COVER STORY
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Finding B A L
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Dieting itself is nothing new. As early as 1930, women used the “grapefruit diet” to limit their calorie intake. Then came Weight Watchers in the ‘60s, the Beverly Hills Diet in the ‘80s, and the South Beach Diet in 2003. However, today, with the influence of social media and new diet fads weekly, dieting is a balancing act. Users swap meals for liquids, skip meals and use waist trainers to slim down.
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STORY AND LAYOUT BY REPORTER LILY COIT, EDITORIAL EDITOR ABBY SMITH AND CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLIE SCHWARTZ
pening up your Instagram page you scroll past numerous selfies of your friends but something stands out to you. Right in the middle of the selfies is a post you haven’t seen before. It’s a post from Kylie Jenner flaunting her figure to the camera holding a bright pink bottle in one hand and an opened package that holds the secrets to her slim stomach in the other. You read the caption and realize it’s an advertisement for a tea detox called Lyfe Tea. Posts like this have been increasingly apparent on well known social media accounts of celebrities and bloggers alike. Influential celebrities like Bella Thorne and Vanessa Hudgens display their tea detoxes or juice cleanses to their thousands of followers, convincing their fans that this is the key to having that sought after, perfect body. The hashtag “teatox” on Instagram has almost 350,000 posts. Posts like these are able to rack up hundreds of thousands of likes, creating a major influence on its users. Living in a 21st century world, driven by the power and influence of social media, posts like Jenner’s have reinvented the word dieting. Users
are shown daily inspiration of healthy living, or “fitspo,” and new methods of achieving that perfect body by the simple touch on a screen. Seeing the way these Instagrammers and celebrities get their physique through their photos and posts places audiences in a mindset of obsession to achieve their #bodygoals, even if it takes drastic measures to achieve it. As photos of people’s colorful meals and intense workout routines grace users’ feeds, these images are a constant reminder of what others are doing and what we aren’t. “There’s nothing wrong with a little selfimprovement, but anytime we spend excess time wishing we looked like someone else, we walk into dangerous territory and can easily become compulsive or consumed with perfection,” clinical psychology doctoral student Abby Ness and Sion REbeL liaison said. Junior Lizzie O’Connell said that Pinterest was a big factor and source of inspiration for her endeavor into the popular smoothie detox.
“I have a board on Pinterest. I have my good food and then my healthy food. I have a bunch of smoothies pinned and healthy snack options,” O’Connell said. While Pinterest may be used for personal inspiration, promotions like Jenner’s are a different story. Celebrities are often paid thousands of dollars to promote products on their accounts. And while these promotions are technically screened by the Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers, even they admit that the line blurs when it comes to social media bloggers and celebrities. The FTC’s rule is that customers must be able to tell whether the promoter is paid to advertise the product. However, because images like Jenner’s are interspersed with her personal photos, it can be difficult for customers to tell the difference between her preferences and life and the advertisements disguised as posts. “The fad diets and exercises that we engage in often trickle down from celebrity endorsement,” Ness said. “I Story continued on page 16
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LE JOURNAL March 2016
