Dieting: Finding Balance

Finding B A L N C E V 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.

STORY AND LAYOUT BY REPORTER LILY COIT, EDITORIAL EDITOR ABBY SMITH AND CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ELLIE SCHWARTZ

Opening up your Instagram page you scroll are shown daily inspiration of healthy living, “I have a board on Pinterest. I have my good food past numerous selfies of your friends but or “fitspo,” and new methods of achieving that and then my healthy food. I have a bunch of smoothies something stands out to you. Right in the perfect body by the simple touch on a screen. pinned and healthy snack options,” O’Connell said. middle of the selfies is a post you haven’t seen before. Seeing the way these Instagrammers and While Pinterest may be used for personal It’s a post from Kylie Jenner flaunting her figure to the celebrities get their physique through their inspiration, promotions like Jenner’s are a different camera holding a bright pink bottle in one hand and photos and posts places audiences in a mindset story. Celebrities are often paid thousands of dollars an opened package that holds the secrets to her slim of obsession to achieve their #bodygoals, to promote products on their accounts. And while stomach in the other. You read the caption and realize even if it takes drastic measures to achieve it. these promotions are technically screened by the it’s an advertisement for a tea detox called Lyfe Tea. As photos of people’s colorful meals Federal Trade Commission to protect consumers,

Posts like this have been increasingly apparent and intense workout routines grace users’ even they admit that the line blurs when it on well known social media accounts of celebrities feeds, these images are a constant reminder comes to social media bloggers and celebrities. and bloggers alike. Influential celebrities like Bella of what others are doing and what we aren’t. The FTC’s rule is that customers must be Thorne and Vanessa Hudgens display their tea “There’s nothing wrong with a little self- able to tell whether the promoter is paid to detoxes or juice cleanses to their thousands of improvement, but anytime we spend excess advertise the product. However, because images followers, convincing their fans that this is the key to time wishing we looked like someone else, like Jenner’s are interspersed with her personal having that sought after, perfect body. The hashtag we walk into dangerous territory and can photos, it can be difficult for customers to tell “teatox” on Instagram has almost 350,000 posts. Posts easily become compulsive or consumed with the difference between her preferences and like these are able to rack up hundreds of thousands perfection,” clinical psychology doctoral life and the advertisements disguised as posts. of likes, creating a major influence on its users. student Abby Ness and Sion REbeL liaison said. “The fad diets and exercises

Living in a 21st century world, driven by the Junior Lizzie O’Connell said that Pinterest that we engage in often power and influence of social media, posts like was a big factor and source of inspiration for trickle down from celebrity Jenner’s have reinvented the word dieting. Users her endeavor into the popular smoothie detox. endorsement,” Ness said. “I

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wish that the media was more interested in accuracy t h a n dollar bills because it often promotes behaviors and diets that are ineffective or even detrimental to our health.” According to Cassey Ho, health and fitness blogger and pilates instructor, her research found the fit teas and teatoxes celebrities so frequently advertise on social media are a false permanent way and only make you lose water weight. Ho claims that these businesses are selling wishful thinking and dishonest representations of their products’ benefits. Despite social media’s sometimes negative presence in the dieting and healthy living world, there are a few people out there who are a positive enforcer of living and eating right. Ho promotes living healthy but not to make money like celebrities on Instagram do. Ho’s YouTube channel features not just unique workouts but healthy food recipes and guidance for those who have trouble with their body. With 2.8 million subscribers to her YouTube channel, Ho is an enforcer of positive thinking to attain a healthy life. However, her promotion of a healthy lifestyle came after many personal struggles with her body image and an eating disorder. In two recent videos, Ho admitted to restricting her eating habits while training for a bikini competition when she started making workout videos a few years ago. Before she admitted to her past disorder, many praised her thin, muscular physique of the time when she had an eating disorder, comparing it to her present body and criticizing her weight and muscle difference. Ho says that she is healthier and happier now and encourages her followers to pursue methods of becoming healthier, not losing weight explicitly. At the time of her bikini competitions, Ho had the “perfect” body. Knowing the suffering and selfdestruction that went into it now, she says that going too far to appear healthy is not worth it and that social media perfection can be deeply misleading. them,” Ehren said. “They want to be like them.” NEW EXTREMES What’s a Waist openly compares “waistshapers” to corsets from Victorian times, an era known for Social media and the healthy lifestyle its styles and culture that restricted women. They trend create an abundance of new ways tie up in the same way, strengthen customers’ cores, to lose weight and become healthier. and reduce food intake similar to an old-fashioned However, many of these techniques corset, according to the What’s a Waist website. and products are intense and expensive This return to the past has not come without on a new level. These new health backlash. Ho recently published a sharp criticism trends include cleanses, veganism of the waist trainer on her website, blogilates. to lose weight, meal replacements com, citing indigestion, displaced organs and and waist trainers, among others, intestines and lack of health benefits as reasons and many of them are marketed to avoid the corset-like products she calls a toward adolescent girls. scam. Instead, Ho encourages exercise and Locally, Energizing Mission core-strengthening to get a healthier result. in Mission, Kansas, gives customers The Kardashians, other Instagram-famous a shot of aloe, tea and a smoothie for models and girls with many followers also promote $6.50. Many of its customers are local high tea detoxes, while lifestyle magazines such as school students and some go to Energizing Cosmopolitan regularly promote new “cleanses” Mission instead of eating lunch for a lighter meal. including the Chick-fil-A chicken nugget cleanse At Sion, swim team members often go there to and taco cleanse. For the most part, “cleanse” and get a smoothie instead of lunch or before a meet. “detox” mean about the same thing: replacing “I use it as a meal replacement what one usually eats with because it fills you up for a couple Of 256 Students Polled... either teas, smoothies or of hours, and you feel lethargic if a food of choice (tacos or you eat too much before meets,” nuggets). However, there senior swim team member is little scientific proof of Katarina Qamar said. “You can their benefits, according to have it as a snack, then you can Yahoo News, and limiting eat real food throughout the day.” the foods you are allowed Qamar says she goes not only to eat can lead to relapses. for the smoothie, but also for the “Dieting fads such as community aspect and because the owners make an effort to know 65.5% juicing, cleanses, detoxing, etc. typically lead us to their customers. She can also see become intensely hungry how people go as part of a trend. and dissatisfied and to “People think it’s a way of over-eat on a future day, staying healthy,” Qamar said. “It thus re-establishing the happens a lot around spring break.” negative, shameful dieting While local trends can influence people to try new health trends, so too can celebrities of students have tried eating a certain way or dieting to change their appearance cycle again,” dietician at Olathe’s Renew Counseling Center Paula Nyman said. popularize potentially dangerous So, while they have methods of getting healthy. no obvious detrimental Celebrities like Kim and Khloe effects because of their Kardashian and Jessica Alba content, dieting fads can often promote waist trainers lead to negative habits in on Instagram as a method of the future. Over-doing molding an hourglass figure and flattening one’s stomach. Senior Lia Ehren tried 64% these fads can also deprive one’s body of essential nutrients, leading to fatigue, on a waist trainer after seeing dizziness and nausea, the Kardashians promote according to Yahoo News. them on social media. In a profile on fad “You feel super diets, the Pennington constricted,” Ehren said. Biomedical Research “It limits your movements, of students who dieted were pleased Center at Louisiana State and the effects didn’t last.” with the results University reported in 2011 However, despite short- that those replacing meals term results, customers pay more than $100 for What’s a Source of Inspiration with liquids can avoid these symptoms if they receive Waist waist trainers, those that 52.7% social media 100 percent of needed celebrities promote actively on social media and on the Waist Gang Society website. 35% family/friends 27% technology daily values of vitamins and minerals and only replace meals once a day. “When the Kardashians 15.5% other In addition, skipping fewer post their workout pictures and take pictures of themselves in the corsets, people idolize 13.5% professional guidance meals helps dieters keep weight off by making it less likely they will over-eat after

they return to normal food. It all starts with the reason behind dieting, Some replace “normal food” permanently, according to self-esteem-experts.com. Often swapping it for a gluten-free, vegan or paleo diet. times for one to be motivated enough to pursue a At best, these diets help people whose allergies or rigorous diet, the cause can be traced back to low side effects from certain foods demand dietary self-esteem. When we live in a world so focused on limits. Isabelle Ianni, a freshman heavily involved an ideal body standard, it is hard to realize that we are not all meant to “This [cycle] leads to a severed and look like models. If a diet doesn’t work the broken relationship with food and our way it is “supposed” to or even causes bodies, and to a great degree of shame the dieter to gain weight, the individual when we cannot control our eating.” -Paula Nyman, dietician experiences a sense of failure that enhances her already low self-esteem. in CrossFit, switched to a paleo diet after her According to thankyourbody.com, this Crossfit coach recommended it to combat stomach can lead to a vicious never-ending cycle. pains, headaches and rashes. Ianni avoids grains, “This [cycle] leads to a severed and dairy, added sugars and legumes as part of her diet. broken relationship with food and our “It’s helped with my original symptoms, and bodies, and to a great degree of shame when I feel like it helps me perform better,” Ianni said. we cannot control our eating,” Nyman said. At worst, these diets can lead to what Nyman Adolescents in particular are prone to identifies as orthorexia: the need for an extremely experiencing unwanted results due to their healthy eating and lifestyle as defined by the ongoing physical, psychologic and social individual herself. She might cut out fats or foods development, according to medscape.com. A that are not organic, establishing a new “food rule.” bad diet can affect almost every aspect of life: This can lead to extreme restriction or the feeling that work, school, sleep, and relationships to name she will hurt herself if she deviates from the rules. a few. According to womenshealth.about.com, “Her brain and thinking become deeply when the body’s metabolism is slow the mind affected and patterned in these ways and, without focuses in on one sole purpose: eating food. This help and support, she will have much difficulty natural survival instinct takes over one’s thoughts in breaking out of these rules in her brain,” and is a very exhausting constant distraction. Nyman said. “Her life and decisions will be Junior Masen Fridkin uses juice cleanses ruled by these patterns, which are destructive.” as a way of feeling better about herself, not as a In short, those considering new diet or means of losing weight. Even with these good health trends, whether it’s a waist trainer or food intentions in mind, Fridkin does not escape all limitation, should do their research first on whether the side effects that the three-day diets can induce. they could harm themselves by not getting enough “I have to keep myself busy because nutrients, falling into a destructive pattern or even it’s really hard not to think about food, spending money on a tool that could displace their especially on the first day,” Fridkin said. organs. With new extremes come new precautions. Dieting is not a bad thing if done in the right way and for the right reasons, according to Ness. It is when these two factors are lacking that DANGERS it can become a serious harm to an individual. According to medscape.com, a rising concern Fatigue. Guilt. Shame. has become the relationship between dieting and Stress. Irritability. Depression. the subsequent development of eating disorders, The brain and the body are inevitably including anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and linked; depriving oneself of certain foods or binge eating. Because of the thin line between to a certain amount of food can take a serious dieting and disease, the self-diagnosis of an toll on the emotional stability of an individual. eating disorder is an extremely difficult step. The reasoning behind it is really quite simple. “I didn’t see any of what I was doing Every cell in our body needs glucose in order to as an actual problem. I honestly thought I perform its routine functions. So when one’s diet was trying to better myself,” advancement isn’t supplying the body with enough glucose associate Bridget Rutledge said. and other nutrients, the body (including the Rutledge suffered from varying extents of brain) is unable to perform to its usual standards. anorexia nervosa from the age of 10 until 2011. “When dieting takes extreme forms, our According to Rutledge, she had always been a body’s homeostatic mechanisms can be altered perfectionist when it came to her grades and her and our electrolytes, vitamins, etc. can become passion: dancing. However it was when she began imbalanced and may lead to worse health and implementing this same control over her body that increased depression or anxiety,” Ness said. her relationship with food and exercise became a With these side effects, it comes into question problem. For Rutledge, her eating disorder stemmed whether people actually become healthier by from more than just wanting to be skinny; she was dieting or not. Sure, there are the wonder stories obsessed with becoming this perfect ideal of herself. of people losing 50 pounds. But for the majority, “I just had this thought that if I could get attempting to diet only creates more problems. skinnier, get tanner, if I could be blonder maybe I would finally be good enough,” Rutledge said. With these thoughts came other symptoms, such as anxiety, depression and overall emotional instability. According to Rutledge, this is where the general public who isn’t educated on eating disorders gets it wrong: wanting to be skinny is just a symptom of everything else that is going on internally. After getting help in 2009 and 2010, Rutledge began to improve and is now living proof that one can fully recover from this “hopeless disease.” “For me today, there is not much magic with food anymore, and I’m really grateful for that,” Rutledge said. “I try not to look at food as either good or bad, but instead just as energy.”

FINDING BALANCE

For those looking to engage in a healthier lifestyle without the risks, experts advise to avoid thinking of it as a diet in the first place, and to stay away from any urges to restrict food intake. Find the balance that is right for you. After struggling with unhealthy eating habits in the past, English teacher Melissa Wilcox practices healthy living by selecting the majority of her foods from the perimeter of the grocery store. Wilcox and her family avoid eating processed foods while cooking meals from scratch as often as possible. Experts echo Wilcox’s methods.

“Avoid dieting altogether and instead eat a variety of foods in moderation and listen to our bodies to determine when and how much to eat, honoring our body’s hunger and fullness signals,” REbel founder and psychologist Laura Eickman said.

Rutledge, with the help of her husband, now focuses on becoming a better and healthier version of herself instead of just a skinnier version. She also helps mentor girls who are struggling with eating disorders and shares her experiences to show them that they can be okay again. When asked what her advice on healthy eating is, she didn’t have to think twice.

“It is about moderation, but still indulge; have that donut before school. Find what exercise you enjoy and fits you, not what you feel you have to do,” Rutledge said. “And for someone struggling with an eating disorder, just do not be afraid to ask for help. Even though it’s the hardest thing to do, asking for help shows a tremendous amount of strength.”