By: Leslie Goldman

Nov 06, 2009

I love sushi. I’d eat it every night if I could afford it. Admittedly, I’m extremely (almost embarrassingly) unadventurous, in that I order the most Americanized rolls possible. Sample dialogue:

Me: “I’d like a California roll. Is that made with real crab or fake crab?”

Waitress: “Oh, don’t worry, we use real crabmeat.”

Me: “I’d actually like the chef to use the fake. And a Philly Roll, extra cream cheese. And can you make a veggie roll with carrots, avocado and asparagus? Inside out. And a dirty dry Ketel One martini. Thank you!”

Waitress: Puzzled look, takes my menu while mumbling, “Maybe I can get you a cheeseburger roll with ketchup on the side?”

But have you ever tried eating sushi more than three nights in a row? It’s rough, man. You get bloated and a little bit nauseated and all sticky riced-out.

In an impressive feat of OCD-like infatuation, though, Jeremy Piven somehow managed to do it, eating sushi every day – sometimes twice a day – for so many years that he actually started developing symptoms of mercury toxicity. After dizzy spells and an eventual hospitalization, the three-time Emmy winner’s doctor measured Piven’s blood for heavy metals and was "absolutely stunned" to find mercury at a level "almost six times the upper limit of normal and allowable. It's the highest level I've ever seen."

That was last year. Now, in an effort to keep the “If a little is good, a lot is better” theme rolling, Piven has announced he has grown a pair of “man boobs” (or moobies, as we like to call them here at NeverSayDiet) as a result of his massive soy milk consumption. 

"I was the guy that dabbled in soy milk, but now I've found out soy milk has enough estrogen for me to grow breasts," he said.  "I had to put the soy milk down. It was a very confusing time."
That’sFit asked  Jill Hamilton-Reeves, assistant professor of family, consumer and nutritional sciences at St. Catherine University in Minn., about Piven's claim. She responded: "Usually, studies only go as high as 150 mg of isoflavones a day. And a reasonable intake would normally be about 100 mg a day, which is four full servings of soy." Piven did not reveal how much he was quaffing, (some reports have him joking about slamming 12 glasses a day),  Hamilton-Reeves said his moob claim was still not supported by the evidence available. "Soy has been studied extensively for 20 years, and we haven't found man boobs yet."

But given his seemingly compulsive personality, I can’t imagine exercise is a problem, so certainly his pec problem isn’t the result of sloth.

I don’t think Piven has an eating disorder in the “admit him to an inpatient unit STAT!” sense, but my God, ease up a bit on everything, will ya? His eating patterns sound none too different that those of a young woman with anorexia who will only eat apples and lettuce. Maybe Piven is struggling with orthorexia, an obsession with eating only “healthy” foods which can ultimately lead to major nutritional deficiencies and even death. At least his issues are out in the open, so he’s not slipping through the cracks. If it really is a problem, I hope he gets help. If this is just symptomatic of a driven Piven with a razor-focused single-mindedness, I hope the next role he lands is for a Broadway play called Everything in Moderation (costarring Victoria Beckham and Rachel Zoe.)