The Comparison Trap and Eating Disorders
“Here’s what I eat in a day as an *insert social media influencer title here*”
If you’re active on social media, chances are you have scrolled through posts like these. Whether they are “what I eat in a day” or “what I earn in a month” or whatever it may be, they are so common but to be honest, a little toxic.
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If you’re active on social media, chances are you have scrolled through posts like these. Whether they are “what I eat in a day” or “what I earn in a month” or whatever it may be, they are so common but to be honest, a little toxic.
I mean, if you are looking for new recipes for lunch and dinner, sure, watch the TikToks, Instagram stories, whatever. But that’s not the purpose of these posts. They create jealousy, and they create a comparison trap, unintendedly.
If you’re a mom at home with 3 kids under the age of 5 all day, chances are your house isn’t HGTV-ready, and you’re probably eating leftover chicken nuggets and mac and cheese for lunch. If you are a social media influencer, and your job is to literally share the details of your lifestyle online, then maybe you are camera-ready every single day.
But here’s the thing: they are two completely different lifestyles. Both people are in different phases of their lives with perhaps significant differences in resources and personalities (and lots of other things) and are not in a place to compare one another.
This is the comparison trap that oftentimes it has an unintended impact on one’s relationship with food and self-esteem.
In this episode, I’m talking about:
The impact of social media on our self-esteem and sense of worth.
The trend of sharing “What I Eat in a Day” on social media and its unintended consequences on comparison.
The unrealistic standards portrayed on social media and its effect on our self-perception.
Questioning well-meaning encouragement that comes from comparison rather than addressing underlying issues.
The importance of identifying individual struggles and pain points rather than seeking validation through comparison.
Tweetable Quotes
"For the most part, every single person that I talk to when they get off social media, they feel worse about themselves, mostly because of this comparison trap." - Rachelle Heinemann
"There's so much that goes into every decision to put something in your mouth, to not eat something, to work out, to not work out. How do you do it? Why do you do it?"- Rachelle Heinemann
"Even if we understand something logically, it doesn't necessarily mean that we can actually implement something different to make us feel better." - Rachelle Heinemann
Related Episodes
Related Episodes
Episode 119. Eating Disorders Don’t Have a Look
Episode 115. How To Recover When Everyone Around You Is Dieting
Episode 77. How to Accept Your Body
Episode 62. Perfectionism and Disordered Eating with Colby Golder, RD
Episode 30. Eating Disorders are the Solution not the Problem with Jessica Setnick, MS,RD, CEDRD-S
Episode 10. Social Media, Societal Pressure, Disordered Eating, and Poor Body Image
Episode 01. Stuff You Should Know About Eating Disorders & Disordered Eating
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Hey there! I’m Rachelle, the host of the Understanding Disordered Eating Podcast. As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, I work with clients to make sense of life’s messy emotional experiences.
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