Holly Gabrielle

[fwooper]

There's a lot of other vegans on YT who follow that whack plant based diet. No oil, no salt, HUGE bowls of greens and veg (for most of of them I think this is a way of feeling full without actually consuming a lot of calories), very few protein sources. Check out one of her dinners from her vlogs - she microwaved the potatoes and boiled the rest of the veg, all with no oil or seasoning. One of the most unappetising meals I've ever seen. There's no way you could eat something like this and not be hungry a few hours later; aside from the tiny blob of guac there's nothing satiating in there at all, no adequate source of protein. Dr Dray eats like this too and she is evidently suffering.

I'm vegan myself and I'm so sick of the demonisation of oil and salt. They make your food taste good, and they do have benefits for your health in moderation. Didn't she even have a scary hyponatremia episode in Australia due to her not having enough sodium in her diet?

 

[emm]

There's a lot of other vegans on YT who follow that whack plant based diet. No oil, no salt, HUGE bowls of greens and veg (for most of of them I think this is a way of feeling full without actually consuming a lot of calories), very few protein sources. Check out one of her dinners from her vlogs - she microwaved the potatoes and boiled the rest of the veg, all with no oil or seasoning. One of the most unappetising meals I've ever seen. There's no way you could eat something like this and not be hungry a few hours later; aside from the tiny blob of guac there's nothing satiating in there at all, no adequate source of protein. Dr Dray eats like this too and she is evidently suffering.

I'm vegan myself and I'm so sick of the demonisation of oil and salt. They make your food taste good, and they do have benefits for your health in moderation. Didn't she even have a scary hyponatremia episode in Australia due to her not having enough sodium in her diet?

I did a (admittedly ridiculous) diet of just vegetables and fruit for a few weeks in a pre event crash diet (I am aware how unhealthy this is, I would never advertise it if I had a social media platform). Anyway, I was eating salt/seasonings but no oil, no bread, legumes nothing. It is weird, because you can eat so much but you never feel totally full but at a certain point you just CANNOT eat more veg. That bowl of food just makes me feel depressed

 

[Magallanes]

DISCLAIMER: i'm not an expert, and i do not intend to act as one. someone with far more knowledge than myself please confirm what i'm about to say:

i've heard that when you boil veggies, (specially broccoli) they lose their nutrients in the boiled water and it is far better to grill or steam them to preserve their vitamins
my mother has always taught me this, and according to Dr. Google, it says some vegs may lose up to 50% of their vitamin C!
which is very worrying taking into consideration that holly boils all her vegs!

 

[emm]

DISCLAIMER: i'm not an expert, and i do not intend to act as one. someone with far more knowledge than myself please confirm what i'm about to say:

i've heard that when you boil veggies, (specially broccoli) they lose their nutrients in the boiled water and it is far better to grill or steam them to preserve their vitamins
my mother has always taught me this, and according to Dr. Google, it says some vegs may lose up to 50% of their vitamin C!
which is very worrying taking into consideration that holly boils all her vegs!

also much tastier! boil brocolli is just water sodden mush, it is as if she does everything she can to make her food tasteless

 

[Welshgal]

Didn't she even have a scary hyponatremia episode in Australia due to her not having enough sodium in her diet?

Yep. She ran during the heat and then drank a huge amount of water thus deluding the amount of sodium in her body to the point where it shut down on her.
To think someone like that considered nutrition is honestly scary. Especially since it seems like she hasn’t learned anything from that experience.

I once got a terrible headache from running because I drank too much water and pushed myself too far but ever since then I’ve been very aware of what I eat and drink, so something like
this doesn’t happen again.
I could easily see Holly doing the exact same thing on her next trip to somewhere hot

 

[emm]

Yep. She ran during the heat and then drank a huge amount of water thus deluding the amount of sodium in her body to the point where it shut down on her.
To think someone like that considered nutrition is honestly scary. Especially since it seems like she hasn’t learned anything from that experience.

I once got a terrible headache from running because I drank too much water and pushed myself too far but ever since then I’ve been very aware of what I eat and drink, so something like
this doesn’t happen again.
I could easily see Holly doing the exact same thing on her next trip to somewhere hot

god that is crazy and so serious! how was that not a wake up call for her?!

 

[Welshgal]

god that is crazy and so serious! how was that not a wake up call for her?!

No idea. I imagine the doctors would probably would have said someone but she must have brushed them off ...

 

[schmetterling]

Okay so this video from 3 years back popped up into my recommendations on YT. And oh my god...

look at the comments underneath! People are genuinely concerned about the fact Holly just doesn’t (and still doesn’t) cook with oil because it’s not a ‘health food’. If that isn’t the textbook definition of how not to recover from an eating disorder then I don’t know what is.

she also responds extremely defensively to the comments. If that’s how she responds to people when they question her on her actions/beliefs, or if someone else’s beliefs don’t align with hers, then no wonder she didn’t get into medicine!

She hasn’t changed her meal repertoire since around her second year of uni. It’s always been smoothies, smoothie BOWLS, and boiled veg with some beans & maybe a nut butter. She barely snacks- and if she does it’s on something like a plum. She barely even makes that ‘nice-cream’ (blended frozen bananas) anymore, although maybe that’s for the best because too many bananas can wreak havoc on your bowel movements

In the pinned comment on this video she says she eats oils all the time because they're in sultanas? Girl wtf? And the aggression towards people politely commenting/voicing their concern!

 

[hpprotego]

In the pinned comment on this video she says she eats oils all the time because they're in sultanas? Girl wtf? And the aggression towards people politely commenting/voicing their concern!

It’s probably because she knows she has an issue deep down but can’t fully face up to it. People become defensive and aggressive when someone is hitting a raw nerve- and someone commenting on Hollys diet hits her nerve because deep down she probably knows they’re not wrong.

She’s trying to convince HERSELF they’re wrong by acting all aggressive!

 

[eletr1]

I also find it weird that with her education, she is not worried about absorbing ADEK vitamins. I mean, she might eat nuts and sultanas but I don't recall her adding much of those to most meals? She'll have an avocado or tahini here or there but a lot of bowls are either just fruit or veg. If she insists on avoiding oils, then she could at least have a handful of nuts / seeds with her meals.

 

[fwooper]

I'm reading her replies to the comments on that video and... yikes. In one of her replies she says "Oil is not a health food!!!", which I think says it all. The person she replied to never said oil was a health food, just that a diet that includes oil in moderation is perfectly healthy - which is true and backed by every major nutrition foundation. It's worrying that she seems to have the mentality that any food which isn't a "health food" (whatever that means) shouldn't be a part of your diet. I feel like she needs to watch the YouTube channel Pasta Grannies - it's full of sprightly 90+ year old grandmas pouring glugs of olive oil into all of their cooking, it's great haha.

It's also surprising given her education that all her sources for why oil is unhealthy are cherrypicked from nutritionfacts.org and other vegan YouTube videos (I say this as a vegan!!). She knows that kind of cherrypicked research would be unacceptable for the many academic essays she will have written during her degree, so why doesn't she apply the same scientific approach to the information she distributes to her followers? Would've been interesting to see her do a Nutrition masters though. The courses certainly would not have affirmed any of her weird oil-free/salt-free/joy-free diet beliefs; so would she just have rejected that information and doubled down, or could it have forced her to reconsider her views?

 

[3calico3]

And this is exactly why it is for the best she didn’t get into medicine school. Can you imagine a teenage girl going to her as a GP worried about birth control or struggling with an ED... Holly wouldn’t be able to give the correct advice to the patient; it would be a biased response. Fancy a GP saying they don’t believe in birth control?! Or not recommending therapy for struggling with an ED? A friend of a friend is a religious GP for example, but their religious bias stays at home, when they act as GP they act in the interests of the patient. I may sound harsh here but I can imagine Holly telling patients that they need to go vegan.

She would probably go into medicine just so she could open her own private practice ASAP to spread her own views. Unfortunately, that's not how medical training works, nor are there fast tracks to private practice!

It's also surprising given her education that all her sources for why oil is unhealthy are cherrypicked from nutritionfacts.org and other vegan YouTube videos (I say this as a vegan!!). She knows that kind of cherrypicked research would be unacceptable for the many academic essays she will have written during her degree, so why doesn't she apply the same scientific approach to the information she distributes to her followers? Would've been interesting to see her do a Nutrition masters though. The courses certainly would not have affirmed any of her weird oil-free/salt-free/joy-free diet beliefs; so would she just have rejected that information and doubled down, or could it have forced her to reconsider her views?

She seems to be able to filter out any conflicting views as white noise, so she can continue with her own narrative. I actually study beliefs/attitudes (current PhD student here!), and cognitive dissonance is a very common way for people to resolve this kind of you vs. science/facts situation.

 

[3littlekittens]

I don't think Holly understands that being vegan is different from eating like a rabbit. It's strange how she never eats tofu or seitan, given how those are staples of many vegans' diets. Her aversion to sodium and fat may be rooted in a teeny bit of sense, but why is she so opposed to protein? Perhaps it's because she's scared of building muscle? I also noticed that her smoothies are basically her veggie bowls presented in a different form. They're made of a random assortment of fruits and veggies without any regard as to what flavours go well together. Then she blends them with water, even though she has her choice of soy, almond, oat, or even rice milk.

Someone above mentioned that she purposely makes her food as bland as possible, and I agree. My armchair psychologist opinion is that eating is a chore for her. Deep down she's still terrified of overeating and gaining weight. By making her food flavourless, it ensures she never eats more than absolutely necessary. Her excessive focus on veganism is an attempt to keep up with appearances. When she shows her bowls to the camera, she's hoping that the vibrant colours of the vegetables will distract viewers from the lack of nutrients.
I would like to emphasize that I'm NOT a professional and this is all gossip and speculation.

 

[nbx512]

I don't think Holly understands that being vegan is different from eating like a rabbit. It's strange how she never eats tofu or seitan, given how those are staples of many vegans' diets. Her aversion to sodium and fat may be rooted in a teeny bit of sense, but why is she so opposed to protein? Perhaps it's because she's scared of building muscle? I also noticed that her smoothies are basically her veggie bowls presented in a different form. They're made of a random assortment of fruits and veggies without any regard as to what flavours go well together. Then she blends them with water, even though she has her choice of soy, almond, oat, or even rice milk.

Someone above mentioned that she purposely makes her food as bland as possible, and I agree. My armchair psychologist opinion is that eating is a chore for her. Deep down she's still terrified of overeating and gaining weight. By making her food flavourless, it ensures she never eats more than absolutely necessary. Her excessive focus on veganism is an attempt to keep up with appearances. When she shows her bowls to the camera, she's hoping that the vibrant colours of the vegetables will distract viewers from the lack of nutrients.
I would like to emphasize that I'm NOT a professional and this is all gossip and speculation.

I agree with all of this. She also probably rationalises it as that she's eating more/ more variety than she did as a meat eater so her current diet is fine. Obviously this is not the case and more variety/ more food still does not mean SUFFICIENT variety or SUFFICIENT calories/ nutrients.

 

[TinaTree]

she also mentioned in a recent instagram comment how she loves rearranging her food to look pretty, just another delaying tactic to ate. Im probably a greedy pig but i really couldnt care less what my food looks like, once its cooked i cant wait to eat it!

 

[emmer_moans]

she also mentioned in a recent instagram comment how she loves rearranging her food to look pretty, just another delaying tactic to ate. Im probably a greedy pig but i really couldnt care less what my food looks like, once its cooked i cant wait to eat it!

Exactly. My food never looks very presentable but it tastes okay!

 

[schmetterling]

I don't think Holly understands that being vegan is different from eating like a rabbit. It's strange how she never eats tofu or seitan, given how those are staples of many vegans' diets. Her aversion to sodium and fat may be rooted in a teeny bit of sense, but why is she so opposed to protein? Perhaps it's because she's scared of building muscle? I also noticed that her smoothies are basically her veggie bowls presented in a different form. They're made of a random assortment of fruits and veggies without any regard as to what flavours go well together. Then she blends them with water, even though she has her choice of soy, almond, oat, or even rice milk.

Someone above mentioned that she purposely makes her food as bland as possible, and I agree. My armchair psychologist opinion is that eating is a chore for her. Deep down she's still terrified of overeating and gaining weight. By making her food flavourless, it ensures she never eats more than absolutely necessary. Her excessive focus on veganism is an attempt to keep up with appearances. When she shows her bowls to the camera, she's hoping that the vibrant colours of the vegetables will distract viewers from the lack of nutrients.
I would like to emphasize that I'm NOT a professional and this is all gossip and speculation.

She's trying to normalise/roughly follow the HCLF (high carb low fat)/raw vegan diet, which has its own selection of absolutely batshit insane youtubers (hi freelee, fullyrawkristina, raw alignment etc) who all are anti oils, anti seasonings bla bla bla and basically live off huuuuge quantities of vegetables and fruit, and zero proteins/fats apart from nuts. They live the kind of trustafarian lifestyle which someone like Holly would definitely look up to. Needless to say these youtubers all obviously have pretty visible serious issues with food and, ya know, traditional medicine. Said it before and I'll say it again, watch some Unnatural Vegan holly! And also get some professional help from... a qualified nutritionist? Oh the irony

 

[lilamay]

I don't think Holly understands that being vegan is different from eating like a rabbit. It's strange how she never eats tofu or seitan, given how those are staples of many vegans' diets. Her aversion to sodium and fat may be rooted in a teeny bit of sense, but why is she so opposed to protein? Perhaps it's because she's scared of building muscle? I also noticed that her smoothies are basically her veggie bowls presented in a different form. They're made of a random assortment of fruits and veggies without any regard as to what flavours go well together. Then she blends them with water, even though she has her choice of soy, almond, oat, or even rice milk.

Someone above mentioned that she purposely makes her food as bland as possible, and I agree. My armchair psychologist opinion is that eating is a chore for her. Deep down she's still terrified of overeating and gaining weight. By making her food flavourless, it ensures she never eats more than absolutely necessary. Her excessive focus on veganism is an attempt to keep up with appearances. When she shows her bowls to the camera, she's hoping that the vibrant colours of the vegetables will distract viewers from the lack of nutrients.
I would like to emphasize that I'm NOT a professional and this is all gossip and speculation.

This! I've just seen her latest 'buddah bowl' with cold sweet potato?! Some foods are nice cold. Sweet potato is not one of them.

 

[kingdomhearts]

Does anyone else cringe when she’ll just start eating lettuce or something else on its own and she’s moaning and rolling her eyes into the back of her head like it’s THAT GOOD? It’s lettuce.

 

[phoenixxx]

Does anyone else cringe when she’ll just start eating lettuce or something else on its own and she’s moaning and rolling her eyes into the back of her head like it’s THAT GOOD? It’s lettuce.

Let's be honest, the best thing about lettuce the salad dressing made with some kind of fat like olive oil or tahini that goes on it.