Do these videos trigger you?

Mukbang videos: those videos where someone eats huge amounts of food — mukbangs, cheat-day videos, “I ate 20,000 calories” challenges — can be very triggering, especially for people dealing with binge–restrict cycles.

And the problem isn’t just the amount of food. It’s the lack of honesty around what’s actually going on behind the scenes.

Here’s the reality, said safely and without shaming anyone:

1. A lot of those videos are not realistic or truthful Many creators don’t show: the restriction that happens before filming the purging, overexercising, or extreme dieting afterward the fact that they don’t actually eat like that daily that some clips are edited, cut, or staged This creates a false picture of what’s actually happening.

2. Viewers may compare themselves to something that’s not real People watching might think: “Why can they eat that much and I can’t?” “Why do I binge but they seem fine?” “Maybe I’m the problem.” But the creator is often showing a performance, not a real-life pattern.

3. It can normalize disordered eating behavior Both extremes — massive binge-style eating and extreme restriction hidden behind the scenes — are often packaged as entertainment, fitness, or “lifestyle.” That can confuse people who are actively trying to recover from binge–restrict cycles.

4. The lack of transparency is what makes it triggering If someone were honest and said: “This is staged,” or “I don’t eat like this normally,” or “I struggled with food after making this video,” — it would be much less harmful. But most don’t, because honesty doesn’t “sell.”