Let's Talk UNLV

Unknown Speaker 0:05
Welcome to Let's Talk, you know, the Student Wellness takeover. What what, hey, at 91.5k UMB. We're your co host, Dr. Tanya crab, and Karen Jean Charles. Today we have Dr. Elissa Newman, with us and we'll be speaking about body image.

Unknown Speaker 0:24
So a little bit about body image. Society tells us to be many things. It tells us to be thin, to be lighter, to eat less to work out more to dress a certain way to walk a certain way. Rarely does society ever tell us that we are enough. As young adults viewing one's body in a positive light can be difficult. Today we have Dr. Alyssa Newman With us to discuss body image. So Dr. Lissa Newman, welcome. Welcome.

Unknown Speaker 0:50
Thank you for having me.

Unknown Speaker 0:51
Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do? Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 0:55
so I am a staff psychologist over at CAPS. I'm actually a little bit newer. But I received my master's and doctorate from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, and then did my internship and postdoc at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. And then the kind of landed here, which I'm really excited about. I do a lot of work with eating disorders with body image and with those in the LGBTQ plus community.

Unknown Speaker 1:25
Wonderful. And for those who don't know, I'm cap stands for Student Counseling and Psychological Services. Were the mental health providers for students on the UNLV. Campus.

Unknown Speaker 1:34
Nice. So can you tell us a little bit about what exactly body images?

Unknown Speaker 1:39
Yeah, I think that a lot of us kind of have this like preconceived notion of like, yeah, body image, just like what you look like. But actually, like, when we really delve into it, it's a lot more than that. It's not just how we like evaluate ourselves in the room. It's like kind of how you see yourself, when you look in the mirror. It's how you believe like, what you believe about your appearance. It's also like an emotional component to so like, how do you feel emotionally when you look in that mirror? What kind of like, how do you control and sense your body and your body size? And also just like, what investment do you have in it? What consequences of you, particularly if you have a negative or poor body image? Like, what impact does that have on kind of just your daily life?

Unknown Speaker 2:30
That's really interesting.

Unknown Speaker 2:31
So what are some of the things that contribute to people's perceptions of themselves, especially around their body image,

Unknown Speaker 2:38
there are so many different things. And I think we could probably have a whole segment just on like that piece at all the contributing factors. But really, when you think about it, like when we're infants, like when we're babies, like we don't really have any sense of like what body images or how we appear, we're just kind of like living our life doing our own thing. And then it's like, over time, we have all of these experiences that happen that really just change how we feel about ourselves, and how we view how we look. So it could be from like, family, it could be friends, it could be our society, and how we're kind of obsessed with, like dieting, and how we look. It could be from just like genetic kind of components, or general cultural messaging, like there's really so many different things that kind of go into place in this.

Unknown Speaker 3:29
Speaking of society, though, how have your centric beauty standards change how people of color view themselves,

Unknown Speaker 3:38
obviously, like, as a white provider, like very much kind of, obviously, I cannot speak from my own personal experience. But I think that the fact that it's very Eurocentric, kind of in nature, and it's like you have to be white, you have to be thin, you have to be rich, you have to do all these things, which naturally, if you are a person of color, you're not going to fit into that box. And so you're already at an unfair advantage kind of in that realm. And so same thing for people who are in like, larger bodies, or people who are in like disabled bodies, and not able to move their body in a way that they're used to. All of those are like a transgender body. All of those really have an impact on, like how we feel about ourselves, and you kind of almost learn when you're not in what your stuff says it's like almost like, well, I don't feel safe in my body. I can't do this right kind of in my body.

Unknown Speaker 4:32
You know, it's so funny that you mentioned that because as I was thinking about it, you know, a lot of cultures didn't use to prioritize thinness like then it seems to be like a new thing. Like almost all the old art is like these lovely well fed women laying on couches, ya know, for a long time, Marilyn Monroe was like the icon and then suddenly, like a switch sort of flipped. You know, in terms of body images, and then with the advent of social media, oh, My Good lord, like between the the photoshopping, and the filter, lecture I buy these aren't even our bodies online. Correct? And I How do you think that that feeds into this idea that there is a perfect form and that we can all look a certain way? Right?

Unknown Speaker 5:19
I mean, that's a hard one, I think it's just because they're, like, automatically, it's almost we have to tell ourselves, like, whatever we're seeing online, especially like, that's not reality, like there's nothing real kind of about that aspect. It's all kind of filtered to be whatever we think it needs to be. And so like, when we're actually interacting with people in the world, and we're seeing how different our bodies are, like, you know, it really kind of throws like there's like, almost like this dissonance and disconnect kind of in US of like, I should be doing this. But like, that is not at all what I'm actually experiencing,

Unknown Speaker 5:54
you know, it's so funny, because I've gone through the Snapchat filters. And I've gone through sounds like Oh, my God, so with a little makeup, probably like, and I think you're right, I think that it contributes to the sense of dissatisfaction, because we're tagging into what's not reality, right? So it feels like you're failing, but you're failing against an artificial marker. You know, I have the snapped at me. And I had the Mimi. And after you see the fully polished you, it's like, Wait, what am I doing wrong? And I think in addition to that, is that celebrity component, right? Like, we don't see celebrities in their truest form, which is why sadly, interestingly enough, COVID changed that for some folks. Like I finally saw people without makeup, I finally saw people in their true form. But I agree with you this, this false idea around beauty contributes a lot to people's idea that somehow they're not quite enough. You know, because enough is manufactured.

Unknown Speaker 6:58
Do you think people are shifting towards a more accepting view of themselves overall, like on social media, or you think it's still like, really filtered? Really like? Like, there's, like you said, a dissonance?

Unknown Speaker 7:12
I mean, I definitely think there's, it's kind of a mixed bag. I mean, I think like what we saw is like over the course of the pandemic, like many of the body image concerns and eating disorders in particular, like they got worse, actually interesting for that time, just like kind of mental health stuff got worse over time. And so like, Yes, I think we're bringing, like more light into kind of the subject. And it's been talked about a little bit more, but like, we're realistically so far away from where actually, it could be it should be, and get that,

Unknown Speaker 7:42
you know, it's, as you mentioned, that I was thinking about this idea that, you know, the APA did a study and like most of us, either went in one direction, I went in the other direction, in terms of our weight over the pandemic, because we were in those spaces where we were eating more, we were sort of eating to medicate, in some cases, you can't social distance from your refrigerator. So for a lot of us, that's right, it's right there, right there call into like the siren call. But I also noticed this new thing, where there's this trend towards body positivity, and I know that I'm Alyssa was like one of the biggest proponents of body positivity. But I felt like I was seeing more women in their bodies in real time in real space without the filter in those social media, places and spaces, which was exciting to see. But it wasn't of course without harassment. You know, but I love that that's bringing to light, different forms of bodies and different levels of excess acceptability. So I guess my question for you is this. How does one get from not enoughness to enoughness? And my body is a good body?

Unknown Speaker 9:00
Um, I think it's, I think it's a journey. It's very much a journey. And I think it's like to kind of remind yourself that you're not alone, kind of in this fact. Because we are, again, taught to kind of hate our bodies. I think one of the ways of just kind of like almost recognizing for yourself, like, what is that narrative that you've kind of developed around your body? Like, even if you think back to like, early childhood, like, what did you think of your body? Like what kind of played a part in that? What about as you went into, like, puberty, adolescence? What about now like, what kind of stories are you constantly kind of telling yourself? And like, what do you kind of value in your life? A lot of times, like people are like, you know, I talked about their appearance and I want to change this and change that. But when you ask them about their values very rarely is like appearance. How I work Like in that kind of value, right? And so like almost building that awareness kind of helps us to kind of shift that narrative over time.

Unknown Speaker 10:09
So shifting the focus to what matters, not what matters, what matters to you versus what matters to other people. Is one of the ways to do it. Yeah. And, you know, I think we have to acknowledge that weight loss is a million billion dollar industry, right? It is, you know, and it's kind of ironic at the same time, someone's pushing like a weight loss commercial, then there's a Carl's Jr. Commercial. Right out there right now. Like, you know, so there isn't the narrative is not just the one we create. It's the one that's been it's a story that was built for us from before we could understand that we were being sold the narrative, you know, and that's sort of the narrative of woman that's fixed yourself. Yeah. You know, it fell on you a little thinner, a little taller, a little prettier. So maybe distinguishing the idea that these, this narrative isn't just one that's self imposed, and paying attention to where those stories are also coming from.

Unknown Speaker 11:13
And it kind of makes me think about the billion dollar industry that is weight loss, and how much it pushes things like eating disorders and things like that. What constitutes an eating disorder? Can you talk about that a

Unknown Speaker 11:26
little bit? Yeah. So I think like eating disorders, I think in our society, there's kind of like this spectrum, kind of, so we have like, this, like, great relationship with food, like you can attune to your hunger fullness cues. You don't pass judgment on what you eat, you kind of allow yourself to eat whatever you want. And you're getting appropriate nutrients for your body. And then on kind of on that far end, like we have eating disorders, where it's like a hyper focus on what we're eating, like, on our appearance, it's always in there might be calorie counting, or certain behaviors that we're trying to alter kind of our appearance. And then we have most of us kind of in that middle, which is like this dieting like this, maybe not great relationship with our body. And so we can tell if it's an eating disorder, more of like, how functionally impactful is it? So like, Are you constantly thinking about food, planning your meals, calorie counting, or feeling like you can't eat certain things because of, you know, your fear of weight gain? And it's kind of like that obsessional kind of, like, piece of it, that frequency of how often you're doing like dieting, or kind of engaging in behaviors. And then also just like, Are you avoiding situations, due to not feeling great about your body, whereas, you know, so you might like, avoid going out to eat with friends, or only eating certain things or having to prepare beforehand. So there might be kind of more like, on that end of things like eating disorders are really serious conditions, and they have a whole host of medical complications that come around with them. And I think a lot of people just kind of think, oh, it's not that big of a deal. Like, you know, it's just, this is how we are like, as a society, and it's really, it's really not.

Unknown Speaker 13:17
So what I'm hearing is that if you're if food is the center of your life, if it's the control mechanism for your life, if it's the thing that prevents you from living your best life, then there might be some consideration around it. I have a question around that, you know, and eating disorders, and this idea of the ideal weight. How does one know what that is? You know, there's a lot of information around like, BMI. You know, I should weigh this. I remember when I was in high school, and I thought that my ideal weight was like, 125, because I read it in a magazine. Yeah, and I'm definitely not 125 Now, but I'm also not thin enough to pass on the raindrops anymore. So back then I was incredibly unhealthy for my size and my height, because there was this number that I had zeroed in on, that was my ideal weight. So what would you say to someone who's like, Well, no, it's not that I have an eating issue. It's just that according to XY and Z, I have to be this certain weight in order to be healthy, right.

Unknown Speaker 14:23
And I think that gets tricky because obviously, we're saturated with this idea that we have to be like in this perfect box. And what we know for sure is like BMI, like even though a lot of medical providers use that or we hear that a lot like we've known that that was created in the system that like wasn't hot for what it's intended and what it's used for today. And it's very, like very pigeon holed almost like and what you can actually capture and that so we know that BMI no matter what anyone says like not a good sense of that your your healthy weight, so to speak is more like where kind of just your natural setpoint is like well What happens if you don't control it, you just kind of eat what you want eat when you're full. Obviously, if you're having an eating disorder, like you would need probably some help and reconnecting with that. But generally speaking, like, it's going to be your natural setpoint. And that's going to change over the course of your life. Like, it's not going to be like what you were in high school, or what you are when you're a child. Like that's not realistic, it changes over time, and just allowing yourself to just not be so focused on the number because the number doesn't represent you, as kind of a whole person,

Unknown Speaker 15:28
right? So when do you think someone should seek support for an eating disorder? When does it get too serious?

Unknown Speaker 15:37
I think if you notice, like kind of a shift in like your attitudes towards like yourself or your body, or just like your relationship with your food. If you're constantly like beating up on your body, if maybe you're like doing things like whether that's exercise, or restricting, like certain things that you're having like to alter your appearance, if you're just unhappy with the relationship that you have with your body, and with food, or if you start to notice, like physical kind of symptoms like that would be signs that maybe like I should talk to someone about this. Interesting.

Unknown Speaker 16:15
So how does cat support students that are struggling with food related or eating related issues? What are some of the options that are available for students that say, want some support in that area?

Unknown Speaker 16:27
Yes. So we have a few options, we offer individual therapy, so that you can really kind of hone in on, you know, reconnecting that and re shifting that narrative with your body, we have consultation, so we can talk to someone, even if you're concerned about our friend, we can talk with you and kind of give you some tips on how you might be able to support them. We also have a eating disorders treatment team, which we collaborate with our health center. So we have a dietitian and the medical provider, as well as therapist on that team. And we can really just kind of we talk about cases, we make sure that they're getting the support that they need. And then if they need a little bit more support, like a higher level of care, we kind of helped to facilitate referrals and help connect them.

Unknown Speaker 17:12
Those sounds like wonderful resources,

Unknown Speaker 17:15
is, so what are some takeaways for people listening at home about body image,

Unknown Speaker 17:20
I think if like you or maybe someone you know, is struggling with an eating disorder, just know that you're kind of not alone in that. And that there's a lot of things that contribute to kind of our relationship with food. And our bodies, you know, they're gonna change over time. And it's not a choice. So it's not a it's not a choice that we have no one wants to have an eating disorder, like they're exhausting. And eating disorders don't look a certain way. So no matter what people may say, or think to you, like they don't look a certain way, if you're concerned about yourself or someone like please seek help, because earlier that we can get you support and the help that you need, the better chance of recovery. And even if you're later in life, you can still always kind of reach out. So

Unknown Speaker 18:13
real talk, real talk, can we talk about some of the ways in which we came to understand our bodies? And what are some of the messages that we receive? So for me, even though I grew up in a western household, where thickness was the way once we came to America, my mother sort of embraced this idea that you had to be like supermodel fit, right? So a lot of the messages that I received started early and often, you know, and as you go through that stage where you're just a little bit chunky, because we all go through that phase. There was this idea that as compared to my friends as compared to the world, and she really believed that this was teaching me how to be successful. So that's the other piece, right? This idea that your physical form is your gateway to things which isn't truly alive because they've done studies that said that Turner candidates, you know, get treated differently. So how does one unlearn that? You know, how does one unpack that and how did you ladies come to your understanding around your bodies, right?

Unknown Speaker 19:23
When growing up? I was in the same position as you my mom is Haitian. So you know, thickness is as you said, it is the way but it wasn't the way in my house. I was constantly compared to like other people like oh, you should be as thin as damn Why aren't you doing this when I'm like, we are all eating the same thing. We are all in the same house. You know, our bodies are different. The weight the way we intake calories, the way we hold calories is different. It's genetics. But that wasn't something that was seen so unlearning that is has been like a recent thing. just allowing myself to exist not hiding my stomach not hiding my arms and just like wearing what makes me feel comfortable. Like for the people listening if they're not in if you're not in like the UNLV community, we are in Las Vegas, it is hot, like the football has to be outside, we have to air out the football, I am not, you know, wearing sweatpants Can

Unknown Speaker 20:26
I get a witness

Unknown Speaker 20:28
and covering myself all the time, like I cannot do it like it I will burn to death. But just allowing myself to exist is something that I've been like recently doing. And it's honestly been really fun, because it really opens up the amount of things you can wear in your wardrobe. So that's you know, that's what I'm rocking with right now. So Dr. Newman,

Unknown Speaker 20:49
anything here for all of that?

Unknown Speaker 20:53
Yeah, and I was like, I was very much brought up in a culture and a household, that kind of baby didn't emphasize appearance. But like within the culture, obviously very much emphasized looking a smaller way. And I was actually in like, a much smaller body size, like as I was younger, because I ran cross country and I did track. And so there was a lot of emphasis on like having that smaller body. And so over time, it's as my body has kind of changed. And I've grown older, and like really gotten into body image eating disorders, like I've just really delved into the community and figuring out like, there's other ways to kind of do this, we don't have to be in this, like kind of hole that we're in, like, I've seen dieting within the family and friends. And like I just see, like, I'm like, I want no part of that. So it's like constantly learning and like evaluating where you're at, and just eventually kind of shifting that narrative, but it's still struggle. Even though I've been doing this for years. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 21:47
for sure. It took me a minute, because I was in the military where they're legit weighed me every year, every couple of years, every couple times a year. So I was very conscious of how much I weighed, because if I weighed beyond a certain point, I could get kicked out, like you legitimately can get kicked out of the military if you don't make weight standards. So there was a lot of stigma and shame associated with my body first that I was that I came up with. And then that just continued on. So I was in this really bad habit of compensating, you know, so I still, you know, like, filled up my uniform a little bit more. So that meant I had to run a little bit more, I got into this mentality where I had to earn my meal. Like I legitimately remember one time wanting to go to the Dairy Queen. And I was like, this is 600 calories, I gotta go run 600 calories on the treadmill. I didn't want it after that, by the way, I just want to. So it has been an ongoing conversation that has been an ongoing challenge. You know, I'm standing in front of yourself in the mirror without averting your eyes without criticizing, talking kindly to my body, who in this era of COVID helped me to survive, you know, say what I will about whatever my football, whatever else, this is the body that allowed me to still be here, you know, trying to affirm parts of my body. Thank you legs for work, and thank you, because that's the other piece, right? We don't realize how much abilities we have. And how many people don't have the same abilities as we're criticizing it. And also sort of this is a weird one. So paying attention to Venus Williams and the ways in which he just embraces her form. Yeah, you know, and it may not be traditional, it may not be everybody's ideal, but she recognizes that her body represents strength and beauty and as long as it represents strength and beauty to her to heck with everybody else's interpretation of strength and beauty. So if you could talk to the little you What would you tell the little you about all of it about this journey about what you've learned and what you'd like her to keep learning Dr. Newman

Unknown Speaker 24:05
put me on the spot I think I would suspect like say that society is going to send you all of these message and tell you how you should and shouldn't be and as best you can is it's going to be difficult and you'll eventually get there but just try to ignore them and do what's best kind of for you because you know you better than anyone else can

Unknown Speaker 24:32
true awesome

Unknown Speaker 24:34
um, I would say I would tell them that is not their fault a lot of the times it was like blaming myself for you know if I would eat bread and all of a sudden I'll be like oh my god I'm so fat I'm so this and that so that but like, you know bread is like natural part of like our food chain but like the food plate or whatever it is. I'm Brad. Yeah, I love bread. I love I'm a carbs queen, like I was I would just say, you know, just eat, just eat like I was a growing child, you know, starving yourself recording. But you know, doing all that is like, it's not worth it, it's not helpful. And I would just say just Just do what you want, because literally the person that you wished you would grow up to be you became so just, you know, I love that.

Unknown Speaker 25:31
I wanted to put one final thing out there. I know, we focused a lot on eating disorders around the feminine. But let's just be clear, true. Eating disorders is not just a female issue. It's true. You know, men also struggle with image men also have these ideals, like everybody won't be Thor, you know? So it's it's not unusual. And men are even getting plastic surgery to adjust their bodies to these new ideal standards. Because even they aren't enough. Right. So let's be clear, they struggle to so I just wanted to put that out there. For our male listeners. We see you, right. We know that you struggle to you are welcome to this conversation. You are welcome to seek support. seeking support makes you wise. Not not not not soft, not just get the help you deserve the help you are worthy of the help. You are enough. Yes. So which is exactly what I tell my younger self, you are enough to stop it stop chasing these ideals you are and you are more than enough. And for all y'all out there. So are you You are more than enough. If you need convincing. Come see us. Yeah, we got you.

Unknown Speaker 26:41
So I just want to thank you once again, Dr. Newman for coming on the show. I want to give you this like chance to speak about any upcoming projects, you're working on your social medias, any of that anything going on.

Unknown Speaker 26:57
I'm not I have projects that I'm doing. But I don't think it's really coming to mind at this at this moment. But I think being a part of I will be taking over that chair of the eating disorders treatment team. So if there's things so if there are things that like if you are struggling, also want to include like those who are trans and non binary like you to also feel free to reach out because anyone can struggle with any of this. Absolutely,

Unknown Speaker 27:28
for sure. Thank you for that. Thank you so much for joining us. If you are part of the UNLV community, I need to talk to someone or go to mental health workshop comm through caps 70289536277028953627. We are located in the Student Wellness building, that's that place with the gym. It's your one stop shop for mental health and physical health and for just health in general. Come on over and see us.

Unknown Speaker 27:54
Awesome. You can also email caps caps@unlv.edu. And you can visit the caps website at unlv.edu/caps. This was let's talk UNLV Student Health and Wellness takeover at 91.5k u and v. I'm Karen Jean Charles and I'm Dr. Tanya crab. And we'll see you next time. Bye.

Dr. Renee Watson 28:21
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