"Health is Where the Heart Is"

If you’ve been living under a rock, you may have no idea who Joe Wicks (A.K.A The Body Coach) is. But if you haven’t, you will be very much aware of how he has taken the health world by storm with his quick and easy recipes. In amongst the many health and fitness advisors out there, Joe Wicks is one that I love to follow. He specialises in writing recipes for healthy meals, that don’t encourage fad diets or restrict us with what we want to eat.

Having a go myself!

Because of this, I decided to follow one of his recipes and film it for you all to see! I was actually really pleased with outcome, although it definitely didn’t take 15 minutes as Joe Wicks claims. Since writing this blog, I have been researching more and more into the reliability of those who give health and fitness advice, and often feel worried about who to trust. Yet, in my opinion, Joe Wicks doesn’t enforce a way of eating, but simply offers out his recipes that allow for a healthy diet, that isn’t too strict. He never cuts out any particular food group, as some ‘clean eating’ gurus often suggest. He also recently admitted to having a ‘mega binge’ on a Facebook live video for all of his followers to see! I found this really interesting, as it is so often assumed that health gurus like Joe Wicks always eat perfectly, and never have days where they eat badly. Yet his confession showed that social media portrays only a small part of someones life, and a part that can often be distorted. It’s so easy to present yourself on social media in a certain way, masking the reality of how someone lives. Although not many people will want to share negatives in their life on social media, it is too easy to forget that behind every social media account is a person, who has bad days too. I personally even have an issue with idea of a ‘cheat’ day. The connotations behind ‘cheat’ for me, seem negative and something that shouldn’t occur, but no one should feel guilty if they don’t eat in a particular way on any given day.

The recipe was easy to follow, and the ingredients weren’t expensive at all. After demolishing my plate I felt satisfied that I had eaten well, and full to the brim so wouldn’t have eaten more – a perfect combination!

Ingredients

If you’d like to follow the recipe, make sure you have all of the ingredients below – they allow enough for two people!

2 Chicken Breast, 230 grams of sweet potato, 1 egg yolk, 1 tomato, 35 grams of mozzarella, 100 grams of breadcrumbs, cajun spicing (use as much as you like, down to preference!) 2 ciabatta buns, and finally a handful of rocket!

Take a look at the video below, and even try out the recipe yourself!

BBC Two recently aired a programme that investigates the craze of ‘clean eating’. Since starting this blog, I have become more interested on how this social media sensation is effecting young people, and whether the message it sends is actually positive. This meant my attention was immediately drawn in to watching this programme and seeing what it had to prove. The programme featured Dr Giles Yeo (a health expert), travelling the globe to try and uncover the truth behind the clean eating craze.

Throughout the documentary, audiences were introduced to a few individuals, all involved in the world of ‘clean eating’. A figure that seemed to appear frequently in the documentary was Ella Woodward, better known as ‘Deliciously Ella’. Ella is well known on social media for her plant based recipes, and healthy eating tips that she offers out. On Instagram she has just recently hit 1 million followers, who all get the chance to enjoy her aesthetically pleasing pictures of her food creations. As she admitted in the documentary, the pictures she uploads take time and effort, as she makes them ‘look pretty’. There is no doubt that ‘Deliciously Ella’ has now become a brand, rather than just simply an individual offering
up their healthy eating tips. In the documentary, Giles Yeo did question Ella as to whether she actually eats all the food she uploads on her Instagram, and her response was somewhat obvious. She claims to eat every meal that she uploads, and does strictly follow a plant based only diet – in other words, a vegan diet. When questioned, she claimed to see the importance of not letting her way of life be taken out of context by some followers, meaning she didn’t want her followers to think her life was always perfect and happy, due to the wait she eats. It’s clearly believable that she does eat the recipes that are spread across her Instagram, but the important factor that Giles picked up on, was that influential figures like Ella, must be aware that they are making claims and giving advice that may not hold scientific proof. This is where the idea of clean eating has become controversial.

Interestingly, Ella admits herself that the craze of clean eating has become too complicated, and has been taken too far by some. It all started for Ella because she suffered with a rare health condition, which lead to her having very little energy or motivation. She therefore decided to change her diet, and enjoyed sharing these tips with other people. She aimed to inspire her followers, but not force her diet on to others, which some claim can be an issue with clean eating bloggers.

Is Clean Eating solely negative? 

In my opinion, clean eating has now become something that is seen negatively, as its driven by social media. The movement has grown, and continues to grow, with more and more people sharing perfect looking meals on Instagram. Arguably, there is nothing wrong with sharing your meals to others, but the difficulty with this craze, is that some bloggers are advising such huge changes to diet, that aren’t actually su
pported by scientific proof. Giles Yeo argues that the way clean eating is exploited on social media is changing the way we eat – and I completely agree. Without the of power social media, this craze would have never had such an impact like it has. As part of the documentary, Giles created his own Instagram account, that shared the food he had eaten. One picture he posted was a greasy (but delicious) looking egg and sausage muffin, and after posting this picture he ultimately lost 30 followers. I found this interesting, as it demonstrates how shaming those for eating how they chose, is very common on social media, and I believe that the clean eating craze can sometimes promote this.

The main thing to remember with the clean eating craze, is that it is driven by belief and not scientific fact. Where one way of eating may work for someone, it might not work for someone else. No one should ever be shamed for choosing to eat in a particular way, and since researching more in to this craze, I’ve found that this is sadly too common. There is nothing wrong with guru’s of clean eating – like ‘Deliciously Ella’, as long as they are aware of how they are responsible for making promises with proof, and not simply giving advice that is scientifically incorrect.

For more information, take a look at the BBC Documentary on iPlayer – definitely worth the watch!

 

 

The term ‘fad diet’ is defined by wikipedia as ‘a diet that makes promises of weight loss or other health advantages such as longer life without backing by solid science, and in many cases are characterized by highly restrictive or unusual food choices.’

Although social media undoubtedly has its benefits, in the health and fitness community, social media plays a large part in causing the controversy. With so many individuals claiming to have found the next big diet that will make everyone and anyone lose weight, it becomes difficult to know who to trust, and who to not. There are many weird and wondrous things you can find online, and fad diets are a key example of this. Whilst researching into the fad diet craze, some of the ones I came across made me laugh at how ridiculous they were, but considering many people actually believe and follow these diets, I was ultimately shocked at how dangerous some of them were.

The ‘Cotton Ball Diet’

You don’t have to be a nutritionist to know that some of the diets that the internet offer are dangerous to the body. Yet, there are individuals out there who are so body conscious, they would do anything to change this, and this is where ‘fad diets’ can be really detrimental. An example of one of the ridiculous diets I found online was the ‘Cotton Ball Diet’. This diet consists of consuming cotton ball’s that are soaked in liquids, such as juices or smoothies. As soon as I read this, I cringed at the thought, and to think that people could be fooled by doing this made me feel worse. The so called ‘diet’ claims to make those who do it feel full, without gaining any weight, as the cotton ball dissolves in the stomach. I researched in to the health risks that this diet induced and found that the diet not only can cause choking and malnourishment, but includes the risk of the intestinal tract becoming blocked, thus causing damage to the internal organs. Clearly, this diet is extremely threatening to our health, yet individuals are still following it due to the craze of ‘fad diets’ on the internet.

‘Sleeping Beauty Diet’

Another diet I found that I wanted to discuss was the ‘Sleeping Beauty Diet’. This diet, is not really a diet at all, but basically is the idea that if you’re asleep, you aren’t eating, so therefore you can lose weight. The diet involves taking sedatives to allow for longer snoozing, therefore preventing the participant from eating. Not only does this mean that the person doing the diet would get nothing done due to excessive sleeping, but also runs the risk of that person not waking up at all from the sedatives they have taken. Muscles will also slowly deteriorate as no physical movement will be taken place, so once again internet users are being fooled by a diet that is nothing but harmful to the body.

Although some of the diets found online can be helpful and safe, it’s so important to realise that there are people out there – particularly young people, who may believe that all diets they find online are reliable and won’t cause harm. This is why I can’t stress how popular bloggers online who give out diet and health advice, should really have correct nutritional understanding. I’m no expert myself, and some bloggers who give advice aren’t either, so if you are looking up healthy living tips, always be careful that what you’re reading is accurate, and most importantly, safe.

Instagram. I’m going to assume that the majority of you reading this post will have it, and admittedly, I am addicted to the app myself.  What I am also guilty of, is following many fitness and wellness bloggers, constantly scrolling through their pages in admiration, wishing I had figures similar to theirs.

Although I do enjoy looking at these pages, I often find myself comparing my figure and lifestyle to theirs, I’m sure as many others do. Recently, I found an interesting blog post written by a female named Emily McMullin, who was writing as a guest writer for the blog ‘Not Plant Based’. In this post she discusses how she battled with multiple eating disorders as a teenager, and how she felt social media had a large effect on her illness. She argues how Instagram has the potential to be the most dangerous of all social networking sites because of how it is simply image based. And I personally couldn’t agree more.

As Emily also states, eating healthily and wanting to have a healthy body is undoubtedly important. Yet this does not mean a specific strict diet should be followed. With the current craze of ‘clean eating’, there is the danger of this resulting in young people being brainwashed by what they see online, and feeling bad about themselves if they do not follow a similar lifestyle. A key part of the ‘clean eating’ craze that I wasn’t aware of before I started researching more in to the topic, is that some bloggers often push the idea of cutting out food groups. Personally, I feel that this is such extreme advice, that bloggers must be careful and understand who there audience is. With social media sites like Instagram, it’s so hard to manage who is seeing what, and how they might be effected. Sadly, on Instagram it’s not hard to find accounts that are ‘pro-anorexia’ or that promote an extremely dangerous way of eating and living. Although this is definitley an extreme case in comparison to clean eating blogs, it’s important to recognise how influential social media can be. An account that simply promotes the idea of healthy living and clean eating could ultimately give the wrong message to those that put themselves down for not having a similar lifestyle.

So what if I have a takeaway?

Sometimes eating perfectly and living in a certain way isn’t possible. I’ve found since studying at university, eating a perfect diet isn’t always the easiest option. Healthier foods are often much more expensive, and in terms of my social life, I often go out for drinks with friends, or have takeaway nights, but I often keep reminding myself that  I shouldn’t be made to feel bad about this. There is no doubt that many healthy eating bloggers, and those that show their perfect diet through their Instagram most likely go out with friends too, or have the occasional takeaway. It’s vital to remember that the bloggers who share their lives on social media, will undeniably have days where they don’t eat perfectly or don’t feel like spending hours at the gym. No one should be made to feel guilty about having the occaisonal chocolate bar, or not doing exercise if they don’t feel like it.

Be Happy and Healthy

Some accounts on Instagram do motivate me to have a healthier lifestyle, but I often find myself questioning if I need one. Although I’m not at the gym everyday, and eating the most healthiest of foods, having a positive mentality and doing what makes me happy is what I try to focus on most, and I feel this outlook is often masked by social media. Emily McMullin who I mentioned previously, took to deleting her Instagram account completely, due to the damage it was causing for her wellbeing. If a social networking site is causing stress to young people, is it really that safe? Should Instagram have some tighter regulation? This is undeniably a problem zone for the site, but it’s also something they have little control over. Fitness and wellness bloggers mean to promote a positive message, so therefore they aren’t necessarily doing anything wrong. Yet it is obvious that some accounts are having a negative effect on young people, as they are so obsessed with new diet crazes, they lose focus on the importance of being happy, as well as healthy.

For more information on Emily’s incredible story take a look at her blog post here.

So, here it is, my first blog post! To kick it all off, I wanted to share something with you, that you can all help with. Hopefully, you aren’t here to try and become a nutritionist, because sadly, that is not what I am here to talk about.

Currently, the law stands that anyone and everyone can become a ‘nutritionist’ or a ‘nutritional therapist’. This therefore can result in those who don’t actually have a strong understanding and knowledge of nutrition and health, giving tips to all of us on the other sides of the screen. With the amount of content that is posted online by various health and wellness bloggers, it’s nearly impossible to know who to trust. Consumers are potentially under attack, as unqualified people are putting others health at risk. The way that social media is currently so influential on young people, is worrying when considering how individuals without correct nutritional knowledge are giving advice and diet tips to others. Some nutritional advice that can be found on the internet is so bizarre, that it has actually become dangerous and caused health problems for some. In a later blog post, I am going to be discussing some of the ridiculous diets that can be found online, and how they can effect our health. To help try and prevent incorrect information being shared on the internet about what the ‘perfect’ diet is, a petition has been created by Harriet Smith, who is a student dietician, pushing for change within the community. If enough people sign the petition, it could call for a change in the law, meaning consumers would be protected from being given incorrect information about their health, and the way they should eat. A common tip that can be found online, is advice to cut out a food group. This is not necessarily extremely bizarre, but according to Harriet, it can cause us to start craving that food group, leading to a dangerous restriction, or binge eating. Something that may not seem such a big deal, may actually lead to bigger health risks. Also, the term ‘clean eating’ that is so often used across the internet, is negative in itself. Those food’s that aren’t as ‘clean’ as others are therefore made to look bad, when really they may not be as bad as we think. Arguably, all food is good for us, as long as we maintain a balanced diet. Yet with the clean eating craze, this enforces a diet that isn’t balanced.

To help the individuals who aren’t trained effectively in nutrition giving out incorrect knowledge and advice at bay, you can all help make a change by signing the petition! This will help and protect others who may fall for the next ‘fitness fad’, or ‘clean eating craze’. All you need to do is give your email to the link below, where you will then receive an email to sign the petition – but don’t worry, they only send you one email and that’s that!

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/171211for

That’s all I have for this first post, but hopefully its got some of you thinking about the importance of what we might be reading online about our health, and how much of it is actually true. It’s so easy to believe everything we read, and with the power of social media, many can be influenced to sticking to diets that are actually causing more risks for our health, than preventing them.