Reader Jeannie clued me into this Facebook post by David Wolfe (which has subsequently been deleted.)
My first question- as I assume many people’s first question will be – is who the hell is this guy? Let’s start with who he thinks he is, from his website:
David “Avocado” Wolfe is the rock star and Indiana Jones of the superfoods and longevity universe. The world’s top CEOs, ambassadors, celebrities, athletes, artists, and the real superheroes of this planet—Moms—all look to David for expert advice in health, beauty, herbalism, nutrition, and chocolate!
Right, sure, we’ll go with that for right now.
My second question, then, is that if so many people are clamoring for his advice, why is he forcing it on Adele using Facebook? That’s just tacky as hell.
At first glance this looks like basic fat shaming with a side of complete incompetence. David wants us to think that he is a credible health and wellness expert, despite the fact that he is peddling spot reducing using a cheesy clickbait title and before and after drawings in lieu of pictures (probably because we’ve known for years that spot reducing is not possible – which is to say that there is no exercise that will “target” and remove belly and back fat) and he wants us to think that something that a credible health expert would do is fat shame Adele on Facebook. I’m sure he is the hero of internet trolls everywhere.
But look again. He’s not just fat shaming, he is trying to trade on Adele’s actual fame to get attention for himself (which you wouldn’t think he would need to do, considering how famous and in demand his bio suggests he is.) What happened here is that Adele, an extremely talented not-thin person, managed to rise above the oppressive systems that work to keep not-thin people from being able to share their talent. And David decided to use her, to try to trade on her hard-won fame, to..what…prove that he doesn’t understand how the human body works? This is bullshit and it’s wrong. As far as I’m concerned anyone who is an actual health and wellness expert would not want or need to spend their time fat-shaming talented fat people.
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David Wolfe is an asshat and has avocados for brains. He is a megalomaniacal egotist who is constantly spouting unsubstantiated health claims and sends to think healthism = health advice. His stuff (a lot of memes) is actually shared widely (by a lot of people interested in ‘natural health’) and unfortunately crosses my feed a lot. It shocks me (maybe it shouldn’t) how much people are into this guy and his “advice” and how they can’t see through it for what it is : clickbait healthist drivel. Blargh.
What does his bio even mean? It’s buzzword salad; not very nutritious.
Not knowing who he was I opened another tab and searched him up on Facebook, I surprised I had so many FB friends who had “liked his page”. Still knowing nothing about him, I scrolled through his FB and came across a “meme” about chemotherapy. It has a picture of a women getting treatment with a caption that reads “chemotherapy began in 1946 when the Department of Defense needed to find a medical use for mustard gas.-Nicholas Gonzalez”
I haven’t crossed referenced this so I don’t personally know if what the “meme” is stating is true however; I do know posting stuff like this (like so many comments before me said) this is scaring and putting fear into those who “follow” him on social media. Regardless if it’s true or not, he should’ve added more facts or something to this. I only scrolled to May 27 and realized he’s a goon and I’m personally glad I haven’t heard of him until now.
OK, that statement may or may not be true. If it works, then I’m all for it, and think it’s a much better use for it than killing people. If it doesn’t work, then I’m confused why it’s still being used as a go-to treatment for cancer, after all these years. I know next-to-nothing about the subject, though, so my opinion can only be “IF”.
However, if he’s going to claim to be an expert, he REALLY needs to cite his sources and back up his claims. I learned that in junior high.
Sulfur mustard = mustard gas (used in warfare)
Nitrogen mustard = chemo drug (chemo drug)
Not the same. But make no mistake- both are very harmful. It messes with DNA.
Seems that observations were made by docs who treated victims of sulfur mustard gas that it reduced white blood cells. Researchers glommed onto this fact hypothesized that it (or something chemically similar to it-nitrogen mustard) might be of use in combating leukemia or Hodgkin’s lymphoma. This first chemo drug was called mustine.
No, this was not the governments way of getting rid of mustard gas. The observations occurred during war time (obviously) and the research into combating cancer occurred in the early and mid-1940’s.
David Wolfe is just exploiting the history and preying on the ignorance many have regarding mustard gas.
Looks like you were writing at the same time as me. Good to know some real science and history. Seems that mustard compounds were developed for use at the same time; not as a way to get rid of stockpiles.
Thanks for the information! I learn so much at this site!
Well killing in WW1 was a medical use, since it destroys the alvioli in the lungs, preventing intake of O2. So he’s way wrong about 1946. Also I was never aware it was used for cancer treatments.
A quick search in my university library database shows that in the late 1950s and early 60s there were articles about treating sulphur (or sulfur) mustard exposure. It does not appear that mustard gas and chemotherapy are related, the recent articles on cancer have no keyword concerning mustard. I think it more likely that mustard gas causes cancer than is a treatment, and it is now being stockpiled by various terrorist groups.
Ugh! Another reason for me not to live in a major city – not only do I not enjoy city life (crowded and fast-paced are simply not to my taste), but I’d always be afraid of being targeted. Let’s face it, the most strategic places for attack are the big and influential cities, like New York Washington D.C., even Las Angeles. Fly-over country? Not so much of a target.
Not that there’s no possibility that a terrorist might strike in fly-over country, because “they think they’re so safe there. I’ll show THEM!” and get all psychological on us. But the odds are better.
The thing is, terrorists and terrorism has always been around, as long as there have been disgruntled people on the earth. They just have more effective weaponry, now.
David Avocado Wolf…that is the name he uses on his fan page….initials are DAW….backwards…which is the way he seems to be operating would make him WAD…insert any first word you choose before wad…and there you have it. I am glad he removed his offensive note to Adele and thanks for the post!
and you know, I resent MEN thinking they can advise women when their bodies are so very different in the way they store fat. Just one more example of female oppression and objectification.
That’s so weird because David is actually a really, really nice guy. I went to a seminar of his in San Diego and he spoke at length how the Health at Any Size approach is by far the most promising health philosophy to come from 2000s. And he’s not really the fat shaming type and that doesn’t look like a meme he would typically share. I wonder if his account was hacked or something? Especially since it’s now deleted? He has his share of detractors, a lot of which I would think intersect with Ragen’s detractors.
If he did post that then I will unfollow immediately but it just doesn’t seem like him.
Denny,
I’m glad that you had a good experience with him. Though I’ve not heard him talk about HAES (and don’t see it on his website) it’s certainly possible that his account was hacked. If it was I can’t find him saying that it was, and I would hope that this would be something that he would be apologize for and super clear that he didn’t do, doesn’t condone, and would never do. The article (with the accompanying picture) is definitely from his website and it’s not the only article like this. In addition to featuring this article in the sidebar of his page, he is also featuring “Reduce bloating and flatten your belly with this vitamin” with a similar before and after drawing, as well as at least one blog with anti-obesity language.
~Ragen
I will have to look more into him, I’m very sorry if I’m spreading misinformation. He was just a really nice younger guy when I met him a few years ago ( around 2005). Like most of us, I have bounced between “new health” paradigms and I went to David’s free seminar when I was on a raw food vegan kick in order to lose weight. I didn’t adopt Health at Ever Size then but I absolutely remember him being one of the first people I’d ever heard mention it. At the reception. he was just as welcoming and gave me the same attention (a very fat 50 year old man at the time) as he did to the “cute” young college girls (and the grandmothers, POC, non-English speakers, etc…) that were also present which always stuck with me. And he wasn’t selling anything contrary to so many of the other “health” seminars I’d been to in my life.
Like I said not trying to spread any information, it would just be heartbreaking because I had such a good memory of him.
If it was hacked, don’t you think he would have said something? If MY Facebook was hacked, and someone put that out there, I would be posting all over the place, telling people that it was hacked, and setting the record straight, both as a warning against hackers and poor security and as a means of, well, setting the record straight and saving my reputation.
Has he done that?
A person can be good in some ways, and bad in others. Most human beings are problematic, that way.
I’m glad you had a good experience with him, though.
Even if you could find before and after pictures of real people, it wouldn’t be losing that specific area’s fat. It would be toning the muscles in that specific area, and that would make that specific area look flatter (as long as you don’t also bulk up those now-toned muscles).
If he’s such an expert, he ought to know that. I mean, come on, dude! At least say, “This exercise reduces the APPEARANCE of back and belly fat.” Or “Tone your back and belly.” Or something that actually has some truth to it.
Clearly, those oodles of people clamoring to him for advice are going to suffer for it, because he doesn’t know his stuff. I wonder how much he’s charging for this bad advice?
But Adele, being such a celebrity, gets it for free!
I use to be a fan of his, but lately so many of the things he posts is not only fat shaming, but health shaming. He may have removed this from his Facebook page, but it’s still on his webpage. I’m quite disappointed in the direction he is going in. No longer a fan.
Health shaming? That’s a new one! How does he manage that?
My guess would be he shames anyone who does not strictly follow the precepts of what he considers living a “healthy” life. Any one not eating what he deems proper, exercising in the way he believes acceptable, etc. is to be condemned, chastised and treated with contempt until such time as they strictly follow his rules.
Oh, right! I read “health shaming” as shaming people who ARE healthy, and that made no sense to me.
This is awful, of course, but I can totally see that happening.
Thanks!
This is the first I’d ever heard of him, so I can’t comment on him specifically, but the *post* (whether he made it or not) is part of an obnoxious trend to appropriate platforms successful fat people have built for their own products/talent and use them as a soapbox to spread fatphobic misinformation. Adele makes a lot of money singing about heartbreak, healthists and fatphobes pour out of the woodwork to ask us if we noticed she’s fat And That’s Terrible, or if we knew we needed to follow *their* rules and/or buy *their* products to avoid getting Fat Cooties from exposure to such “decadence.” It creates a hostile environment where fat people can expect to be pilloried for their failures *and their successes.*
Oh joy, the pseudoscience-spouting doucheweasel manages to get EVEN MORE AWFUL. Yay.