Giada Spits Out Food, and So Do I

Updated on 11/21/2014 at 1:47 PM

Italian feel-good cook Giada De Laurentiis is taking some heat in the press for allegedly spitting out all her food to stay thin. Page Six interviewed an inside source who claimed, "When Giada films her cooking show, she never eats. Never. When she is making drinks and food that she has to drink or eat, they have a dump bucket that is brought out the second they cut" for her to spit. But here's a reality check for the wider world out there — many people I know in the food industry spit out food on the regular, including myself. Spitting out wine is common practice among wine professionals, so how come it has to be different for those in the food industry?

Consider this: most TV personalities shoot multiple segments a day, with several takes, so it makes sense that Giada doesn't eat every bite. Giada's representative Stephen Huvane further explains:

"She absolutely eats her own food while filming. Giada tapes sometimes three episodes in one day, and they do multiple takes on a close-up of her eating. She doesn't always eat and swallow every time, since they can do sometimes six to 10 takes with three episodes a day, and that would be like eating six to eight meals a day . . . The bottom line is, she most certainly does eat the food she prepares on the show, but does not always consume the whole dish, as that would be too much for most people to eat in one day."

These 80 pumpkin spice foods didn't try themselves.

But here's another truth that no one wants to hear: yes, we spit out food to stay thin. Most of us know (but don't want to admit) that portion control or healthy dieting makes a person thin. I love junk food, sugar, and alcohol just like the rest of humanity! But there are only so many scoops of ice cream and chocolate bonbons and new potato chip flavors that one can consume in a week without the pounds showing up. Everyone on my team, including me, has complained of gaining at least 10-15 pounds when starting the job. Yes, we chose this industry, and yes, we love to try, review, and react to delicious and terrible foods, but when there's upward of 10, sometimes 20 foods and drinks we have to put in our mouths in a day, spitting occurs out of necessity. The same goes for recipe developing. I'm not going to eat cookie after cookie or cake after cake to know if I've nailed it. And it's not like the food goes completely to waste. We always share the wealth with our friends, family, and co-workers, and I'm sure Giada does the same. So I can completely and utterly sympathize with Giada's choices.

To swallow the Cheetos or not to swallow? That is the question.

Even if thin food personalities aren't spitting food out, they certainly have to cut most of the fun stuff. Padma Lakshmi divulged to Fitness Magazine how she returns to model size following each Top Chef season: "I follow a clean diet: no meats, no sweets, no alcohol, no cheese, no fried food, no wheat. And I work out five days a week, boxing three days, lifting weights the other two." And Gail Simmons told Eatocracy she eats a vegetable soup several nights out of the week for supper. "My husband thinks it's a conspiracy: The world is out to make me get fat," she explains.

No matter how much a chef, TV personality, or food writer adores rich delicacies, we simply cannot subside on them alone. We also care about our health, nutrition, and overall well-being. Let's get rid of all the "slim shaming" in the food industry. I hear it all the time: "You can't trust a skinny chef." Why? I eat a healthy amount of food and indulge in as much beer and cheese and chocolate as I want to. But I know my limits, I spit out when I have to, and I eat kale too. So there. Source: Nicole Perry and Anna Monette Roberts