Large sections of Ashy Bines’ “clean eating” recipes were ripped off from other websites. So can she please leave my Facebook newsfeed now?
If you live in Australia, spend time on Facebook and have a vagina, you’re no doubt all too familiar with Ashy Bines’ 12-week exercise program, the Ashy Bines Bikini Body Challenge.
Read more: Dear Ashy Bines: Bugger off out of my Facebook feed.
Bines, 26, has amassed a loyal following of thousands of women who’ve paid $100 to access her Clean Eating Diet Plan and another 200,000 women who’ve signed up to do her Bikini Body Challenge — so chances are, images of the social media savvy workout queen’s tiny, bronzed physique regularly pop up in between your news articles and friends’ status updates, demanding that you spend money so you can achieve a “bikini body” just like hers.
Perhaps you even gave in to one of those ads and ‘liked’ Bines on Facebook, a move that’s since subjected you to regular updates on the Gold Coast woman’s business schemes, as well as updates on her pregnancy body.
The self-proclaimed Body Transformation Expert’s goal is supposedly to “change women’s bodies” and therefore to “change their lives”, which sounds very inspirational.
Except that the Bines’ Clean Eating Diet Plan has been rated one of the three worst diets in the country by the Dieticians Association of Australia, with Brisbane dietitian Julie Masci telling the Brisbane Times the diet was too restrictive to remain sustainable in the long term.
And except that, this week, it’s been revealed that a number of ‘Ashy’s’ recipes were ripped off other sites — with the Courier Mail reporting that at least 10 recipes from Bines’ online products appear to be exactly the same or slightly altered from recipes found on other, earlier food blogs.
Bines said she’s outsourced some of that work to a nutritionist.
“Unfortunately, I have been too naive in not checking the origins of these recipes and in thinking that the work would be completed in an honest and professional manner,” Bines admitted in a YouTube video. “This was never my intention and it really sucks that these things can happen.”
She stopped short of apologising to her fans, naming the nutritionist, or clarifying whether she had discontinued her association with the nutritionist.
Bines was “unavailable” for interview with Mamamia, so it’s difficult to determine how much the fitness enthusiast knew about this alleged plagiarism.
In any case, these revelations serve as a timely reminder of one thing: Ashy Bines is not an untouchable health guru to be worshipped by mere mortals.
She is not a wellness hero with all the answers.
She is not even a nutritional expert: in fact Bines, a former fitness model, actually has no nutritional qualifications at all, according to the Brisbane Times .
So let’s be clear here.
Ashy Bines is a 26-year-old Queensland woman who looks terrific in a bikini and has cleverly transformed her passion for fitness into an online business empire.
And as much as her business plan relies on making women feel they can get rid of their cellulite, and change their lives, and look every inch as terrific in a bikini, the fact is that Bines is just the latest in a line of self-proclaimed “wellness experts” whose “expertise” relies on anecdotal experience, Google or in some cases, a strong hunch.
Be “inspired” by Ashy, here:
So yeah, Ashy Bines looks nice in a bikini and yeah, I’d love a bum like hers.
But having a backside that looks outstanding in swimwear does not qualify you to instruct thousands of other Australian women on how to safely and responsibly lose weight. That’s what medical experts are for.
So can we please stop celebrating Ashy Bines as some sort of true-blue hero of Australian fitness?
And can she please leave my news feed now?
* Mamamia approached Ms Bines for comment on this matter, but she was unavailable
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Top Comments
Wow mamamia, so much hate! You can eat ANYTHING YOU LIKE on this program, if you make it yourself with good ingredients. It is not restrictive at all. I know, ive been doing it on and off over the past 2 years, losing 24 kilos before pregnancy then another 10 afterwards. And believe me, the 'off' times certainly weren't healthy times! Ashy doesnt personally train me, one of her qualified trainers does, someone who has years of experience and hundreds of satisfied clients. The trainers work hard to provide us a varied exercise regime, and are available every day to talk to when we need advice and support. She made it big using social media, and good on her for doing so. The recipes werent written by her, so what? She never claimed they were, only that she follows the program herself. A woman who has made a successful empire should not be ridiculed, but applauded. Ashy and her team strive to help women see themselves for the strong, confident, beautiful, worthy women that they are, dont mess with that by tearing her down.
Their are so many liars in the health industry, especially when it comes to weight loss and women. I hate that not one comment that I have read talks about actual health which by the way has nothing to do with looking good in a bikini. It's not a fad, 12 week challenge or a recipe book you must purchase. It's hard work, determination and consistency. It's always improving what your achieving and yes some days it is so bloody hard but it always makes you proud. I'm glad I haven't bought into media hype and have an awesome trainer that is focused on my health and improving my ability...as a bonus, I have a hard round ass, and abs, I'm 35 and really fit. Great range of motion and even picked up some self defence tips. Look up 'Performance on Demand' on Facebook although in the garage gym is where all the real work is done.