As an accredited practising dietician, Rebecca Monk has owned Ripe Health since 2013 and has worked in the region since 2007.
In that time, with 80 per cent of her clientele female, she’s seen an increase in women presenting with disordered eating.
“There’s a lot of pressure,” she said.
“It affects women of all ages massively.”
Rebecca said negative body messages fed from social media have become “deeply ingrained” in women, and from a young age.
Images of Photoshopped women, videos showing ‘a day on a plate’ barely going over a toddler’s calorie intake, and hundreds of filters covering reality are all at the fingertips of viewers from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to sleep.
“It’s about using social media, but to your advantage,” Rebecca said.
“I have clients open up [social media] and I say, ‘you’ve got to delete that, delete that, delete that’ because that's all they're getting shown.
“And that can impact on their self-confidence, even their relationships, sexual relationships with their partners and what they're achieving in life, because they are led to believe how they look is their value.”
Rebecca advised following sites that iterate body positive messaging and working on deciphering which health messages are genuinely helpful.
She said while she believes people sharing information on social media and other platforms are “genuinely trying to do what’s best”, it can have damaging effects.
“I think we don't know enough about basic nutrition because there is so much information out there, and we don't trust our bodies anymore.
“You need to look at some fairly simple things to learn to trust your body, and to love your body.
“It is always about what you can add in rather than what you need to cut out of your diet.
“And it’s really important to acknowledge some amazing things about your body, and this doesn’t have to be physical.
“Think about what your body can do for you, rather than what it can’t.”
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