Tag Archive for: body shape

Behind the Science: Helping Individuals with Eating Disorders


Interviewee: Amané Halicki-Asakawa, B.A. | Authors/Editors: Negin Nia & Arrthy Thayaparan (Blog Co-coordinators) 

Published: March 25th, 2022

Editor’s Note: This blog post discusses eating disorders. If you or someone you know is struggling, call 1-866-NEDIC-20 or visit NEDIC.

In this week’s blog series, Behind the Science, we speak to Amané Halicki-Asakawa, a graduate student in clinical psychology at the University of British Columbia Okanagan (UBCO). Amané is working in the women’s health field with the aim of helping folks with eating disorders. Read more to better understand how her project is helping to create  tangible change, and her advice for IBPOC in the field wishing to pursue research. 

Can you please tell us about your research?

I’m primarily interested in service transformation. So, how to create a tangible change for people in the community, particularly those who live in the Okanagan. 

My research is focused on eating disorders and increasing accessibility to eating disorder services, particularly using things like technology and mobile apps. My research is through the Psychopathology Lifespan and Neuropsychology (PLAN) Laboratory at UBCO. Our lab’s primary focus is on neuropsychology and clinical psychology. The research is really broad, it covers things like stroke research, hemispatial neglect, and also a lot of body image and eating disorder research. 

What are you currently working on?

My master’s thesis is focused on adapting a self-help mobile phone app for use within an eating disorder context. The goal is to provide people with eating disorders who are waitlisted for treatment  an interim service while they’re waiting. The pandemic has increased waitlist lengths dramatically, which were already really long prior to COVID, and so eating disorder treatments are very, very inaccessible for a lot of people right now. The aim of that project is to try to make sure that people have some sort of support, so  that they aren’t being forgotten in the system. 

What got you interested in this research? 

As a woman and being subjected to a lot of cultural issues surrounding thin idealization, I was drawn naturally to  eating disorders. They appear a lot in popular culture, and once you dig under the surface a little bit, you realize that there’s so much more going on that drives these disorders. There is a lot of really serious underlying stuff related to emotion, regulation, identity, all sorts of stuff. So, I think learning about the severity, complexity, and the existing treatment gaps made me realize how important they are to study. 

What impact do you hope your research will have in the women’s health field and beyond?

I really want my research to have a tangible outcome. I think that when participants are involved in your research, you’re asking them for something. They are providing their time and sharing  upsetting, really intense things that they’re going through – especially in mental health research. I just want to make sure that the participants in my studies  are able to get something back. Also, we’re in a transforming world, and technology is becoming so much more accessible and mainstream. My hope with projects like this is to show that there can be ways to access and deliver services that aren’t being used right now. I want people to know that these things can actually fill in the gaps and create a bridge so that people can access the treatments that they need.

As a IBPOC in the science field, what advice do you have for future IBPOC academics wanting to pursue a similar path?

It’s really important to find mentorship in people who look like you and who’ve shared your experiences. I think it can be really helpful to seek out mentors, even colleagues and peers. They don’t have to be the highest members of academia, they can even be grad students who are a little bit older than you are, or research assistants at labs doing research that you are interested in. Being a racialized person in academia   can be very isolating, especially as most institutions lack diversity.   Finding those supports and people who can empathize with your experiences and your specific struggles is incredibly helpful. I’ve sought out many mentors in the past who have helped me and continue to help me,  and without their support it would have been a lot harder than it needed to be.

What is the best way for people to learn more about your work?

Feel free to connect with me through Twitter (@amanekha), and check out our lab website to keep up to date with our research.

Canadian food programs and policies: the role of social media in promoting eating for body shape


Author: Alysha L. Deslippe, MSc, Doctoral Student, Human Nutrition, University of British Columbia | Editors: Negin Nia and Arrthy Thayaparan (Blog Coordinators) 

Published: January 14th, 2022

Editor’s Note: This story discusses diet culture, eating disorders, and harmful food habits. If you or someone you know is struggling, call 1-866-NEDIC-20 or visit NEDIC.

No programs or policies exist in Canada that address how social media may impact the relationship between eating and body shape. A review in 2016 found that social media plays a large role in our relationship with food, and often not a positive one. As eating habits track forward, Canada’s food guide suggests supporting teens’ development of healthy eating habits. Teen girls in particular may face unique pressures on eating through their social media use.

Body shape can influence teen girls’ food choices

Researchers like Dr.Vartanian suggest that we alter the type or amount of food we eat to manage other people’s expectations. This includes historically pressures on women and girls to be thin. To address this, Dr. Vartanian suggests lower-calorie foods (e.g., salad instead of a double hamburger) or less foods (e.g., small fries versus large fries) are consumed. Teen girls as young as 13-15 years of age have also  shown evidence of this. In an experiment where researchers watched what teens ate with a friend, girls ate less and chose healthier foods compared to boys. Another study in Canada found a link between eating less and body concerns using one-on-one interviews. Researchers individually interviewed a teen (13-14 years) and one of their parents. Forty-six percent of interviewed parents expressed concern that their daughters were decreasing how much they ate to control body shape. Parents in this sample did not express this concern for their sons. Instead, parents put pressure on their sons to eat more to gain size. As teen girls undergo physical changes in body fat distribution with puberty, they may be more vulnerable to historical pressure to be thin around this age. 

Social media can harm the relationship between food and body shape in teen girls 

When children enter their teens, their use of social media goes up. For example, in a study looking into app use, 96% (97/102) of 12–16 year-olds and 100% (63/63) of 17-18 year-olds used social media. Instagram and Snapchat platforms are often reported as the most used. In a study looking at social media use (including Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and Tumblr) and eating in Australia, 68% of the 534 girls from grade 7 and 8 involved said they had an Instagram account. A further 59% reported having Snapchat. The girls self-reported what social media accounts they had and if they used any ‘disorder eating practices.’ Dietitians of Canada suggest that disordered eating practices can harm health and well-being. Some examples of these eating practices include binge eating, eating only in secret, skipping meals, restricting food intake or excessive exercise to make up for eating. 

In the study above, looking at links between social media use and eating, the Australian researchers found that girls’ use of social media platforms was related to harmful eating practices. For example, using Snapchat and ‘meal skipping’, ‘eating little food’, ‘following a strict meal plan’ or ‘strict exercise plan’. Using Instagram was linked to ‘skipping meals’ and having a ‘strict exercise plan’ as well. The other two social media platforms (Facebook and Tumblr) investigated were also related to girls’ reports of ‘following a strict exercise plan’. The researchers suggest that this implies that both images of very thin or very fit folks, common on social media regardless of platform, can have a  negative impact on teens eating. This matches work from other countries too. 

We need more research to guide food programs and policies targeting social media use in Canada

Clear guidelines for Canadian food programs and policy are needed to address how social media can shape relationships between body shape and eating in teen girls. Some researchers have called for programs or policies focusing on media literacy. This approach focuses on helping teens identify unrealistic body shape standards. This may be an effective approach, but we need more research in the Canadian context first. Little work has explored how social media use impacts Canadian teen girls’ eating choices. Instead, a 2016 review revealed that most work looking at social media and eating comes from the United States or Europe. We also need to understand how teen girls’ experiences with social media may differ from other gender groups. This includes boys, or teens who identify as transgender, gender fluid or bi-gendered. Programs and policy will need to account for these differences to ensure that all Canadian teens, regardless of gender, receive support to eat free from pressures of body shape.