The impact of social media on our eating habits

 Social media contributes to making the user subconsciously imitate what he or she sees as attractive, and may indicate new ways of life, feeling good when imitating or choosing what to eat.

It also "plays a serious role in shaping the concepts of eating and the external form of human beings", according to psychiatrist Dr. Mazen Interviewa, who considers that this is done according to irrational criteria that negatively affect human beings.

An interview explains that the manifestations of this negative effect are:

1.Human exposure to the visual content of unhealthy eating is much greater than healthy eating: 

it works to program its unconscious and upends the criteria in choosing, but it loses control of eating habits.

Unhealthy eating contains large quantities of carbohydrates and starches that generate ecstasy and pleasure when consumed due to increased dopamine in the stimulus system, and involves it in an addictive attitude to eating or even in viewing it in amounts that are difficult to stop or modify without resorting to a doctor or psychologist in most cases.

2. Human exposure to the visual content of fitness and the ideal image of bodies: 

which are usually of strict standards that are difficult to achieve, generating a range of negative feelings such as frustration and anger at their inability to meet these standards, sadness due to their low appreciation of their external form, or regret to follow normal eating habits.

All these negative feelings have an important role to play in developing eating disorders, most notably anorexia, neurosurgery and anorexia, which definitely need treatment from a doctor or psychologist.

Unhealthy Food Ads:

Therapeutic nutrition specialist Nostalgia Salem believes that frequent exposure to takeaway advertising on social media is directly linked to increased consumption, resulting in a higher body mass index and the likelihood of obesity and associated diseases.

Several studies have shown that children are most affected by unhealthy food advertisements, as they are less able to control themselves and their desires for takeaways. These ads can easily attract their attention and encourage them to buy and order these foods that are rich in fat and sugar more than others.

"Children should therefore be encouraged to eat healthy foods and be made aware that not everything they see in advertisements is helpful," Nin Salem said.

A study suggests that exposure to healthy food images on networking sites, as well as images of foods that are heavily supported with likes, may motivate people to choose to eat more healthy foods, so what others share on these sites can affect our behaviour and eating habits negatively or positively.

Adolescent media victims:

Salem agrees with an interview that increasing adolescents' use of social media puts them in a constant state of comparing themselves to the ideal appearance and body to stars and influencers of these means, as well as promoting a stereotype of the ideal body that is not realistic.

She argues that this may lead them to resort to harsh and unhealthy diets to lose weight quickly, turning into an obsession with weight and calorie intake, which generates disorders in dietary habits, and we thought they could reach the "perfect body" with these wrong habits!

Getting Health Information:

As to the proper way to obtain correct information in nutrition or diets, Hanin Salem stresses that the following points should be taken into account:

• Make sure you get your information from reliable sources, but you should get your nutrition tips from a nutritionist.
• Avoid diets that claim to help you lose large amounts of weight quickly. Weight loss through harsh diets or supplements has often been found to have adverse effects on health.
• The nutritionist is responsible for planning the right healthy diet for you, and you should be aware that there is no single diet that applies to everyone. The daily needs of nutrients vary from person to person due to different standards of height, age, weight and physical activity, as well as health, social and psychological factors.