Gwyneth Paltrow was called an 'almond mom' in response to her controversial wellness routine. Here's what the term means, and where it originated.

• Gwyneth Paltrow drew backlash after revealing her daily wellness routine and diet this week.
• The actress was called an "almond mom," a term used to describe parents with restrictive eating habits.

Gwyneth Paltrow recently came under fire after she shared her strict wellness regimen and diet in an interview for "The Art of Being Well" podcast.

In an episode shared Monday, the actress told host Dr. Will Cole she partakes in intermittent fasting, eats bone broth, and follows a paleo diet with lots of vegetables. She also said she exercises for an hour a day and uses an infrared sauna for 30 minutes.

The clip went viral on TikTok after it was posted on Tuesday, garnering 2.9 million views by Saturday.

While Paltrow defended her routine on her Instagram stories Friday, social media users were quick to deem her an "almond mom" who was perpetuating "almond mom culture." Although the origins of the term are unknown, it's become a way for TikTokers to label parents who share restrictive health and eating habits.

Yolanda Hadid was dubbed an "almond mom" after the reality star's advice to her daughter Gigi resurfaced

In July 2022, TikTok user pattypopculture uploaded a video called "5 Reasons Everyone Hates Yolanda Hadid," in which he claimed she encouraged her daughters, supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid, to follow inhibitory diets.

He also shared clips from "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" in which Yolanda told Gigi how hard it can be to avoid sugar and "eat salad every day." In another instance, Gigi called her mother to tell her she only ate half an almond and was "feeling really weak."

Yolanda, a former model herself, seemingly told her daughter to "have a couple of almonds and chew them really well."

Enter: The almond mom discourse.

Social media users soon began sharing stories about the "almond moms" who passed on harmful notions about food, with some even role-playing as food-conscious parents.

Although Yolanda jokingly responded to the viral TikTok in October 2022 and told People that month the comment was taken out of context, the clip sparked a larger discourse about the dangers of diet culture and breaking generational cycles.

"Almond mom" was still drawing eyes online before Paltrow's regimen went viral. Outlets like Teen Vogue, BuzzFeed, and "Good Morning America" covered the term's meaning and impact in early 2023, while #almondmom has racked up more than 270 million views on TikTok.

A dietitian said routines like Paltrow's can actually be "disordered"

Paltrow took to social media to talk more about her routine this weekend, telling her Instagram followers that she had long COVID and one of her symptoms includes "very high levels of inflammation over time."

"It's not meant to be advice for anybody else. It's really just what has worked for me, and it's been very powerful and very positive," she said. "This is not to say I eat this way all day, every day. And by the way, I eat far more than bone broth and vegetables."

Lauren Cadillac, a registered dietitian who responded to the podcast clip on TikTok, told Insider's Kieran Press-Reynolds "there was so much wrong" with Paltrow's regimen she didn't even know "where to begin."

"So much of what we see marketed as wellness is actually quite disordered," Cadillac said.

In the caption of her duetted video, Cadillac wrote that Paltrow wasn't eating enough food for someone her height and cautioned viewers against following celebrity diets. She also added an eating disorder trigger warning on her TikTok.

"Please stop following and listening to celebrities for your health and wellness advice," she wrote.

Another dietician, Kim Lindsay, explained to Insider that dieting is "unsustainable and does not work for the vast majority of people."

"Dieting and these behaviors are also linked with increased risk of developing an eating disorder," Lindsay said.