Health

Khloe Kardashian's New Show Has a Dangerous Message

January 12th 2017

After divorcing her husband Lamar Odom, Khloe Kardashian threw herself into fitness and lost 35 pounds. Now, she's trying to help others develop body confidence through her show "Revenge Body."

But some have said the series can promote unhealthy habits.

In "Revenge Body," which airs on E!, Kardashian puts people who are trying to lose weight through a rigorous exercise regimen and lifestyle changes. The trailer shows some of these people struggling at the beginning of their journey, a normal part of the exercise adjustment process:

Though some of the people in the show may see physical results after crash dieting and exercising, short-term plans like this don't work well and can actually be harmful.

Excessive exercise can increase a person's risk of injury and also create heart problems. Cardiologist Isadore Rosenfeld told CNN in April 2010 that multiple crash diets can increase one's chances of getting a heart attack, and Dr. Linda Bacon told the publication that crash diets can also hurt a person's blood vessels. Though it's unclear whether the "Revenge Body" participants are put on crash diets, "Revenge Body" trainer Lacey Stone told PEOPLE in December that she typically puts her clients on a healthy diet plan in addition to an exercise plan. Effective weight loss is usually achieved by a combination of healthy eating habits and exercise.

"Yo-yo dieting can also damage your blood vessels," Dr. Bacon told CNN. "All that shrinking and growing causes micro tears that create a setup for atherosclerosis and other types of heart disease."

Critics of "Revenge Body" have also said the show can encourage obsessive, unhealthy behaviors related to weight.

After Kardashian shared some "Revenge Body" promotional photos on Instagram showing how her body has changed over the years, ScaryMommy.com writer Maria Guido wrote that this sends the message that something was wrong with Kardashian before she lost weight.

"There was nothing wrong with Khloé Kardashian’s body before," Guido wrote. "Nothing. This whole thing is just promoting the most unhealthy message: unless you are wasting away, you’re simply not sexy. And what the hell is a 'revenge body' anyway? Would you really want a partner back who wouldn’t be interested in you if you were 10, 20, even 30 pounds heavier?"

After Kardashian's show was announced in late 2015, writer E.J. Dickson took issue with framing a revenge body as "the ultimate course of action a woman can take to reclaim her identity after a breakup or hit back at a man who done her wrong."

"[F]or what it's worth, there's something to be said for taking control of your eating and fitness habits, and using extreme personal turmoil as motivation to make major lifestyle changes," Dickson wrote. "But using the 'revenge body' as a plaudit — i.e., patting women on the back for losing weight after a breakup — assumes that all those CrossFit sessions and kale smoothies and personal trainer bills were aimed toward one single, all-consuming goal: proving something to a man."

ATTN: has reached out to "Revenge Body" for comment some of these concerns and will update this piece and we hear back.

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