Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels

"Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" is a quote popularized by English model Kate Moss, though she did not originate the phrase. Moss first publicly used the quote in a 2009 interview with Women's Wear Daily where she stated it was one of her mantras. The quote was immediately controversial, and subsequently used for pro-anorexia purposes. It has also been used for product marketing and been the focus of academic study. Moss later stated she regretted using the phrase.

Background

Kate Moss entered the modeling scene in 1988 at 14 years old and quickly became known for her size zero frame.^[1] She is credited for helping to start the "heroin chic" look of the 1990s, a drug-abuse inspired fashion look.^[1]

In Bridget Carrington's book Feast or Famine? Food and Children's Literature, guest author Fiona Dunbar writes that the quote could be found on pro-anorexia websites as early as 2003.^[2] Moss stated when she started modeling and got roommates, one of them repeatedly used the phrase as a "little jingle".^[3] Moss then started using the term.

Women's Wear Daily interview

On November 13, 2009, Women's Wear Daily released an interview with Moss under the article name "Kate Moss: The Waif That Roared".^[4] Brid Costello asked 10 questions of the 35-year-old Moss, including "How do you define beauty?", "What inspires you?", and "How do you channel your creativity?"^[4] The fifth question was "Do you have a motto?"^[4] Moss responded:

"There are loads. There’s "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." That's one of them. You try and remember, but it never works."^[4]

 

Model Kate Moss in 2015

Impact

After the interview was released, the quote "immediately caused an uproar" according to the BBC.^[5] HuffPost wrote, "...the roar that WWD promised quickly materialised."^[6] Television presenter Denise van Outen quipped, "Kate Moss is talking out of her size zero backside."^[7] Susan Ringwood, the chief executive of the eating disorder charity Beat, said, "For her to even inadvertently legitimise something that could be potentially so harmful is regrettable."^[8] Moss' representatives stated the quote was "taken out of context."^[9] CNN listed the quote as one of the "Top 20 quotes of 2009" while Cosmopolitan named it as one of the "Best celeb quotes" that year.^[10][11]

Pro-anorexia mantra

After the release of the interview, British model Katie Green stated, "There are 1.1 million eating disorders in the UK alone. Kate Moss's comments are likely to cause many more. If you read any of the pro-anorexia websites, they go crazy for quotes like this."^[12] That community, also known as "pro-ana", quickly started using the term and applied it as "thinspo" and as one of their 10 mantras.^[13] The pro-ana website Starving for Control put the quote on their homepage.^[14] Author Lisabeth Kaeser recounted how she used the phrase as a personal mantra when she was struggling with her eating disorder.^[15]

Writing for HuffPost in 2018, Katie Bishop stated, "For years the slogan infiltrated pro-anorexia forums, and even today a quick Google offers up pages of images of the words in Instagram-ready fonts against tasteful backgrounds of millennial pink."^[6]

Product slogan

In 2009, Time listed the quote as number six on their top 10 "T-shirt worthy slogans" with a graphic of Moss and the quote appearing on a black t-shirt.^[16]

In 2011, American clothing retailer Zazzle used the phrase on a range of children's t-shirts. After the Advertising Standards Authority in the UK received a number of complaints, the ASA required Zazzle to remove the advertisements featuring the shirts and censured the company.^[17]

In 2014, Canadian clothing retailer Hudson's Bay produced a shirt designed by Christopher Lee Sauvé featuring the quote with a nutrition label that listed the calorie count as 0.^[18] Customer Kathleen Pye saw the shirt in the store and posted a photo to Twitter, calling the shirt "unbelievably irresponsible".^[19] The company received an onslaught of criticism online, after which it announced it would pull the shirt from its stores and stop production.^[18]

In 2016, British variety retailer B&M sold a novelty scale for £3.99 with the quote printed on the product. A customer took a picture of the scale and uploaded it to Facebook, where it caused "outrage".^[20] B&M pulled the product and announced "We have asked our supplier to withdraw this particular quotation" from the scales.^[20]

Scholarly study

Researchers incorporated Moss' quote into their 2013 study of anorexia nervosa published by the journal Trends in Neurosciences; the article was titled "Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels: The Neurobiology of Anorexia Nervosa".^[21] In June 2017, Gemma Rose Cobb examined the phrase in her PhD dissertation for the University of Sussex, titled Critiquing the thin ideal in pro-anorexia online spaces.^[22] In Diana E. Bizjak's 2015 dissertation, she wrote the saying has been compared to the quote "You can never be too rich or too thin", attributed to socialite Wallis Simpson.^[23]

In his 2019 book First You Write a Sentence, social historian Joe Moran dissects the quote and examines its language in depth. He writes that while it is a "dubious message", it is a "well-turned sentence".^[24] In her 2013 book Digital Dieting, academic Tara Brabazon writes that instead of obesity being a public crisis, "excessive ignorance" is much worse, which she states is "...so clearly revealed by Kate Moss" and the quote.^[25]

Retraction

In 2018, Moss had an interview with journalist Megyn Kelly on NBC where she stated she regretted using the term. Moss stated:

"There's so much more diversity now, I think it's right. There's so many different sizes and colours and heights. Why would you just be a one-size model and being represented for all of these people? So yes, for sure, it's better."^[26]

References

1. Loftus, Valerie (September 14, 2018). "Kate Moss Regrets Ever Saying 'Nothing Tastes As Good As Skinny Feels'". Stellar. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
2. Carrington, Bridget (July 3, 2014). "3". Feast or Famine? Food and Children's Literature. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 9781443863544.
3. Whittaker, Alexandra (September 13, 2018). "Kate Moss Regrets That Infamous Fat-Shaming Quote". In Style. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
4. Costello, Brid (November 13, 2009). "Kate Moss: The Waif That Roared". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
5. "Kate Moss regrets 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels' comment". BBC. September 14, 2018. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
6. Bishop, Katie (July 16, 2018). "How #StrongNotSkinny Became The 'Nothing Tastes As Good As Skinny Feels' Of Our Time". HuffPost. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
7. "Kate Moss in quotes: 'Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels'". New Zealand Herald. January 15, 2014. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
8. Holden, Michael (November 20, 2009). "Style icon Moss in trouble over 'pro-anorexia' motto". Independent. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
9. Dale, Heather (May 31, 2011). "Skinny vs. Healthy: Where Do You Stand?". PopSugar. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
10. "Top 20 Quotes of 2009". CNN. December 22, 2009. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
11. Womble, Ashley (January 1, 2010). "Best Celeb Quotes from 2009 — 2009 Year in Review". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
12. Williams, Carmen (September 14, 2018). "Kate Moss says she regrets saying "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" in a new interview". News 24. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
13. Topping, Alexandra (November 20, 2009). "Kate Moss's motto gives comfort to 'pro-anorexic' community". The Guardian. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
14. Holden, Michael (November 19, 2009). "Model Kate Moss criticized for "skinny" remark". Reuters. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
15. Kaeser, Lisabeth (June 6, 2016). Eating by Faith: a Walk with God. My Eating Disorder from the Inside Out. Balboa Press. ISBN 9781504355605. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
16. Fitzpatrick, Laura (December 8, 2009). "6. Kate Moss". Time. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
17. "Website censured over Kate Moss slogan T-shirts". The Guardian. August 10, 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
18. "Hudson's Bay to pull 'Nothing Tastes As Good As Skinny Feels' shirt". The Canadian Press. June 25, 2014. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
19. "Hudson's Bay Removes Kate Moss Quote Shirt After Twitter Outrage". HuffPost Canada. June 24, 2014. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
20. Meyjes, Toby (March 30, 2016). "These bathroom scales have been criticised for being 'pro-anorexic'". Metro. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
21. Kaye, Walter H.; Wierenga, Christina E.; Bailer, Ursula F.; Simmons, Alan N.; Bischoff-Grethe, Amanda (January 18, 2013). "Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels: The Neurobiology of Anorexia Nervosa". Trends in Neurosciences. 36 (2): 110–120. doi:10.1016/j.tins.2013.01.003. PMC 3880159. PMID 23333342.
22. Cobb, Gemma Rose. "Critiquing the thin ideal in pro-anorexia online spaces" (PDF). University of Sussex. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
23. Bizjak, Diana E. (Spring 2015). "Fit is the New Thin: Fitspiration and Body Satisfaction in College Age Women". Retrieved May 31, 2022. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
24. Moran, Joe (2019). First You Write a Sentence. Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 9780525506157.
25. Brabazon, Tara (2016). Digital Dieting. Taylor & Francis. p. 52. ISBN 9781317150886.
26. O'Malley, Katie (September 13, 2018). "Kate Moss Regrets Mantra 'Nothing Tastes As Good As Skinny Feels' Nine Years Later". Elle. Retrieved May 31, 2022.