The global weight loss industry is worth more than $250 billion (yes, you read that right) and thanks to social media, there are ample ways to advertise. Even if you don’t have sponsored posts as you scroll sharing waist-slimming products there are other ways diet culture is finding its way into your feed. One of those: #WhatIEatInaDay. This hashtag—found on Instagram and TikTok—likely wasn’t created with bad intentions (which is often—not always, but often—the case with problematic hashtags). At first glance, sharing and tagging your food using #WhatIEatInaDay may simply seem like a way to stay accountable and share diet and weight loss tips. However, what often isn’t taken into account is that research continues to uncover that diets don’t work, which highlights one of the problems with the hashtag and its intent. There are a number of other reasons the #WhatIEatInaDay hashtag on social media is problematic and we reached out to experts to find out why muting the hashtag might be in everyone’s best interest.
Why the #WhatIEatInaDay hashtag on TikTok is problematic
Here’s why the #WhatIEatInaDay hashtag is problematic, according to experts.
It impacts mental health (negatively)
“Diet culture is already a harmful influence and can lead us to have binary and all-or-nothing thinking with foods and compare ourselves to others,” shares Alicia Yang, RDN, CD, a dietitian nutritionist at Sunrise Nutrition based in Seattle. “Something like #WhatIEatInaDay could potentially perpetuate this comparison and negatively impact mental health and even trigger folx who struggle with a rumination on food, disordered eating or an eating disorder.”
It causes you to misread your own cues
“The biggest issue here is a comparison between what the person who is viewing your #WhatIEatInaDay content eats and what you’re posting,” explains Kristen Whittington, MS, RD, LD, a dietitian at Austin Counseling and Nutrition. “This comparison acts as an external cue for what to eat. So, instead of listening to your own body’s cues for hunger, fullness, and what you would like to eat at the moment, you are using what someone else is eating as a standard and deciding what to eat based on that. It inherently separates you from your own internal cues and erodes body trust.”
It portrays a narrow view of health
“This hashtag and trend teach people, especially impressionable youth, that to be ‘healthy’—which in social media, being healthy is portrayed as being skinny—you have to restrict what you eat, document everything you eat, and exercise in unhealthy ways,” notes JP Cardenas, LPC-Associate, a counselor at Austin Counseling and Nutrition. “This causes people to then have distorted ideas of what beauty/being healthy is, creates unhealthy relationships with food and exercise, and eating disorders.”
It fosters inherent fatphobia
“I think there is some inherent fatphobia in the trend of sharing what you eat in a day,” shares Whittington. “People in larger bodies who share this content are likely to be harassed, while people who are conventionally beautiful and meet the current body standards are likely to be praised and their content shared.”
It disregards equity and inclusivity
“It is important to be on your own journey with food because not everyone has the same access and opportunities as everyone else,” Cardenas reminds us. “These hashtags and trends don’t consider a person’s socioeconomic status, culture, values/beliefs, medical conditions, mental health, etc., therefore these trends and hashtags are not equitable and inclusive of everyone!”
It promotes unnecessary use of food logs
“Please don’t use social media as a food log; logging your food isn’t necessary,” stresses Whittington. “Even when I ask clients to keep a log it’s something that is temporary to assess your eating patterns. Food logging, especially on social media, creates an environment that breeds hyper fixation on food and every single meal you eat." So much about nutrition and health is on a more macro scale than bite by bite or meal by meal, she adds. “What you eat matters less than the why and the how Someone posting to social media might post pictures of what they eat and appear to eat ‘perfectly’ and they also may feel guilt every time they deviate from eating like that, may not be able to enjoy foods that are part of their heritage or celebrations, and may be unable to be flexible with what they eat without serious anxiety. Essentially, those posts don’t give you the whole picture of what someone’s relationship with food is like.”
It invites people to insert opinions
By detailing every single thing you eat in a day, “You’re inviting them to say, ‘Oh, that’s not so bad,’ or ‘Oh, I can see you really need to work that off,’” explains Beth Harrell, MS, RD, LD, CEDRD-S, a dietitian nutritionist and intuitive eating counselor based in Missouri. “It’s a wild place out there with how [people] will comment. With Instagram, [a whistleblower revealed the company] knew some of the things they were allowing teenage girls to see, they had data it was causing harm but they continued to do it anyway because it is a moneymaker. There is plenty of evidence out there of people taking their own lives because they were bullied or because they were made fun of because of their weight or their eating or whatever the mean comments are. It definitely invites people to comment.”
It detracts from the advice of experts
“If you’re looking for information that is evidence-based, look for dietitians,” instructs Whittington. “There are tons of Health at Every Size and Intuitive Eating-informed dietitians who create incredible content on Instagram. Food Psych is a great podcast to listen to and continue to learn from a wide variety of professionals, as well. Anti-Diet and Intuitive Eating are both great books to check out, as they address dieting and intuitive eating.”
It takes the joy out of food
“I believe in celebrating food,” exclaims Cardenas. “I believe in sharing your food with others because it made your mouth water and your taste buds explode with flavors, because it was a fun experience, or because it inspired you! I don’t believe in logging or documenting your food to watch what you eat, count calories or a way to shame yourself for what you ate! This is what leads to disordered eating, body shame and eating disorders. We need to celebrate food, not use it as a tool to determine our value or worth.”
The bottom line
We aren’t discouraging celebrating food on social media—using TikTok to discover new recipes or learn new cooking techniques can be a great thing—but do want you to understand the motivation and intention behind sharing food. Yang suggests asking yourself the following questions before you share your food:
Why am I posting what I eat? Could it be harmful to someone else who might see it?As a consumer of these videos, does watching them feel caring to myself and to my own mental health?
When Harrell started working in the field thirty years ago, she explains, social media wasn’t even around, so she has seen the effects of the harm of certain hashtags and trends as they’ve gained traction in real-time. “I am constantly undoing the harm that is done by diet culture,” Harrell admits. “Comparisons are the root of so much angst!” Next up: The Ten Principles of Intuitive Eating
Sources
Alicia Yang, RDN, CD, a dietitian nutritionist at Sunrise NutritionBeth Harrell, MS, RD, LD, CEDRD-S, a dietitian nutritionist and intuitive eating counselorDieting does not work, UCLA researchers report. UCLA Newsroom. Published 4/3/07.Global Weight Loss Products and Services Market Report 2021: The Business of Weight Loss in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Research and Markets; PR Newswire. Published 8/13/21.Facebook’s whistleblower report confirms what researchers have known for years. The Verge (Nicole Wetsman). Published 10/6/21.JP Cardenas, LPC-Associate, a counselor at Austin Counseling and NutritionKristen Whittington, MS, RD, LD, a dietitian at Austin Counseling and Nutrition
