Experts worry social media trends could lead to eating disorders, depression and anxiety

Montreal-based content creator Sonia Tremblay produces 'What I Eat in a Day' for her tens of thousands of followers.

If you are online, chances are you have watched a ‘What I Eat in a Day’ video. People document their meals and snacks and post them on social media. Everyone from celebrities to influencers and everyday people is participating in the trend.

Sonia Tremblay, a Montreal-based content creator, always starts her What I Eat in a Day video with a coffee. She posts one of the trending videos per week, every Thursday, for her nearly 64 thousand Instagram followers.

“I make sure that the videos, it’s just about food, not about calories intake, not about the way my body looks. It’s really about what I eat,” said Tremblay.

Tremblay documents herself eating sandwiches and enjoying chocolate.

She said she started posting to take back the trend and create a safe space for her online following.

“I had a period of eating disorder myself, so I know how it is to feel like you’re not good enough, that you’re eating is not okay, that you need to stop eating,” she explained.

“What I Eat in a Day” videos gained popularity on social media in 2020.

Still, five years later, some influencers rack up hundreds of thousands of likes for these types of videos.

While not all videos are harmful, some focus on diet culture with titles like “How I Lost 30 Pounds” or “How I Stay Skinny.”

Experts say the content in some of these videos could steer people towards depression, anxiety and developing an eating disorder.

“If you follow influencers that are eating less than a thousand calories, for example, like nobody can live with this. So it (the influencer) makes it accessible, normal, and okay. And this can be dangerous,” said Lise-Andrée Massé, a registered dietitian and education and prevention manager with Anorexia and Bulimia Quebec.

According to Anorexia and Bulimia Quebec, 300,000 people suffer from an eating disorder province-wide. Massé said the number has grown exponentially since the start of the pandemic.

“We think sometimes because, during the pandemic, people were more on social media. Is it because of that? We don’t have that answer, but we can certainly make association with it,” she said.

If people feel uncomfortable scrolling, Massé recommends unfollowing certain creators. Tremblay added that much like what you eat, social media is all about balance.