Fascination with what other people eat is voyeuristic. We are all curious to see what is on someone else’s plate. But this can be taken to an extreme.
Currently trending on TikTok is #WhatIEatInADay. Creators film the food they eat in a day, in the order they ate the food. Some of the videos are just fun. Others come with captions and voiceovers dictating the amount of calories and other nutrients that are consumed. Body checking is also popular – where a person repeatedly looks at their body before and after meals to see how it has changed.
Abbey Sharp, a registered dietitian (Toronto Media Dietitian, Food Blogger, TV Personality – Abbey Sharp | Abbey’s Kitchen (abbeyskitchen.com) has reviewed many of these videos and found them to be grossly insufficient nutritionally, often too low in calories and riddled with pseudoscience. The creators are intentionally or unknowingly promoting unhealthy habits. Other than fitness, eating is one thing we can control to manipulate our bodies. People who watch these videos and see what the influencers eat, may try to copy them in the hope that they can change their body image to look like the influencers. For young women, fixating on what an influencer eats may not be in their best interest. Ideally, eating should make you feel satisfied, energized and happy.
