idols but also South Koreans in general. My korean family and koreans in general also comment on weight very openly, which has a big impact on how people view their bodies and self image. People are viewed as positive role models and as resilient for going on these diets instead of shamed for promoting unhealthy eating patterns.
For those wondering as well, most of these diets are what idols go on while preparing for a comeback and aren't done long term. But as a result they can yoyo between promotions. IU has opened up about her struggles with bulimia and is no longer on her famous sweet potato diet.
One last thing, a lot of Abbey's suggestions would be good for people in the USA or Canada, but less so for the actual idols since a lot of foods like hemp seeds, avocados, etc., are VERY expensive and difficult to obtain in Korea.
Thank you for the video! When I was younger I was definitely influenced by K-pop idols to diet and work out excessively. Hopefully this will help some young K-pop fans! (Sorry if this comment is long and not super coherent, edited for grammar)
Very true. My mother in law is 50 yo, about my heights and she is 47kg. The other thing is the lack of psychological education in korea. While talking to my fiance i learnt that they dont learn anything about bulimia or anorexia and he thought that its all just lack of self control. I dont know how about your family and friends but this lack of education is one of the main problems in korea i think
This comment is very true
Thank you for providing some better info than what was mentioned in the video.
Your mention of Korean families openly commenting on weight is very true for the Vietnamese too. I’m not saying this is okay, but it’s what we all grew up on. Everything else you mentioned is also spot on.
She mentioned it here 18:56
I still can’t get over the dieting stories from TWICE, with Momo’s being the most shocking. Momo was told to lose 15 lbs in 10 or she won’t feature in the debut showcase. The tens day weren’t enough, so she got an extension. She literally ate NOTHING except an ice cube per day, and would exercise like crazy. Each night, when she would go to bed, she thought she was going to die. JYP (the founder of JYP Entertainment, TWICE’s label and management) presents himself as this caring father figure for his idols, yet his idols are pressured to do this?!
Yeah, that story made no sense to me. JYP personally added her to the group after she was eliminated, so it wasn't like she was going to be cut. Plus, Jihyo was way bigger than her and didn't have to do something so drastic. I wonder if there was some staff member who suggested a diet and Momo took it very literally since she really wanted her dream to come true. I doubt JYP would support this if he knew it was going on. Poor Momo.
@@rachelmaddowswife8713JYP is obsessed with dieting and weight he’s part of an actual religious cult that emphasizes “healthy eating” and he himself has talked about only eating chicken breast. Jihyo was given a pass likely because she’d been with the company since she was like 8 years old and management probably had a soft spot for her and her family. Also she’s the main vocalist and would have been seen as a much more essential member than Momo at the time.
@@rachelmaddowswife8713jyp also did bodyshame idols, he was nicer to jihyo because she was with jyp since she was 8 and also because she was essential to twice as the main vocalist and she can dance very well while momo was not as essential since she can dance but her singing is weaker and shes not like chaeyoung tier good at rapping.
This is not even possible unless she was 170 pound and on growth hormones to get extra energy and recovery.She would die
I live in Korea and have definitely felt the pressure to take up diets like these. Most stores only sell "one size" clothes for women and that size is small. Very very small.
I'm sorry 🙁
oh yes i have heard! a korean size small is like a us xxxs. it's wild o-o
When I was in Korea forget buying cloths there. I did lose 20lbs in three weeks due to all the walking and eating their diet. Because of Korea I fell in love with drinkable yogurt (they had it before the US) and I was obsessed with banana milk. Lol
@@equestrianwhotravels i know that struggle, banana milk is the most delicious 😋
@@equestrianwhotravels lol for me it was jellies and sweet potatoes, I ate so many of them, even in class so much that my teachers thought I was having a special diet :'DD
Gotta say the lifestyle in korea was also intense like the only times you really get to sit down and eat is when you go out at night 😭
let’s not forget what male kpop artists go through too! their diets can be just as restrictive 😔
Yes for sure
frrr i know BTS don't do diets a lot anymore but i remember seeing clips of jimin fainting back in 2016 bc of his diet ;-;;;; bruh im so glad he's gotten better because if i was a fan back then i woud've cried seeing that come out
@@brigc7755 I think in every vlive I've seen (and I am talking about recent ones) someone is either on a diet or says that he gained weight and needs to go on a diet. it's just such a norm to them that it makes me really sad
Sure. SM artists.
But why TF is BTS in the title or thumbnail.
They are literally a prime example of freedom and of eating all gone garbage they want.
Jimin never had a eating disorder.
He did one extreme diet one time by his own choice while his brothers and his label encouraged him to eat.
He never did it again.
IU has spoke about his past diets saying that caused an eating disorder in her. Now she eats good and talks about the importance of it. But yes all this suck
Thank you for letting me know
this woman makes me feel so safe
I'm a kpop stan and i can definetely say that following girl groups has negatively impacted my body image and i am constantly comparing my body to them. Even though I am an athlete, have muscle and am healthier than most I am not 'thin'. I used too beat myself up so much for not being 'thin' and go on extreme diets (which would just result in binges and me feeling alot worse about myself). Being small is such prestige in Asian culture and its honestly toxic.
I'm so sorry for your experience 🙁
I’m 23 and I’ve been following kpop since I was 13 and I can’t tell you how much it affected me. I grew up with girls generation and they were all skinny and perfect looking that’s what I strived for most of my teen years. Now I’m just focusing on eating healthy and exercising, being sickly thin is not the goal.
well honestly same.
be proud of doing what's right for you, be proud of your own strength and health, I hope you appreciate yourself the way you are, you're doing amazing
facts. its so toxic. they put aesthetics above health unfortunately.
There's a boygroup called Stray Kids, and in their gym episode it was a mixture of heartwarming (one of the members, Changbin, assuring everyone that none of them were overweight and most could in fact stand to eat more) and heartbreaking (how concerned most of the members were about their weight).
They're in their 20s, most in their later 20s; these are not girls but women trying to look like girls by being thin. East Asian women in particular are put under pressure to infantilize themselves.
They even hate cheekbones cause they makes them look less like a child. Many of them blessed with strong cheekbones even reduce them with a dangerous surgery
@@tantanmustdie that’s crazy! Many people would kill for cheekbones! So sad
@@Monika-mb6jh different beauty standards in each country...
@@tantanmustdie I can understand the cheekbones, not like we hate it, it's just our faces are "flatter" (like lower noses and flatter forehead, etc), and big, wide cheekbones make our face looks "bigger"; besides, us east Asian for some reason LOVE the caucasian features... However, IMO it's not really recommended to do surgery to make them smaller, that cheekbone is our ethnic feature and we should embrace it, and not to mention PPL MAY DIE FROM THAT PROCEDURE!!!
@@mackenziehu6531 I notice it too a lot, I am half Caucasian and notice how a lot of the ideal features look a lot like a typical caucasians face. I think Korean's natural face already looks unique and beautiful but its sad seeing them wanting to have something they don't have. Sadly that is humanity, everyone wants what they dont have.
I'm sure you get this a lot, but I really appreciate the wording of your disclaimer. "If this doesn't feel supportive to your journey" is a wonderful, thoughtful, and caring way to put it that encourages me, at least, to think about my experience in ways that don't start the cycles of negative thoughts for me. Thank you.
Unrelatedly: fellow musical theatre kid here! Every time I find another one of us somewhere on TH-cam it's like a delightful surprise. Someone should start a club. xD
Thank you very much! I'm glad that's helpful! And yes, for sure! 😂
Hope you don't get swarmed by stans crying about ~bOdY ShAminG, as if idols aren't pressured to eat half a potato a day and maintain 45kg weight while dancing for hours every day
im a stan and its not body shaming at all. they're clearly being starved and forced to practice harsh hours with no food to energize them. its sad and im glad she's talking about it.
I’m a Kpop stand and this is not body shaming and we are actually the first ones to bash and complain to the companies when we see the idols are being mistreated, and it’s a constant topic that we believe their diets are unhealthy and we don’t focus on how much they weight
@@yasmeennatalia1026 I'm also into kpop, believe me I know that #notallstans. But some are delusional and feed into the exploitation of idols from companies because they believe all criticism is a personal attack against their faves.
@@sheeeeezza406 oh i agree. it took me so long to get into kpop because of the stans. some are logical and don’t attack people like but gosh others are just ridiculous and take everything personally.
Alot aren't but OK lol
I think this is also a large issue in general east asia and is magnified by kpop. I am Chinese, 4’10, and 95lbs. My mom constantly tells me how heavy I am and how she at 5’1 was only 90lbs when she married my dad. I’m a size medium in China and I swear sometimes I just want to curl up. It doesn’t help that my mom reminds me that in high school I was 85lbs and the same height. Fml. Thank you for shedding light on this.
Your weight is perfect. Do you feel healthy? I’m sure you look healthy😊
I'm so fcking sorry. you're literally on the low end, please know you're literally not even possible to be conceived as chubby.. I think this years of pressure to be underweight in east asian culture has caused a mindset really similar to that of anorexics in almost everyone ...
Gurl I'm like 165 pounds and cury and beautiful. Don't listen to your mom , try to be balanced in everything you do . Much love ❤
When I was in my teens and 20s my mom would always tell me how she was 123 pounds when she got married at 5'9". I was a chubby kid and fluctuated between 135 and 170 during those ages. She also used to feed me heaping servings and I'd get cursed at if I didn't finish the food. Parents are cruel. I still hate my body but working on feeling OK at 165 pounds.
my mother did this to me when she saw I had stretch marks. she told me she only looked like me when she was pregnant with me :((
I know this is completely off topic, but I just wanted to say that your videos have literally helped me overcome my eating disorder and helped me develop a healthy relationship with food. During the pandemic I started watching you when I ate and you helped me so much overcome my fear of food and kill the ed voice in my head. Now, whenever I catch myself falling into my ed habits, I just binge watch your videos. You are so great, I wish there were more TH-camrs like you out there, thank you so so much - I am eternally grateful!!
The problem of diet culture is huge in korea. Commenting relatives' bodies, lack of education on psychological diseases like eating disorder or depression, new ways and medicine for stopping the appetite.
One thing i experienced as having a korean boyfriend were the comments of his family about my body. Before meeting me they asked my bf about my weight and after hearing im 60kg they said im too fat to stay young for longer (?)
His mother is about my height and she is 47 kg in age of 50 yo which put a lot of pressure on me. I remember before my first visit in korea i literally starved myself to lose as much as i can to look great in front of the family which resulted in bulimia and other ed.
Now since we are engaged and im on recovery i dont care what his relatives think abiut me or whether im too heavy for koreans. I just wish Koreans were more body positive and educated on eating disorders
Wow, I'm so sorry for your experience. Thank you for sharing
I experienced something similar when I dated a Korean guy. I was barely above underweight and I still got fat shamed.
So happy to hear you are in recovery and not paying attention to the toxicity anymore! Good for you. Just reading that they had the nerve to comment on your appearance makes me so mad.
The K-Pop industry is sooo toxic in this specific area that it makes me angry. I hate how singers/dancers use their cute smiling faces and proximity to their audience on social networks to make them believe that this is a normal, sustainable lifestyle and that they are happy just like this (when are probably starving 99% of the time). I'm still struggling with an ED (restricting one) and I know that they are thousands of young girls taking notes from these idols because they see them as their friends.
I understand, it is definitely very concerning
good luck with recovering from ed
I don't get it 😕... Who's forcing these people to starve and not sleep? Their parents? Or are they in the hands of some kind of trainers / keepers? Just, if they're adults, why are they allowing other people to starve them? This is so bizarre... I can't wrap my head around it.
It's not the kpop industry.
But individual people and individual labels.
I have no idea why she used bts as a thumbnail for example.
@@feldthausen They are basically owned by large entertainment companies who have a lot of control over their career and how successful they can be. They typically get funneled into this system as children (“trainees”) so they’re indoctrinated into this system and lifestyle before they are adults. If they choose not to follow the entertainment company’s restrictions, they could lose their whole career.
I can't even imagine eating that little a day. I have to have a snack even before I do a 30 minute HIIT workout. Hours of rehearsals on 300 calories? I would probably literally end up in the hospital.
I could see myself doing it, but gaining a binge disorder after a while...more than likely become bulimic cause you know with the whole weight check ins
Yup! I was eating about 900 cal a day a day and running/doing yoga a few times a day and I ended up bedridden for awhile. Idk how they do this. I feel so bad for them :/
I know, it is very upsetting 🙁
Same
99% sure they’re on drugs
IU/Jieun also admitted on a show that she suffered with bulimia for quite a while. It really is sad seeing that the TV hosts just thought that it was normal.
Also, the girls in Twice went through a lot too. Like Jihyo being called a pig by a manager, even tho she was at a normal healthy weight, causing her to feel the need to lose weight (i am still really proud of her for losing it healthily and gradually tho 🥰). Momo was also told to lose 7kg in a week or she wouldnt be allowed to debute, so she only ate ice that week and went to bed one night crying because she didnt think she would wake up the next morning.
Many male idols also went through this, like Jimin and Jin of BTS. Jimin went on a one meal a week diet while also practicing insane choreography everyday for hours. Before BTS' debute, Jin was also called a pig by one of his managers. Around the same time Jimin went on his "diet" Jin started *strictly* eating chicken breasts everyday for a year.
Also, some idols get hate for also being to small, like IU and Wendy of Red Velvet. There really is no winning here and I wish that there could be less focus on these idol's weights and more focus on how absolutely talented they all are. It makes me really happy that icons like Jamie/Jimin Park, Hwasa of Mamamoo, and Ryujin of Itzy are being praised for their visuals, but there is still a lot more work to be done.
Wow, I'm very sorry to hear that. Thank you for all of the information
Jihyo😭😭😭
This catch 22 situation also happened with Sunmi. Either she was way too skinny and peole were worried about her, and constant hate, or if she did gain weight, and looked pretty good at a healthy weight, then people started calling her ugly and fat when in reality she's stunning and a beautiful woman inside and out.
Iu doesn’t do that
Normally but did it for a come back.
Omg what you explained about their bones potentially fracturing/breaking makes SO MUCH sense because Wendy from Red Velvet did slip and fall onstage which caused a broken pelvis over a year ago and people were concerned that she basically ended her career.
I found that so bizarre because as a woman in my mid twenties like Wendy, if I fall down pretty hard, I just end up with a bruise, my bones don’t shatter, I regain immediate mobility etc and yet I definitely cant perform the choreographies that she did pre-injury, so you would assume that she is more fit than me. It’s crazy to find out that the amount of cardio they do paired with their diet causes them such severe muscle loss and lack of bone density, to the point where they risk not recovering from a fall in their youth :(
she didn't just slip, she fell from a height of over 2 meters, i think most ppl would break at lest a bone from that....
@@gale8515 right?! I really don’t think that was an appropriate comparison to make…
@@gale8515 hmm I don't think a healthy person in their 20s would break a wide, dense bone like their pelvis from falling about 2 meters.
@@gale8515 Even normal falls though. I had a classmate who fell off another person's shoulders playing around and shattered her pelvis. She had a history of bulimia which weakened her bones and would not have shattered it otherwise. That was 3 or 4 years ago and she's still going through intense physical therapy.
Height of the fall is not the issue here, it's that their bodies are literally breaking down from starvation, including their bones.
It also makes me think of Blackpink's Jennie, who injured her leg before debut and has never fully healed. She winds up getting the same injury over and over because she just doesn't have that natural healing because of diet restrictions.
My sister lives in korea and a doctor told her she should watch her weight. She's 56 kg and 5'6.
😲😲😲
That's...horrifying
Wow that's still pretty small. And she's on the taller side. That's sad that a doctor would say that
Oh no 🙁
That's horrible
I've been a kpop fan for years now, but my favorite group was SHINee. Ever since Jonghyun took his own life I've wondered what goes on behind the scenes. Not saying diet had anything to do with it, but this is just one of many ways idols are put under immense pressure.
Omg, yes. That still hurts... I can't overcome the feeling that we let that happened
I think about him a lot. When Key said he wants us to feel comfortable talking about him and to say we miss him i felt that. I can't imagine what he went through plus just being a public figure in general is super hard.
SHINee is near and dear to my heart (I'm a shawol, Key biased, and Taemin is my favourite solo artist ever). Jonghyun's passing had the effect of a cold shower on me. Now I still love and support the artists, because they have nothing to do with the toxicity of the culture, but the k-pop industry makes me sick, and I feel bad for supporting it in a way :(
Ugh yes 😢😢😢
Wow. That is extremely upsetting to hear
Boa herself admitted not being to forgive the industry for keeping her shorter than we could have been because of the constant dieting
Wow 🙁
I watched interviews with Hyuna and Sunmi and both admitted to dieting hard, Hyuna was uner 100lbs and Sunmi said her fans like her "slimmer look" so she worked out very hard, it's SO sad :(
Wow, that is very upsetting 🙁
I legit just fucking realized after watching this video that hyunA is in her 30s now and she has a shit ton of health problems cropping up - and this is in her 30s . She's been in this industry from her teens. I can't imagine how bad it's going to be when she's older . I don't want the people I like and look up to to have such horrible problems. At this point I just want to stop encouraging all the idols I'm watching coz HyunA literally said she keeps fainting due to stress and that's not good at all
I think the world of kpop is ready for healthier eating habits. These girls know the influence they have and I can see them taking a stand to demonstrate more substantial meal choices. I have faith!
Yes, the industrie seems te become better
I do too!
Besides the fact they're not allowed to speak about stuff like this
Most artists don't control that and can't speak out on things like that, even the most popular ones. That's still a pipe dream for kpop.
I want to have hope too but I don’t think you understand the mechanisms of Kpop; artists have zero direct agency over the message they put out. The labels will have to decide on this message, and after decades of bad health for their artists they’ve shown no signs of wanting to do this. In fact, it’s just gotten more strict over time
I like KPop myself but what makes me the most worried is that fans know about these diets that idols have to maintain and then claim that their idols are naturally this weight. Like I get that some people are slim naturally but it is not normal for anybody to naturally be severely underweight which most of them are if their stated weight to height ratio is actually real.
Yup. It is definitely concerning
defff, though I will say there are idols like Rose from blackpink who have very fast metabolisms, and she tends to eat a lot and not diet often as far as i know, so at least fans don't have to worry about her.
It's your problem that you support toxic labels like that. You probably duller SM groups.
Stop generalizing that bs to all Korean artists.
***** Major ED Trigger Warning *****
They openly speak about severely disordered eating because it’s so normalized. Wendy from Red Velvet said she would only eat an apple & half a cup of rice all day. Jimin from BTS said he’d pass out in practice because he didn’t eat for days. IU admitted to being bulimic & only ate an apple, a sweet potato, and a protein shake in a day. Momo from Twice said the company forced her to lose 15 lbs in 1 week to debut. She wouldn’t even eat ice cubes from fear of gaining water weight. She said she was afraid to go to sleep because she thought she was going to die. Somi said she’d only eat 3 bananas all day. Some of these people were literal children at the time. Some people may be naturally thin. But there is plenty of evidence that way too many idols maintain their very low weight in ways that are NOT NORMAL. Or healthy.
@@brigc7755 do you mean to adress me? I support groups from multiple lables but my main issue is not the treatment of the artist by the lable but how blindly fans defend their idols. They have the information available for them to see how their idols maintain their low weights but they seem to be making excuses like talking about fast metabolisms. Its sad because these fans might develop unhealthy relationships with their bodies, working out and food by normalizing the way these idols live. This has got nothing to do with particular idols or lables because sure, some lables are more open to their idols not only being 45kg but then that presure is just being applied by media and toxic fans so in the end i think most idols suffer from that presure.
I lived in Seoul for a year from 2014-2015. There are a ton of things I love and respect about Korean culture.
I noticed most people eat A LOT of food, way more than I could ever eat. But when it came to dieting, there was severe deprivation. It struck me as possibly past trauma from the war manifesting itself in the present.
They still talk about famine/food scarcity from that time, and they still cherish the foods and dishes they were able to find during the war (some of these foods were found in the garbage of American soldiers). There was A LOT on ingenuity and tenacity to get through those difficult times. Many people still believe those qualities are needed in the present to push themselves (or others) to achieve a goal. It’s like, ‘if my grandparents could survive on a sweet potato back then, then I should be able to do this now.’ It’s not just to help the self get and hold the job, but more so to help the country become and remain an economic powerhouse on the global stage (perhaps another reaction to the devastation of the war).
They push themselves extremely hard in many respects. Dieting is just one manifestation of this outlook. Younger generations are challenging this more, but it’ll be a slow burn given how much respect is given to elders and authority figures there.
Thank you for that cultural context!
@@christieritter9332 You’re welcome 😊
That's very interesting. Thank you for sharing your perspective!
That's really interesting. It makes me think of the generation of people in the U.S. that went through the Great Depression and WW2 rationing. They also had connections to highly restrictive diets, saving/ hoarding, similar mentalities around "If I could do x, you can do y", and they have a very strong (sometimes unhealthy) work ethic.
@@Nikki-lodeon Yup, that’s a good parallel. You see examples of this phenomenon all over as you study what happens to refugees, post- war countries recovering, etc. It’s super interesting what can happen to the collective consciousness.
I’m in the US and expect many of us will come out of the pandemic with long term, maladaptive behavior. Even in myself, I noticed a bit of panic setting in when I ate outdoors at a beach-side restaurant with my mom last summer when cases were almost 0 in our area. Even though my mom’s a doctor and what we were doing was considered “safe” by most experts, I still felt nervous. All that to say, we’re about to have some firsthand experience with this.
one of the most famour girl groups in korea "twice" spoke about how their agency made one of the members lose 7 kgs in one week. and she had to eat one ice cube in the whole week and she worked out everyday on one of their lives. i would say luckily these agencies are treating their newer 4th gen artists a lot better and they're less strict when it comes to staying in shape
17:30 this just took me back to the time Wendy fell off those stairs on SBS Gayo Daejeon and broke her face, wrist and pelvis and was away for over a year before doing a comeback.
And Ashley from Ladies Code talking about how during her trainee days some girls had to take breaks every 30 minutes during dance practice because the felt like they where about to faint.
Also, Ashley did not have her period for an entire year!
@@marthapapadopoulou3559 is that a bad thing?
There's a documentary on Netflix about the band Black Pink, and they follow them around, in one moment one of the girls say she is really hungry and asks the others if she eat anything today, they say that they don't think she did. How f* up is this.
Wow 🙁
@TT is just BlackPink here
Yes, it was painful to hear Jennie talk about how she's sick all over her body.
@TT Blackpink: light up the sky
And there are literally so many videos of TH-camrs who try these K-pop diet... or oatmeal diet... egg diet...
I know 🙁
I like kpop but I'm. It following them. How do these people feel when they follow these diets.
Hungry
YES! They always include a "disclaimer" about how you shouldn't follow the diet but then the make all these videos of themselves following the diet and how much weight they lost.
(TW): Kpop diets and kpop diet challenges helped start my 4 year long battle with anorexia. Starting with the infamous apple for brekkie, sweet potato for lunch and protein shake for din din. Never lasted a day but triggered a body shaming downward spiral.
Oh no, I'm so sorry for your experience. I hope you are doing better now ❤️
As a dancer who have been practicing Kpop choreographies for the last decade, I can assure that this diet culture does not only effect the idols themselves. We Kpop cover-dancers have idolised and idealised their incredibly underweight bodies and physiques. This is both intentional and unintentional. We dancers spend hours of watching and referencing the original dance videos (so it puts us in a similar position to those who only follow hashtag fitspo) and that being the only pool of humans we see: dangerously skinny bodies, undereating, disordered behaviours.
So a lot of dancers including myself have been on those ridiculous diets to copy the appeal in addition to the choreographies. And it effects us both physically and mentally where we are too fatigued to practice the dances, and we have lower self-esteem for having bigger bodies than the original idols.
*I was only able to have a change of perspective after I started my Nutrition degree, and realise how messed up this is, especially in the long run.
(surely this diet culture has such tremendous effect on Kpop fans generally, this is just what I’ve seen and experienced as a cover-dancer.)
I'm sorry you had an experience like this 🙁thank you for sharing
I totally understand you. I'm also a dancer, especially Kpop Cover- Dancer & I really have to say that, since I started with KpopCovers, i eat nothing 1-2 days before shooting, to have that slim, "not puffy" boody in the camera.
@@elsaschnee4589 eeee I've been there, and I've witnessed dancers fainting in front of my eyes during outdoor shoots from undereating, overtraining, and overall fatigue. I hope the content in this video will put you in a much healthier approach to your upcoming shoots. 💗
cw for eating disorders here!
abbey i just wanna say that im so grateful for your content. im recovering from an ed ive had since I was 12 (thanks mom!), but also trying to lose weight. ive become overweight and im trying to get down to a healthy weight in a healthy way. your content is constantly inspiring me to create healthy balanced meals and not deprive myself like ive done in the past. and ive slowly been growing to love food again and love cooking and creating. all while losing weight and enjoying the process. thank you for all that you do!
To be honest it's just not kpop idols fault or their management. It's unfortunately the audience in Asia thinking that if a girl or a boy is an idol they MUST fit in THEIR STANDARD which to be honest they themselves (viewer) doesn't fit in it. I remember amber being offended by an audience member because he insulted her group members weight which I must tell you isn't much different than others.
🙁🙁
it IS their management's fault though, because they're actively putting their idols at risk for the sake of profit. just like in the west, it's been drilled into the audience that this is what to expect...so the cycle feeds itself.
@@vocaeien I agree to certain limit. But again if audience will critice the idols on looks and won't watch them. management would try to please the Audience eventually it's a show BUSINESS where one wants to earn. These trainees know what they are getting into including their parents know it as well still they continue to do because it's their dream. I am just happy that alot of idols are bringing change but it's long way to go
@@heenagidwani3696 No matter how much we try to tell ourselves it's ok & that trainees knew what they were getting into, it's still exploitative considering how much they profit off of the idols.
@@LoveLove-fp2rn that's why I said I agree to a certain limit
i’m excited but also scared for this one🤝
Yup 😫
I just want to say that kimbap (김밥) is not the same as sushi. It’s purely Korean and generally is filled with meat and vegetables, not seafood👍😊
She said it's "like a Korean sushi roll". She didn't say it is sushi, but your comment made me google it to find out more. Sounds tasty 🙂
@@thatsalt1560 I guess as a Korean, I just wanted to make the distinction hehe. It’s really good, easy to make, and healthy too!
Thank you for letting me know!
I love kimbap, and when I could get to a Korean grocery, I would pick up authentic ingredients to make them at home myself. (Alas, right now, crossing a state line would trigger quarantine for a few days upon my return. )
It's also known as "California Roll" in the US. (idk why)
I’m surprised she didn’t add in Mina from GuGuDan and her sparkling water diet. Yep. That’s it. No sweet potatoes, no eggs, no salads. Just sparkling water and vibes (for breakfast lunch and dinner). And when she came out publicly with her “diet secret” she got heavily praised for it too.
Honestly, compared to some of the diets I’ve seen idols do, they make the ones in this video look like a bastion of nutritional health and satiety 🙃
I won’t rag on them too hard though, Western/American celebrities are just as bad, some worse. They just have to keep it under wraps. For these Asian idols (it’s not isolated to just Koreans as Chinese/Japanese etc. celebrities diet just as dangerously too) it’s a toxic cycle and very little they can do to rebel/break away from the standards when being thin is so closely intertwined with their history and cultural norms/expectations...it’s to the point where being able to “manage yourself” I.e stay close to the 49kg mark is seen as a character virtue and a marker for how good and disciplined and hardworking of a person you are; makes you more worthy of success. And that standard goes for regular non-celebrities too.
And for the people saying “don’t worry they only eat like this for a few weeks”, nah. This is a part of their lives. We’ve all seen the yo-yo-ing and it’s not hard to see it’s a cycle of binge-restrict-binge. And I too would like to advocate for healthier diets as the solution and alternative but any person who is taking care of themselves and eating right will never get to those levels of thin (104lbs) unless naturally that skinny. Especially not when the healthy bodies (128lbs at 5’6” for example) will almost always be considered fat and unacceptable.
I'll have a look into that
A clarification of the rude food snatching, for fan signs, the artists shouldn't eat the food given to them because anti-fans may poison it or whatever. Like Yunho and the glue orange juice incident. That being said the managers can be nicer about taking the food.
Uh, quick question? What the fuck?
They were taking away packaged food though
There are a TON of complations on TH-cam of kpop idols passing out on stage during a performance. It's truly heartbreaking 💔 😢
It is very upsetting 🙁
Also they don’t sleep since their schedule is 24/7
@@markdarcy5256 Just precision not really it depends of the group and company when you go to the official page of for example Stray Kids who is a big group or BTS in their schedule you see that all sunday are in red meaning that it's their day off. Of course that doesn't mean that the artist don't work in solo by writing or composing or dancing by himself but the company don't make them work.
Yayayayyayay... I’ve been waiting for someone to talk about this ...🙌🙌
I hope you find it helpful!
My granny always said that fame came at a price. Most celebrities aren't happy and often fall into drug abuse or commit suicide to ease the pressure. I'm so happy you covered this! Health is wealth!
I'm glad it was helpful!
I agree with your granny! The older I get, the more I am 100% certain that nobody could pay me to be famous.
Abbey, thank you so much for talking me out of my eating disorder. I really can't thank you enough
While Korean pop music is great, I really despise the industry forcing a homogenous standard of beauty.
Agreed!
@@AbbeysKitchen Maybe can you also take a look at Demi Lovato's new documentary? she's talking about her eating disorders in the first episode, and of course it was largely due to being a young child in the spotlight.
Abbey I cannot express how grateful I am for your channel. I love you. Keep informing and educating and I love how you gentle approach how dangerous this diet is, like you don’t shame but have more sympathy and concern for their overall well being. Also that little clip of the baby flopping over was too cute! I truly think you’ve grown so much as an influencer over the past few months. Thank you again for being you and existing and creating a safe space for people. I just love you. Hope you and the family are all well x
Thank you so much! I'm so glad you find it helpful ❤️
It is scary what these trainees go through. The good news is though is that there are Kpop companies that are making changes that will protect their artists from poor treatment such as unhealthy diets and workout regimes. The bad news is no all companies are doing this and the pressures on the artists can lead them to severe mental health and suicide.
It is definitely very concerning!
when I heard that Momo (Twice) literally only allowed to eat ice cubes before she debuted or else they might cross her out, I got goosebumps, like they have to practice a lot: dancing, singing almost everyday. It is heart breaking
when you called your 6 month old a ”Stationary blob” I pissed myself 😂😂
i’ve been waiting for this one 😔
We have found you. We have found Jimin's jams.
turn it up!!
Same 🙏finally someone talk about that
I hope it's helpful!
@@AbbeysKitchen yes it is, thank you abbey
its funny in a really sad way how abbey usually suggests what to add TO the existing meals and now shes saying how to add these "meals" to actual, nutritious meals
😫
The IU example she used was a ONE week diet done by IU to loose weight.
She eats plenty and healthy normally.
I have no idea why OP needed to generalize all Korean artists instead of just talking about the few examples where it's accurate.
It's not accurate for BTS nor IU.
BTS label is actually a prime example of caring for artists well being not just in Korea but in the world.
@@blueturtle1813 all trainees diet before debut, when they become their goal weight they can eat more to maintain.
@@blueturtle1813 IU has talked about her eating disorder (bulimia) and most kpop idols are underweight- most female idols don't even get their period because of malnutrition. This is incredibly accurate for IU and crash diets like the IU diet still aren't healthy. BTS label, as you say, also doesn't take care of BTS and any army knows this, they overwork the boys, they have starved them in the past (JIn's chicken diet, not taking care of Jimin's ED) and the boys have often nearly passed out (check their tour videos) because Bighit has taken such bad care of them. Bighit can care for them and manage them well in some areas and still do poorly in these. Don't let the Kpop industry off the hook for treating idols so terribly when it comes to food.
@@jaja-cg9yd You just eat at maintenance for that lower weight. It's possible, you just need to calculate your calorie requirements for the new low weight. I've done it before lol, takes a lot of willpower though.
Now that Jackson Wang's diet doesn't look too bad right? 😭
Some kpop idols even said they didn't drink WATER a day before their weighting day cuz even thoes few grams mattered to the company 🤦🏻♀️ this literally INSANE 🤦🏻♀️
Thank you so much for this video I'll make sure to share thus video to thoes who are trying these diets 💕
Wow. That is very concerning to hear! I'm glad the video was helpful
Idols have also been known to spit, sometimes for hours before a weigh-in, so as to lose "water weight".
One idol who did that during her trainee days was Coco, formerly of Blady.
It didn't save her though.
She got dropped from her (unnamed) group, because of *two measly pounds*
ps: By the Jackson Wang diet, do you mean that unholy smoothie he makes, that includes steamed chicken breasts LOL
I have been a fan of IU for almost 10 years now, and her diet “inspired” me to diet like her as well-as a young girl, sometimes it’s hard to know what is good for u, especially when people you look up to eat a certain way
I'm so sorry for your experience 🙁
@@AbbeysKitchen no don’t be!! You’re absolutely an amazing role model and I’m glad the younger generations have some better role models these days!
It blows my mind that there's so much proven research about how eating under a certain amount of calories a day has huge consequences for both your mental and physical health, yet it continues to be such a huge issue in the kpop industry
Not to mention the beauty standards in Kpop. The weight limit in kpop idols is 50 kg(110 lbs) which is underweight for most women. If you weigh more than that or if you're at a healthy body weight, you're literally force to go on a stupid restrictive diet. Kpop idols being like 5'7 and 105 pounds is super skinny. This is NOT OK. We should not normalize and praise girls for starving themselves and glorify being stick skinny. Being underweight to that point can really damage your health. Also, there are many healthier looking female idols, like Jennie from BP, Ryujin from ITZY, and Hwasa from Mamamoo who have some fat and muscle on them and are pretty strong. Those girls get fat shamed and called "chubby and obese" because the Kpop industry is so used to seeing girls who are sickly thin. They are not fat, they are actually healthy girls! Also, from my perspective, if I had to dance for 6-10 hours a day, and was put on these diets, I would not be able to make it through. I would definitely pass out while performing. These girls eat wayyyyy too little food, considering the amount of exercise they do. They should actually be eating around 3000 calories a day to stay healthy. I don't know why the Kpop industry puts so much pressure on young girls and glorifies being underweight. I genuinely feel so sorry for those idols. I wish them the best.
I feel like there should be a new challenge:
Who can count how many times Abbey said “sweet potato”? 😂
Saw this comment and had to do it.
17 times! 🤣
Too many to count! 😂
drinking game 😂
It makes me want to eat sweet potatoes. Like, more than one sweet potato.
Eat your favorite food game 😁😁
im glad you did this topic. I have been a fan of kpop for almost 9 years, that means I got into it when i was around 12 (a really dangerous age to be exposed to all these unhealthy diets). I would say that back in the day the kpop diets were way worse (the iu diet was from 2013). However, kpop idols doing extreme and seriously crazy diets is still very present and is such a huge problem on the industry. As a kpop fan of many years, i have seen how my favorite idols get super sick or even collapsed due to fatigue and malnourishment; and its horrible.
I think one of the things that makes me the most scared about this is that fans want to recreate these diets to be as thin as their favorite artist. 12 year old me used to obsessed over this and Its so unhealthy. Hope this diet culture in south korea changes because its so inhuman
I'm sorry. I understand that is is very upsetting!
I am so glad to have come across this video. Thank you for speaking out on the dark side of the Kpop industry that so many people deliberately ignore.
I don’t listen to kpop but I teach and my students are obsessed. This stuff has me so worried. Because I teach dance to middle schoolers I’ve gotten really blunt with them about how pervasive disordered eating is in the dance world, we talked about warning signs, I brought in my personal experience of having a friend who hid hers from me because I just didn’t know the signs(she’s in recovery and living beautifully!) and now this stuff is terrifying to watch. They are obsessed with all these performers, I had absolutely no idea it was this bad. I wanted that one girl to punch the person taking her food. I worry all the time about the things my girls watch and this is just way worse than I could have imagined......
I understand your concern. It is very upsetting to see
I used to give myself a capped weight that I couldnt go over and if I did, I would do reaaally unheatlthy things. At the time, I didnt realize that this wasn't great for me and I didn't realize I had an ED. But now looking back on the other side, in recovery, I realized I did a loooot of extreme things and some of these kpop stars diets was exactly what I would put myself through!! crazy to think about ...
Oh no, I'm so sorry for your experience. I'm glad you are doing better now ❤️
Relatively minor, but important correction: at 27, 22, and 28 these are women, not girls.
But by that age many of them been training for 10 or more years, which means they are started on these diets when they are teenaged girls.
If the speaker is older, they can call them girls. It doesn't matter.
Yes, but many start training when they are still teenagers while following these diets and workout schedules.
The 27 & 28 year olds are women. The 22 year old is a girl. Anything under 25 is not a fully developed adult.
Thanks for making this video, Abbey. As a Korean(local) and your fan, this inhumane diet culture roots in the Korean diet world. You never see young female TV stars in diverse body shapes on media. Sadly, Korean society is putting pressure on Korean women how they SHOULD look. Not only about our body shape but about how our face looks... It is such sadness. I am 5'3 and 121lbs, and my fitness coach (Korean male) insulted me I looked like a fat pig. Luckily I am fighting for my health, but it is true to be exhausted to.
Big love for your messages on your videos.
I remember when Park Bom lost ~10-15 lbs when she was already slim with chubby cheeks and she was posting on Me2day pictures of her just eating iceberg lettuce. Like that was her diet - iceberg lettuce. People were falling over themselves to praise her for it and were even calling her the Lettuce Genius.
Abby, THIS WAS AWESOME. This topic is sooo important. I am so passionate about it myself. It was so refreshing to hear someone else who understands and is passionate about the serverity of this topic as well.
luckily some of these idols have gone back to eating normally, but I’m sure they diet a couple days before they have to be in TV or have a photo shoot
Yes for sure
I feel like that’s fine, if it’s only a couple days. Business is business
It's not just days, I'm afraid.
Even Mamamoo, whom I consider to be healthier examples amongst idols, diet *for weeks, if not months* before a comeback.
They are open about the fact that it isn't sustainable, and that they end up gaining most, if not all of the weight back, before the comeback is over.
Their stylists know this, and so do they.
Hence their costumes are pinned, or have basting stitches put in, so they can be let out at the last minute, and significant weight fluctuations can be accommodated.
It doesn't stop the weight loss from being a pre-comeback ritual though.
5:22 The backstory to that specific video is that the food was given to her by a random person and there have been rumours of idols being poisoned by people not liking them and that´s why the woman is taking it away. Ofc you can see how hungry she is regardless, otherwise she wouldn´t "defend" the food that much.
One thing I tried the other day (based off a Pinterest post) was sweet potatoes loaded with chickpeas and goat cheese, drizzled in olive oil - yum!
....I can't believe I know this much about kpop diets off the top of my head, but I'd like to offer a few corrections/clarifications
-IU's first name is Ji Eun, Lee is her last name.
-IU's sweet potato/apple/shake diet was when she was trying to lose weight she'd gained while filming a movie. She reportedly doesn't do this anymore. She did have a past of disordered eating, but even then I don't think this was ever her regular diet.
-Same sort of thing for Soyou, that was a crazy short term diet she went on to lose 8kg, but her normal food consumption is a lot more food and a lot more balanced. She talked about her normal diet on a show called "I live alone"
I'm in no way trying to defend these diets. They are harmful, and completely ridiculous. There have been a handful of idols who did develop serious eating disorders like Jine from oh my girl and sojung from ladies code, and those are just the ones we know about. Who knows about all the young trainees that never got to debut? There are also many many idols who are caught in a destructive binge restrict cycle for each comeback. Lately there has been a push towards accepting body diversity and healthier sizes, like with Hwasa, but there's still a long way to go.
If Lee is her family name, Abby said it correctly.
I really appreciate the information, thank you!
@@werepanda4991 When she said her full name, yes. But she was saying "a young girl like Lee." when her first name is Ji Eun.
it is like, genuinely difficult for me to put into words how consistently healing and validating your videos are. i have been going back and forth with recovering from an eating disorder for over a decade and now on my struggle days I go to watch your videos to feel less alone and to feel supported. Thanks for everything :)
Great that you addressed this❤️
Would love to see a video on the fitness industry and what realistic to attain for life and what social media portrays. The dangers, the fads etc...and examples of what just good ol balance active and healthy living looks like 👍🏼
Great idea!
I remember Ashley from ladies code talking about how she once didn't get her period for a year whilst dieting. Also just like add that is getting even more worried considering idols are getting younger, itzy's yuna is like 17.
First of all thank for you looking into these and reading my older comment!
Things I wanna add (this topic is literally huge)
-Sadly there are only few body positivity advocates in the industry, the most known being Hwasa from Mamamoo. She has openly talked about the strict Korean beauty standards and her experience trying to fit in.
-Especially female idols always get asked about their diet on Radio shows. It's a pretty common question and most of the time you can see the girls getting a bit uncomfortable or shy and they show signs of disordered eating. Of course it shouldn't be a taboo topic because then people would think the idols are born with this weight and that it's unachievable. But this just spreads the idea of risky and dangerous diet cultures.
-You can also get body shamed for being too skinny. For example Rosé and Lisa have been always talked about for being "too" skinny even tho both of them show absolutely no sign of disordered eating. It's actually the opposite both them are seeing eating big amount of foods (unprocessed and processed) and they have said before that they have been skinny ever since ("born skinnny b*tch"- Lyrics from Pretty Savage). Another idol is Sumni who has openly talked about how she struggles the gain weight and binge eats to have a more "femine" body for her sexy concepts. She got lots of hate for that and people said she was bragging about it.
-Another idol who has been body shamed and later on critized for her diet is Wendy from Red Velvet. She gained weight due to the stress of a recent scandal and afterwards went on multiple really strict diets. Netizens have calld her out for looking like "a skeleton" and promoting unhealthy eating. Basically they expect everyone to fit the beauty standard naturally.
-I also wanna point out the difference between female and male idols regarding diet cultures. Male idols have talked about their dangerous diets before but the pressure for female idols is way higher. The misogony smh.
-Being skinny is a requirement. It's almost impossible to make it as an idol if you aren't thin. Many idols have talked about how they were rejected by many agencies just because of their weight.
And when you make it into a company they usually monitor your weight sometimes even weighing you every morning (not considering that your weight changes throughout the day) and putting you on a diet.
-Luckily we have seen a change in the 4th generation idols (idols that have debuted in recent years). Groups like Itzy (even though some of the members have struggled too or are still struggling, we don't have all the information) have said that they eat well because they can dance better. I hope we can continue in that direction.
Wow, thank you so much for all of that information. It is all extremely helpful
I'm so happy to finally see someone address the problems in the k-pop industry because nowadays more and more people think it's cool to try drastic diets and mess their health to be just like their biases even tho asian standards are pretty extreme in general. Thank you, Abbey, for this ♥
I'm so glad it's helpful!
hi! korean viewer here; just dropping in to ask, i know that westerners think many asian foods overlap, but korea (and china) have a painful history of being oppressed and colonized by japan and having our culture forcibly almost wiped out by japanese imperialism. it would be more culturally respectful to call kimbap "kimbap" and not "sushi"; even if others may think they are virtually the same food, there is a difference and it is important that we are not represented as interchangeable. although i don't think that was the intent here, the words and phrasing matters. thank you!
Thank you for that information, I really appreciate it. I only referenced sushi in reference to the kimbap to help my audience who may not know what kimbap is know what I was referring to but in the next breath I explained exactly what kimbap is. But I hear your feedback, and I will be more mindful in future videos
12:43 she basically just explained what it was my guy relax
I chuckled because it's confusing. But you pictured two different Sujis at 7:37, and the diet is from Bae Suzy/Suji and not Suji from Unit.
I’m sorry, our editor added that Ans we didn’t catch it!
@@AbbeysKitchen I'm a big Lee Suji fan and I was scratching my head about her being featured in this video. (I've never heard anything said about Suji's diet.) I also could see that the picture of "Suji" in school uniform wasn't her. I've also just some research I found it's Bae Suzy. Now, I love Suji, but she's nowhere nearly as famous as Bae Suzy or IU who are both very big Korean stars, especially IU.
I’ve been anticipating this one!!
Twice’s Momo had to eat only ice cubes for 3 days before she was allowed to debut. (She said this herself, on a vlive). She said that she was grateful that she could wake up the next day.
6:09 ~ btw, in Korea, they last name goes before the first name, so IU’s name isn’t Lee, it’s Ji Eun
to be more accurate, Momo was NOT forced to eat ice cubes, but they did tell her to lose an unreasonable amount of weight before debut, so she felt like the only way she could do it was to eat nothing but ice cubes.
Obviously this is absolutely terrible, should never be done, and it's a huge problem that someone at the company would tell her to lose so much weight. It seems like a lot of people seem to think that companies are simply taking their food away and not allowing them to eat. I almost wish that was the case, because the problem would be so much simpler to fix. But the problem goes so much deeper than the companies forcing them to lose weight. Every company is different, and while some likely do restrict what the idols eat, more often from what I have heard from former idols and current idols (although it's a little to harder to trust what current idols say, because they can't say too much against their company), is that they just feel so pressured to lose weight. Even if the company does not say to lose weight, they don't need to say it for the idols to feel pressured to do it. Because it's like a competition. If you are the fattest trainee, you need to lose weight, if there is someone skinnier than you, you need to lose weight, if everyone else is dieting in order to lose weight, you need to diet even if you didn't really need to lose weight.
It's just this whole thing that goes so deep. Simply making the company not restrict their food alone will not solve the problem. The companies need to be pro-active in helping their idols and trainees maintain proper nutrition, because there's really pressure from every angle for them to diet, and with how young they typically are when they become trainees, they usually just don't have the knowledge or experience to be able to diet safely, or feel secure enough with their current weight to not diet.
Wow, that is very upsetting to hear. And thank you for letting me know
This is insane!! If these girls are expected to train like top tier athletes, for 10-12 hours a day, then they should be eating like top tier athletes. Keeping them on diets of less than 1k calories a day, and only leaving them with enough time to get a few hours sleep a night is downright abuse.
Just a clarification about IU's diet: she's said multiple times that this is a diet she does only for a few days before a comeback, and she actively encourages girls not to follow her footsteps. She's also very open about her struggle with EDs.
As a kpop fan for many years, I developed an eating disorder after seeing how normalized these diets are. Also as a teen pressured by the endless stream of beauty standards and diet culture, it was even more easy. I remember eating between 100 - 300 calories per day and crying when i had more than that, thinking i'm overeating, drinking black coffee to reduce my appetite, skipping meals, etc. I felt so fatigued all the time, my hair started falling off, i passed out several times and even if i felt okay, i was a child, so it was terrible for my health regardless. I lost 25 kg in less than a year, but i still felt fat and would often critique my body, i never was skinny enough.
Anyways, i'm recovering, but having more than 1000 calories still feels wrong, kpop diets have definitely left a scar on me
Aye!!! Fellow Musical Theatre major here as well.
To touch on their sleep schedules: there is NO WAY your vocal chords are able to recover and repair enough to be able sing at the level these trainees are required to. It’s shocking to me that the people in charge of their schedules aren’t aware of that...
It is very concerning!
I’m glad you’re talking about this and shining a light on it, it’s always made me sad for those in the industry and those who are influenced to emulate them. But it is a bit weird putting BTS in the title and thumbnail and then not mentioning them.
Yep. Abbey I love you and your channel but this felt like quite blatant views-baiting. I am a big BTS fan so I was naturally drawn to click on the video and I was hoping you would talk about their journey with food and dieting too but you did not :/
yup. I was kind of interested to hear here opinion on their current relationship with food. They also talk about being on a diet but then their eating vlives seem pretty healthy? Tho if you think about their constant diets, their excitement about snacks on run episodes becomes alarming
@@gen1130 Yeah, Jungkook said in their butter Vlive he had onlly had water for 5 days before they filmed the Butter MV. I really hope that as a part of their love myself campaign that they start looking at how disordered their relationship is with food.
Help to spread this message. K-pop artists deserve more labor and even human rights. Being able to eat a balanced diet for your body and age, being able to date whoever you want (they are so young!) are basic rights of any human being.
For the longest time, I used to eat pretty much the same foods/proportions as the first girl (apple, sweet potato, etc.) and work out intensely almost every day. Watching your videos has shown me that I have not had a good relationship with food for most of my adolescence/adulthood. A lot of my physical and mental health problems have probably stemmed from this issue, which is hard and, frankly, sad for me to realize. But this realization is overall beneficial because now I know how to better help myself. You have really opened up my mind to what being “healthy” actually means. Thank you so much, Abby!💕
Wow. I remember hearing about how strict everything was for kpop stars but I had no idea it was this bad. Side note: glamour put out a video a few days ago everything a pro ballerina eats in a day. It'd be super interesting to hear your thoughts on that.
I'll have a look at that!
You said that a young girl (IU) with a lot of activity needs to consume more than 3000 kcal. It doesn't seem quite right to me. I am a man and when I had a goal (this winter) to gain 80 kg, I consumed 3000 kcal a day, training 6 days a week for 2 hours in a gym with large weights. And I did it, but I think that for a girl, although very active, it's too much. (Besides, 3000 is hard enough to eat for 4 meals, it was a burden for me)
I feel like its the society's fault in all this. The companys in order to sell, they provide what public wants, when Hwasa got viral for her curvy body, her company let her eat whatever she wanted while wheein was starving herself. That was so upsetting to see.
At the height of my ED, I was only allowing myself 300 calories a day, forcing myself to work out for a minimum of 2 hours twice a day, and only drinking black coffee or plain water. I literally had 50-100 calorie snacks stashed away in a trunk in my bedroom that I could pick and choose from. I was so sick and thought that this was totally normal... Obviously, this is not okay and it’s not normal. I feel for these girls, I really do. Even though I used to live this way, I can now recognize that this is torture. It’s misery. I can only hope that they realize that this lifestyle is not worth it in any sort of way.
I'm at this right now... I most I allow myself is 50 calories
What's even more dangerous is their young impressionable fans think they can attain their body image and be "heathy" following these diets.
I developed pretty ugly disordered eating habits when living in Korea (for about 6 years). Between social expectations and being worked so hard every single day, I went from being a lifetime US size 8 down to a size 2/4 in less than a year. I got complimented all over the place and even had opportunities to model but I was barely eating 500 calories a day. I moved home last year and gained everything back and then some. 🙃 thanks Korea!
I've been listening to Kpop and I've honestly really loved the music,since way back in 2010. I was hardly 15 at the time, and I remember not even understanding that eating a sweet potato for lunch, or going on these diets was harmful, what mattered was that I get to look like that. I starved myself a lot, and faced dehydration, not understanding what my body was going through.
Over the years, as I got to know more about Kpop, and what the trainees and idols go through, in terms of their relationship with food. Now, I don't like to advertise Kpop, or the fact that these diets are a MASSIVE TREND, because it took me a long time to get back into a healthy relationship with food, which I'm grateful for, now as a 25 year old.
Our bodies are so beautifully created, and I truly believe everyone is beautiful, regardless of fads, or trends, or what social media might say. Loved this video!
Wow. I'm sorry for your experience, but I'm glad you are doing better now
Momo, a member of Twice who is a main dancer, their staff member (I don't remember who) told her to lose weight in a week. So she ate nothing but ice cubes. I mean...
Knowing the abuse that Kpop artists go through has always kept me from enjoying the genera. It feels like the fast fashion of music
One note: The companies will often lie about the weight and height of idols on their profiles, and they’re often not updated after they debut. So if a female idol’s profile *says* she weighs 104 pounds, she might actually weigh 115 or something like that. Granted, the diets are still super unsustainable, but that is something to consider.
Ashley Choi from Ladies Code said that she lost her period for over a year in her early career. BoA, one of the first big kpop idols, has said that the starvation diet her company put her on at such a young age (she debuted at 15 if I’m not mistaken) stunted her growth. I can’t blame these girls for their actions. The issue is far larger than them, or even the companies. It’s the culture at large.
Awww, your baby “blob” falling over, so cute!
Hey a little nit picky here but when you suggested sweet potato recipes you kept showing orange north American sweet potatoes. In Korea, japan, and other Asia countries the Asian purple on the outside sweet potato is the most popular. They tend to eat them plain because they are already sweeter than the north American kind. So just a sweet potato alone is just simply a diet thing even though it certainly is but also a cultural thing