As an ever-growing health conscious society, most of us will probably follow numerous health and fitness bloggers on social media. We’re inspired by their lean meals cooking, energetic workouts and their rigorous commitment to health and wellbeing. We admire their healthy lifestyles and we aspire to live more like them and hope that they will inspire us to make more important changes in our life that will benefit our future wellbeing. However, amongst the various workout videos and healthy recipe posts, many fitness bloggers also frequently use heathy lifestyle hashtags which could potentially be doing more harm than good.
While many of these hashtags are simply used to help push you to achieve your goals and boost your motivation, they may also have some negative repercussions. As innocent as they initially seem and whilst they may be being used in good faith, certain health and fitness hashtags can result in unhealthy relationships with food by promoting unrealistic expectations. They make light of the health and fitness lifestyle which in reality is very hard to achieve and even harder to sustain. Here are some of the most unhealthy and detrimental hashtags which social media should really considered boycotting.
#HealthIsWealth
This popular hashtag not only screams blatant arrogance and outright vanity, but it also connotes the idea that in order to be successful, you have to live a super healthy lifestyle. In reality, going to the gym every day and eating clean will not dictate how successful you are in life, just as it will not dictate how good of a person you are. Success comes from more than just being a fitness fanatic and working out daily.
#EatClean
Perhaps one of the most widely used hashtags on social media today, this accompanies thousands of healthy food posts on Instagram and Facebook. However, the ‘clean eating’ trend can cause much confusion as to what constitutes healthy food, with the hashtag used on recipes ranging from raw vegan meals to meat dishes. Therefore, what should we believe to be healthy and clean food? It’s an incredibly indefinable phrase and its confusion can ultimately perpetuate an unhealthy relationship with food and what we know to be healthy.
#CheatMeal or #EatingIsCheating
This is probably one of the biggest offenders. Having a steak dinner, followed by a slice of cheesecake and a few cheeky cocktails is not a #cheatmeal! When you’ve had a week of regularly hitting the gym and eating a balanced diet on a daily basis, rewarding your efforts with an indulgent meal should not be seen as cheating yourself out of your hard work. Using these hashtags can prompt a feeling of guilt, when in fact you have nothing to be guilty about! The hashtag ‘treat meal’ would be far more appropriate.
#FitnessAddict
Let’s be totally honest; there is more to life than living at the gym! The word ‘addict’ never has positive connotations, even if it is proceeded by the word ‘fitness’.
#NoExcuses
This hashtag seems to completely overlook the fact that you are only human. You shouldn’t’ be made to feel bad about missing the gym. Sometimes life doesn’t quite run as smoothly as we’d have hoped, and you may have a load of assignments, family disturbances or personal anxieties which prevent you from going or even wanting to go to the gym. It’s understandable and perfectly acceptable; you can’t run like a super human every day.
Edited By Isabelle Walker
Image references: