Can you diet your way to a celebrity body?

"I'll Have What She's Having" author dishes on what she learned following the meal plans of 14 stars.

Can You Diet Your Way to a Celebrity Body?

Rebecca Harrington

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I entered the world of celebrity dieting almost by accident. I had stumbled on the diet of William Howard Taft while looking at a sleep apnea website (I don’t have sleep apnea. The internet often lures you into strange corners). There, buried around anecdotes of Taft annoying his wife by falling asleep all the time, was Taft’s daily diet from the brief time period where he was trying to lose weight. It was then and there I decided to go on his diet, because I love rules, I was thinking about going on a diet anyway, and I thought it would be amusing.

The diet was disgusting. It was mostly boiled fish and mutton. You could sometimes have some wine, but that was the only bright spot. I actually gained weight. After that abysmal failure, I decided to go on the diets of female celebrities. Maybe I would lose weight then. That was my thought process.

It is actually extremely easy to go on a famous person’s diet. You can find a famous woman’s diet just by googling her name and the word “diet.” You can also find diets in the weird “shape issue” of Vogue where everyone wears octagonal clothing.

This is because in the end, celebrity dieting is a business. Celebrities have a lot of things they can sell us—- a movie, a poncho with a fur trim for pregnancy, and another movie 18 months later. But they also have another powerful tool. They look amazing and we all look terrible. It stands to reason that they can tell us their secrets of health and wellness and in due time, with enough elbow grease, we can look just like them. That is the American Dream.

Rebecca Harrington. Photo: ©Michael Lionstar

I tried countless diets for my new book I’ll Have What She’s Having: My Adventures in Celebrity Dieting. I lived like Gwyneth for a week (at least the food part). In her cookbook called “It’s All Good” she celebrates a diet free of red meat, tomatoes, strawberries, gluten and deep water fish. She starts every morning off with a green juice. Despite all the restriction, her diet is awesome. Her recipes are creative and delicious. Her exercise regimes really work. She makes an excellent salad. The one downfall? Ideally, her recipes require you to be incredibly rich.