CW: This article discusses disordered eating and body image.
Ella Gilbert
‘What I Eat In A Day’ is one of the most popular trends across social media. It’s a very simple concept: people documenting their meals and snacks for the internet to see.
Whether it be the perfect banana bread recipe or life-changing air fryer hacks, people love to talk about food on social media. Food is something we can all relate to, something we all enjoy watching and discussing.
Since the trend began, the hashtag #WIEIAD has accumulated nearly five billion views on TikTok. There’s no sign of these videos disappearing either. The latest food hacks and meal ideas make them constantly interesting to viewers. But are What I Eat In A Day videos actually harmful?
Why are ‘What I Eat In A Day’ videos so popular?
If there’s one thing apparent from our collective consumption of social media, it’s that we’re all incredibly nosey. We love to have a look into other people’s lives. WIEIAD content provides relaxing and familiar routines, like daily vlogging. It’s reassuring to see aspects of your own life on social media.
“It’s nice to be presented with new options or ideas, especially if we’re looking to try out new recipes.”
Food diaries can provide inspiration for something that is central to all of our lives: food. What I’ve learned from living with other people is how we all eat so differently. Food habits vary drastically from person to person and seeing what other people like to eat can be really inspiring.
It’s nice to be presented with new options or ideas, especially if we’re looking to try out new recipes. TikTok has replaced paging through recipe books and pinning meal ideas on Pinterest as a source of “mealspo”.
How can WIEIAD content be harmful?
Social media exposes us to more people than we would ever be able to talk to in real life. These videos are usually short and to the point, to keep our attention, so they exclude any context about why they might be eating in this way.
Food is so complex and so personal. There are so many contributing factors to why someone eats what they do each day. Most people aren’t going to detail their dietary requirements, what kind of day they had, or their nutrition-related trauma in a TikTok. Sometimes, we don’t necessarily have the full picture of what this stranger is eating or the reasoning behind it.
This is especially true for videos promoting particular diets, such as “WIEIAD as someone on keto” or “WIEIAD as a vegan”. Influencers may also be paid to include certain products in their daily diet.
Most of us act differently when we’re in the limelight, compared to how we would in day-to-day life. Even if they’re not trying to, people creating WIEIAD content are going to be hyper-aware of what they’re eating. This may subconsciously influence their choices.
They also might exclude certain meals or snacks from the video if they’re trying to promote a healthy diet or lifestyle – there’s just no way of knowing!
There is no ‘normal’ when it comes to food
Although we all know there’s no “normal” way to eat, it’s near-impossible to keep telling yourself this when WIEIAD content is often so similar. Although you cannot cater to all audiences and keep everyone happy, you can cater to the algorithms. Successful TikTokers know this when making their videos.
“Food content begins to be harmful when it leads us to start over-analysing our own food habits and making unfair comparisons.”
Algorithms prioritise videos that provoke reactions or have people replaying and scrolling the comments. It just so happens that these videos with shock factor, optimised titles, and trending hashtags tend to also be the most harmful. For example, someone eating a very low or high-calorie diet might shock viewers and therefore inspire more interaction from the audience. This makes the video pop up on more people’s feeds.
On TikTok, you’ll find a polarity between videos that leave you thinking you eat too much and others that leave you wondering if you’re too restrictive and eat too little. Food content begins to be harmful when it leads us to start over-analysing our own food habits and making unfair comparisons.
When someone captions a WIEIAD video as “realistic” and it doesn’t match your own reality, it is easy to feel alienated. Such intimate content can make you feel bad about what and how much you eat daily.
So, what should we do about it?
Fundamentally, there is nothing wrong with WIEIAD content, as long as you’re self-aware of the content you’re consuming. But it’s hard to spot when the lines between healthy and unhealthy consumption start blurring.
An overwhelming majority of WIEIAD content is very well-intentioned. Lots of the people who to demonstrate a normal attitude towards food do so because of their disordered behviour in the past. These videas can be really useful resource for those recovering from a bad relationship with food.
However, good intentions don’t make the outcome any less harmful. If the audience doesn’t have this same experience or if the creator isn’t as healed as they thought they might be, the content can be damaging. For example, a recovering anorexic might still eat very little and the audience may feel pressured to restrict their own intake as a result, even if this wasn’t the creator’s intention.
We are watching the world of WIEIAD content change. Previously, the trend was dominated by fad diets, such as keto, and those in eating disorder recovery.
Nowadays, platforms like TikTok are more accessible and anyone can go viral, which means we’re seeing more of the average person’s content. A lot of TikTok videos aim to remove the stigma around eating, especially in public, and to combat widespread fatphobia online. Other similar videos, like #eatwithme, offer the same comfort for those struggling with food, whilst avoiding the tendency to compare entire days of eating.
WIEIAD content is certainly not social media’s biggest problem. It is something I’ll continue watching, just with greater cation and critical thinking.
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Featured image courtesy of Randy Tarampi on Unsplash. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.
