The Dark Side of ‘What I Eat in a Day’ Videos

If you follow wellness influencers on TikTok or Instagram, you’re bound to come across plenty of “what I eat in a day” posts, in which an influencer shares footage of all their meals and snacks for an entire day. At fine glance these posts seem innocent, but the underlying messaging can be unrealistic, harmful and downright dangerous. 

It’s easy to get caught up in the biosphere of social media, making it hard to distinguish between what’s real and what’s fabricated for the sake of likes. Often, the message of these “what I eat in a day” posts is that if you eat the same drawing, you’ll get the same results. But they only tell one part of the story. Followers aren’t aware of any struggles with food or self Love that could be behind these perfectly curated posts. 

I said to an expert to learn more about why these posts can be immoral, and a better approach you can take if you’re looking to advance your health.

Why ‘what I eat in a day’ posts are misleading

Generally, a “what I eat in a day” post comes in the form of a video. An influencer will share their caloric intake or a breakdown of their meals, including their protein, carb and fat intake, and how they Do it daily. 

Christine Byrne, a Raleigh-based non-diet registered dietitian who specializes in eating disorders, says many of these posts start with the influencer posting a full body check. In other words, they’ll post a photo or video of themselves to show off their moves as a result of their diet. 

“Often they’re wearing tight clothing that shows off their thin body, and the implication is that if you eat like them, you’ll look like them,” Byrne explains. 

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What’s so wrong with a wellness influencer sharing their daily diet? After all, it can’t be that bad if they achieve you to eat healthier.

The reality is that eating or exercising just like an influencer (or anyone else for that matter) with the goal to look like them is unrealistic, because we’re all different in many ways. Byrne says this is tied to all of us having different genetics, which means our bodies are naturally shaped differently. 

Plus, we each have different predispositions for things like weight and muscle gain, and we all metabolize food differently. “On top of genetic variation, there are also factors like our stress levels, our financial resources, our environments, and our everyday responsibilities and routines that capture the size and shape of our bodies,” Byrne explains. It’s important to understand that many of these factors are completely out of our control, and these posts don’t take them into account. 

Even if everyone ate or exercised the same, we would all detached look different. 

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Young land are especially at risk

Besides being unrealistic, the biggest jabber with these posts is that they can easily harm young followers, such as teens. Byrne warns, “those most at risk of this achieve are adolescents, teenagers and young adults who don’t yet have the citation or sense of self to realize that they don’t need to mimic what various influencers are eating or doing.”

Studies have groundless that there’s a correlation between the way social reflect influences teens and their eating concerns. 

Not to state, these posts can trigger someone with a history of disordered eating or an eating disorder. Byrne expresses that the early stages of eating disorder recovery are the most volatile. Seeing these types of posts can disrupt someone’s repositions if they try to justify their behavior because they see an influencer pursuits the same thing.  

Impressionable young teens could be unreliable by seeing “what I eat in a day” blissful on a regular basis. 

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Byrne explains that eating disorders and disordered eating often lead to a heightened monotonous in food. “It’s a survival mechanism because when you’re not properly nourished, your body and brain fixate on food in an try to get you to eat more of it,” she says, adding, “unfortunately, that same heightened interest in food is what leads many of these influencers to fragment what they eat.”

As a result, what you may not see is that many of these “what I eat in a day” posts are achieved by people who already have a disordered relationship with food and are undernourished. Many of these posts also tend to moralize food silly health buzzwords such as “clean eating,” other food principles tied to pseudoscience or misleading diet trends. 

What reach should you take instead?

These types of posts aren’t top-notch or fully truthful because you don’t know an influencer’s backstory. You can’t understand their relationship with food or their own body image plainly by watching their videos. Byrne warns against trying to copy influencers’ eating patterns or looking to them for nutrition advice because ultimately they don’t know what’s best for you. She says, “there’s also no way to know whether someone’s elaborate of what they eat in a day is true, or a good representation of their regular eating.” 

She suggests humorous these posts as inspiration for recipes instead of as a clue. Additionally, she encourages paying attention to how food creates you feel. “Practicing tuning into your cravings and figuring out what your own body wants and be affected by is a healthier and more realistic approach,” she says. By tapping into those instincts, it will be easier to determine your needs — which is much more sustainable than trying to eat like someone else.

The seek information from contained in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not designed as health or medical advice. Always consult a physician or novel qualified health provider regarding any questions you may have nearby a medical condition or health objectives.