Beyond “Good” and “Bad” Foods: Rethinking Our Relationship with Food
Food is something that humans must consume to stay alive. However, the modern food environment differs substantially from the past.
Since you live in a modern food environment, this article is for you! Let's talk about:
- How social media may influence your dietary habits.
- How modern food options are addictive.
- What else can contribute to dietary habits.
Your social media feed is a part of your food environment
When you scroll on social media platforms, you may encounter numerous videos or images relating to nutrition advice and fitness.
To create more engagement on these social media platforms, content creators have an incentive to make more extreme content. This means conflicting nutrition advice, elimination diets, and more physically fit bodies being shown.
As one might expect, social media usage was found to be associated with body image concerns, disordered eating/eating disorders, and poor mental health in 50 studies across 17 countries.
While social media allows us to be more connected, it can be helpful to recognize these detrimental effects.
Modern food options are designed to be hard to resist
Modern foods readily available are often ultra processed. Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are industrially formulated foods that often contain multiple additives and ingredients that are uncommon in traditional cooking.
In fact, from August 2021- August 2023 the mean percentage of calories consumed from UPFs among those one year or older was 55%. This means that UPFs are no small ordeal.
UPF consumption was associated with binge eating disorders, bulimic-type eating disorders, and food addiction. However, UPF consumption was not significantly associated with body image or anorexia nervosa.
Disordered eating/eating disorders are more than food
Disordered eating is defined as abnormal food or eating behaviors relevant to eating disorders, such as extreme dieting, eliminating food groups, binging, and purging. While the modern food environment may contribute to disordered eating, it is only one piece of a much larger picture.
A person's life experience, culture, and mental health ultimately play a large role in their susceptibility to disordered eating.
If you are personally struggling with disordered eating, please seek help from a trained mental health clinician. You are not alone in this struggle.
Taking morality out of food
Have you or someone you know used the words such as “good,” “bad,” “clean,” or "guilty” to describe a particular food or food group besides for safety reasons such as allergies.
If you have used or heard these words before, it may be because they are often used in social media content and, consequently, have become increasingly common when people talk about food.
However, using these words implies a moral claim about food. Instead of categorizing food based on its composition or nutritional value, we make it a matter of morality.
This is the crux of the modern food environment. Food and body image should be excluded when having a discussion of morality and virtue.
You are a human being who has thoughts, desires, and beliefs that matter to so many people.
You are not defined by your diet or body.
If you are struggling with eating disorders or any type of mental health issue, there is help and there is hope. Contact the National Alliance for Eating Disorders at 866-662-1235. It is a free, confidential helpline available 24/7. To learn more about eating disorders, visit the Eating Disorder Hope website at: https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/treatment-for-eating-disorders/eating-disorder-hotlines
References
Dane, A., & Bhatia, K. (2023). The social media diet: A scoping review to investigate the association between social media, body image and eating disorders amongst young people. PLOS Global Public Health, 3(3), e0001091. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0001091
Pereira, T., Mocellin, M. C., & Curioni, C. (2024). Association between ultraprocessed foods consumption, eating disorders, food addiction and body image: A systematic review. BMJ Open, 14(12), e091223. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2024-091223
Williams, A. M., Couch, C. A., Emmerich, S. D., & Ogburn, D. F. (2025). Ultra-processed food consumption among youth and adults: United States, August 2021–August 2023 (NCHS Data Brief No. 536). National Center for Health Statistics. https://doi.org/10.15620/cdc/174612