PsychBytes with CCS
PsychBytes is presented by The Ohio State University, Office of Student Life Counseling and Consultation Service. We provide a wide range of information pertaining to mental health topics, commonly asked questions, available resources, and general psycho-education that centers on the college demographic. The aim is to reduce stigma around mental health, reduce barriers to treatment, normalize experiences, and educate on prevention, intervention, and resources related to emotional and mental wellbeing.
PsychBytes with CCS
How Wellness Culture Impacts Body Image
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The Body Project: https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-involved/the-body-project
Hey, Psych Bytes with CCS is a weekly podcast hosted by Student Life Counseling and Consultation Service. This show is dedicated to discussing a wide range of topics pertaining to mental health commonly experienced in the college setting. It is important to note that this podcast is not a substitute for therapy. All of the topics on this show, while discussed by professionals are strictly psycho educational, and meant to inform listeners on available resources, skills and support. Topics on this show can be sensitive in nature. And should you find yourself needing additional support or resources, please visit ccs.osu.edu or call us at 614-292-5766. With that in mind, enjoy the show. What is up everybody and welcome to Psych Bytes with CCS. My name is Josh and today we are joined by Kristin Swope, staff psychologist with Counseling and Consultation Service. Kristen. Welcome.
Kristen Swope:Hi, Josh. Thanks for having me.
Josh Bailey:I'm excited to have you here. And the reason is, because today you and I are going to be talking about the impacts of Diet and Wellness culture on eating and body image.
Kristen Swope:Yeah, I'm excited. Yeah.
Josh Bailey:So I'm aware this is something you're very, very passionate about. So I thought we could start today by looking at what exactly is Diet and Wellness culture? Let's start with that as the baseline.
Kristen Swope:Yeah. And I appreciate you asking me to clarify that. So I think before I get into that, I just want to start off by letting people know that like in no way am I downplaying the importance of eating a nutritious and balanced diet and regular movement, especially for mental health. But at times, I just think these concepts can go too far can become you know, obsessive, or just take up a lot of headspace. So just wanted to say that. But in terms of Diet and Wellness culture, so to me, it's like, broadly, this idea that certain foods are elevated, while other foods are demonized. So if you think about the language that we use around foods that lack like a, quote, unquote, lack a lot of nutrients, I think we tend to label those as "junk" food or their "cheat" days, you know, all of these words have this kind of demonized labels. So conversely, foods that are nutritious, holistic, we tend to prefer, or obsess over eating those foods or quote, unquote, eating "clean." Or if you've ever heard someone say, "I've been so bad today," right? That usually means that they're eating a lot of quote unquote"junk" food or foods that you know, lack that nutritional value. And so that can lead to food guilt, and meaning guilt over what we've eaten. If we hadn't eaten enough nutritious foods that day, people might experience some guilt in that ways. And it can also lead to black or white thinking about food, you know, these foods are extremely, quote unquote,"good," these foods are extremely, quote unquote "bad." And where we see that really becoming a problem is when it really impacts what you are eating or your behaviors. So people might engage in restricting their food intake holistically, or they might only eat foods that they deem as clean or acceptable or holistic, which then can in turn lead to binge eating. If we think about this in terms of a pendulum, if you're restricting your eating, eventually, the human body or the mind isn't going to be able to keep that up. And so the pendulum swings the other way, leading to binge eating, and then starting the cycle the food guilt again.
Josh Bailey:Gotcha. So it's a lose lose situation because either I am running at a deficit trying to eat only a certain way. And then my body's finally like, you can't do this. I go the other way. And so it is a very vicious sounding cycle.
Kristen Swope:It is because there's a lot of self judgment when that happens. I wasn't able to keep up the restriction or I'm a bad person because I wasn't able to keep this up and I binge ate..
Speaker 2:Okay, so it sounds like there's a moral implication of what I eat.
Kristen Swope:Absolutely, yes. Not only what you eat, but how you eat, how much you eat in what way you're eating and what times you're eating. There can be a lot of self judgment.
Josh Bailey:I see. Okay.
Kristen Swope:So lead, can lead to not only moralizing food, but moralizing bodies. So this idea that certain body types are preferable to others. I think, you know, in Western culture, it's this idea that larger bodies are highly stigmatized. And that can kind of dlve into judgments us making judgments of other people's bodies and judgments of our own bodies. And so if we see normative weight gain, you know, in college from as we're growing into early adulthood, like they're, you're growing into your body, this weight gain is normal. Because we live in a very fat phobic society— fat phobic, meaning people in larger bodies, and any weight gain is inherently a bad thing— their self judgment in that way, even though what you're experiencing is physically developmentally normative.
Josh Bailey:So the freshman 15 isn't a consequence of me being out of control or lazy or making poor decisions when it comes to my, my dietary practices. It's literally just, I'm developing, I'm growing like a normal human being.
Kristen Swope:Your body is growing and you're human, and you're eating, and that's okay. You're having fun in college.
Josh Bailey:Okay. All right. Where does this come from? Is this like, just strictly a societal thing? Is this because of, you know, cultural things of social media, TV movies?
Kristen Swope:Yeah, I think social media has a lot to do with it. We, so I actually want to like, take us way back. And I mentioned the term fat phobia. This idea that people on larger bodies are, you know, inherently lazy or not worthy, just really, really awful things that we ascribe to people in larger bodies. And I don't think the BMI helps with any of that, too, right? Labeling people as obese, as overweight. But fat phobia has actually extremely racist roots. And so in Sabrina String's book, Fearing the Black Body, she talks all about that. But basically, the synopsis is, white women did not want to look anything like black women, black women being in larger bodies. And so they said, How can I avoid that? Oh, by not gaining weight by restricting what I eat. And so what people don't realize is like this idea that smaller bodies are inherently better, more worthy. It does have like extremely racist roots.
Josh Bailey:Yikes. Wow. Okay, well, how do we deprogram from that?
Kristen Swope:Well, people are always like, Okay, what we you know, what do we do about this? And I think one of the big things we can do is not only— Well, I think the first step is awareness, right? Being aware of where this comes from, what's parts of this are working for me? What parts of this aren't working for me? What parts do I not agree with? And I think what we can control really is our environment, who we spend our time, with what we're following on social media. You had mentioned the effects of social media, which definitely has a large impact. You know, if you're constantly scrolling and seeing people in smaller bodies, these fitness influencers, these detox teas, we're constantly taking that in like, what are you feeding your brain? And so thinking, what am I feeding— I worry so much about what I'm feeding my body? What am I feeding my brain? Taking some time to, like, unfollow those people on social media that you know, don't really promote your mental health, mental wellness, and body image can actually be really impactful just not to be exposed to that every time you pick up your phone. That being said, we can't wipe or erase all of this from social media. Like with Tiktok, for example, your— they kind of feed you videos from what I understand. I'm not the Tiktok, but from what I understand, and so those those videos are you know, are going to pop up. So kind of planning ahead, what am I going to do when this does pop up? How am I going to take care of myself? What can I come back to, what's my anchor? What can I remember about what kind of promotes my my mental health, my well being, my journey towards a better body image?
Josh Bailey:We talked about this, this idea of kind of promoting a better body image I think back to like the peloton commercial. That blew up I think was a couple of years ago, where it I think it may be subscribed to the same idea of like, the husband bought his wife a peloton and she was like so excited and so happy. It's like, Oh, and she just made him this thank you video that showed her peloton journey of the day she got it on Christmas or her birthday, or whatever it was, and then her— it's just her working out all the time. And then her thank you to her husband for giving her this, she made a little video showing her fitness journey. Even if I'm not like using social media and stuff, but I still feel like it gets forced down our throats. If I'm watching TV, or it's the ads on YouTube. Like we just can't avoid them. Who's watching this? Like, where's this coming from? I can understand like California. It's a big agency. But is there anybody else that's really like, who's gaining from this? Because it seems to be messing with us, the consumers. And there was a lot of pushback and a lot of flack as a result. But who really does get the gains from this?
Kristen Swope:The diet industry is massive, and we're talking billions and billions of dollars every year that people spend on diet products, on exercise equipment, things to change their body, make their body smaller, more muscular, things like that. So this is a huge, huge industry that the diet industry, crafts it so that you keep coming back. So research shows that diets do not work long term, work in terms of like sustained weight loss, right? So the diet industry makes sure that, you know, you might lose the weight in the long term. But these changes aren't sustainable, and you regain the weight, you keep coming back to them. And I think another that I've noticed that really profits off of this— or maybe profits is isn't the right word— but they're involved somehow, is the medical community. So like, for example, the American Academy of Pediatrics just released their new guidelines for approaching weight loss techniques for in higher weight children through quote unquote, "intensive health behavior and lifestyle training." So this means that kids, starting as early as two years old, they can intervene, doctors can intervene with them with drugs and behavioral modifications. And then with surgeries, like bariatric surgery, starting as early as 13 years old. And this is research that these types of weight loss drugs, these types of weight loss surgeries have extremely high physical risks and mental health risks. And they don't lead to sustained weight loss. So to me, it's not about health at that point. It's about fitness. And fitness in very, very young children.
Josh Bailey:Sounds very alarming. Right?
Kristen Swope:I was concerned when I read it.
Josh Bailey:Yeah. So as I'm thinking about this, even if we do prescribe medications, or have a child undergo surgery, are they actually learning anything as a consequence? Like if we do lap band surgery, and they just lose weight by virtue of their stomach is small and they can't contain as much food, are they actually learning any healthy behaviors or skills or rationale behind what they're doing? Or how they're interacting with food and appropriate moderation and things like that? I don't know. It's kind of got me a little bit befuddled here. And I want to ask you, what do we do? How do we work against this? How do we educate ourselves? What do we do? Because this seems kind of like a dumpster fire. A very rich dumpster fire.
Kristen Swope:Yes, yes. very lucrative dumpster fire, I think that's a good way to describe it, I want to come back to the importance of being aware of all this, because I think like living in Western society, we're just kind of fed all this information, all these messages that the medical model is 100% Correct and without fault. And the medical model does lovely things. I'm not saying that. But nothing's perfect. And so, this idea that the medical community is infallible, and that people in smaller bodies or muscular bodies are inherently better than people in larger bodies. And so just this, like kind of taking a step back, and realizing that what we've been taught, may not be entirely truthful and may be a scam and have really racist roots. So being aware, I think is the first step. I always like to just throw in there, too, there's— I think reading the research can actually go far. I know, especially in college, I didn't want to read a research article either, you know, so I get that. But there is some useful research out there. I think the most prominent thing that I've heard from the medical community is that people in larger bodies, people at higher weights have all of these negative health outcomes, right? That are associated with them. But what those studies failed to take into account are the years spent yo-yo dieting and intense restriction trying to lose weight, but their bodies just set an anchor point that is higher on the weight spectrum. And also the stigmatization that comes with living in a larger body. We know that stigma affects physical health to a great extent. And so the like those medical studies, just don't take that into account. So things like, that doing your own research, kind of checking, hey, is this thing that I've been taught? Is that actually true? I think those those two things can go a long way.
Josh Bailey:Okay. When we do think about how we approach our own dietary practices and how we eat— like, as you were talking about food morality earlier, and how we put certain foods on a pedestal and other ones are demonized. What I took away from that was maybe we should put everything on an even playing field. So then how do I approach food if I've been hearing my entire life that "Oreos are bad, Bananas are good. Stay away from those. Enjoy those. Make sure you eat your tomatoes and all the other stuff." How often do I look at Oreos like, "These are okay." How do I work against that narrative?
Kristen Swope:I think you know this idea kind of changing our mindset and the language we use associated with food food as fuel, and food is fun, and we need both of those things in our lives, like you only live once and we are human. And so we need fuel to get through our day. And so eating foods that give us that, but we also need a little fun. Our lives too. And those Oreos are really fun.
Josh Bailey:Very true. Okay, so just looking at it as fuel, fun.
Kristen Swope:Yes. And I think another thing and I was gonna mention this a little bit later, but I think it's a good time to kind of plug it now. So, Ohio State has a registered dietician, her name is Janelle Bayless. She's great. She has an intuitive eating workshop this spring semester that she is going to be offering. And that just really kind of teaches you how to listen to your body about what you're needing. If it's a little bit more fun that day, have a little bit more fun that day. It's okay, you know, I know I have this, you know, big workout that I'm wanting to do. I'm preparing for, you know, a 5k. Maybe I need a little bit more fuel in my day.
Josh Bailey:And how might one look that up?
Kristen Swope:Online at the Wellness Center's website. You can go to it and just register on there, and it is free.
Josh Bailey:Excellent. What else might be good for people to know here today?
Kristen Swope:Yeah, I think you know, a couple more things that we can do to try to not only fight back against that, but like heal our own bodies and minds. So just practicing self compassion. Remember that we live in society. We are members of society. And this stuff, these messages that we have literally been receiving since birth, it takes a long time to unlearn. And so just even starting out by noticing when we are moralizing our bodies or other bodies, or food, is a great first step. Boundries with family and friends who engage in conversation supporting, you know, food morality, or body morality, like I know, it was just winter break not that long ago, I went home and with my family and some family members made some comments, "I saved up for this meal," or "I was so bad today. So I need to be good tomorrow." Just you know, either gently saying, "Hey, I'm really trying not to kind of think in food in that way. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't make that comment." Or even just changing the subject. It doesn't have to be addressed. That's okay. But, "Oh, all of this, you know, talk about preparing this cake makes me think, What did you do today, Dad?" Something like that. If you're really struggling, I think always reaching out to a mental health professional is, you know, a great thing that you can do. We offer eating and body image concerns services here. I facilitate a group having to do with eating and body image concern.
Josh Bailey:What's that group called?
Kristen Swope:It is called"Eating and Body Image Concerns group."
Josh Bailey:Okay, very on the nose.
Kristen Swope:Yes, it is. And we're offering that every semester. And then OSU offers something really cool called"The Body Project." It's a two part series chunked into two hours. And you can— we'll link it in the show notes. But you can also find that on the website as well.
Josh Bailey:We have covered a lot of information today. And I know we have just barely scratched the surface. But is there anything else that you would like to touch on or close with today?
Kristen Swope:I think that is it.
Josh Bailey:Very good then. Kristen, thank you so much for joining us today really appreciate you taking the time to share what I consider to be some very pertinent and important information with all of us. To our listeners: Thank you very much for dropping in and checking us out. Keep your eyes peeled for our next episode. Take care of yourselves and until then My name is Josh and this has been Psych Bytes with CCS.