From Influence to Illness: Media, Beauty Standards and Eating Disorders
By: Isabella Quintero
In today's society, it's become very easy to ignore unhealthy relationships with food and instead focus on achieving the beauty standards unfairly set, specifically for impressionable adolescents. Disordered eating is not a new phenomenon, and is seen very clearly in the media throughout decades. However, with more recent developments like social media and trending diets within the media, eating disorders have become much more widespread.
Eating disorders manifest in different ways for different people. They can stem from many different reasons such as environment, genetic factors, learned behavior, and more, but most specifically being exposed to negative ideals on social media platforms.
UNDERSTANDING EATING DISORDERS:
The three general eating disorders are categorized by Anorexia Nervosa , Bulimia Nervosa , and Binge Eating.
Anorexia is an eating disorder that involves severe calorie restriction which results in a nutrient deficit, often leading to a significant decrease in body weight. The repercussions of this habit can be detrimental to physical and mental health, leading to long-term effects, and possibly death. In addition to health issues, anorexia can also result in a distorted body image, making it more difficult to realize the seriousness of the condition.
Subtypes of anorexia include Restrictive Anorexia which is limiting the amount and type of food you consume, and Binge-purge Anorexia which is restricting the amount and type of food you consume with binge-eating and purging episodes. Typically with vomiting, the use of laxatives or diuretics, people with this condition get rid of the food they binge-eat.
Bulimia is an eating disorder that involves eating large amounts of food at once, essentially binge-eating, and then getting rid of it (purging). This obsession to binge-eat and purge causes intense anxiety regarding weight and body image, dental and gastrointestinal issues and acid reflux due to purging, and even more mental and physical life-threatening issues if not treated.
Binge-eating disorder is characterized by chronic, compulsive overeating, and is the most common eating disorder diagnosed, likely because it's so overlooked as a disorder and just categorized as obesity. Episodes with an inability to stop eating often causes obesity, and while most binge-eaters are also chronic dieters, they often fall back into the episodes of overeating, and then continue dieting to “make up for it.”
SOCIAL MEDIA AND BODY IMAGE:
Social media plays a significant role in our entertainment, sure, but also in the way that we view ourselves. With influencers who edit their pictures and post their workout routines but fail to mention certain surgeries they’ve gotten, false expectations are put on their followers, adding pressure to force their bodies to look a certain way.
In order to get an idea of how people connected societal factors like social media and being in social settings with unhealthy eating habits, I sent out a google form to a majority of Jenks high school students with questions regarding their correlation between societal factors and eating patterns.
With the majority of answers being 16-18 years old and female, 95.8% have not been diagnosed with an eating disorder, however, 45.5% feel as though they could be diagnosed with one currently or at some point in the past.
Graph from the survey showing the majority of respondents feel that societal expectations about body image impact the way they eat
Even without social media, social expectations have always been extremely high regarding body image. It's shown through different environments, magazines, television, cultural and traditional expectations, and so much more that social media is only one cause for disordered eating, but it has always been an issue. The normalization of restricting food in many different ways is all over decades of media in all forms, and yet the normalization of healing from this issue has not yet fully surfaced.
Another example of this issue is seen in diet culture, which has only grown from social media as influencers have taken to sharing their diets and encouraging people to eat or not eat certain foods.
Graph from the survey showing the influence of diet culture on these students
INSIGHTS FROM A SPECIALIST:
Jaimee Bruce, a registered nurse specializing in eating disorders at Saint Francis, works with girls and women from ages typically 12-35 years old, whether they’re recovering, relapsing, or just coming to terms with the fact that they have an eating disorder.
Bruce claims that eating disorders are often romanticized in the media which contributes to a toxic diet culture.
“People don’t truly understand what an eating disorder is unless you have experienced one or unless you’re in the field. The media glamorizes and normalizes eating disorders allowing people to fall deep into diet culture because “that’s what everyone is doing and so it must be okay,”” said Bruce.
With media trends like “What I Eat in a Day”, “Follow My Wellness Journey”, before and after posts, etc., the urge to limit the calories you eat, to skip a meal and go to the gym instead, or altogether stop eating, can grow exponentially for so many people, and especially those who already struggled with their relationship with food.
DIETING VS. DISORDERED EATING:
While some people may deny that their restrictive eating is unhealthy, and instead claim that it's healthy dieting, it's important to recognize the extremely fine line between dieting and disordered eating.
“A lot of times when people decide to go on a diet, they feel like they have lost control of themselves and/or their life and they are looking to find control over something. They turn to controlling their diet- what they eat and don’t eat, if they keep the food down or not, etc. It tricks them into thinking they have control, when in reality that is when the food and the eating disorder starts controlling them,” said Bruce.
While there are plenty of “body positivity” accounts on multiple platforms, they also have negative results for some viewers. This trend is mostly just more videos of people showing what they eat in a day, their “healthy” diets, and their workout routines. While that may be healthy for them, and some others as well, every body and every mind is different, so copying the eating patterns and workout routines of people on the internet is not often the healthiest route. This can also be triggering for those who have a hard time finding a balance with their relationship with food.
One of the most alarming aspects of eating disorders is the significant and oftentimes irreversible mental and physical damage they can cause. During the recovery phase of an eating disorder, nurses have to be very straightforward with the reality of their situation, and how going back into this cycle could be deadly.
“We tell them how purging can cause ulcers or your stomach to rupture. Heart problems can develop due to loss of vital minerals and electrolytes, such as potassium and sodium. Dental problems occur as the acid in vomit wears down the outer layer of the teeth,” said Bruce.
These are very real, very dangerous repercussions from eating disorders that aren't discussed enough, especially to adolescents who don't know any better. An eating disorder is not simply cutting back on calories and weighing yourself. It's an obsession over weight, calories, the kind of food you eat, the way you look, etc.
“With restriction, your body goes into survival mode and starts breaking down muscle to release the glucose stored inside, which can be used for energy. Your body is so focused on staying alive that all energy goes to keeping your vital organs alive, causing your metabolism to slow doesn’t to conserve energy,” said Bruce.
Your body in survival mode, slowing your metabolism, just means that essentially, your body is eating itself because it’s not being provided with any nutrients to work off of. So those who have not been educated on this topic may think that starving themselves will make them skinnier, and therefore “fit the standard” but because of the lack of nutrients and the slowing metabolism, the body is going to gain even more fat. If the body is getting bigger rather than smaller, most obsessive tendencies would lead the person to eat even less, which makes the issue worse, until eventually the body just can’t hold on anymore.
EDUCATION AND AWARENESS:
Beauty standards in the media have such a powerful effect on people's views and decisions, and yet aren't discussed enough. They’re romanticized and criticized all the same throughout the media, but there’s hardly enough real awareness and education on the negative effects of these standards.
Many people aren't educated enough on what an eating disorder is exactly, and how detrimental disordered eating can be to physical, mental, and behavioral health. Most people who eat disorderly don't even recognize their own unhealthy eating patterns until they’re confronted with the reality of what they’re experiencing.
High schoolers, for example, would claim to be at risk of having, or having had an eating disorder. They’re capable of realizing how close they can be to being diagnosed with an eating disorder after reflecting on their eating patterns, but hadn’t yet realised this until faced with the question directly.
Graph from the survey asking students if they've ever felt like they could be diagnosed with an eating disorder, despite never having actually been diagnosed.
It’s so easy to brush past what may seem unhealthy if it makes you fit in, but with the lack of broadcasting and education on the dangers of eating disorders, and the lack of resources shown in the media, people are much more likely to steer towards the unhealthy.
If more education on eating disorders and the dangers of eating disorderly was more easily and widely available to young adults, specifically students, whether it's because of a toxic environment, body image issues, media consummation, sports, etc., there would be less of a risk of students skipping meals or dieting in unhealthy ways.
CONCLUSION:
The media’s influence on eating disorders is a very currently relevant, and very understated topic, despite the fact that it should be broadcasted worldwide to help impressionable minds on social media platforms not get brainwashed into thinking that they need to eat the same amount as strangers on the internet.
While body positivity movements and food health trends aim to promote self-love and wellness, they often influence unrealistic expectations and negative habits.
“Body neutrality over body positivity. You don’t have to love everything about your body, but it’s important to be at peace with it. Understanding the functions of your body and the role nutrition plays can be helpful,” said Bruce.
Bruce praises influencers that spread body neutrality, instead of negativity or even positivity. While there aren’t many, these influencers treat their bodies as what they are, not what they “should” be.
It's crucial to continue to educate online, and most importantly in schools, as high schoolers are the age range most susceptible to be influenced by these kinds of trends. It's important to have conversations, whether that's with friends, counselors, parents, or just a trusted individual, about eating disorders, their consequences, and the importance of seeking help at any point.
By educating society and the Jenks community on the true nature of disordered eating, harmful beauty standards can be more effectively challenged and more people can recognize the help that they may need.
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