Are ‘What I eat in a day’ videos positive or negative for teenage mental health?
A quick search on Youtube for ‘what I eat in a day’ will come up with about 435,000,000 results. That’s a lot of videos about what people eat… So why are we so obsessed with what other people eat? And is watching these videos positive or negative for our mental health? Read on to learn more…
As a teenager, I was heavily influenced by ‘what I eat in a day’ videos. Around the age of 17, I lost a few kilograms (when I really didn't need to) and this was fuelled by my desire to look like the models I saw in magazines. I watched tonnes of ‘what I eat in a day as a model’ videos and took ideas from their low-calorie zucchini noodle pasta dishes and their miniature breakfasts of a coffee and a banana. I thought that I needed to restrict my calories to be skinny and that being skinny was desirable. It wasn’t only the videos that fuelled this mindset though — it was the magazines, the movies, my friends who would compliment me on my figure, and the fact that the skinny girls were usually the ones who got ahead.
I do not blame ‘what I eat in a day’ videos for my troubled relationship with food as a teenager. I blame society.
Society for so long has glorified being skinny, to the point where I once thought that in order to be pretty, I had to be skinny. Obviously, this is incorrect. Beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Beauty comes from loving yourself and being confident in your own skin, not how much you weigh on a scale.
Fast forward a couple of years — I went vegan in my first year of university and this helped to transform my relationship with food. I could finally eat in abundance and not have to restrict my calories. I ate lots of fruit and vegetables, hummus, soy milk and tofu. I had never been a big meat-eater, and I was never a big fan of cheese so the transition was pretty easy for me. However, in the beginning, I had no idea what I could cook! So I started watching more ‘what I eat in a day’ videos. This time, however, instead of looking at what models ate, I looked at what vegan influencers were eating. People like Sarah Lemkus, Ellen Fisher and Maddie Lymburner were some of my favourite vegan bloggers at the time (and still are actually!).
These vegan ‘what I eat in a day’ videos helped me so much to learn about the array of different yummy recipes I can make. I took so much inspiration from these videos and started to incorporate more home-cooked meals into my diet. I learnt about what supplements I should be taking on a vegan diet (B12 is a must!) and that we need to eat a wide range of whole foods, in order to get adequate nutrients on a vegan diet.
Just a quick side note here — if you are vegan or curious about your nutrient intake, I would highly recommend getting a blood test once a year to check your levels of iron, B12, calcium, vitamin D and so on. It’s a great way to see where you are at and if you need to add any supplements or special foods into your diet! Also, meeting with a dietician or nutritionist is a great idea because although ‘what in a day’ videos are helpful for general ideas, they in no way can replace the personalised advice you receive from a medical professional.
Through watching YouTubers like Tess Begg, who promoted eating a healthy amount of calories and doing resistance-based workouts, my perception of beauty and health shifted towards a more balanced, sustainable and nutritious lifestyle. Nowadays, I have a great relationship with food. I think of it as fuel and something to be enjoyed. A friend and an ally, rather than an enemy. I attribute this new, positive relationship with food to the wonderful YouTubers I follow, who have always promoted a healthy, varied and nutritious lifestyle.
I would not have found these YouTubers had I not been searching for ‘what I eat in a day’ on YouTube.
So, in my eyes, ‘what I eat in a day’ videos can be both positive and negative for mental health. I believe there is great power in these videos as the demand for them is so high — hundreds of thousands of people watch these videos every day. So, I commend the YouTubers like Sarah Lemkus, Ellen Fisher, Maddie Lymburner and Tess Begg who promote a balanced diet because they ARE influencing teenagers — whether they want to or not.
I have recently started my own YouTube channel where I seek to positively influence our society; promoting a conscious, balanced relationship with food and exercise. I have recently started making my own ‘what I eat in a day’ videos that I hope can help young woman to build a more positive relationship with food. I have linked my most recent video below, and I would really appreciate it if you could check it out!
Until next time xx
