TW: Saffron's relationship with food as shown in her videos
I have noticed her extremely disordered view of eating for years and years, but the recent video (boyfriend night routine) is a really scary example and has prompted me to say something. This will be a long post as I've wanted to talk about this for a while - I'm really shocked that more people are not picking up on this in these threads. Observations just from one video:
"Pizza":
- "We decided to make healthy pizzas" Tyler interrupts - "Saffron decided..."
- She eats the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day, sometimes has the same thing twice for lunch and dinner - screams of a restrictive diet and the idea of "safe" foods.
- "So we're actually making healthy pizzas" - REAL pizza is not a "bad" food. Obviously not a healthy idea to have one for every meal every day of the week, but a pizza now and then is absolutely healthy and normal eating behaviour.
- "These are my favourite wraps" - clearly nothing to do with the taste, these wraps taste of absolutely nothing and are weirdly plasticky and hard, I've had them. But she "looooves them so much guys" - I wonder why? - because they are 90 calories. The extra 110 calories in regular, 200 calorie wraps that actually taste of something and have substance are not going to ruin your calorie deficit Saffron.
- Tyler: "The best part of our shop was this though!" - The chocolate that Tyler bought (bless him, probably dying for some actual calories/sugar) was hidden off-camera, away from the carrier bag of "shopping" that Saffron showed the camera. - there is a look of fear on Saffron's face at 3:12 when Tyler is going to "expose" the chocolate and then a reprimanding tone of voice and look, raised eyebrows and almost slight roll of the eyes at 3:15 when she says: "Oh yeah, Tyler got snacks..." - making it clear that she doesn't "need" any snacks because this 90 calorie wrap topped with spinach and some morsels of unseasoned chicken is sooo filling you guys. Very weird of her to seem to want to absolve blame of "snacking" and to make Tyler seem excessive/indulgent for buying a bar of chocolate after making a 20+ year old adult man a 300 calorie "dish" for dinner (I still can't believe she called it that).
- "So it's more filling, we're going to add spinach" - if you want to be full, stop telling your viewers to be scared of carbs and just order an f-ing dominos. Or make a delicious homemade pizza with homemade dough.
- Saffron "This is also the quickest thing you can ever make". Tyler "The quickest thing is McDonald's" - shows where his mind is... we all crave McDonald's/fast food when we're absolutely starving/deprived of carbs.
- "I actually don't like spinach" - uhh, don't buy it then? There are so many vegetables out there, pick what you enjoy - food you like is good for you. But she forces herself to eat it because it's "sooooo filling you guys"........ Oh yeah, we all know those evenings where we're slumped out on the couch and can barely move because we've eaten so much bleeping spinach.
- "It's not my go-to kind of pizza, but yeah, it's not bad" - Tyler looks depressed. Someone please order this kid a dominos.
- Next clip "Dinner was honestlyyy JUST BANGINGGGG" - how is a carbless wrap with unseasoned tomato puree, spinach and chicken in any way BANGING? it's DEPRESSING and restrictive.
- "The perfect type of full" - what, starving? There. is. no. perfect. type. of. full. The perfect type of full is whenever you feel happy and satisfied.
- "It's such a good dinner because it's not like, heavy in your stomach. I just feel great, anyways..." - Heavy, rich and indulgent meals are nothing to be afraid of and should not be shamed - for example, the feeling of fullness and satisfaction after a roast dinner on a Sunday with your family is a HAPPY one and ALSO makes you feel "great" - fullness from a dinner with enough carbohydrates and calories to satisfy you is nothing to be ashamed of and does not make it a "bad" dinner.
Hot chocolates:
- "I have become obsessed with hot chocolates recently. This is the hot chocolate I use, it's sooooooo GOOD I can't even tell you, so this is what we're going to be HAVING!" - immediately the most obvious thing on the packaging is the huge number "40" (40 calories per serving). Sigh.
- "If I had it with all milk it probably would taste nicer, but I actually have one with half water and half milk, because it's like before I go to bed as well I don't like having a really full stomach" - Allow. yourself. to. enjoy. what. tastes. good. There is again NOTHING wrong with ending the day feeling full and satisfied - and the 40 calories in 100ml of almond milk and 100ml of water is not going to make ANY difference compared to having 80 calories in 200ml of almond milk. The fact that she shies away from even the smallest amounts of calorie difference is scary - watch all the kids watching now ask their parents for half almond milk and half water because "Saffy B" is having it.
- Tyler is making a snack - I'd be less surprised if you told me Tyler had just landed on the moon. That boy must be RAVENOUS.
- "I kinda wish we had cream, but I'm not even going to do that to myself. I'll feel so sick before bed." - Imagine the impact this could have - young girls that normally enjoy a hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows, every kid's favourite, now scared that it will make them feel "so sick" and have such a full stomach before bed. So damaging.
- Tyler - chocolate, strawberries, marshmallows. Saffron - strawberries and adds one marshmallow to her mug "for the road" - clearly a fear food - this girl needs to start letting herself enjoy the foods she likes the taste of rather than force-feeding herself spinach.
I admire Saffron's approach to fitness - she is an incredibly fit and healthy young woman. And of course, in a regular context, making healthy, sustainable swaps like a side salad instead of a side of chips, or baking things instead of deep-frying them, is absolutely a recommended thing to do and is definitely beneficial. What it does not mean is that you cannot enjoy these things in moderation - like having a takeaway pizza on a cosy night in with your boyfriend. Cutting out and even shaming ALL normal carbs and fats from your diet is scary and toxic behaviour. And the performative, theatrical, high-pitched voice that she puts on when talking about these INNNSANE "dishes" that she has fashioned out of tasteless, substance-less low-calorie products is SCARY, almost as if she is trying to convince herself when she knows that the food she is eating tastes like utter tit but believes that it is all she can eat or she will be "fat", so has to tell herself it's amazing until she believes it. I am not implying that Saffron has an eating disorder, these forums are no place to diagnose anyone, but it is undeniable that she is showing and actively endorsing a toxic view of food as either good or bad, leaving you either comfortable or "feeling so sick/with such a full stomach", to millions of impressionable young girls. It is mindblowing to me that nobody in her circle has called her out on this. If that were my daughter I'd be scared and worried for her. She said a few videos ago that she needed to really work on her fitness levels because of a TV opportunity coming up - fair enough, I was expecting something like SAS, Who Dares Wins. Now we know it's the Circle - a show where you sit in an apartment all day for a month/however long. She is clearly restricting her diet because she wants to lose weight for this TV appearance. Saffron - you're a healthy, young woman with a beautiful, toned figure. You do NOT need to lose weight. Please love yourself as you are, and enjoy a pizza with your boyfriend. Rant over.
