I’m the first to admit that I can be a little crazy about eating healthily. I’m a regular at Trader Joe’s, spending the majority of my time in the produce section to get all the necessities for my salads, spaghetti squash, and sweet potato fries. I’m the annoying person that gives up sweets for Lent (or even sporadic times throughout the year) and will drag people with me to try the newest smoothie bar instead of Shake Shack.
Trust me, I indulge plenty on the weekends, but on the whole I work to maintain my healthy routines. I’m inspired by my friends and family who by and large choose a similar lifestyle. They’re okay with my healthy antics and they don’t care whether I get a salad or a burger when we go out to dinner.
But that’s not the case for everyone out there. In recent years there’s been backlash to the extreme health movement.
Now more than ever there are thousands of resources and advocates for whole, healthy, and clean eating. This has put a spotlight on eating habits, especially women’s eating habits. Healthy eating is not only looked down upon, but unhealthy eating is revered by many.
Eating heaping ice cream sundaes, boxes of doughnuts, or stacked burgers with fries and maintaining a size 2 is the new expectation. It’s hot if a girl has a great body and can dig into a huge meal.
I love a greasy breakfast sandwich or a bagel slathered with cream cheese as much as the next person, but the reality is, I could not maintain a healthy lifestyle (or weight for that matter) if I ate like that on a daily basis. But there’s always a pull to get the unhealthy option when out in public to be perceived as cool, fun, and effortless.
This is why I posted a picture on Instagram of me going in for the first bite of my late night buffalo chicken pizza (spoiler alert, it was amazing). It seemed so harmless in the moment, but the next morning I woke up feeling like I was putting on a façade.
My regret certainly doesn’t lie in indulging in some greasy pizza on the weekend. I’m frustrated that it wasn’t enough for me to just order the pizza and enjoy it with my friends — which, trust me, I did.
My regret the following morning and weeks after was feeling compelled to tell the world that I dig into unhealthy foods and love getting late night pizza. It’s funny, because although I eat smoothie bowls and spaghetti squash on a regular basis, I would rather have the world see the small portion of the time I indulge in “unhealthy” foods.
But the reality is that we can’t be defined by what we post on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. You, I, and everyone else are more than what we put on social media.