I hate TikTok's toxic diet culture: here are the nine worst fads I've found

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I hate TikTok's toxic diet culture: here are the nine worst fads I've found

Joanna Taylor29 December 2023
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As a food and drink editor, researching the trends that sweep social media is an occupational hazard. Obviously, there are worse jobs, but continuously flitting between addictive pangs of laughter, hunger, revulsion and outrage isn’t always ideal for one’s sense of zen. Unless you have a complex about your cake decorating skills, Instagram and its endless stream of aspirational food imagery is pretty much a safe space. But TikTok? That's another story altogether.

By now, we’re all well aware of the fact that so many of the app’s users will do almost anything to create a viral moment. Although — and perhaps this is just me being a checks notes cheugy millennial — what I didn’t realise until fairly recently was quite how many content creators prey on our weight-based insecurities in search of likes.

Of course, this is something that cunning marketers have been doing since the concoction of the first old wives’ tale, but now, more than ever, there is a seemingly limitless amount of unregulated and unsubstantiated "evidence" and diet advice available at the swipe of a finger on TikTok.

The worst part? Much of it is hiding in plain sight. No, the creator won’t necessarily verbally mention that the latest trend is great for weight loss, but will add several sly hashtags in an attempt to lure in those trapped in a cycle of insecurity scrolling and vulnerable to content promising instant ways to improve our lives.

A diet restricted to baby food is just one of the so-called "miracle cures"

Though even if you’re not in a pit of insecurity, such hashtags mean these videos sneak up on you when you’re not even looking for them. One minute, you’re scrolling through healthy mid-week lunch ideas, the next you’re watching a woman sporting a manic smile dip cucumber into stevia (a sweetener with no calories or carbohydrates). Even if I you're looking into the "marinated coke" trend, somehow it's all too easy to end up enthralled by a 19 year old’s diet plan.

Time and time again, science and common sense tell us that sustaining a nutritionally-rich, balanced diet while enjoying unhealthy vices in moderation is the best way to stay healthy. Likewise a gentle amount of calorie restriction and exercise is the best way to lose weight. Yet the promise of simple, quick solutions online are enough to have single, childless women doing their grocery shopping down the baby aisle.

And that’s no exaggeration – a diet restricted to baby food is just one of the so-called "miracle cures" content creators are pushing in the hope of finding viral fame when "new year, new me", season rolls around.

There’s that and the under-1000-calorie "military diet" which has no link to the armed forces, lemon-infused coffee promising to speed up your metabolism and the "mustard and cottage cheese" plan, which requires diners to slather anything from raw broccoli to chicken sausage and brie with said dips.

Beware also the 15-day juice cleanse promising 30lbs of weight loss, Skittles flavoured water to kill our appetite and the all-meat "carnivore diet". Oh, and we mustn't forget about the good old cabbage soup plan, because after all, we may as well be back in the Eighties.

It's exhausting, dangerous, and seemingly unavoidable. If we must go back to the Eighties, I'll stick with the piña coladas thank you very much.

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