Debunking the Myths of Modern Wellness: How to Spot Harmful Health Advice Online

With the rise of social media usage, and upsurge of consumption since COVID-19, there is an overwhelming quantity of online information about health and lifestyle. You might constantly come across articles, videos, and posts about the “best” way to exercise, to eat, to drink, to live. Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation and conflicting messages about what it means to be healthy, and this can leave us feeling as though, no matter what, we are doing something wrong. It is difficult to keep up with the constantly changing and emerging rules surrounding what the “best”, “right”, or “healthy” way to fuel and move our bodies is. For example, you might notice that your favourite health and wellness influencer might swear by a magic vitamin supplement, and another might advocate against taking any supplements at all! What are you supposed to do? What is the “right” answer?

Defining Health

Nowadays, it is difficult to know what “health” even means. Blanket statements about health ignore the significant nuance involved in individual health. It is important to remember that what is healthy for one person might be harmful to another – we are all different, have different needs, and our bodies are genetically diverse! Health does not only involve the body – and it is important to also consider other factors in our definition of health. Our mind, our emotions, our spirit, our relationships, our work life, and our social life are all factors at play when it comes to overall health and wellbeing.

Beware of “wellness” acting as a diet in disguise. There are notable commonalities between harmful wellness content and harmful dieting mentalities: inflexibility, the ignorance of diverse physical needs and the need for balance. It can be difficult to discern or tease out harmful messages when sifting through such an overwhelming amount of information that convincingly sells so many different magical “solutions”. Below are red flags to look out for when consuming wellness or health-related content.

Red Flags to Look Out For:

A Moving Goal Post

You might find that some messages in “wellness” content promote an obsessive, even competitive mentality that encourages you to constantly be striving to be healthier. Such messages imply that you are never doing good enough and you could always be doing more, leading to unhealthy fixations on progress that might impact self-esteem. “Wellness” shouldn’t be stressful!

Generalized Demonization of Specific Foods or Ingredients

The health and wellness industry is not immune to trends that come and go. Such trends often involve the promotion of a magical food, or the demonization of specific foods or ingredients. For example, many people cut out carbohydrates due to the demonization of sugar. Some cut out dairy milk, believing that oat milk is “healthier”. Some “health” articles advocate against nutritious food like eggs, due to inaccurate beliefs surrounding them. Some articles will convince you that you must avoid fat at all costs. The truth is that no food needs to be the enemy. No food needs to be off-limits in order for us to be healthy. Despite the variety in nutritional density, all foods provide energy, fuel for our body to function. Balance and diversity is key!

Inflexible and Unrealistic Standards

Some content will advocate for strict, unrealistic standards for behaviour that “must” be done in order to get “results”. If such standards are so inflexible, there is no consideration for one’s home life, their career, their social life with friends, or dates with their partner. Life is busy and full of many priorities – if your “wellness regime” requires you to drop everything and focus solely on what’s on your plate, you might become a victim to the wellness trap. You might find yourself stuck in the all-or-nothing mentality that is characterized by forbidden foods, moralizing language, and food labelling. You might find yourself skipping out on dinners with friends in the name of “health”. Your ability to focus on anything other than your eating patterns might suffer. Does this sound healthy to you?

Use of Emotionally-Charged and Moralizing Language

Look out for descriptors of foods or eating behaviours and notice the connotations associated with the word choices. Emotionally-charged and strong language attach meaning to food or behaviour patterns, therefore allowing for negative beliefs to develop. For example, wellness content is full of tips on how to “eat clean”. Notice the word clean: using such a word to describe some foods subtly implies that foods that are “not clean” are therefore dirty, and are therefore bad. Such moralizing language can reinforce food labeling and consequently, the guilt or shame we might feel when we fail to eat “clean”. You might also notice phrases like “I was good today” or “I need to get back on track” – both phrases imply that there is a good way to eat and a bad way to eat, and such attitudes towards food harbor self-judgment and shame. Does this sound like health and wellness to you?

If you find yourself struggling with food labeling and obsession with maintaining a “perfect” eating and exercise regime, you might be especially vulnerable to such content. If this has become an overbearing challenge in your life, we are here to support you! For further information about treatment, you are welcomed to book a consultation with one of our registered psychotherapists.