A social media trend involves preparing meals with no oil or butter, using only water and natural juices, according to multiple reports. The trend was popularized by American social media star Rabeya Khatun, who shares weight loss tips with 963,000 followers.
Nutrition specialists are not convinced of the trend's health benefits. Destini Moody, an expert in Sports Dietetics, said cooking without butter and oil can reduce calories and saturated fats, which can help with weight loss and heart health. However, she warned that replacing fats with sugar or heavily processed food does more harm than good. Moody also noted that fats are necessary for absorbing fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K.
People want to be healthy and eat healthy. But I think many of these trends hide the fact that they are actually dieting.
Critics argue the trend masks dieting culture. According to NRK, Aya Augustine Fronth described that many TikTok health trends hide the fact that people are actually dieting. Elias Myra Pettersen observed that girls in these videos are very thin and flat-stomached, possibly struggling to fit in. Marianne Clementine Håheim from ROS said dieting is no longer talked about openly, and gut health issues can be a socially accepted reason to decline food. She added that hashtags like #guthealth and #girldinner are dieting advice in disguise. A Norstat survey found that two out of three girls in upper secondary school feel guilty if they don't eat 'healthy enough', and one in three choose to go hungry to avoid overeating. A study from the University of Dublin shows that nearly 9 out of 10 young people get their dietary advice from TikTok, even though they don't know if it's factual.
#Girldinner is often food with very few calories, which is probably very healthy. It's a lot of cucumber and tomato that should be nicely presented on the plate.