Building a positive relationship with food and your body
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Parents and Carers – Body Image and Healthy Eating
Social media & beauty standards
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The hot cross bun model
The hot cross bun model shows how thoughts, emotions, physical feelings and behaviours all interact with each other in one situation. In some cases, a vicious cycle can be formed, with unhelpful behaviours triggering negative thoughts.
Kim’s thoughts/images
about her body
She thinks she looks fat and ugly.
What Kim did as a result
Missed
school/swimming.
Kim’s feelings towards
her body
Ashamed, disgusted and embarrassed.
Physical sensations
Kim feels in her body
Disgust, discomfort,
shaky and sick.
Scenario 1: Kim
Kim has just gone into Year 9. In the first term, she has been timetabled for swimming for her weekly PE lesson. Kim is worried about what she might look like in her swimming costume, so the day before the first session, she tries it on in her bedroom in front of the mirror.
Kim is disgusted by what she sees in the mirror and thinks she looks fat and ugly. She has the image in her mind of her classmates laughing at her as she walks out of the changing room.
This makes her feel ashamed and embarrassed. The following day Kim wakes up shaking and feeling sick. She asks her Mum to call the school to say that she is poorly.
What thoughts/images might Rob be having in response to seeing himself on Zoom?
Critical thoughts re. appearance.
What do
they do?
Tell their friends
they're tired and
log off the call.
What might
a young person's feelings be?
Embarrassed,
ashamed
and low.
What physical sensations might they be feeling?
Disgust,
discomfort,
temperature rising and tearful.
Scenario 2: Rob
During lockdown, Rob’s friends organised a catch up on Zoom.
While on the call, Rob noticed his image on screen and became self-conscious.
Rob felt he looked unattractive and worried his friends would be judging his appearance and thinking the same.
Feeling ashamed, embarrassed and low, Rob told his friends he felt tired and needed to go to bed. He then logged off the Zoom call.
What thoughts/images might they be having in response to the photo?
Critical thoughts re. appearance.
What do
they do?
Avoid classmates
isolating
themselves.
What might
their feelings be?
Embarrassed,
ashamed
and low.
What physical sensations might they be feeling?
Disgust,
discomfort,
temperature rising and tearful.
Scenario 3: Sam
Sam is scrolling through Instagram and comes across a picture of a celebrity they like.
They begin to compare themselves, noticing that their teeth aren’t as white, hair isn’t as smooth and skin isn’t as clear.
Sam begins to think that their classmates must notice and judge these things in them every day and starts to feel incredibly anxious.
Sam feels nervous arriving at school and decides to sits at the back of class so that they can avoid talking to anyone up close.
The hot cross bun model
Consider a challenging scenario your child has faced and fill in the blanks...
Thoughts
Behaviours
Emotions
Physical sensation
Social media comparisons
and media literacy
Your child's social media usage may impact
their body image.
Who they follow on apps like Instagram and TikTok may make a bigger difference to body image than time spent on social media. Diversifying their feed is important!
Consider why your child chooses to follow certain accounts. How do they feel before and after going on social media?
Research shows that viewing body positive social media has a positive effect on men and women's body image, self-compassion and mood.
Media literacy
It’s important to think critically when it comes to brands, advertising and well-known apps like Instagram.
Billion dollar industries would be impacted if body image improved. Arguably they would prefer if it doesn’t.
Does your child know what is real and what is not when it comes to the media?
When scrolling through social media,
encourage your child to ask themselves:
What is the purpose
of this post?
Do I need to buy
something to achieve
this ideal?
Who is profiting
from this?
Media checker
Support your child to ask the following questions when looking at social media posts...
- Who created it?
- Who paid for it?
- What is its purpose?
- Who is the target audience?
- Who benefits?
- Who is harmed?
- Who/what are the sources of this information?
- In what way has the image been manipulated?
- What are the values of this message?
- Do I agree with the values it represents?
Examples of media influence...
Detox = laxative. Short term way of eating that
is mostly liquids and restrictive.
Did you know our bodies naturally filter and detox every single day? If you have a functioning liver and kidneys, its likely a detox is not necessary or even beneficial for you.
Guilt free = eat as much as you
want and buy more of our product.
Who profits from this? Be critical of food marketing, it is created to sell products NOT to teach us about nutrition or what you should eat.
The effects of photoshop...
Airbrushing – this is where techniques are used to smooth out imperfections, such as spots or moles.
Digital manipulation – this is where an image is altered in a more drastic way, such as changing the model’s body shape or the shape of their facial features. Sometimes a body part of the model is replaced with the same body part from another model.
Use of lighting – special lighting positions can be used when the picture is being taken to highlight certain areas of the model’s body and hide others.
Photoshop: This is where techniques are used to remove imperfections, such as dark circles or blemishes.
Parody accounts and images
These can help to remind your child of social media’s unrealistic beauty standards.
Parody accounts drive home the idea that entire teams of professionals are needed to create the images that we unfairly compare ourselves too.
They subvert the ‘thin ideal’ expectations and remind us of what’s real.
Viewing body positive content
Encourage your child to follow accounts that promote body acceptance and appreciation, and that challenge society’s thin ideal and celebrate all bodies.
Remember, the modelling industry changes through the ages. What is considered 'beautiful' and 'ideal' by society changes dramatically over the years.
Self-worth
Means having confidence in one's own worth or abilities - also known as self-esteem.
Reflections
Well Done!
- Completed
You have
My Notes
Supporting Videos
The Fight, Flight, Freeze Response
If you could change one thing about your body, what would it be?
Mindful Eating
