What I Ate Wednesday… or not

1st & 2nd Course place settingSo it’s Wednesday (though in my brain, it’s Thursday, for no apparent reason).  And around the health and fitness blogosphere, that makes it What I Ate Wednesday.

I kind of hate WIAW.

Not because I mind pictures of food or because I don’t care about what a person ate.  If a subject of a blog post doesn’t interest me, I don’t have to read it.  Just because I don’t read every single post on the blogs I read doesn’t mean I don’t still like that writer in general.

No, what I hate about WIAW is the snobbishness that comes with it.  There was recently an article going around about how fitness blogging leads to disordered eating and I often feel like WIAW really promotes that.  It’s as if people feel the need to show off their restricted eating.  “See, look how little I ate.  I deserve praise for being so healthy.”

It’s pretty rare that WIAW features a giant piece of cake.

Obviously, healthy eating is good for you.  But there’s healthy eating and then there’s crazy restrictive eating with supplements and frankenfoods making up huge parts of your meals.

I’m not saying my diet is perfect.  Far from it.  But I feel like all WIAW does is help promote disordered eating.  I see a lot of meals on tiny plates.  Meals that can’t have more than 200 calories in them (and not from people who are eating a bunch of tiny meals).  Days of diets that appear to be nearly completely fat free.  None of this can be healthy.

And you start to see it in the bloggers.  You all know the type I’m talking about.  The bloggers who looked great two years ago.  Who maybe had a little belly, but their hair was gorgeous and their skin glowed.  Now, they’re smaller, showing off more muscle, but they don’t look healthy.  Sunken eyes, thinning hair… those aren’t signs of a healthy body.  But because they have a smaller waist, it’s considered good.  So others read this and think “Okay, if they can do it, so can I.”

Now I’m not saying WIAW necessarily leads to ill health – but if you post about it, maybe take a second glance at what you’re posting.  And then take a second glance at what you’re eating.

8 thoughts on “What I Ate Wednesday… or not

  1. sounds kind of competitive, the way you describe it – LOOK I ATE LESS THAN YOU ATE – like a high school cafeteria. yikes. that can get really dangerous really fast.

    (I’ve never heard of WIAW, but I almost Instagrammed my dinner last night. I ate it too fast, but still… that frozen burned pizza and glass of wine HIT THE SPOT.)
    Betsy Transatlantically recently posted…This Land Is Your LandMy Profile

  2. Oooh, wine. I had a bowl of cereal and a mug of tea. I am fancy that way. Also, I ate lunch at 4pm.

  3. I feel like there is so much underlying and unhealthy competition with all the “fitspo” type blogs and pins out there. Oh look! I ran 7 miles and ate three pieces of lettuce! Oh I was TOTALLY starrrrrving today, so I had a half serving of cereal with almond milk with a grass-fed paleo meatball! Screw that. If you want to see what real people eat, make friends on MFP 🙂

  4. Well said. I don’t follow a lot of blogs that participate in WIAW, but the ones that do seem to be verging on glorifying eating disorders, which is a very touchy, trigger-y topic for me. I had to unfollow one particular blog after the blogger did a WIAW that featured an avocado for dinner and one Hershey’s Kiss for dessert.
    Katherine recently posted…Race Recap: Inaugural Walt Disney World 10KMy Profile

  5. That’s exactly my concern, Katherine. It’s like there’s pride in being restrictive in your eating. And with so many women (and men too) struggling with food and body image, the last thing we need to do is be triggering those feelings.

    Also, an avocado and a Hershey’s Kiss? That does not a meal make. Maybe some sort of weird snack. But I’m not a huge avocado fan.

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