Society’s Effect on Dysfunctional Eating and Negative Body Image
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>> Hi and welcome back.
In this lecture,
I'm going to be talking about modern societies influence
on dysfunctional eating and negative body image.
Before I begin, I have two quick disclaimers.
When I use the term dysfunctional eating,
I'll be referring to eating disorders
as well as less severe,
but still problematic eating behaviors
that may be preventing a person
from reaching an optimal well-being.
And two, when I refer to modern society,
I'll be referring primarily to the United States.
While a lot of what I speak about will apply
to other regions of the world as well,
I want to focus on the US specifically
because as many of you are aware,
the United States is notorious
for having the highest obesity rate in the entire world.
It's estimated that at least 30 million people
in the United States have eating disorders,
and we have a weight loss industry worth over $66 billion.
So what's going on here?
Something clearly isn't adding up.
As a writer, researcher, and eating disorder survivor,
I've spent a lot of time hypothesizing
what it is about American society
that makes it so difficult for people,
especially women, to trust their bodies
and consume food in a way that's healthy and natural
without attached feelings of guilt and shame.
We have terms like eating disorders, and body dysmorphia
to describe so called serious dysfunctions
in the way people eat and in the way people see themselves.
But what about the dysfunctions in society
that contribute to disorders?
A lot of emphasis gets placed on this notion
of personal responsibility
when it comes to consumer food choices.
But has too much responsibility
been placed on consumer shoulders?
Are the expectations placed upon us realistic
given our busy modern lifestyles,
the food options that are accessible to us,
and the persuasive often manipulative,
marketing tactics were exposed to every day.
I think a critical part of understanding
and empowering ourselves as individuals
is understanding the world around us.
And so I'd like to spend some time
examining the various sources of influence
and persuasion in society
that can contribute to feelings of hopelessness,
and despair, and consumers.
Let's start with three industries
that dominate a huge percentage of the economy in the US
that hold a lot of power
when it comes to shaping what people buy,
how people think, and how people feel about themselves.
The food industry, the media, and the weight loss industry.
The way I see it, the food industry, the media,
and the weight loss industry have a perfect monopoly setup
to control people's minds and emotions
and to ensure that they all keep making money,
while consumers continue to fixate on their weight
and feel unhappy with their bodies.
Think about it.
The food industry makes people overweight,
the media makes people feel bad about themselves
for being overweight,
and then the weight loss industry makes money from people
who want to go on diets
and exercise programs to lose weight.
So as consumers,
we're inevitably going to be facing some conflicts
and mixed messages inside of a system
that more or less sets us up to fail.
We're encouraged to indulge one moment
and deprive ourselves the next.
Sounds like entrapment to me.
We all know the modern food climate in America
is full of food that's fast, cheap, and highly processed.
Therefore, consumers are essentially doomed
for healthy food choice failure
unless they apply a great deal of caution
and education to their food choices.
It seems the main objectives of most food companies
is to produce foods as quickly and cheaply as possible,
while making food as tasty and addictive as possible,
and ensuring it has the longest shelf life possible.
Then on top of the way food is actually produced
and manufactured,
the food industry heavily markets unhealthy foods,
especially to children using manipulative
and persuasive tactics to tempt consumers to overeat.
So the first main point is that
unless you're a conscious shopper,
and you prepare most meals from scratch
using whole and natural ingredients,
you're almost guaranteed to be eating foods
that are high in calories and low in nutritional value
with sneaky ingredients in there
that are going to cause your body to gain weight
and hold on to it.
Next, let's take a look at the next area.
Media.
Now hopefully, I don't have to go into too much depth here
because I'm sure most of you are pretty familiar
with Western standards of beauty
as they are promoted by the fashion industry,
TV, Internet, and social media.
The media enforces ideal body shapes and sizes.
For women being tall and thin with long legs,
full breasts and full lips is typically
what is marketed to us as the American ideal.
For men, it's more about being tall and muscular
with defined facial features.
This is what many of us have been conditioned
to believe is sexy, and this is what is sold to us,
and this is what sells.
But because only a small portion of the population
actually meets these standards
or is capable of meeting these standards,
the majority of people are left out
receiving the message through every advertisement
and celebrity Instagram photo that they're not good enough.
So already here we have a problem.
The food industry traps consumers
into overeating unhealthy foods.
Then when weight gain ensues,
the media is there to blame and shame consumers
for falling into this trap and for failing
to meet very unrealistic standards of beauty.
Now the weight loss industry steps in and says,
"Need to lose a few pounds?
Feeling frustrated with your body?
I'm here to help."
This brings me to the third main point of the cycle.
The weight loss industry helps us fit into the media ideal
after the food industry sells us unhealthy foods.
It sells us everything from diet pills to meal plans
to fancy workout programs and gym memberships.
You're probably familiar with all the dogma
around dieting that's out there.
Think back to the dietary theory library
from your Health Coach Training Program
and the many different diets that were included there.
In American society, I've noticed that a lot of people
treat diet like a religion.
They treat food like it's something of moral value
telling themselves they're good if they eat this
and bad if they eat that though,
of course, no food is inherently sinful or righteous.
People give their diets power over their entire lives
using their food choices to define them as individuals
and guide their life decisions.
You have the people who are vegan,
and the people who are paleo,
and the people who are doing the keto diet.
Now I fully respect people who choose diets like these
for medical, ethical, or health reasons.
But too often, I think it's the case
that people want a quick fix
or a set of rules they can follow like a faith
or a discipline,
rather than doing the work to become more connected
to their bodies and trusting of themselves.
That's the goal, right, what you learned in HCTP.
Each person has bio-individual needs,
therefore, no one diet is right for everyone.
But think back to before this clicked into place for you.
Maybe you were like so many Americans frustrated, confused,
and stuck on a roller coaster of guilt and disillusionment.
I mean, I'm talking here about the realities of the society
within which we live and the impact of the messages
we receive on a regular basis.
But what I also want you to consider
is the overall sense of inner chaos
that's created by so many conflicting messages.
Think about it.
Our emotions are being pulled
in a million different directions a day.
Have you ever been listening to a playlist on shuffle
and a song comes on that really moves you?
It's an emotional song and you could feel it in your gut,
you're almost moved to tears.
Then a song that's really loud
and fast comes on right after that,
and suddenly you feel as if you weren't ready
for such an abrupt transition.
Now think about when you're watching TV
and a commercial for Burger King comes on.
The camera zooms in on a juicy sizzling whopper topped
with crisp lettuce and a perfectly red slice of tomato
to ignite your taste buds.
It's almost provocative.
Then right after that,
you see a commercial for Calvin Klein underwear
with a perfectly chiseled model wearing practically nothing,
with the model's perfect physique glowing from head to toe.
Or maybe, you see a commercial for Weight Watchers
or LA Fitness.
I mean, this kind of thing probably
wouldn't even faze most of us,
it's just a way of life.
So what are the long term psychological effects of receiving
so much contradictory information through our senses
with this push-pull style of marketing that says,
"Indulge, deprive, indulge, deprive."
I believe that over time,
we lose the ability to trust our bodies,
our desires, ourselves.
We lose the ability to feel in control
and empowered by our choices.
Given society's unrealistic expectations of consumers,
it's no wonder that so many of us have developed
unrealistic expectations of food.
Now despite this being the situation
many of us are dealing with,
I'm not trying to suggest
we're all victims of the system or anything like that.
I'm not going to recommend
we all throw our hands up in the air and give up.
My goal in presenting you with this information
is to help you feel more aware,
more validated, and more empowered, not more hopeless.
I think that the more people recognize that society
and big profit-driven companies
don't always have consumer's best interest in mind.
The more we can make it our collective responsibility
to transform the system within
which we live into one where health
and well-being are more prioritized and more accessible.
This transformation can start with you
and the work you do with your clients.
As an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach,
you're in a unique position.
I mean, you're at the forefront of this movement
to improve health and happiness
as part of a ripple effect that's changing the world.
If you're working with a client
who feels trapped in a cycle of compulsive eating
and dieting,
you can empower them by helping them
to explore the connection
between societal influences and their emotional eating habits.
As I mentioned in the last video,
it can be really illuminating
when you work with your clients to uncover the feelings
that motivate their behaviors and the experiences
that lead to these feelings.
For the next week or so,
I want you to do an experiment and pay extra close attention
to the advertisements and other media influences
in your daily life.
What makes you feel bad about yourself?
What makes you feel good about yourself?
What makes you feel frustrated?
What makes you feel confused?
Consider the ways in which various marketing efforts
are attempting to trigger your emotions
in order to get you to buy something.
What you'll probably notice
is that the majority of marketing efforts target
what's known as people's subconscious lizard brains.
That is the oldest part of our brain which pays attention
to three things, food, danger, and sex.
This is why using sex in advertising is so powerful.
We're strongly wired to react to sex.
You'll notice in a lot of advertisements
that there's often a sexual undertone
to the way products are marketed to us, even food.
Food and sex are two important parts of human survival,
and they're also highly commodified in American culture.
Now I want to take a moment to acknowledge that,
if you're a woman in America,
chances are you've probably struggled even more
with your weight and body image than your male counterparts.
I used to work at a café,
and I was always astonished by the number of women
who would basically apologize to me
when ordering a cookie or brownie
or some other bakery item from the pastry case.
They'd always say something to the effect of,
"I'm going to be bad today and let myself have a cookie."
As if they were breaking the law or worried,
I would judge them.
I rarely if ever heard a man use this kind of disclaimer.
So why is this?
Why is it that woman seems to be more targeted
by the weight loss industry than men?
And why generally speaking do women struggle more
than men with emotional eating, and body image issues?
While there are many reasons, I'll name just a few.
Throughout American history, and in modern times,
women have been socially conditioned
to believe that they're worth and sexual appeal
is largely attached to their appearance,
whereas men have been more encouraged
to define their worth according to education,
intelligence, talent, career status, etcetera.
Women are also commonly conditioned
to believe that having an appetite is bad.
Women should mind their place.
Refrain from asserting their needs and desires,
not only when it comes to food but also sex,
career advancement, etcetera.
Women learn that pleasure is dirty
or that pleasure comes with a price,
and therefore indulging
must be followed by a period of guilt,
repentance, and deprivation.
Sometimes eating disorders emerge out of fear of gluttony.
Women hold shame around wanting, needing, and feeling.
Women's bodies hold on to more fat than men's bodies,
and they're genetically programmed to do so.
On average, women have 6% to 11% more body fat than men.
Studies show that estrogen reduces a woman's ability
to burn energy after eating,
resulting in more fat being stored around the body.
The likely reason is to prime women for childbearing.
Diet food is marketed more to women than men.
Think of marketing for brands like Smart Ones, Lean Cuisine,
Activia yogurt, and so on.
Whereas some products market
it's men encourage the opposite,
encouraging men to be macho and to eat more.
For example, hungry men dinners with slogans like,
"Eat like a man."
Protein powders with intense bold lettering.
In my opinion, the implications of such marketing campaigns
are oppressive to both sexes.
More women than men are victims of rape
and sexual assault.
According to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network,
about 9 out of every 10 rape victims are female.
Some people develop dysfunctional eating habits
and/or eating disorders as a means of self-protection
after dealing with sexual abuse and its related trauma.
Sometimes, food is used to soothe shame
around sex and intimacy.
Sometimes women are in competition with other women
and wanting to achieve a very slender body type
since this is the body type that the media has portrayed
as connected to success.
Studies across cultures have actually shown
that men tend to be more attracted to curvy body types
than very slender narrow body types in women.
Shapely hips in women are linked
with fertility and overall health.
So it makes sense evolutionarily speaking
that men might find hourglass figure sexier.
Yet, many women continue to strive to be unhealthily thin.
Also worth noting is that we see an especially
high prevalence of body image issues
and eating disorders in the LGBTQ community,
affecting both men and women and people
who identify outside of the binary.
Gay identified males are thoughts
who represent 5% of the total male population.
But among males who have eating disorders,
42% identify as gay.
And females who identified as lesbian,
bisexual, or mostly heterosexual
were about twice as likely to report binge eating
at least once per month in the last year.
This high prevalence of disordered eating
in the LGBTQ community,
maybe due to experiences of rejection,
discrimination, bullying, and/or violence,
which can lead to internalize shame and a poor self-image.
In other cases,
individuals may be moved to alter their bodies
due to discordance between biological sex
and gender identity.
For example, a woman might diet to the extreme
because she wants her body to appear more androgynous,
or men might put his body into a calorie deficit
to achieve a more petite and feminine shape.
Now we've covered a lot in terms of factors
that contribute to dysfunctional eating habits
and negative body image in modern society.
But before we wrap up,
I want to quickly go over some other potential factors
for you to think about that can play a role.
Many people work at least 40 hours per week
in addition to having other significant responsibilities
like caring for children, elders, or sick family members,
and time is a factor when it comes
to making healthy choices around food.
An extraordinarily large percentage of people in the US
suffer from anxiety, depression, digestive issues,
mood disorders, stress-related disorders, and fatigue.
Many are taking prescribed drugs
or self-medicating with food, alcohol, and other substances.
Many people, especially those living in urban areas
are largely removed from nature
and the natural rhythms of the Earth.
Even if you don't live in an urban area,
many of us are over exposed to technology
and other modern conveniences
that cut us off from the Earth,
from our intuition, and from one another
leading to a void feeling or feelings of disconnect.
In other parts of the world and in previous ages,
things were different.
Our predecessors relied more on nature
for their immediate survival,
and people worked together in tribes and communities
to hunt, gather and harvest food.
This is still seen in parts of the world
where happiness is reported at higher levels.
Many people feel overwhelmed
and overstimulated by their lives.
We've evolved to a point in our existence
where we're overloaded with more information,
and we have more decisions to make than ever before.
Think about how many text messages and emails
you receive in a day.
Think about going to the grocery store
and needing to choose between 13 varieties of ketchup.
Think about your social media newsfeed.
How do these impacts you on an emotional
and physiological level?
Information overload and decision fatigue are real things.
When we live every day with so much excess
entering our senses,
it can make it more difficult to listen to our bodies.
It can make us feel powerless, disorganized, and exhausted.
If you're anything like me,
you might find yourself yearning for simplicity
and trying to achieve it.
We all want to live lives
that are fulfilling and meaningful.
To do this,
it begins with stepping into your personal power
and divinity, gaining awareness
and really owning your choices.
I believe that in order to be healthy and happy,
we must know how to think for ourselves
beyond the constructs of society,
and make choices that suit us as individuals.
We must recognize and honor the fact
that each and every person is entitled to nurture themselves
according to their own unique needs and values.
In the next video, I'll be talking about healing
self-destructive behaviors around food.
But first, I want to summarize the main points for you
to take away from this lecture.
Dysfunctional eating and poor body image
may in part be influenced by unrealistic standards of beauty
and conflicting forces of persuasion in society.
Society plays a large role in affecting the choices we make
and the way we feel about ourselves.
An important part of understanding and empowering ourselves
as individuals is understanding the world around us.
Factors including the priority placed
on physical appearances, especially for women,
the pace and demands of modern life,
over reliance on technology,
and lack of connection to the Earth,
and access information, stimulation,
and decision making can confound and exacerbate this issue.
And finally, a meaningful life begins
with stepping into your personal power and divinity.
Seeing beyond, what you've been conditioned to believe
and taking responsibility for your choices.
I hope, I've given you some points to think about.
Remember to pay close attention to the advertisements
and other influences in your daily life this week.
What makes you feel bad about yourself?
What makes you feel good about yourself?
What makes you feel frustrated?
What makes you feel confused?
Reflect on these questions and if you feel comfortable,
share your thoughts with us in the Facebook group.
Let's keep this very important conversation open.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.