So, does anyone remember the Marie Claire article ‘The Hunger Diaries’? I do. In fact, since it was written in October 2010 I haven’t been able to get it off my mind. Before I write any more, I would like to point out that I am aware that the article was unprofessionally written in the way that it singled out six specific bloggers and provided a very one-sided commentary. I also appreciate the irony of a magazine who regularly uses underweight models, extensive airbrushing and is an avid promoter of ‘quick-fix’ diets, commenting on the ‘healthy living’ blog phenomenon. However, I think it still raised some issues that should be discussed.
When I first read the article I was appalled and immediately rallied round the mentioned bloggers to show my support. I was upset and angry that someone had attacked a community that I found to be positive and inspiring. I showed the article to my husband but I was not prepared for his response – he completely agreed with it. This took me by surprise but it also made me realise that, as with most things, it is all a matter of perspective. For me – someone who was already obsessed with food, exercise and body image – I didn’t see anything abnormal in posting a daily food and exercise diary. In all honesty I needed to hear what these women had to say about food because my relationship with it was a bit skewed. I liked the fact that they ate a seemingly normal amount because it meant that I was not abnormal for having an appetite.
It should always be remembered that the ‘healthy living’ blog community is a very insular society; the people in it are not the ones who are best equipped to determine whether the behaviour exhibited is normal. Firstly, there is a natural bias – a tendency to defend things that you put time and effort into. Secondly, the people who write and read these blogs most likely don’t have a normal relationship with food because if they did they probably wouldn’t be reading these blogs.
As an outsider, my husband was able to see that blogging about everything you eat and posting it for the world to see – and comment on – is not normal behaviour. Whether any bloggers have an eating disorder is not for anyone to say, and from what I have seen of the so-called ‘Big Six’ I would conclude they probably don’t. That isn’t to say though that their blogs and others don’t exhibit disordered behaviour; taking pictures of your food is in itself not normal and implies an unhealthy obsession with what you are eating.
Since the article was written it is like I have had the blinkers removed and I can suddenly see things that I couldn’t see before – the repetitive meals comprised of practically the same things every day, the small serving plates, talk of binges and an ‘out of control’ sweet tooth, eating half of a dessert, eating only the frosting from cake, taking ‘bites’ of unhealthy food, food sabotage, eating small meals when they haven’t exercised that day……the list goes on. Is this disordered eating? Amazing willpower? Orthorexia? And what about me? Am I a failure then if I eat a variety of foods week in and week out, or if I eat the entire cupcake and not just the frosting? Am I less healthy? Should I try harder? These are the questions that are raised in my mind by reading these blogs, so I think it is safe to say that reading about other people’s daily food and exercise habits over and over again can be triggering.
Apparently this is where ‘reader responsibility’ comes in. If I am triggered by these blogs I am supposed to just delete them from my Google Reader and move on. However, things aren’t that simple. What if I don’t know I am being triggered by them? Let’s not forget that they are packaged as being all about healthy living, so if I don’t read them any more doesn’t that mean I am giving up on being healthy? I think this is where the line is blurred and why it isn’t always easy to just give up reading blogs. Placing the emphasis on the reader is also kind of lazy. The blogger then has free rein to talk about anything they wish without giving a second thought to the audience and how it might affect them. Surely, the responsibility should at least be shared?
I think the line is further blurred when bloggers become brands, who are endorsed by companies and offered book deals. Not only does this place greater pressure on them to be healthy but it must also, in their own minds and in the minds of their readers, link being healthy and slim with success.
Do you want to know another conclusion I have reached about healthy living blogs? The message portrayed is actually exactly the same as that of the magazines – that being slim equals being happy. Think about it, how many blogs feature an ‘About’ page that details the bloggers’ weight-loss journey? They say how they were overweight and unhappy, lost some weight and now being slim and healthy is the best thing they ever did and they are so much happier than they were before. Isn’t the thin equals happy message the exact one that magazines try to promote?
Magazines often post brief articles featuring a low calorie diet and exercise regime to ‘Get the Body of Your Dreams’, but blogs do exactly the same thing. In fact blogs take it one step further, listing everything that is eaten and all exercise that is done over the course of a long period of time, with multiple postings per day. The underlying message on blogs is that if you do as I do, you will look as I look. In most cases, and most certainly with the ‘Big Six’, this is slim.
In summary, I don’t think that healthy living blogs are necessarily healthy or unhealthy. However, I do think it is important that as readers we are careful about the media that we consume and don’t go into anything blindly. It was only after reading the article that I was able to look more objectively at these blogs and would encourage all readers to do the same.
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