A specialist has called for a ban on #WaterTok and ‘What I Eat in a Day’ TikTok trend - saying they encourage disordered eating among young people.<br /><br />The hashtag #WaterTok is used by people who make ‘recipes’ using water and flavoured ‘skinny’ syrups - like ‘Orange Creamsicle’ and ‘Grape Gatorade’.<br /><br />Some influencers are encouraging their followers to drink these instead of eating meals. <br /><br />The ‘What I Eat in a Day’ trend involves people documenting their daily meals and compiling them into one clip - and usually includes a calorie count at the end.<br /><br />Martha Williams, 28, a specialist for eating disorder charity Beat, believes these trends are “really dangerous” - and only serve to “make thoughts about disordered eating worse".<br /><br />Martha, Beat's senior clinical advice co-ordinator, from London, said: “As the trends have developed, people are using them to instruct their followers to engage in the same behaviours - it’s really dangerous.<br /><br />“Eating Disorders are incredibly competitive illnesses.<br /><br />"If people who have a history of disordered eating want to look the same way as the person they’re watching on a screen, they’re going to copy them.<br /><br />"It's about who looks thinner - who looks the most ill.<br /><br />“TikTok makes meal restriction look so easy - people can fall into the trap of thinking, ‘if it can work for them, it can work for me.'<br /><br />“But everyone is different - people need different levels of sustenance to keep their bodies going. And you can’t replace meals with water.<br /><br />“There needs to be some kind of awareness raised that this is not a healthy thing to do.<br /><br />"It isn’t recommended by medical professionals, and it isn’t a weight loss solution.”<br /><br />Martha believes #WaterTok could be rooted in a much darker trend - a tactic for hiding weight loss called water loading.<br /><br />This refers to a person drinking an excessive amount of water in order to appear ‘heavier’ on a scale.<br /><br />She said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if the trend continues to develop down the path of water loading - where people drink obsessive amounts of water in order to manipulate their weight.”<br /><br />According to Martha, those affected should be reaching out to people they trust if they find they’re experiencing thoughts of restrictive eating - particularly off the back of #WaterTok and ‘What I Eat in a Day’.<br /><br />“If someone is drawn to meal replacement videos - get in touch with Beat’s helpline," she said.<br /><br />"We’re open 365 days a year, from 9am to 12am. You can talk to us about the way you’re feeling.<br /><br />“Alternatively, speak to trusted friends or family members. Don’t suffer in silence.”
