"what I eat in a day" helpful or harmful?

We probably all know them: “what I eat in a day”, “full day of eating”, “what I eat in a day to stay healthy”, “what I eat in a day – recovery edition”, “what I eat in a day with extreme hunger”, even some where people show what they eat after their wisdom teeth removal. There is literally no end to these.

Fdoe´s have been my favorite type of videos for such a long time (now, I consider them as the most boring things on YouTube). I probably started watching them because I wanted to look like someone that filmed such a video. To see, what and especially how much of it and when I should eat. Soon I became obsessed with these videos. I did not really know, why I was so obsessed with them, I thought I just wanted some “inspiration” and some motivation to eat “healthy”, until I digged a little bit deeper into this topic.

Usually the thumbnail is them, showing their flexed and toned body, so you immediately connect their body-shape with the diet they are showing you. And at least unconsciously we think: when I eat like this, I will look like this as well. But this is not true. Someone else´s diet might not even work for you. Every body is unique. Genetics, activity level, mental health state, stress, hormones, food preferences, budget, time, … all these things play a huge role, when it comes to finding the diet that makes you feel the best.

Even when we all ate and worked out the same – we would still look different.

So, at the end – someone else´s diet will only leave you feel worse about yourself, because it is not working. In my opinion – there is no possible way to watch a full day of eating without comparing yourself to this person. There are three options: This person eats less than me, the same amount, or more. So in conclusion, side effects of watching full day of eatings might be restricting, undereating as well as the urge to eat more and bingeing. Because you think you should eat a certain way, you are most likely to neglect your intuition.

But these kind of videos can also lead to planning your day around food, overthinking food choices, anxiety, stress and guilt around certain food types and missing satisfaction. And all of this – as I pointed out above – because our bodies are all unique with individual requirements.

Often in early recovery full day of eatings are considered as helpful – because most people then can not aestimate how a normal portion size looks like, how much food they actually have to eat, etc. But it can still lead to restrictive thoughts, because some might think, that they aren´t allowed to eat more. And actually in recovery your body needs even more energy to heal the inner damage and refill the mineral reservois.

Alternatives to full day of eating:
– a week of breakfasts/lunch/dinners
– food blogs (I´d recommend choosing a few blogs, that don´t mention calories.)
– good old cookbooks.
– always remember when you come across a fdoe, it is your choice whether you keep watching or keep scrolling
– work with a nutritionist. They will give you measurements and help you increase your meal plan weekly.
– instead of trying to cure your physical and mental hunger by watching what someone else is eating: Eat and slowly get over your food obsession. (Yes, you´re obsessed with food, because you are not eating enough. If you want to know more about this, read my post about extreme hunger)

keep this in mind whilst watching full day of eatings:
– you don´t know if this person ate more/less, maybe they have been nibbling on something whilst cooking (because, who does´t)
– everyone has different needs, what they consider as healthy might not be healthy for you at all
– everyone has different food preferences
– they might have a completely different budget than you
– every day is different
– they probably have other life goals
– your body is the only one that can tell you, how much you should eat and what

Now – tell me about your experiences with full day of eatings. Do you think they do more good or more harm? Have they been helpful in your recovery? Maybe you also have a completely different conception about these than I do.

I also created a YouTube Playlist with full day of eatings, that are – in my opinion – safe to watch, but also some more inspiring content about this point of view. Check it out here