Influencers on social media, especially Instagram and TikTok, have been making obscene amounts of money telling their audience how to eat. This becomes especially common during the start of a new year when nearly everyone has weight loss resolutions. You probably want to find easy, practical ways to get fitter, in shape, and be healthier. Diet is a topic that is always in vogue. Whenever one new fad runs its course, another one crops up to take its place. It’s no surprise that in the rat race for clout, influencers come up with the most deceptive diet fads to get ahead of the curve to cash out before they’re debunked or saturated.
Unfortunately, many of these diet trends aren’t scientifically sound. They sound like quick, practical fixes to a lifetime of poor habits and that’s how you get sucked into a vortex of bad advice that can lead to disordered eating, malnutrition, or weight gain. These are the latest diet trends on social media to avoid.
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1. Seed Cycling
This is eating specific seeds and nuts to align with the menstrual cycle and influence hormone levels. Premenstrual syndrome can affect the mood drastically and seed cycling can sound like a great diet hack to get in control of hormonal moods. However, there is no research to suggest seeds and nuts affect hormone levels.
Seed cycling involves consuming flax, pumpkin, sesame, and sunflower seeds at different times during the menstrual cycle. Proponents of the seed cycling diet trend believe that it helps balance hormone levels. Theoretically, seed cycling can help oestrogen and progesterone levels. However, there is no scientific evidence to show that they can definitively change your hormones. Consume these seeds and nuts as part of a normal balanced diet.
2. Gut resetting
There is a connection between gut health and overall wellness. When your gut microbiome is imbalanced, you can experience poor mental health, constipation, diarrhoea, or a bacterial infection. However, unqualified diet influencers have hopped on the gut health trend and started providing “tips” that are useless or dangerous. They can suggest removing certain foods from your diet because they “irritate” the gut. This includes many starchy foods, especially bread, which contains gluten. This protein does affect people with Celiac disease but regular people don’t need to drop bread from their diet.
In the process of restricting foods to reset the gut, users end up with disordered eating or low energy because they aren’t eating enough. This tip is deceptive because it doesn’t look like calorie restriction but it is. Without enough food, you end up with fatigue, brain fog, irregular sleep, and malnutrition. If you’re experiencing stomach irritations, speak with your doctor.
If you wish to make your friendly gut bacteria healthier, try eating probiotic foods like legumes, leafy greens, fruit, or yoghurt.
3. Clean ingredients
Processed and ultra-processed foods can be harmful when taken in excess amounts. Recent studies have found that ultra-processed foods contribute to early death, cancer, heart disease, and other complications. This is because they contain high levels of added salts, fat, and sugars and too few nutrients. There is a growing need for people to eat less ultra-processed foods like cakes, crisps, sodas, or cold cuts. However, you don’t need to eliminate them from your diet.
Social media influencers are now sidelining any packaged or canned foods as ultra-processed. This trend forgets that not everyone can afford or access organic foods. Canned goods may have preservatives but don’t necessarily have hidden sugars or salt. These influencers also moralise food, where eating certain snacks is considered “eating bad” while eating only clean ingredients is “eating good”. This can lead to unhealthy relationships with food.
Eating well should be a holistic experience that balances nutrition with pleasure. Trying to moderate how much sugar you take can be great for your overall health but becoming obsessed with clean ingredients can be more harmful for your health.
4. The 75Hard program
This is a program where users have to follow a strict diet routine for 75 days. On each day, users have two 45-minute workout routines, abstain from alcohol, avoid cheat meals, read at least 10 pages of a nonfiction book, and take a daily progress photo. If a user fails, they have to start the program from the beginning. It’s considered the worst diet trend on social media. This is because it doesn’t allow for rest, or resets and can take a toll on your mental health.
Instead of helping you form better habits, become reflective, and encourage improvement, the 75Hard program is punitive. It creates more discouragement and is more likely to create an all-or-nothing response to change. If you fail more frequently, you’re going to end up giving up on any positive habits.
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5. Fearmongering
Diet influencers rely on fear to spread their message. By talking about how many foods are harmful, they can peddle more advice. Qualified dieticians and nutritionists don’t scare their clients into better habits. They provide all the necessary data to ensure that you make informed decisions. By knowing what’s best, you can then consciously eat a healthy balanced diet and enjoy the occasional soda or glass of wine without guilt.
When you see an influencer relying too much on scare tactics to change your habits, keep scrolling. Try to listen to certified doctors. Look up scientific resources quoted. Doing your research needs to be done wisely.
6. Food restriction
Restricting foods, you aren’t allergic to or repulsed by is a sign of disordered eating. Don’t listen to influencers who offer diet tips about restricting how many things you can eat. Some influencers have been encouraging users to substitute bread with one piece of dark chocolate. They also tell you to swap out bread for lettuce when making a sandwich without giving better alternatives to white bread. Reducing the amount of carbs your body requires leads to fatigue.
In addition, if you end up with too much restriction content, it can lead to your feed being overrun with harmful diet tips. If you notice that you’re fixating on eating habits, eating too much or too little, talk with a mental health professional to help you.
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7. Weight loss pills
Some medications can be prescribed for weight loss. For instance, the diabetes medication Wegovy (also known as Ozempic) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for weight loss. Some drugs leave you fuller for longer while others change the way your body deals with fat. These kinds require you to be on a low-fat diet to work. They can also lead to liver failure, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, belly pain, fatigue, headaches, and depression.
Check out:
How To Break A Diet Cycle And Stop Worrying About Your Weight
Lifestyle: 18 Common Myths About Diet And Wellness
Health And Lifestyle: 7 Tips On How To Change To A Healthier Diet
12 Strategies To Simplify Healthy Eating And Weight Loss
Wellness: The 10 Principles Of Intuitive Eating
Parenting: Ways You May Unintentionally Be Giving Your Child An Eating Disorder