Eat For You Dietitian

It’s very common that most of the fitness and nutrition influencers we follow are of a slim, athletic build, with amazing skin and glow. We think ‘what do they do to look so good’, most importantly what do they eat in a day. I have a strong dislike of ‘What I Eat In A Day’ vlogs because quite often I find these vlogs are from influencers who claim they simply follow a healthy balanced diet, do not count calories, macros etc. which is great. However, I believe these types of videos can be doing more harm than good as influencers. The public admire them and want to be like them in any way possible. What does it matter to know what they eat in a day! If you eat the same, it will not magically turn you into them, it will not magically give you abs or muscle definition. Quite often they are including expensive plant-based foods, supplements, and powders which if you are watching whilst eating a bowl of pasta, it will likely make you feel negatively that you don’t have 5 different veggies on your plate at every meal. 

I think we have enough messages around us trying to make us feel guilty about how we eat. Can we please ask these influencers to not contribute. 

What made me want to write about this topic was due to speaking to a young girl in my NHS general dietetic outpatient clinic who was referred by her gynaecologist for weight management dietary advice. A fairly straight forward referral and consultation, however a few things stuck with me. She was given a set goal amount of weight to lose by her gynaecologist before next seeing them. In order to achieve this she was weighing out her food and using My Fitness Pal to have no more than 1200 calories a day. You might be thinking as a Dietitian I would be praising her … My first aim was to outline that my input would involve creating and sustaining positive healthy eating and lifestyle behaviours. Weighing 30g of cereal and 125mls of milk is not a positive behaviour. Eating 1200 calories as a young girl is not enough energy to see you through the day. 

These stuck with me because I did these behaviours too. I still remember getting out my weighing scales every morning for weeks and months weighing out a pathetic 30g of bran flakes and then logging it on the app whilst eating. I would then only buy these pre-prepared meals from Tesco less than 600 calories for dinner and then head to the gym. I tried pretty much every calorie-restrictive behaviour you can think of from a pre-teen age until a few years ago. I wish I had someone to tell me to stop. My body shape never really changed. The most important change was my perception and appreciation of my body. 

I’ve spoken of my journey of body neutrality before and it was a very gradual process which continues because as you grow older your body is constantly changing and there will always be something in the media that will try to convince you that your body is wrong. For example, as I get into my late twenties, there’s more focus on skin health and you should try this cream/serum/supplement to hide the wrinkles or whatever. Imagine if everyone felt neutral about their bodies tomorrow, a lot of companies would struggle as their products that don’t work would no longer be bought. 

What we eat in a day is influenced by a variety of different factors. I aim to emphasise this to each of my patients because this can then allow for self-compassion. If you’ve had a terrible night’s sleep and someone offers you a biscuit with your coffee at work, your body is going to want that instant sugar to keep you going. That’s okay! The same goes for socioeconomic status, where you live, who you live with, accessibility etc. Please do not try to replicate someone else’s day of eating, especially if it includes more veggies and dietary fibre than you’re used to as it will almost certainly make you more gassy and uncomfortable. Trust me.