U of G student Andrea LaMarre was interviewed by The Atlantic for a story about social media sites that promote certain vegan diets and the impact of those sites on people struggling with eating disorders.

The article says that food “influencers” on popular sites such as Instagram, YouTube and Facebook can sometimes be held to a level of perfectionism and a definition of what is considered healthy eating. Diverging from these strict definitions and food types sometimes results in criticism and bullying, the article states.

An instructor and PhD candidate in U of G’s Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, LaMarre talks about how she researched the Instagram accounts of people who are openly recovering from an eating disorder and said she found that many of them included foods deemed to be the “right” foods: chia seed pudding, salads, peanut butter — all vegan foods.

She talked about how many of these accounts show trends of foods deemed healthiest for recovery and expressed concern about nutritional advice coming from peers and not people who are trained to give nutritional advice.

LaMarre studies eating disorders and support systems and is interested in qualitative methods.