Gwyneth Paltrow's Daily Diet Has Caused Controversy Throughout The Years

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow is well known for her devotion to a healthy lifestyle, especially when it comes to diet. However, in recent years, she says she has relaxed a bit, admitting on an April 2024 episode of "the goop podcast" (via Page Six) that she "might have got a little didactical about" her diet and "a little strict."

Speaking about the paleo diet that she and her husband, Brad Falchuk, had been following, Paltrow confessed that she was "a little bit sick of it." She then added, "I'm getting back into eating sourdough bread, cheese. There, I said it. A little pasta." 

According to the Mayo Clinic, the paleo diet is centered around foods that might have been eaten by humans during the Paleolithic Era, around 2.5 million to 10,000 years ago. It includes foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean meat, fish, eggs, nuts, and seeds. Therefore, dairy products and foods like bread and pasta are avoided.

Paltrow added that she still feels that paleo is a good template to follow for eating, since it includes fresh, whole foods that are "very local and seasonal." However, her approach has become less rigid.

Back in 2023, the "Shallow Hal" actress found herself the subject of a great deal of controversy when she discussed the details of her paleo diet with Will Cole on his "The Art of Being Well" podcast (via TikTok). Revealing that she likes to do intermittent fasting, Paltrow said, "I usually eat something about 12, and in the morning I'll have some things that won't spike my blood sugar, so I have coffee, but I really like soup for lunch. I have bone broth for lunch." She then went on to add that she likes to have vegetables for dinner, explaining, "It's really important for me to support my detox."

However, several were quick to point out the restrictiveness of her diet. "Why are we promoting starving as a 'wellness routine?'" one commenter asked, while another said, "We are so over the almond mom culture" (via Today).

In the same episode of "the goop podcast," Paltrow shared, "I went into hardcore macrobiotics for a certain time, that was an interesting chapter where I got obsessed with eating very, very healthily." According to Cancer Research UK, this way of eating was developed by a Japanese philosopher named George Ohsawa, who believed that a simple, healthy diet free of toxins could cure illnesses, including cancer. Paltrow says she ate "[l]ots of fish, vegetables, rice, no dairy, no sugar, etc." while on the plan.

The star also admits that she probably got a bit carried away. "I felt so good, I wanted to share that with my dad, my friends and family," she said. However, she says things became "a little more complicated" due to what she called "inflammation and health stuff." This is what led her and her husband to become paleo.