Infuse Issue 7 March 2019

Food Porn Dilemmas Five Tips before clicking ‘share’ on your social media by Christina Turner APD and Senior Teaching Fellow, Bond University A quick search on Instagram shows some 179 million posts on Instagram using the hashtag, #foodporn. Clearly food photos on social media are here to stay, but as dietitians, how do we keep up, without compromising our ethical responsibilities? What’s the problem? Last year I had the pleasure of attending FNCE 2018 in Washington D.C., where U.S. dietitians Marci Evans and Regan Jones presented a fascinating session on the “food porn dilemmas” of social media. During the session they also provided some great tips for maintaining the balance between using social media imagery without harming the health of community members. When it comes to food, eating and body image, social media can be a risky place for the comparison game to play out. Our clients who are more likely to compare themselves to others might eat lower calorie food or start dieting, talk about their body more or perceive their body to be “worse”. Not surprisingly, #fitspiration images have been notably linked to increases in depression, body dissatisfaction, over exercising and disordered eating. article continues overleaf... © Dietitian Connection 29 Infuse | March 2019

Infuse Issue 7 March 2019 | Page 29