Healthy alternatives to junk foods have been around for a long time, but as videos describing alternative food choices gained popularity on TikTok, Instagram and other social media platforms, these originally innocent videos have taken an unhealthy turn.

Such videos were originally created to educate people on the beneficial properties of whole, more nutrient-rich foods with similar tastes or textures, but they have started to take on a much more food-shaming approach. They imply that it’s bad to eat carbs, sugar and salt which humans all need to survive.

Sophomore Astro Brown largely dislikes those types of videos.
“If you watch those on a regular basis, it makes you feel like you’re either eating too much or too unhealthy, even if you are eating healthy,” said Brown.

This type of seemingly harmless content can have a very deep and negative effect on people and their mental health, especially teenagers who are already more conscious of their bodies than most adults.

These videos are the kinds of media that lead to eating disorders and need to be stopped. As food is presented as ‘bad’ ‘dangerous’ and ‘scary,’ it leads to a general distrust of food. It’s really hard to eat if you’ve been told your food is poison to your body.

Not eating or not getting proper nutrients can lead to death. These types of ‘food influencer’ videos could have detrimental effects, even leading to death due to extreme fear-mongering.

This is especially prevalent in teenage girls due to societal pressures to always eat ‘healthy’ and look ‘perfect,’ despite the fact that the diets that are encouraged in these videos are not healthy, as human bodies need protein, carbs, sugar and salt along with fruits and vegetables.

While these videos aren’t likely to stop anytime soon, and it would be hard to stamp out all of them, having the knowledge about how these videos are harmful and their advice shouldn’t be followed could be a lifesaver.