Is the ‘Girl Dinner’ Trend Healthy or Harmful?
Here’s what a registered dietitian, who specializes in disordered eating, had to say.
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TikTok’s latest trend has people showing their charcuterie boards and visually pleasing snack plates, and calling them ’girl dinners.’ These boards or plates feature bread, cheese, olives, pickles, nuts and colorful fruits and vegetables. But the trend has fueled a debate as to whether these girl dinners are just a fun, harmless trend, or another potential trigger for disordered eating.
Are Girl Dinners Healthy?
Girl dinners seem like they can be a small nosh, but many people are happy to be able to put together a quick meal without any cooking or much clean up. With the hustle and bustle of everyday life, preparing a quick and easy girl dinner can take minutes and reduce the pressure of finding time to cook a hot meal.
Katy Zanville, MS, RDN, who is a certified intuitive eating Counselor at Katy Zanville Nutrition Therapy is a fan of the trend. “Girl dinners are very similar to charcuterie boards, mezze platters, or tray dinners and can be helpful for folks who are neurodivergent, disabled, chronically ill or simply too tired to cook at the end of the day.”
However, Zanville recommends that if you are going to make a girl dinner, it should include the same components that a traditional hot meal should consist of, which are carbohydrates, fat, protein and fiber. It is also critical to ensure that these girl dinners have enough volume and variety in order to avoid undernutrition.
Caroline Young, MS, RD, LD, RYT, who specializes in eating disorders chimed in and says that having a girl dinner can be healthy depending on what’s on the plate. To make sure you’re meeting your needs and nourishing yourself well, she recommends asking yourself these questions: Are there carbs, fat and protein present? Is this meal satisfying and pleasurable? Is this dinner giving me enough energy and filling me up?
“If you answer no to any of those questions, your girl dinner could be harmful,” says Young. “On the other hand, if it consists of grains like bread and crackers, fats like cheeses and olives and proteins like cured meat and nuts, and maybe a few fruits and veggies sprinkled in, your girl dinner checks all the boxes.”
Can Girls Dinners Lead to Disordered Eating?
Experts agree that many food and eating trends on TikTok can be toxic and trigger disordered eating. Young believes that the girl dinner trend could lead to disordered eating if the dinners are “being used as a way to restrict food (either in calories or specific food groups) and eat less, instead of a way to have a fun and nontraditional meal.” To ensure the girl dinner plate has enough food, Young recommends filling up a regular sized plate with various foods from the board, and remember that you can always go back for seconds.
But what about the name itself? Talia Follador, RDN, LDN owner of Follador Nutrition Services LLC says, “I think there is potential for the ‘girl dinner’ trend to lead to disordered eating since the term ‘girl’ may imply to some people that portion sizes should be small, or ‘girl’ sized.’” As a registered dietitian myself, I agree with Follador, who points out, “Why does it have to be just for girls?”
Bottom Line: The girl dinner trend can be part of a healthy diet if there is enough food on the plate and includes all your food groups. However, there is some potential to trigger disordered eating if your girl dinner doesn’t have adequate amounts of calories and variety. And it doesn’t just have to be for girls.
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