FSHN1030 Written Assessment PDF

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Written Assessment on health bloggers...

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Cassey Hohttps://www.blogilates.com Cassey Ho, also known on social media as “Blogilates”, is an award-winning American fitness entrepreneur and online personality who has over 4.6 million YouTube subscribers and 550 million video views. Cassey promotes physical, nutritional and mental wellness through her blog and Youtube page, putting particular emphasis on positive body image. She frequently uses hashtags such as #fitnotthin and #strongnotskinny as a challenge to unhealthy perceptions of beauty. In 2017 she was named the third most influential person in health and fitness (Greatist, 2017). She has composed several dietary and fitness regimes which promise to shed unwanted kilos and to sculpt the body of your dreams. However, some of the advice appears to contradict official health guidelines, raising the question of whether Cassey Ho is attenuating the negative aspects of “cosmetic fitness” or in fact contributing to the problem. Nutrition Advice Cassey Ho’s blog contains an abundance of creative and wholesome recipes that seek to make healthy food fun and appetising. Ho has actively sought to debunk the age-old misconception that losing weight and being healthy entails eating primarily salads, lean meat and little to no carbohydrates. Instead, she promotes balance, portion control and ensuring that a wide variety of food from all five food groups are consumed daily. While these recipes and advice corroborate greatly with the Australian Healthy Eating Guidelines, Cassey seemingly contradicts herself within her famous “28-day gut reset”, which promises participants a 515lb reduction in body weight by completely cutting out all added sugar, alcohol, processed food, dairy and gluten products. Perhaps most alarming about this model is the instruction to exclude all dairy products. According to a study conducted by Guegen & Pointillart, dairy products are rich in calcium, protein, Vitamin D and other essential nutrients and may lead to greater bone health when consumed multiple times a day. Also of great concern is the intensive nature of this diet. While Australian guidelines do suggest only consuming processed foods, added sugars and alcohol in small quantities, it does not conclude that we must omit them entirely. Conversely, taking on a restrictive and constraining diet can be linked to the onset of eating disorders such as binge eating, Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa (Stice, Davis, Miller & Marti, 2008). Additionally, it has been proven that while “Crash diets” or diets that are short in duration, but very strict, may initially result in weight loss, it is not usually maintained, with most people returning to their baseline weight or higher in the long term (Amigo & Fernandez, 2007). Physical Activity & Exercise Advice Cassey Ho’s YouTube channel has over 850 videos solely dedicated to physical fitness and exercise routines. The videos predominately consist of Ho energetically demonstrating various workout routines which incorporate cardio, Pilates and interval training. Each workout is 30 minutes or less, targets a specific part of the body and is suited to varying fitness levels. Via her Instagram page, Ho also provides a printable monthly exercise calendar that suggests which exercise routine to do on which day. Within the course of a week, Ho recommends completing two abdominal based workouts, two lower body workouts, two full body workouts and one day of rest. Her recommendations are consistent with Australian Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines, which state that those aged between 18- 64 years should accumulate 2-5 hours of moderate exercise a week, including both strength and cardiovascular exercise. Ho also emphasises the importance of walking or

cycling where possible to increase physical activity outside of deliberate exercise, which supports Australian Guidelines on how to minimise sedentary behaviour. While Ho provides instructional information on how to exercise efficiently and be physically active, her blog and YouTube channel are inundated with unscientifically valid assertions. One such example is the title of an exercise routine on Youtube; “Do these exercises every day for a month and lose 10lb!” This statement is immediately unsubstantiated as it does not consider nutritional intake or individual factors such as age, weight or general physical activity levels. However if we were to assume this exercise regime was taken on in conjunction with a diet that causes energy equilibrium and that it takes a deficient of roughly 3500kcal to lose one pound of fat (Mayo Clinic, 2018), one would have to burn 35000kcal in exercise over the course of a month, or 1250kcal a day, to lose the suggested 10lb. Taking into consideration that the workout routine is a moderate intensity 30-minute workout, it is highly unlikely that the necessary calorie deficient would occur by simply completing the prescribed workout every day. Mental Health Advice Cassey Ho regularly blogs about ways to achieve and maintain optimal mental health, discussing topics such as stress, anxiety, depression and body image. In a post, titled 7 Healthy Tips For Managing Stress, Ho empathises the importance of meditation and allowing yourself to “have one moment in the day to check in with your breath, your body, and relax”(Ho, 2018). Ho’s advice is heavily supported by a study conducted by L.-C Chu, which found that those who practice meditation regularly have less perceived stress and a higher overall psychological wellbeing than those who rarely or never mediate (Chu, 2010). Additionally, Ho, suggests writing in a personal journal every day to help organise your thoughts and feelings and work through what may be bothering you. This advice is supported in a study that strongly linked journaling daily to higher emotional expression and cognitive processing, as well as lower overall stress levels (Ullrich & Lutgendorf, 2010). Ho also advocates greatly for positive body image by sharing her personal struggles with body shaming via social media. Ho is known for providing advice to followers on how to properly appreciate their bodies. Having a positive body image has been linked to higher selfesteem and higher self-worth (Centre for Young Women's Health, 2018). Analysis Cassey Ho provides accessible, free and helpful information on how to get in shape, eat healthily and maintain positive mental health. She is motivational and clearly aims to inspire her followers to be the best version of themselves. However, some of the information that she provides can easily be misinterpreted. For example, her “28 gut-reset” is unnecessarily restrictive and although it is not aimed to be a long-term diet, the appeal of the initial acute weight loss may cause a person to persist with the diet even after the suggested 28-day period has concluded. This may have serious implications on the physical and mental health of the participant. While it is evident that Ho uses the titles of her videos to capture the attention and to motivate her viewers, it may have the converse effect if they diligently participate in the workouts yet do not achieve the proposed outcome. Falling short of goals may cause them to give up on their exercise routine entirely. Ho’s blog has an ample amount of valuable information to overcome stress and to achieve and maintain a positive body image. Through personalising the issue of negative body image, she has been able to offer support and advice to many followers who are also struggling with how they perceive their body. Overall, I would recommend Cassey Hos blog and Youtube page to someone seeking #fitspo for its recipes, workout schedules and mental health advice. However, I would advise caution surrounding the 28-day challenges and in setting realistic weight loss goals.

References Amigo, I. and Fernández, C. (2007). Effects of diets and their role in weight control. Psychology, Health & Medicine, 12(3), pp.321-327. Australian Government Department of Health (2014). Australian Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour Guidelines. Canberra. Eatforhealth.gov.au. (2017). Australian Guide to Healthy Eating | Eat For Health. [online] Available at: https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/guidelines/australian-guide-healthy-eating [Accessed 10 May 2019]. Chu, L. (2010). The benefits of meditation vis-à-vis emotional intelligence, perceived stress and negative mental health. Stress and Health, 26(2), pp.169-180. Guéguen, L. and Pointillart, A. (2000). The Bioavailability of Dietary Calcium. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 19(sup2), pp.119S-136S. Ho, C. (2019). 7 Healthy Tips For Managing Your Stress – Blogilates. [online] Blogilates. Available at: https://www.blogilates.com/7-healthy-tips-for-managing-your-stress/ [Accessed 10 May 2019]. Ho, C. (2019). [online] Blogilates.com. Available at: https://www.blogilates.com/wpcontent/uploads/2019/04/2019-May.jpg [Accessed 10 May 2019]. Center for Young Women's Health. (2019). Self-Esteem and Body Image. [online] Available at: https://youngwomenshealth.org/2012/05/30/self-esteem/ [Accessed 10 May 2019]. Stice, E., Davis, K., Miller, N. and Marti, C. (2008). Fasting increases risk for onset of binge eating and bulimic pathology: A 5-year prospective study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117(4), pp.941-946. Greatist. (2017). The 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness. [online] Available at: https://greatist.com/health/most-influential-health-fitness-people-2016 [Accessed 10 May 2019]. Ullrich, P. and Lutgendorf, S. (2010). Journaling about stressful events: Effects of cognitive processing and emotional expression. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 24(3), pp.244-250. Mayo Clinic. (2019). Weight loss Weight-loss basics. [online] Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthylifestyle/weight-loss/basics/weightloss-basics/hlv-20049483 [Accessed 10 May 2019]. YouTube. (2019). Do These Exercises & Lose 10lbs!. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=zh2dO7-tgwQ [Accessed 10 May 2019]....