As a 32-year-old journalist with a master’s degree in nutrition, it’s pretty clear to me that at least 90% of the nutrition advice on TikTok is total garbage. It’s rife with young, thin influencers showcasing their (typically low-calorie) daily meals in an attempt to “inspire” others to eat like they do.
HuffPost and many other outlets have reported on why these types of videos can be bad for mental health and triggering for those with eating disorders. Yet, this kind of terrible “healthy eating” inspiration is as popular as ever.
You only have to do a quick search of the #healthyrecipes tag to see that TikTok is littered with not-so-healthy ideas. We asked two registered dietitians, both of whom use TikTok, to weigh in on some of these “healthy” recipes.