In a recent episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, fitness expert Jillian Michaels delivered a devastating critique of the “Healthy At Any Size” movement, calling it a “psyop” orchestrated by food industry giants.
Michaels didn’t hold back, labeling the movement “flat earth” pseudoscience while acknowledging the delicate balance between truth-telling and causing harm.
“The psyop component of healthy at any size is a big food narrative,” Michaels explained. “Big food hired a bunch of registered dietitians to co-opt this concept of intuitive eating. They paid them and put out all these posts with hashtags like ‘derail the shame’ and promoted the narrative that you can be healthy at any size. And it’s just a flat out lie.”
The former “Biggest Loser” trainer backed her statements with data, noting that obesity (BMI over 30) is linked to approximately 170 comorbidities. She emphasized that while addressing weight issues requires sensitivity, the truth shouldn’t be sacrificed.
“When you’re dealing with somebody who is 50+ pounds overweight, there is a psychological component,” Michaels said. “The first thing we need to do is make them aware that there is a problem without question. But you can do it without shame.”
Rogan and Michaels discussed how obesity rates have skyrocketed from about 5% in the 1970s to around 70% today—a change Michaels attributes to processed foods rather than genetics.
“Of course, it’s exactly what you’re talking about,” she explained. “It’s ingredients and food. It’s really simple. That and also how they engineer the environment, and you’re surrounded by it. You can’t escape it.”
The conversation highlighted how food companies systematically work to make their products addictive while controlling the narrative by labeling critics as “fat shamers” or worse.
Michaels also pointed to concerning contracts that allow unhealthy foods into hospitals and schools, observing that even her own children struggle with food choices when away from home.
“My kids know better,” she noted. “But I truly think there is an addictive component.”
The fitness expert concluded with alarming statistics about modern health crises, suggesting that chronic illness and cancer rates have increased dramatically, particularly among younger generations.
“What I can tell you with certainty is that the rate of early onset cancer diagnosis in people 18 to 49 has gone up 79% over the past two decades,” she stated.