The word “diet” can often be a trigger word for many people. While some promise quick results and are deemed healthy, they might not be sustainable in the long run, both mentally and physically.
In a TikTok video, a content creator named Karmell shared a mortifying experience after she had tried an infamous diet that many high-profile celebrities had also done, but unfortunately, it didn’t work out in her favor.
She explained how she lost her dignity after doing the ‘Beyoncé diet’ during her last year in college.
“Let me just set the scene for you, okay? The Beyoncé diet back in the early 2000s is when you don’t eat anything and all you do is drink this concoction of lemon water, cayenne pepper, and a little maple syrup for calories. That’s why you drink all day,” Karmell informed viewers, explaining that she had done this diet during finals week of her senior year in college.
She continued, saying that before going to bed, you’re supposed to drink two cups of laxative tea. When you’re flat in the morning, you’re supposed to drink a quart of sea salt water before getting up and starting the day, which is exactly what Karmell did before heading off to take a final.
Karmell eventually reached her math class and was sitting down to take her timed final when all of a sudden she started to feel the familiar bubbling happening in her guts right before needing to go the restroom. As calmly as she could, she raised her hand and let the professor know that she needed to be excused.
“I go to the bathroom, I shut and lock the door. As I’m making my way to the toilet, I barely get my underwear down in time before a spraying happens,” Karmell recalled. She pointed out that she didn’t do anything other than a simple pee in public restrooms, and was absolutely mortified in that moment.
“Not only that but the position I was in, mid-squat, I am stuck in that position now because I have covered everything in my [excrement]. When it was done, I proceeded to clean myself up, put my clothes back on. I didn’t know what to do, I froze.”
She was forced to go back to the class and inform her professor of what had just happened in the bathroom.
To make matters worse, Karmell was in the middle of an important timed final, so she had no time to do an extensive cleaning of her… situation. She cleaned up to the best of her ability, washed her hands, and walked back into the classroom intending to tell her professor what had happened.
She informed her professor that she needed a little bit more time after having an incident in the bathroom, but her professor assured Karmell that she could just continue the final and she would handle whatever had happened in the restroom.
“I said, ‘Ma’am, please don’t. I promise you will never look at me the same if you go into that bathroom.’ Mind you, I left the bathroom vacant so I am terrified and my heart is racing that someone is going to go in there in between the time I have left and I’m talking to my professor,” Karmell said.
Her professor reiterated that it couldn’t be that bad, and that she had seen much worse from taking care of her elderly parents. Resigned, Karmell followed her professor to the bathroom, where her excrement covered the bathroom wall, the floor, and the entire toilet. At the sight, her professor froze and informed Karmell that she was going to call the janitor and mark the bathroom as “out of order.”
She also told Karmell that she was sending her home and she would be able to take a makeup exam another day, clearly believing that Karmell was incredibly ill to have done something like that in the bathroom. “I lost 12 pounds and most of my dignity that day,” Karmell concluded.
What is the ‘Beyoncé diet?’
From the early years of her career, Beyoncé has been open and known for some of the diets that she does before big performances or appearances. One of the more intense diets that she’s done is called the Master Cleanse, coined the “Beyoncé diet.”
It’s a 10-day juice cleanse where people only drink a lemon water, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper concoction, according to Healthline. During an interview with Oprah, Beyoncé admitted to doing the Master Cleanse to prepare for her role in “Dreamgirls,” and that she ended up losing 20 pounds in two weeks.
The Master Cleanse has been criticized for not being a balanced diet that people should partake in, and by just drinking lemon water, you aren’t getting all of the necessary nutrients. With it not being a proper diet, the Cleanse will make people feel sluggish and hungry. It could also lead to heart and kidney problems, as well as long-term weight gain.
This isn’t the first time that Beyoncé opened up about doing an intense diet. Right before her 2018 Coachella headlining performance, the “Déjà Vu” singer said in a video that she had kept a strict diet for 44 days, where she cut out carbs, bread, sugar, dairy, meat, fish, and alcohol, according to a clip from her behind-the-scenes documentary.
“Good morning, it’s 5 a.m., and this is day one of rehearsals for Coachella,” the singer says as she steps on a scale at the beginning of the clip. “Every woman’s nightmare… this is my weight, 175. Long way to go.”
At the time, Beyoncé had just given birth to her twins, Rumi and Sir Carter, and her announcement invoked a bit of criticism, though while she was stoking the fires of controversial diet culture, Beyoncé was just as much a victim to it as everyone else.
Celebrities, who exude and epitomize the beauty standard are not immune to the pressures of conforming to outdated societal ideas of what a woman should look like, and how much she should weigh. Before approaching any diet, it’s important to proceed with caution and not deprive your body of the things that it needs just because of this expectation for rapid weight loss.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.
