WHO PROMOTES CLEAN EATING ONLINE?
There is a particular demographic of people promoting clean eating online: slim, toned and tanned young men and women. This is seen most prominently on Instagram.
These people set the standard of how ‘healthy’ people should look and so have influence over the behaviour and confidence of others.
#cleaneating has more than 27 million posts on Instagram.
Followers see these men and women as the ideal and aspire to look just like them. This lifestyle is portrayed as one that will provide happiness and health within these images.
FAKE REALITY
However, editing, lighting, framing and poses all play a part in the way these photos look. The people running these Instagram accounts may not even follow the lifestyle they promote and their followers would be oblivious to this. This puts so much pressure onto their followers to look a certain way which may be unachievable through clean eating.
Some ‘Instagram famous’ people have exposed themselves of the lies they have told their followers within the clean eating frenzy. Essena O’Neill ‘quit’ social media last year because she presented a fake version of her life online. She claimed that she was guilty of selling a ‘fake’ reality to her followers via her Instagram account, which had over 500,000 followers at the time she deleted it. Essena used techniques such as not eating before taking photos of her body in a bikini to give herself the appearance of a slim and toned stomach and used editing and lighting to flatter her physique.
It is so important not to take everything you see and read online as fact without questioning it first.
MAKING A CHANGE
Mel Wells promotes a healthy outlook on food and wellness through the pictures she shares online. On her Instagram account @iammellwells, she claims to be a Food and Body Freedom Coach.
Mel Wells is positively influencing over 30,000 followers on Instagram.
“Make peace with food, love your body and reclaim your life”. Mel Wells, The Goddess Revolution.
She hopes to heal the damage caused by trends like clean eating through removing the guilt felt after eating something unhealthy.
Mel Well’s Instagram feed is full of motivational quotes about guilt-free eating.
Social media accounts like Mel’s are those people should be following instead of those sharing images of unrealistic figures and diets.
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