YOU may or may not have read an article published on the Daily Mail Online recently entitled Exposed: The sick truth behind the great ‘wellness’ blog craze taking social media by storm and one online star battling a secret fitness addiction. 

The article focuses on the struggles of one girl, Celia Learmonth, a fitness blogger and popular Instagram user, right, with over 21,000 followers who admitted she was trying to seek help at an eating disorder clinic.

A quick browse through her posts on the social media site would suggest that she leads a healthy lifestyle fuelled by wholesome food. 

The article claimed that this was the case with many health and fitness bloggers who, like Celia, publicise their dedication to a 24/7 healthy lifestyle to their thousands of followers but in reality the unrealistic expectations and pressures on social media are masking dangerous issues, including eating disorders. 

Of course, the article demonstrates the extreme end of the spectrum and it’s important to recognise that there are thousands of fitness bloggers on Instagram who do portray a healthy and balanced lifestyle and do in fact manage to live that way themselves. 

The article, and the writer herself, received an extreme backlash from Instagram users and in particular from health and fitness bloggers but I personally believe the article opened up a forum for discussion on an incredibly important issue. 

Social media provides people with a platform to publicise the ‘perfect’ lifestyle however it’s pretty obvious that there is no such thing. 

What may seem perfect for one person and what works for them might not work for someone else. 
It’s a question of balance which a lot of people find hard to strike, especially young adults and girls in particular who look at fitness models on social media for example and often think what they’re doing will work for them. 

Social media content in terms of health and fitness should, in my opinion, be taken with a pinch of salt. 

Although the pros and cons of social media are well documented and we’re well aware of the pitfalls of Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, they can also be used for amazing things and for driving change. 

They can help people learn how to exercise and how to lead a healthy lifestyle and, in this case, promote a positive body image across a growing online community and help people to come forward and admit they are struggling and need help. 

Far from criticising the way the article was written, or however one-sided it may seem as some people said, I think Celia can only be praised for coming forward and admitting she needs help and the writer praised for helping her to find a platform to do just that.

- Hannah Bryan is a journalist and writes a lifestyle blog at www.hannahshappypace.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @hannahbryan91