Last year, CB covered some comments made by Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter. Dorsey was talking about how he lives, and his diet/fitness vibes sounded absolutely bonkers. CB pointed out that it’s a “thing” with tech bros to buy into extreme diets if those diets are branded as “food hacks” or whatever. Previously, Dorsey said that he doesn’t eat at all on weekends (he just drinking water or juices or whatever) and he tries to only eat one meal a day. Well, Jack is re-confirming that yes, he still has profoundly disordered eating.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey would rather not spend a large portion of his day eating. In a video for Wired released last week, the 43-year-old web developer answered questions from users of the social media platform he founded in 2006 — including one person who questioned just how real claims of his extreme lifestyle are.
“Some of it’s real,” said Dorsey, addressing an article that reported him as eating five meals per week, meditating for multiple hours and practicing a daily sauna and ice bath routine.
“I try to meditate two hours every single day,” he said. “I definitely do not do a sauna and ice bath every day, and I eat seven meals every week, just dinner.”
In April, Dorsey opened up to the Fitness: Diet, Fat Loss and Performance podcast about his daily rituals, which he believes improves his overall mental and physical health. Dorsey claimed during the interview that his daily practice of intermittent fasting, walking to work, and hydrotherapy ensure he effectively runs his tech companies and performs at a high level each and every day.
The businessman said he eats just one meal per day at dinnertime, between the hours of 6:30 and 9 p.m. as opposed to the typical three to six small meals recommended by health experts. His dishes typically consist of a protein (chicken, steak or fish) with vegetables (salad, spinach, asparagus or Brussels sprouts). Dorsey does treat himself to dessert but limits the intake of sugar to only mixed berries, dark chocolate, or a glass of red wine.
Well, at least he’s not fasting throughout the weekend. But only eating one meal a day, every day? I mean, that’s not intermittent fasting, that’s disordered eating. Intermittent fasting would be only eating between noon and 5 pm. Plus, don’t most dieticians discourage people from eating later in the evening? Basically, Jack Dorsey is very hungry and maybe that’s why he allows Nazis and bots free rein on Twitter?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red.
I only eat when I’m hungry – which sometimes means once a day, sometimes 6 times a day for a week. So I don’t think this is necessarily disorded eating, maybe that’s just the way his body works. I feel better energetically when I eat less than more, maybe that’s why I can understand him
#runsforcover
Same here!
I really hate feeling “heavy”, or stuffed, I am not functional at all.
I understand him too. Only now I know it has a name – orthorexia.
It’s disguising an eating disorder and occasionally body dysmorphia through eating ‘healthy’.
Much like anorexia, high achievers tend to do this too. The perfectionist and OCD tendencies that work well for the success of their careers sometimes spill over into over controlling other areas of their lives, such as the quantity and quality of what they ingest.
I have heard about it a lot in the tech world. Like they’re all trying to out do each other with who can be most extreme. I mean, when you successfully created Apple, run Google, own Twitter, and are the world’s top motivational speaker, how else are you going to challenge yourself or feel like you’re in control?
Yes, I agree w you. Definitely
@Bananas That makes so much sense.
He looks tired and frail in these photos. He needs to take care of himself and get adequate calories in order to have a healthy future and this isn’t it.
Eating only when hungry is VERY different than being highly controlling your food intake though. What you do, if you eat when hungry and eat what you want to eat, is perfectly normal; what he does, eating only very specific foods, excluding many food groups (because they are “bad”) and only at a specific time in limited portions is absolutely an eating disorder. If that’s really all he eats, he is malnourished and will likely suffer osteoporosis and other easily avoidable illnesses much earlier than most people. Definitely not a path to health and a long life.
Also, without any grains and so little fibers: how does he poop?!?
It must look like rabbit pellets.
What he does is a specific eating disorder, orthorexia.
Seek help from an MD if you normalize it
I live in the Bay Area, and intermittent fasting is a huge deal amongst the millenial techs. And good lord, their fashion and health fads are so dang douchey.
I only eat when I am hungry, too, and only as much as it is needed for the feeling of hunger to go away (i.e. not much). That means that on most days I only eat cca 600 calories (less if I am stressed), rarely over 1000 calories, most of it about an hour or two before going to bed. I haven’t had as much as a cold since 1999. The “experts” can go stuff themselves.
this sounds horrible. And yes, there are plenty of people with chronic anorexia (600 cal a day is anorexia, make no mistake about it) who don’t get colds. Doesn’t mean it’s healthy. But you do you.
I don’t know.
My main meal is dinner.
I don’t have breakfast, I never had, because it makes me feel too heavy, so only a coffee.
I have some vegetable for lunch, really small portions, because If I am feeling heavy, I am not functional at all. In the evening I eat a full meal. During the weekend I eat only once a day, when I am hungry! And I am perfectly healthy. My body works like this. I talked with a nutritionist, and he answered me that not all body work in the same way, and it’s better to listen to it, and in the end my blood tests are always fine, it works for me.
I’m the same way in regards to breakfast. I’m just not hungry in the mornings. The best barometer is what makes you feel best, IMO, and that’s different for everyone. There is no one size fits all with diet.
A few years ago I started a medication that needs to be taken with food and started eating breakfast. I have found a protein heavy breakfast and a light salad for lunch really works for me.
I’m like this too.
Same here, I only have coffee in the morning, a snack for lunch and a real meal for dinner. That’s what works best for me. If I have breakfast or a bigger lunch I don’t function at all (I feel sluggish, tired, heavy).
I just had my annual health check up and my blood tests were excellent…
Me too … Am the same way so i understand him totally
Coffee for breakfast,maybe a handful of almonds at lunch,juice,tea,diet soda-almost all day everyday until I make a healthy dinner.
I have no aversion to eating during the day but prefer at night which could mean between 3 PM to as late as 8 PM.
I am super sluggish when full,and I have Crohn’s disease so eating during busy times really doesn’t work.I am thin but not underweight or obsessive.I just like the feeling of a flat stomach,it helps me to move more easily.
It may also be what you are eating too. I realized that I hate breakfast food last year. Which was why I loaded up on donuts and bagels which aggravated intestinal issues. So I switched to salad for breakfast, I’m happy , feel light, lots of veggies variety and without the intestinal discomfort throughout the day.
Is your nutritionist a registered dietician? cuz there’s a BIG difference
I don’t know how it is in the US, but I live in France, and my nutriionist is in Italy, and he works at the hospital.
My diet is based mainly on home made food (as an italian I love to cook), fresh veggies and not too much meat. I don’t know how but I am healthy, I have never counted a calorie in my life, I eat what I want and I go out with friends like everyone, but everyday I do this.
I actually can’t eat a heavy meal at night, I have terrible insomnia if I do. Different strokes, different folks.
If he feels OK, it must be working for him.
I actually think his eating is fine, far too many people are comfort eating, eating as a social activity, etc. He can certainly afford to be checked by medical team, so it does not concern me.
When I was in my 20-30’s, I had fruit, yogurt, coffee for breakfast, ever ate lunch, had dinner by 6pm. Now, in my late 50’s, my diet is crap, I am constantly trying to watch what I eat, etc.
Frankly, here in the Midwest, overweight is the norm. And, I think he might be on a better track.
I’ve read before that calorie restriction could lengthen your lifespan and be good for your health. I wouldn’t be happy eating 1000 calories or less a day because I do derive joy from food, but like you say, if it’s working for him 🤷♀️
That’s actually what I’ve read repeatedly, too! That you should eat until 70% full, not 100, and that fasting and such is good for longevity. Unfortunately, my default preference is to eat chocolate and drink coffee. It messed up my LDLs (everything else is excellent). So even though I’m pretty thin and don’t even really eat much, I downloaded MyFitnessPal (thanks for the Rec, CB!!), and I watch my nutrient percentages to keep fat under 30. We are all different, and even if you don’t eat much (like me), you still have to eat healthfully. Lesson learned for me- less chocolate, more protein, oops 🙂
People have always eaten socially! That’s not why more people are overweight now. It’s because our portions are bigger and most food is crap now. Pumped full of antibiotics and hormones, pesticides and preservatives. And all the processed and prepackaged foods. Even produce from the super markets tastes like nothing. Like it has no vitamins in it . Also, lack of exercise. Food is fuel but also to be enjoyed. People who never enjoy food make me sad.
Folk are also overweight now because they generally lead more sedentary lives. Working for twelve hours a day on a farm, the only calorie related issue is how to get enough of them. Very different from sitting in front of a computer most of the day.
I live in Dorseys neighborhood…aka ‘silicon valley’ (we natives do not call it that, it’s just the Bay Area)
I can assure you this is orthorexia. Maybe in your Midwest reality that sounds like a good idea…but out here where obesity isn’t as common as you….
nutrition on a molecular level isn’t up for a debate. truly. you can disagree with the science, but facts don’t change.
I’m guessing he’s not a very fun date.
😂😂
Totally. Also I thought he was Don Jr. I’m that header pic.
@ CHILLYWLLY-I thought that too, several times. I refused to open post until I realized it WAS NOT the son of Cheeto Scum 🙄
When I was in my early 20’s I only had one “real” meal a day. I only ate lunch. Most of my meals were vegetable based but I had meat once in a while. For breakfast I would have yogurt and some fruit. For dinner I would only eat a fruit or some nuts. My BMI was 21 I felt strong. I didn’t like to eat a lot of meat or a lot of carbs because it made me feel “heavy”. I worked a lot and I didn’t feel sick in anyway.
Now I’m married and had change my eating habits but still don’t eat more than two “real” meals a day. I’m healthy (said my doctor) and I feel strong enough to work out everyday.
Maybe every body works different. But this guy sounds I bit bonkers though
“Jack Dorsey is very hungry and maybe that’s why he allows Nazis and bots free rein on Twitter?”
Spot on! His beard looks very suspicious.
I loved that line too!
I think there are way way WAY too many rules around food that are supposed to work for everybody.
+1 let’s mind our own business and stop judging what other people eat or don’t eat
Eating one meal a day is is objectively disordered eating. Not eating actual food on weekends is objectively disordered eating. I will absolutely judge this, because it is dangerous.
He said he eats every day and there are people on this thread saying they also only eat one meal a day and it works for them, but you do you.
Yes, we should just let all the disordered eaters alone and keep perpetuating unhealthy food myths. Great example for the youths.
IMO, we should encourage people to find what works for them and their bodies rather than subscribing to these one size fits all rules. Agree to disagree.
Smalls and ChillyWilly are you dieticians? I have a diet that is fairly similar to Jack Dorsey. I am a doctor. BMI 24, pretty muscular, work out pretty much every day. I don’t feel unwell or as though I am restricting myself, it just works for me. I was unaware that I have an eating disorder. But thanks for enlightening me.
Yes Kebbie, you do you – aka orthorexia. Keep your addiction to yourself
@magical kactus I don’t eat one meal a day or fast. I eat lunch, dinner, and a snack before bed, about 1800-2000 calories total depending on if I worked out that day. I’m not arguing in favor of his methods, I’m saying we shouldn’t be so judgmental about what works for other people. He may very well have an eating disorder, but we don’t know what’s actually going through his head, so we cannot possibly say that with any certainty. Diagnosing a stranger with an eating disorder over the internet is so irresponsible and absurd.
Every body is different is an odd comment. We all need the same nutrients and have the same basic physical composition, no? We all need glycogen? we all enter ketosis at a certain stage?
This dude’s beard and general Nazi tolerance makes it impossible for me to respect him.
“Eating fewer than three times a day puts you at risk for overeating and choosing less healthy foods.” – Harvard Medical School
Everybody is different means we all expend different amounts of energy, our metabolism is different, and our bodies react to certain foods differently. From what I’ve read, ketosis varies from under 50 carbs to under 20 carbs depending on the person.
We all need sleep and doctors recommend 7-8 (I think?) but some people are great on 5 hours while others need a solid 8 to function.
I’m very different than my best friend, or my husband. My body just is very different. I could never eat like they do, or exercise like they do, or be a late bird at night. People really are very different. It’s a huge problem that everyone is told to eat the same way and live in the same daily rhythm from early on. You have to figure out how your body likes to operate, not force it.
I speak for me, because I am on the different pattern.
Ex: yesterday I went out for brunch with my girlfriends, it was a huge English brunch, and the place it is known for its desserts, so I also enjoyed my cheesecake with beurre salé . Amazing fyo!
According to “the diet guide” I should have had my dinner, but in order to eat something more I should have it forced into my stomach, because I was perfectly fine like that. Forcing food into my stomach is healthy? No.
Eating when I am not hungry is healthy?
I don’t think so.
I am a runner, I need my body to be strong and in a good shape, I check myself regularly because my thyroid doesn’t work, and this is the “food routine” that works for me.
I don’t like to diagnose someone only because his eating habits are different.
That’s different than eating one meal a day and not eating for days at a time.
“eating when I’m not hungry is healthy”? Just because you’re not hungry doesn’t mean your body doesn’t need to eat. I’m not going to speak for you and your experiences, but I’m going to offer you a different perspective. Most people don’t know actually know what hunger is. They think it’s when your stomach grumbles or “feels” empty. They think it’s when you’re “craving” food. In fact there’s a wide spectrum of what constitutes your body signaling to you that you’re feeling hungry. You have to learn to pay attention to those signs because they might not always be what you expect.
As for skipping dinner if you don’t feel hungry–again, I’m not trying to speak for you and your experiences. But if a person is getting a full 8 hrs of sleep a night, that’s 8 hrs that they’re not consuming food. If a person’s last meal of the previous day is during brunch, and they don’t eat dinner as they don’t feel hungry, that’s potentially anywhere from 16 – 18+ hrs that they haven’t consumed anything.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that, even though you say you don’t eat dinner as you don’t feel hungry, you did in fact have a few snacks in the time after you ate brunch. While this may not count as a “proper” meal, it’s still food that you’ve consumed, so it’s not like you’ve starved yourself or anything. But it’s also wrong to indicate that you’ve been running off of fumes from brunch for the rest of the day. People somehow have this idea that only sit down meals “count” as food and that snacks don’t. That’s simply not true at all. Three relatively small and healthy snacks in the afternoon and evening would cover dinner quite easily, so that missing dinner isn’t a huge feat.
This dude is bragging about eating only 1 meal a day? So how many calories are we estimating he eats? 1500? He must be exhausted. No surprise he meditates for 2 hours a day.
I doubt he’s even getting 1500 when half of one meal is salad.
He could hit 1500 calories if his salad were a Cobb salad (or had avocado, cheese, etc) and he ate the entire steak. If he’s eating a small garden salad or steamed veggies though, there’s no way he’s clearing 1000 calories, even with the entire steak.
LOL. The tech world is bizarre, and also responsible for the gig economy so (to me) loathsome.
This is what I’m wondering. One big meal day might be healthy if you get all the right nutrients and it hits the 2000-2500ish region for calories, but he looks quite ill and fragile in these pics, so I doubt he’s reaching that threshold. It worries me how normal disordered eating is becoming under the guise of health.
I used to eat the same schedule. I justified it by saying I wasn’t hungry. Of course I wasn’t, my stomach had shrunk and my brain was flooding my body with various chemicals to keep me from passing out. It is an eating disorder. It is not healthy. I hope he gets the help and insight that he needs.
Whatever works, I guess, but life is short and I wanna eat.
This is basically the wAy I am. Somethings I may be hungry and eat a snack but for the most part I only eat dinner and have been this way for 20+ years.
I generally only eat one “full” meal a day. I’m not usually hungry first thing in the morning so I typically have snacks sometime during my workday and then dinner with my family.
I don’t have an eating disorder, lol. I love food, I’m fit and healthy.
Jack Dorsey has an eating disorder. He used to talk about these extreme fasts he would go on and the more he talked about it the more it’s clear that he has a very unhealthy relationship with food. He sees it as a form of control like a lot of people with disordered eating do. And it makes me angry that he promotes and talks about it like it’s this amazing thing. It isn’t. It’s unhealthy and it’s disordered eating.
This is what people are missing when they defend him by saying he’s just intermittent fasting. He has a history of extremely disordered eating. Most people who have such a history are explicitly told to avoid any type of diets while they are recovering and well after. This is because any diet that focuses on heavily restricting your food intake can be incredibly triggering to these people and cause a potential relapse. People don’t know just how dangerous these things can be and it’s infuriating.
I couldn’t do it but if it works for him… I guess.
He’s definitely starving himself. I think we all justify the eating habits we utilize to stay thin. No one ever says my body feels better if I eat 3 meals and snacks in between. We aren’t going to say I skip meals to stay thin. My friend is 5 feet 6 inches and 130 pounds. Her husband wants her to get back under 100 pounds, like she was when they met. I said is that what YOU want to do? She said, I feel better at that weight, I’m not used to being this size. He wants her to lose 40 pounds, she said she’ll lose 30. 😕 being thin is emphasized from early ages and we do whatever we need to do to accomplish it.
What a great husband your friend’s got there. 🙄
Ugh. My doctor once told me that 100 pounds is the ideal weight for someone who is 5’0 tall, and you should add 5 pounds for every additional inch. That would make 130 ideal for someone who’s 5’6. It’s insane that your friend’s husband wants her to lose 40 pounds…
Her husband wants a 5 foot 6 inch woman to weigh 90 pounds? What a controlling creep.
Omg! Your friend needs a good divorce attorney! That’s so horrible!
YES! My ex husband wanted me to be around 110-120.He shamed me every chance he could.
He would mock my physical appearance-verbally,mentally,emotionally abusive is what he was.
He couldn’t figure out why,at bedtime after a day of insults I didn’t want sex…Um…let’s see,get naked and be intimate with someone who told me how unattractive I was.
Poor poor victim of my cold unloving self,I $h!t you not he was blindsided when I told him I wanted a divorce.(He was overweight just to add to the irony).
That is horrifying, emotionally abusive, and completely unhealthy. She needs to lose weight, his dead weight, by kicking him to the curb.
This reminds me of Trump, who knew exactly what Melania weighed after she had the baby, how much she lost, how much she still had to go, etc. My husband has no idea what I weigh. We both weigh more than we did on our wedding day but it’s just not in our conversations…frankly we have bigger fish to fry at this stage of our lives.
Seriously,right when you say bigger fish to fry…I mean if a number on a scale matters to a married couple then maybe people should get a hobby,volunteer,travel…I would rather have an interesting conversation with my husband than to discuss our weight.
Men who shame their partners bodies/weight are a special kind of vile. I have zero patience for that.
Yes, everyone wants her to leave him. They have a teen daughter and she is afraid of him being alone with their daughter. That’s why she hasn’t left. He is abusive to my friend as well. She is afraid he will be worse with her daughter if she’s not there. Sad situation.
So many hopes and prayers to her,you are a dear friend
Oh thanks
I’m sorry, your friend is 5’6″ and she’s 130 lbs and she wants to be 5’6″ and 100 lbs??? Has she lost her ever loving mind?
For some perspective, I’m 5’4″ and the lightest I’ve ever been is 120 lbs. I wear a size small to medium. I’m just truly lost for words at what your friend’s husband is asking. Tell her that she can easily shed an upwards of 180 lbs by getting rid of her husband.
I don’t see what the issue is, I eat seven meals a da… oh.
He doesn’t look healthy.
No he really doesn’t look healthy at all.
No that actually is intermittent fasting, and if it feels good for him and he’s eating nutritious food it’s fine. There are many ways to fast, and many intermittent fasters do exactly what he does. I am an intermittent faster too (I usually do 19-hour fasts with 5-hour eating windows but sometimes I do 36-hour fasts), and while one meal a day within a short eating window is not ideal for me, I know many fasters who do exactly that. If they’re eating a decent amount of calories of nutritious food each day, it’s actually very healthy and works with how the human body is designed. And once your body is accustomed to it and doesn’t send out hunger pangs every couple hours, you actually don’t get hungry during the day and you end up WANTING to eat only healthy amounts of nutritious food when you break your fast.
Did you learn that on Tumblr?
!!!!!! This!!!
That’s an eating disorder! Y’all are ticking me off with this nonsense only because shit like this gets passed on to young people and it’s awful.
It’s not an eating disorder, although I do agree that people who have issues with eating disorders should stay away from this way of eating. There are multiple scientific studies on the benefits of intermittent fasting, and it was referred to me by my primary-care practitioner.
I don’t understand saying “if it feels good for him.” Is the idea that the body was designed to gorge at one point in the day? I always found grazing (multiple small meals throughout the day) easier. If I don’t eat a good breakfast I feel light headed and miserable. I have no idea how this guy does this. He seems pretty ascetic.
I actually experience increased energy, better sleep, improved concentration, and more enjoyment of the nutritious food I eat by doing this. I’m a breast cancer survivor, and my breast surgeon does intermittent fasting. When he first suggested it to me as beneficial for cancer patients I said the same thing you all have said, and I challenged him – asking, “You mean to tell me you perform surgery while fasted?” He does (he’s the chair of his dept at Georgetown University so don’t go calling him a quack), and he recommends it. So I tried it and after a couple rough days (not more than a couple), I saw the benefits. I’ve been doing it since May 24, 2019, and I’ve lost only about 10 pounds or so. I’d like to lose more but I think of this more as a lifestyle than a diet – it’s like a health plan with a side effect of weight loss. The health benefits outside of weight loss are MANY, and that’s why I stick with it.
Multiple small meals a day has always been hard for me – those “small” meals become too big, and I got hungry faster. When you fast you correct your hunger hormones and regulate your insulin release, and I promise you don’t feel hungry during the fast. The key is to have nothing but plain water (not flavored LaCroix) and black coffee during your fast. Any flavors will trick your body into thinking food is coming and trigger hunger. Your body indeed was designed to go longish periods without food.
@elizabeth
THIS. Our bodies were never intended for what he’s describing. Our bodies still ‘think’ I.e. act like it’s 10,000 BCE – and what he follows point blank isn’t that.
Nancy, there’s a difference between orthorexia and intermittent fasting. The fact that you’re saying what Dorsey does falls under I.F. is a disgrace – it’s not. I do I.F. & did before it blew up mainstream.
I assume you’re older, thank god. Please don’t spread your normalization of orthorexia disguising it as I.F. – others that are younger than you and have more time left on earth don’t need that sh/t.
And your workouts…I run 5 miles a day & can promise you you’d meet the dirt w/your disordered eating. You wouldn’t even be able to handle the slowest workout possible w/the P.T.s we have here. You don’t know this until it’s thrust upon you (that’s why you think it’s all good).
I hope your daughter ends up ok. Sad.
You’re wrong. I run 3 miles two times/week, 4 miles another day, and do strength training and yoga three other days/week.
As I mentioned – Ask your doctor before you spew such harsh words. Fasting windows are different for everyone, and one meal a day can last several hours. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/intermittent-fasting-surprising-update-2018062914156
A personal attack like that is really out of line @Magical Kactus. Nancy’s speaking to her experience and opinion, just like you and everyone else here.
Intermittent fasting is actually really good for the body.
Nancy, read again: “His dishes typically consist of a protein (chicken, steak or fish) with vegetables (salad, spinach, asparagus or Brussels sprouts). Dorsey does treat himself to dessert but limits the intake of sugar to only mixed berries, dark chocolate, or a glass of red wine.”
He’s not doing I.F., he’s highly restricting what type of food he eats, when he eats and in what amount: that’s anorexia in a nutshell. You can count the list of food item he allows himself to eat with your 2 hands! You might be able to survive eating a chicken breast with a side of spinach every day, but in the long run, it’s not healthy. There are tons of nutrients he is missing here. And fibers.
@Arpeggi, I have a friend who went on a really restrictive diet in order to lose weight. I didn’t find out until later that she was actually only consuming about 600 calories–a DAY. She lost the weight and looked good and all, but for years afterwards she had issues with her gut. She told me flat out one day that I should never go on this diet because of how much she felt it screwed her up. She was 20 lbs lighter, but induced new health problems in the process.
So many people go into these diets without fully thinking about what they’re getting into, and that’s a shame.
Sounds like that’s what he wants to eat Arpeggi. Why is what he says he wants to eat restrictive? I think you’re projecting.
How do you function without enough protein to fuel your activities? Unless you’re on your ass most of the day and evening which I’ve discovered is a real thing. And then your muscles turn to pudding.
Nope – I function very well this way. I go to work for 8 hours a day, AND I work out 6 days/week. I do get enough protein, healthy fats, and fruits and vegetables in my eating window. Ask your doctor about it.
That’s it, I guess. Being very mindful of exactly what you eat. I always had a hard time finding proteins I could graze on that I liked during busy work days. I think part of the reason I’ve managed to stay slim all my life is not focusing too much on food, being active and moderation while still able to enjoy great meals. I also always use real butter, whole milk and also sugar when I want it. At the mere thought of dieting I feel deprived. That said I think Jack is an asshat of the first order although I love Twitter. I’m a mess. 😁
I use whole milk and whole-milk yogurt during my eating windows, and butter (I also make my own ghee), and I eat eggs, nuts, and bone broth. We don’t eat a lot of meat in my household these days (my husband’s given up meat but I haven’t), but I find fruits and vegetables are fine. My lunch today was roasted brussels sprouts with balsamic vinegar, and half of a large meatball I stole from my daughter’s lunch. I’m good.
I don’t Tweet and I honestly know nothing about Jack Dorsey.
@Nancy – we don’t eat a lot of meat either, but I also use whole milk and real butter. I make my own seafood and poultry broths and use them to cook rice, pasta and in soups. My lunch today was a leftover salmon burger and cabbage/carrot salad from last night , dinner tonight is a seafood/tomato stew with roasted root vegetables and brown rice with lentils. Food is so good, I am in love with herbs and spices and flavours and anyone who restricts their food intake that drastically is clearly eating disordered and doesn’t enjoy good healthy food.
1st world problems
My very thought. A lot of people eat only once a day because that’s all they have.
Yes, can you imagine what people in other countries think about us choosing not to eat?! First world problems for sure
I don’t think his food intake is a disorder. Just seems disciplined. Seems pretty healthy to me. Wish I could do it!
To me, this falls under the auspices of intermittent fasting. I’ve been doing IF (two meals per day within an 8 hour window) and have lost weight and feel good exercising. There’s evidence that caloric restriction is beneficial, especially as you age. I realize eating disorders can employ this in an extreme form – I’m not talking about or condoning that.
You guys all have your (valid) reasons. He’s just a rich douche.
ITT a lot of people with eating disorders adamant they don’t have them
I attended a fascinating lecture by a fellow (that’s “Fellow” not just some fella) at Duke who studies endocrinology and anthropology in small communities in Africa and the Amazon. The particular community he was describing were hunter-gatherers with very little contact with modern civilization. They did not eat in the morning because they had nothing left from the previous day, they spent their days obtaining food and preparing it for consumption and ate one meal together before dark. No farming, no livestock. The research team has done extensive testing of them over decades and their health is excellent with regard to blood studies, heart and lung function, life expectancy, etc. Results sometimes completely surprised them. While their activity levels are much higher than first world populations, they don’t actually expend more energy day to day then we do. Their diet is high in protein and fiber and obviously none of the junk that modern production pumps into our food. I’ve been intermittent fasting for several years, my health is improving each year, and my doctor is happy. Food (ha!) for thought.
Fascinating. Thx!
Look, any diet where you’re told you can’t eat a carrot, a pepper, an apple or a banana because it’s too much carbs is disordered. It’s not the eating once a day that’s an issue, it’s the heavy restriction and removing whole food groups from what you can possibly eat that’s incredibly dangerous. Legumes, non-leafy greens veggies, fruits and grains are your friend unless you have a specific illness. He’s doing the early 00’s Goop diet basically, she ended up with osteoporosis at 40…
Did I miss the part in the article where he says he restricts the kinds of foods he eats? I didn’t see anything about carbs or the specific foods you mention. Sounds to me like he eats what he wants to eat, just during a certain window. Which is what I do too.
Yes, you absolutely missed it: “His dishes typically consist of a protein (chicken, steak or fish) with vegetables (salad, spinach, asparagus or Brussels sprouts). Dorsey does treat himself to dessert but limits the intake of sugar to only mixed berries, dark chocolate, or a glass of red wine.”
He eats a chicken breast with a side of spinach and tops it with a cup of berries when he feels festive. That’s not healthy eating, that’s just plain disorder eating. Whenever you hear someone saying they avoid fruits because of they’re too much sugar, you know there’s something wrong in their diet
on a superficial note, I’ve noticed over the years that Jack has looked sick. He’s aged. I’m all for healthy eating, but being too thin ages your face. There has to be a health middle ground
If I only ate once a day I’d be riding a broomstick, cackling like the witch I would definitely become. I can’t fast it makes me feel sick and faint and “hangry”. This man is definitely eating disordered, manorexic
Same here. I get hangry! Forget fasting
Rich white men think they invented everything…Even eating disorders.
He looks sickly…
So he says he has meat & a salad for his one meal a day…and that fuel he gets between 6 to 9 pm….
Anybody thinking that’s normal or healthy…you need help ASAP.
The thing that makes him (and other tech bros) going so public with their dietary regimens is that it flies directly in the face of what their companies do for their employees because they actually use food as a reward. Like, ok you’re going to work all these hours? We’ll feed you! We want to retain the top talent so we have all three meals prepared by top chefs and unlimited snacks! SPEND ALL YOUR TIME HERE!
What are his employees supposed to think? It’s mixed messaging and it’s super damaging.
I was living in the Bay Area for seven years and I got to know a lot of people in that industry, and a few people who have had personal contact with some of these CEOs. I think one reason why he does this stuff is because there’s a cult of eccentricity in Silicon Valley. They all have to have a quirk, a ‘thing,’ something that actively shows the world how weird they are, and therefore, how superior they are. Steve Jobs had his turtlenecks. Mark Zuckerberg has his hoodies and general inability to exercise human empathy. Elizabeth Holmes had that wack-ass voice and fried hair. Peter Thiel just…is Peter Thiel. Jack Dorsey doesn’t eat. There’s also a cult of ‘stoicism’ in Silicon Valley but a very hyper-masculine, over-simplified version of stoic philosophy. Jack Dorsey practicing extremely regimented eating (and likely disordered eating) seems to me to be an extension of this ‘stoicism,’ a self-conscious show of detachment designed to prove how disciplined and tough he is. So many of these tech guys have inferiority complexes and are insecure in their masculinity. That’s why they are so toxic. (I have dated enough of them to know). “Look at me, I’m so manly that I can survive on a single spinach leaf. I don’t NEED anything. I’m already strong. Only WEAKLINGS need food to survive.” That’s his vibe, 100%.
Amber You nailed it! I did a lot of research into the IT industry and its personalities around the time Twitter went public. A lot of arrested development there! Anyway I don’t think he does this because he’s figured out it “works best for him”. It’s all about Proving Something. And that’s what makes it an ED for me, not the actual routine he follows but the reason behind it. He doesn’t look healthy or happy. And, yeah, get rid of the Nazis on Twitter.
Peter Thiel is a low-key fascist that thinks the world should be led under a technocratic govt.
But you’re absolutely 100% correct otherwise. You’re talking about an industry filled with a bunch of overachievers with major social anxiety and insecurity.
Spot on, Amber
Idk, I think he looks like shit, so whatever he’s doing isn’t working for him. I’m okay with IF and creating your own ‘normal,’ and I know nobody likes to judge by appearances, but he doesn’t exactly radiate health. There comes a point where you *can* tell just by looking at someone.
I know what you mean by appearances. I live near a very well-populated health food store and I can tell you to a person the customers, many of whom come in toting their yoga-mats and biodegradable water bottles, are invariably stringy-haired and skinny/haggard-looking. In other words they don’t look “healthy.” But they may in fact be healthy — I can’t tell just by looking at them.
Holy cats! I had no idea the bigger tech companies are feeding their employees as a way to keep them on site/at their desks forever.
I’m 58 y/o, and I once was employed at a company who provided free hot meal for employees in the company cafe…we had a 1 hour lunch break w/this fresh hot meal available for free.
I hated it!
Even during lunch I could not get away from my co-workers, I despise people who think because you work together you MUST socialize 24/7. All it did was motivate me to find a different job!
All the years I have worked, I have always wanted to keep my private life separate, still do.
Totally get you, SJR. High pressure job and all I ever want during lunch is peace & quiet and fresh air. I like and admire my colleagues and we occasionally have coffee or lunch, sometimes drinks outside of work hrs but my private lunch breaks are necessary to get through the rest of the work day. Lunch is small amounts of whatever. Just fuel to carry me over.
I would have hated that, too. I feel the same about work/private life.
He looks manorexic. Intermittent fasting is fine, I don’t eat my first meal until around 11:00 in the morning, and eat my second meal around 6:00pm. I’ll snack on nuts, yogurt and fruit in between my main meals if I feel snackish. Breakfast is often a super-sandwich (tuna or eggs or cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, sprouts) or leftovers from dinner the night before (I like to cook larger meals for that reason). At 67 my weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. are good and I work out 5 days a week, but jeebuz I can’t imagine how awful I’d feel if I didn’t eat at all during the day. That’s just stupid.
Honestly in my opinion I find nothing wrong with this. I have a body builder friend that eats the same way, it’s part of the “caveman” diet. You eat once a day, but you eat as much as you can during that one meal. It leaves you full for most of the day. I sort of do this with my hubby. He’s a doctor and does intermittent fasting. We usually have crazy schedules so only have time to sit down for one big meal, usually early dinner or big lunch on weekends. I’m never hungry at breakfast. I’ll have a black coffee and maybe a waffle or an apple. One big meal for lunch or early dinner, then later another small snack in the evening like an open faced veggie sandwich/canapé/soup and tea. We’re both vegan for past 3 years and don’t struggle with hunger/ much cravings. I think do whatever works for your body and only eat when hungry. We’re both very healthy and take mushroom and cbd supplements. I no longer have any IBS issues and my anemia is gone even though I take no iron supplements. This dude’s diet doesn’t seem extreme at all. Most Americans overeat and are overweight. In places like Japan/Korea/ some parts of Europe people
usually have small breakfasts/small supper and big lunches. In poorer countries people also usually eat one big meal. People shame people for different reasons but I don’t think anyone should shame anyone for what they eat, whether it’s too much or “not enough” in their minds. In my personal life, I’ve never had someone comment to me if I ate too much (which I definitely have) but people always comment and interject if you’re not eating enough or not eating for whatever reason including not being hungry / not feeling well / lost appetite etc and it needs to stop. And especially if someone has disordered eating, best not to comment or shame at all.
A lot of people on this thread are saying that they eat snacks/ light meals during the day-and then eat one full meal. That might work for some, but that’s quite different from what Jack is doing. He only eats once a day, and the one meal that he eats sounds very limited. I suppose eating only once a day might be healthy if you eat a very large, well-balanced meal. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case here, based on what his own comments.
I’m also super confused by this. I think there is some confusion about what the terms “meal” and “intermittent fasting” mean. People keep saying “that’s what I do! I only eat one meal a day!” and then describe how they eat something small for breakfast, some nuts and veggies for lunch, some tea or juice for snack, a big meal for dinner, and then something small before bed. That’s not what he’s saying. And I don’t think that’s what intermittent fasting is, either. “I only eat at dinner time, too, between the hours of 6-9PM! I have yogurt for breakfast, veggie slices for lunch, steak, salad, potatoes, milk, and chocolate for dinner, and then fruit and wine before bed.” How is that the same as a guy who literally only puts food in his mouth one time a day?
What people are describing as “intermittent fasting” just sounds like eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner (or just brunch and dinner) without snacks in between. If that’s “intermittent fasting,” then sure, that sounds healthy and good. Or when people claim they only eat “one meal a day,” I think maybe they mean their dinner is large enough with a big enough variety of food to be considered a “meal” and the other times during the day when they eat it’s something small, one thing, like a yogurt, or an apple, or some almonds, so they don’t consider that a meal. That also sounds fine to me. But this guy is saying that he literally only eats dinner. The only time food enters his mouth is for dinner, which he eats between 6-9PM. He eats nothing else all day long. And the dinner he is describing does not sound like it’s a 2000 calorie meal. The foods he says he eats sound very restricted. The only carbs he gets are from berries, dark chocolate, or wine, and he only eats that as dessert sometimes. Otherwise he only eats lean, white meat protein and vegetables.
@Amy Too, I have ADHD that I’m on medication for. One common side effect of stimulant medication is just how much it dries up your appetite. I recently upped my dosage, and it startled me to think about the major gaps in time I’ve had between meals. I really need to pencil in time to eat and remember to eat a whole meal, not just enough that I stop feeling hungry, because I can eat very little and my hunger is satisfied.
I suppose this would count as “intermittent fasting” in a way, because I’ve had days where my first proper meal was dinner. But this is not good. There are major digestive issues that result from this type of thing. There have been times in the morning when I’ve woken up and struggled to stay awake, only to realize that I forgot to eat dinner the night before, and haven’t eaten anything since maybe 5 pm the previous day.
All of this has told me one crucial thing–food is fuel. Eat. People have fought for thousands of years to fend off starvation. We’re able to produce more food and feed more people than we’ve been able to at any point in human history. That’s a gift.
I would not jump and call this disordered eating. Disordered eating exists, along with obesity at the opposite extreme. For the most part, we are an obese nation. Most people do not fit into the idea of 3-6 meals a day. Also keep in mind the the dairy and meat industry in the US have heavily influenced the government guidelines on what is a healthy diet. We need to be more open-minded to considering what is a healthy diet.
Jules, I agree. Everyone is different, he seems to be functioning just fine, if this works for him=OK.
Gov’t info food pyramid….there is a lot of information that can be useful for a well balanced diet, not just the gov’t ideas. I believe there is a good deal of food info that comes thru the gov’t that is very highly tilted due to bribes to encourage certain foods.
Goodness me, the amount of packaged junk that most folks, including me, will buy and eat is kind of huge. Cheetos + Coke + chocolate donut for lunch is worse vs. this guys idea, IMO.
Gas station quick food..No! I freely admit I comfort eat Cheetos by the bag, I KNOW it’s all crap, still do it.
Food pyramids, macro recommendations, portion sizes…what they say is “best” is constantly changing. Three balanced meals became six small meals became intermittent fasting. The “expert” recommendations are always changing through the decades. I don’t get why some people find it so upsetting for us to each find our own ideal eating habits.
Wow this comments section is a mess. Half of us think Jack has an eating disorder, and half say its fine because they do it and they feel fine. All I can say is – talk to an eating disorder survivor. Talk to an eating disorder doctor. People who do this kind of thing feel fine…. until they don’t. It’s a very easy trap to fall in, caused by trauma and disconnection.
I don’t get why eating disorder medicine isn’t more well understood but I think it is because of fat hate, capitalism, racism, and misogyny.
AMEN! This was basically me deep in my ED, feeling ‘greaaaaat’ until I was hospitalised.
Yes, I spent a lot of time with my nutritionist/therapist unpacking what I meant by “I can’t eat that” and whether I truly felt fat/bloated/like my muscles were dissolving when I would eat a “bad food” or not workout one day or if that was my guilt and anxiety over breaking my former food and exercise rules during recovery. Those of us who have had bad problems can see how these food rules and food stories can be dangerous, but it takes going through it to have that awareness. (And I’m def not saying that everyone who has food rules or follows a diet has a problem. Some do, and they won’t see it until they are ready or are forced to.)
Intermittent fasting, to me, sounds like just another example of disordered eating under a different name. I’ll never forget what a friend told me when were talking about it, which is that back in her day, only eating between noon and 5 am was called anorexia. I hate, hate, HATE how modern day diet culture continues to slap different fancy names onto what are, essentially, incredibly restrictive diets that only ever serve to screw up your relationship to food. I have so many doubts about whether or not these diets are healthy. Most strike me as just attempts to starve yourself, frankly.
There is no such thing as a perfect diet or a perfect food. Everything has its upsides and its drawbacks. But you need to eat a varied diet in order to stay healthy and focused and able to actually live your life. I’ve always thought, from the very beginning, that Jack Dorsey probably had major issues with disordered eating. Reading this, I still think that. I’ve seen this a lot with otherwise really fancy and smart tech company people, where they don’t understand basic things like simple biology. They think, because they’re smart in one field, that they’re smart in everything when that isn’t the truth. I’ll never forget the time I found out that Steve Jobs died from a form of pancreatic cancer that was actually CURABLE, simply because he didn’t “like” the idea of treating his cancer with chemotherapy or surgery. And this was a curable form of pancreatic cancer, which in most instances is a death sentence!
Maybe if he ate an extra meal a day, Jack Dorsey would finally have the energy to understand just how his platform is doing a sh-tty job at moderating for Nazis and right wing harassment and actually figure out what he can do about it.
Y’all on here praising this dude for his ‘discipline’ probably the same ones saying how awful it is that Taylor starved herself. Let’s not normalise eating disorders.
Since we’re having fun talking about nutrition: Dorsey perpetually looks weary, watery, and about to collapse. He has bags under his eyes and lacks the genuine ‘glow’ I’ve seen from intermittent fasters. Like a lot of the partially-brilliant tech minds I’ve known, they get one hook of a good idea and then don’t develop it, read enough to counterbalance, etc. His face, skin, eyes, posture all reflect someone who’s obsessing over one way of eating in order to get control and I feel sorry for him. Of course, my own diet has been disordered in a variety of ways nearly all my life so I don’t judge him, just wish him the same help I’ve wished myself.
And for all the non-breakfast eaters out there: last year I read about the world’s longest-lived family in Ireland (and very healthy and active nonagenarians to boot!) They say it’s a combination of fresh air, farm-fresh local food, hard work, but especially having oatmeal in the morning and a little bit before they go to bed. I was an adamant breakfast-denier for years but once I started having a small bowl of oatmeal w/ oat milk in the morning, left to soak from the night before (no instant w/ all the sugar), I started feeling so much more energetic. It was unbelievable. Killed the cravings I’d get around 11 am, but even better it keeps my mood more even-keeled because my blood sugar isn’t rising/falling rapidly. It’s been one year and this is going to be a part of my lifestyle from now on.
Sort of wish I’d become a nutritionist, this stuff is fascinating.
Meh, let them eat cake…or not lol. And listening to what this douche does is NOT in anyone’s best interest. I don’t know him. Haven’t read much about him, but first impression is he’s an OCD power-hungry narcissist. In fact, that last pun is probably accurate, he feeds on being better than every second of every day. I’d love to get a glimpse of his schedule lol, I bet it’s a good study.
Having said that, I normally eat a meal a day, and tend to intermittent fast because it makes me feel better. It’s about how hungry I am. If I’m starving, I waited too long, and because I each too much at that point, I don’t starve myself. But three meals a day is too much. For most of us probably. When you consider the nutritional content of a day’s worth of food for athletes, Olympians, etc., they have to consume a LOT, probably many times in a day. They burn it. They need it. If your job has you running around all day, eating one meal probably wouldn’t work. You have to look at your lifestyle and know your body. This douche bro above may arrogantly think he’s got it going on, but he looks like he knocking on death’s door — not a good look.
Maybe he’s taking stimulants to suppress hunger, who knows. The rich could probably get a prescription for almost anything.
He’s taken a much more proactive stance about reducing fake news and political interference on his platform than Zuckerberg, so Dorsey can do whatever he wants in my book. And a lot of start-ups in SF offer free food all day long. It gets to be a distraction, and very easy to develop indulgent habits, so I admire him for figuring out what works best for his energy and routine.