Latest news with #MichelleDavenport
New York Post
26-05-2025
- Health
- New York Post
Ridiculous ‘water-based cooking' trend slammed as ‘phony' hack: ‘Bro invented soup'
Zoomers claim they've reinvented the 'meal.' Gen Z has seemingly cornered the market on creating things that have already existed, from 'girl dinners' to 'silent walking.' Now, 20-somethings are being roasted online after espousing the health benefits of 'water-based cooking' — with critics claiming that they've simply discovered 'soup.' In a clip with more than 320,000 views, a TikTok user is seen steaming and simmering a variety of vegetable and noodle dishes. Advertisement The caption reads, 'Pov you started water-based cooking and now your skin is clear, your stomach is thriving and you recover from illness overnight.' Social media users claim they can 'wok' on water in viral new videos. @alyssadiaries/TikTok 'I'm actually aging backward because I've been nourishing my body using water,' declared one water-based cooking trumpeter. beats_ – Advertisement Others claim that H20-rooted methods like blanching, steaming or poaching can help wind back father time like a gastronomic Benjamin Button. 'I'm actually aging backward because I've been nourishing my body using water,' declared one breakfast baptism devotee on TikTok. Critics were quick to throw cold water on the trend with one steaming-mad detractor snarking, 'Gen Z discovers soup.' 'This is just everyday food in Asian cultures,' scoffed another while referencing the technique, which some experts claim dates as far back as 5,000 BC in ancient China. Advertisement 'TikTok has a term for the most basic things,' critiqued a third. Terminology notwithstanding, is cooking with water a panacea or a bunch of snake oil? Nutrition scientist Michelle Davenport, who frequently touts water-based cooking techniques on social media, explained in a March video that 'when you cook with broth or water you block AGEs or aging compounds from forming.' Advertisement 'These are the compounds that crosslink our skin and age us from the inside out,' she said. Meanwhile, nutritionist Jillian Kubala wrote for that steaming allows vegetables to retain more nutrients than boiling and other higher-heat methods. 'Boiling is associated with greater nutrient losses than steaming because it completely submerges vegetables in water,' she wrote. 'Water-soluble nutrients in the vegetables leach into the water, decreasing certain nutrients and phytochemicals like vitamin C and beta-carotene.' We guess a broken 'Tok' is right twice a day. Although one could perhaps be forgiven for treating this trend with a grain of salt, given the amount of so-called cure-alls that proliferate on the platform. Last year, doctors dispelled the TikTok-popular myth that ingesting large amounts of castor oil can help detox the body, claiming that this can conversely cause 'explosive diarrhea' and other issues. Other misconceptions peddled on TikTok have included the idea that putting potatoes in your socks can cure the flu and that marshmallows are antioxidants, proving that TikTok users may have reinvented the old wives' tale as well.
Fast Company
23-05-2025
- Health
- Fast Company
‘Bro invented soup': People are rolling their eyes at the water-based cooking trend on TikTok
On TikTok, soup is getting a rebrand. It's now water-based cooking, to you. 'Pov you started water based cooking and now your skin is clear, your stomach is thriving and you recover from illness overnight,' one TikTok post reads. Others claim the method is making them age backwards. But a quick scroll through the comments has many pointing out the obvious: 'bro invented soup,' one commenter wrote. Another added, 'As an asian, what's new.' The post made its way to Bluesky, where one user joked, 'I need to start jumping on these phony trends. Get a water based cookbook self-published by tomorrow. Hit tiktok running.' They added, 'Send me soup recipes. Let's all get rich,' to which one user replied, 'I have one that involves chicken and noodles,' or as they called it: 'chicken noodle water-based meal.' While this cooking method predates TikTok by at least 50,000 years, it has been recently popularized on TikTok and Instagram by scientist and registered dietician Dr. Michelle Davenport, whose work focuses on slowing the deleterious effects of aging. She argues that cooking mostly with broth and water can help slow aging by reducing the amount of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), the compounds that attach to our DNA and cells. These are formed when food is cooked at high dry temperatures and contribute to various health issues. On her Instagram page, which has over 250,000 followers, you'll find recipes for dishes like water eggs and breakfast soup. ('Dr michelle davenport the woman you are,' the caption of the original TikTok post reads.) 'Water-based cooking—like steaming or simmering—is a simple way to get more out of your food,' dietitian Kouka Webb, MS, RD, CDN, told Fast Company. 'It helps preserve delicate nutrients that are often lost with high-heat methods, and it cuts back on the need for heavy oils. As a dietitian, I've seen how small shifts like this can support things like blood sugar balance, better digestion, and even lower inflammation over time.' But while the health benefits of water-based cooking are plenty, clearly not everyone is here for the TikTokification of recipes and cooking methods that have existed for generations. And on TikTok, food trends come and go quicker than you can say, 'lemony miso gochujang brown butter gnocchi.' Last year, there was the ' dense bean salad ' trend—which is exactly what it sounds like: a bean salad. There was also the ' tadpole water ' trend (just add chia seeds to a glass of water), and of course, who could forget the classic 'girl dinner.'
