Sept 17
Asynchronous Class 10/1 - The Weight of the Nation/Diet Nation -
Environmental Influences - examples
Food Preferences
Body Image
Nutrition Education
Food/Diet Trends
Eating Disorders/Disordered Eating
Food System - Food Insecurity
Ultra Process Foods
Introducing Lucita the Tower Garden!
Food deserts, food swamps, or food apartheid?
So, it’s no wonder that around 60 percent of grocery store purchases are of highly processed foods.6 That kind of food is exactly what our system is designed to produce, distribute, and market. Not because it’s what people should be eating, but because it’s shelf-stable, convenient, and profitable for the consolidated group of companies that own most of the world’s food and beverage products. And, because of processed food’s high salt, sugar, and fat content, it’s hard to resist—especially for kids, whose food habits and preferences are set in motion long before they have an understanding of nutrition or the power to make purchasing decisions for themselves.
Conventional wisdom among healthy community advocates holds that places with low access to healthy foods are linked to America’s rising obesity rate, and that if we could eliminate disparities in food access, we’d solve the problem. It’s an easy conclusion to reach, because obesity rates are higher in low-income communities, and those communities are also more likely to have low access to healthy foods. But a number of recent studies indicate that just making healthy food more affordable and available isn’t enough.7,8 The term “food desert” itself may have oversimplified the problem, because it implies that low access to healthy food is a naturally occurring phenomenon, and that if only these places were showered with healthy food, they’d thrive.
An alternative term, “food swamp,” highlights the over-supply and affordability of unhealthy foods. This framing suggests that a strategy to increase healthy eating might be to change pricing structures in ways that counteract subsidies for junk food by making unhealthy choices less affordable than healthy ones. Indeed, strategies like soda taxes are working. This success raises new questions: What if the true health, social, and economic costs of industrial agriculture were reflected in products? Would healthier foods become more prevalent and affordable?
Many food system experts have begun to talk about “food apartheid,” because the framing prompts an examination of the underlying food system: who benefits from food production; who has power to make decisions about what to grow; who ends up eating the final products; and whose health is impacted by all of these cumulative decisions. It also opens a conversation about strategies to address underlying inequities by shifting and de-consolidating wealth and power from mega-corporations back to communities.
Historical Trend with weight
Until late 1800s, being overweight was desirable and the sign of attractive women and successful men.
In the late 1890s, ideals began to change - ‘diet’ took on the meaning of weight loss.
Paradox: as thinness has become the ideal, Americans have grown fatter
Influences:
Media create false images and present them as real
Present ideal as necessary for happiness
Real purpose is to sell products
Body Image:
How we see ourselves
Often distorted
Important to achieve positive body image and self-confidence
Ideal body weight
Responses from the Paradox Statements
The norm is to be thin and skinny.
Being skinny is desired.
Unrealistic beauty standards that align with male gaze.
People don’t have good and stable relationships with food.
Alot of people have an obsession and unhealthy relationship with food.
Obsession leads to unhealthy habits that can result in eating disorders (ie body dysmorphia, binging, anorexia).
Lack of nutrients
No time for home cooking, fast food is easier to access. More money, effort and time to prepare food at home.
Comparing yourself to others - can cause negative body image.
Advertised models/mannequins do not depict average consumer’s body. This creates pressure to practice unhealthy ways of attaining this image.
Unhealthy ways to get thin, short cuts can result in worse outcomes, many healthy habits are not sustainable.
People are not motivated to take better care of their health.
Social Media portrays a healthy lifestyle as the norm but isn’t the reality.
Food should be seen as a natural right like in many other countries.
Body Image - How we see ourselves, often distorted, important to achieve positive body image
Ideal Body Weight -
Weight at which you feel strong, energetic and able to lead a healthy life
May not correspond to charts and tables
Body composition - relationship between fat and not-fat tissue in the body
Essential body fat is minimum amount required for health (male 3-7%, female 13-15%)
Storage fat is excess.
Total body fat for males should be 12-15%, for females 18-21%
Obsession with weight is unhealthy but so is excess weight.
Disordered Eating
Anorexia nervosa: People with anorexia nervosa severely avoid or restrict food intake due to a distorted self-image or an intense fear of gaining weight. Even when dangerously underweight, they may see themselves as overweight. Some people with anorexia nervosa may also have binge eating and purging episodes.
Binge-eating disorder: People with binge-eating disorder regularly lose control of their eating and eat unusually large amounts of food. People with binge-eating disorder are often overweight or obese.
Bulimia nervosa: People with bulimia nervosa regularly binge eat and then engage in unhealthy behaviors to prevent weight gain, such as forced vomiting or the use of laxatives. People with bulimia nervosa may maintain an average weight or be overweight.
Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID): People with ARFID limit the amount and variety of food they eat due to their anxiety or fear of the consequences of eating (such as choking or vomiting) or dislike of a food’s characteristics (such as its appearance or texture). People with ARFID are frequently underweight.
Female Athlete Triad
The main cause of the female athlete triad is an energy imbalance. This imbalance causes you to use more energy than you consume. Females who are very active may have this problem. It may be on purpose or by accident. The female athlete triad also may be due to an eating disorder, such as anorexia.
Girls and women may be at risk for the female athlete triad if they:
Steps toward achieving positive body image
1 Treat body with respect and kindness
2 List all the things your body is able to do
3 In morning, thank body for resting and preparing you to enjoy another day.
4 Put signs up on mirrors, “I’m beautiful, inside and out.”
5 Don’t let weight or shape keep you from doing activities you like
6 Wear comfortable clothes that you like and feel good
7 Find a physical activity that you enjoy and can do regularly
8 Surround yourself with people and things that make you feel good about yourself and abilities
9 Keep a list of at least 10 things that you like about yourself that aren’t related to appearance.
10 At night, thank your body for all it helped you accomplish that day.
NAAFA - Nat’l Association to Advance Fat Acceptance
At least one-third of the world’s population is fat, yet fat people are discriminated against in all aspects of daily life. For over 50 years, NAAFA has worked to make the world a better place for fat people through education, advocacy, and support. We are a multigenerational, intersectional social justice organization creating opportunity for big bodied people and building community for fat people and our loved ones. Our work towards #EqualityAtEverySize is changing the world!
Scenario:� Samantha, a 20-year-old cross-country runner, trains intensively for her college team. She is proud of her lean body and believes restricting her calories helps her performance. She has not had a menstrual period for eight months and frequently complains of shin pain. A bone scan shows signs of decreased bone density.
Discussion Points:
https://ihpi.umich.edu/sites/default/files/2025-12/0465_Policy-Brief-Gearhardt_FINAL_11-21-2025.pdf
Ultra-Processed Foods