Toxxic trend sweeping social media set to have ‘max’ health impacts

Helen unpacks the dangers of ‘Healthmaxxing’ social media trends.

Healthmaxxing, more like exxhausting, am I right? The latest trend to sweep the internet, incorporating ‘Looksmaxxing’ and other optimal health and physical wellbeing goals to maximise your health, is likely doing you more harm than good.

If you haven’t heard the term, the idea of maximising aspects of your health and wellbeing potential and being pressured to ‘be better’ is nothing new – but it now has a new name.

In essence, aiming to eat your most nutritionally balanced diet, ensuring your lifestyle includes an exercise routine that ticks all the boxes, and protecting your mental health with supports as needed should be regarded as top-tier self-improvement.

However, when looking and performing at your best comes at any cost, it can be toxic and even dangerous, especially when it involves unhealthy behaviours like severe food restrictions, supplement stacking and unregulated product or drug use, which can lead to body dysmorphia, anxiety and depression.

Fuelled by social media accounts of Looksmaxxing and Healthmaxxing social influencers, the call to ‘maximise’ yourself is everywhere – encouraging everything from starving yourself to eating dangerous amounts of protein and fibre, ‘dryscooping’ where pre-workout is consumed dry without water, through to illegal steroid or drug use.

Helen MacLaughlin, a dietitian at RBWH said the issues come with the ‘maxxing’ element, as whenever you max something, other things will suffer.

“When athletes maximise performance, their social life and mental health can get neglected, and when we focus on looksmaxxing, health can suffer,” she said.

“Balancemaxxing—now there is a concept I could support!” she added.

Helen unpacks the dangers of the most viral trends, including:

1. Protein toxicity: When we have too much protein, it could lead to weight gain if the energy intake increases as well. Excess protein ends up being stored as fat. High protein foods are often highly processed too, with added sweeteners, emulsifiers and additives – which can have a negative impact on gut health!
2. Nutrient deficiency: Maxxing up one nutrient risks creating deficiencies in others. Healthy eating is healthy because it includes variety, balance, and adequacy, and maxxing is the opposite. Nutrient deficiencies can result in skin conditions, brittle nails and lacklustre hair (which may be the opposite of Looksmaxxing!), and that’s just the start.
3. Steroids and hormonal ‘T-maxxing’ issues: T-maxxing is adding testosterone, but our bodies have finely tuned mechanisms to keep our hormones at optimal levels for health. Testosterone levels both too low and too high disrupt the balance and have consequences – that’s why our bodies work hard to keep our hormone levels stable. Too much testosterone, or T-maxxing, can cause acne, mood swings, baldness and increased risk of high blood pressure and prostate cancer.
4. Liver failure from vitamin stacking: Supplement stacking and vitamin stacking uses combinations of supplements and vitamins that have never been tested to work together. The stacked nutrients may be competing for the same binding site in the gut, or interact with each other with a bad outcome, such as extra stress on the liver, kidneys and nutrient deficiencies. Supplement stacks can’t replace a good night’s sleep and eating nourishing, great tasting meals. They are a biohack that seems like an easy fix, a way to bypass the things we all know are really helpful, but veg-maxxing is a much harder sell, right?

“Instead, try maxxing your weekly shop our with vegetables, yogurt, berries, nuts, seeds, beans and lentils,” Helen said.

“And put the maxx in relaxxing by cooking from scratch at home and nourishing your body, exercising to feel strong, connecting with loved ones, and having some fun!”