Trendy food bloggers

Trendy Food Bloggers Fuels anorexia in Teens

I have read the article on Trendy Food Bloggers. There are some concerns that sites such as: Instagram, Youtube, and Facebook, are giving teens some bad food advice and they are not trained dieticians or registered nutritionists.

Here are some possible warning signs or red flags to look out for:

• Meal plans that limit food groups
• Limits calories
• Promises fast weight loss
• Cleanser diet and fasting diets
• Says to get a sprializer for foods.

Certain modified meals may call to limit one or more food groups. This is a no-no. Teens need all the food groups while going through growth spurts and stay healthy well-nurtured during their adolescent years.

There are certain diets that limits the calorie intake is also dangerous to the health of teenagers both boys and girls. They may need more if they are playing sports and energy needed to keep up with the demands of their schedules of school and sports.

There are some gimmick diets that promise “be thin by the time bikini season is in.” The problem is those teens that want to try and lose whatever fat they think they have could be a target for these unsafe diets. This is because they want so desperately to fit into “society’s thin realm of looking great in bikinis. I fell for the fast weight loss and took some diet pills, not as a teen but as an adult. I wanted so bad to look good and thin that I didn’t see the dangers of these pills that were increasing my heart rate; true they increased my metabolism, they gave me a scare with the tachy-cardia (fast-heart beat) symptoms. If I fell for it as an adult how much more a teen that wants approval from either from friends or family would try this?

The cleanser diets, where it says to drink juices or eat very little fruits and vegetables. This is a very ridged diet. There are some side effects such as: dizziness, fatigue, muscle aches, and low blood sugar. Also cleansers may include herbs and colon cleanses. This diet will leave you tired and very little food variety and no energy to exercise because of not enough calories are going to the body.

Finally there is a new thing called spirializing, which turns foods from high carbs into low carbs. The goal is to “eat clean.” I see a problem with this also. This could lead to Orthorexia. This is an obsession of eating healthy foods and avoiding foods that they deem unhealthy. This could lead to malnutrition, cardiac problems from weight loss, and even death. The social ramifications are isolation from friends and family due to the foods that they are eating and the person doesn’t want to take part in it because they deem it “unclean.”

In closing, if any of these modified meal plans on social networks tell teens, to fast, cut food groups, limit calories or food groups, eating whole and cutting carbs they are bad and not safe because the people aren’t trained professionals to give that nutritional advice. I would not advise a teen to “lose weight” for societal reasons. They must seek a doctor’s opinion and if need be meet with a nutritionist or dietician to meet the dietary needs and incorporate an exercise program with medical supervision. Also if there is an issue with certain foods, have a food allergy test done by board certified allergist to see if there are certain foods like gluten causing upset and if it is, then the allergist can advise the patient to chose gluten-free products.