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Think of all the men and women you’ve encountered in your lifetime. Chances are, you’ve met someone or even have a close friend or family member who has an eating disorder.
This concept is the theme of the upcoming National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which will be held Feb. 26 to March 3, according to a NEDA press release. The theme, “Everybody Knows Somebody,” suggests that while eating disorders are more in the open now and there is more awareness, there is still progress to be made.
“I do believe that there is less of a stigma to having an eating disorder and talking about it, based on a national survey we conducted in 2010,” said Lynn Grefe, the president and CEO of NEDA, in an email. “However, I do believe that there is continual growing body dissatisfaction and we need to address it.”
This year, which is the 25th anniversary of the awareness week, the Empire State Building will be lit up in green and blue in honor of the fight against eating disorders, since these colors are part of NEDA’s logo, she said. NEDA also recently launched at the end of last year a new website for teens called Proud2Bme.org, which provides resources centered around body image, self-esteem and eating disorders.
Since body image is a major issue along with eating disorders, Grefe has a suggestion on how to continue the fight against these issues.
“We believe a major first step would be to require disclose on digital alterations on media images of people,” Grefe said. “Young people don’t understand that these are not real images, so at least once someone can read, they would understand that these images have been altered. I actually saw one ad where the woman’s head was wider than her hips. Sadly, these images can really have an impact on people vulnerable to low self esteem and eating disorders.”
Grefe also has advice for what you can do once you know someone who has an eating disorder and/or body image issues.
“I believe that the first step is not to judge just based on appearance,” she said. “We know that eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes. However, once you are certain that the person may be struggling, the kind thing to do is to reach out in an empathetic way, with care and concern, and offer to help them find resources for help.”
It can be uncomfortable confronting another person about such a private type of issue, but it’s important to remember that your intervention could save a life.
“If you remember that ED’s have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, it is vital to know that you could be saving someone’s life,” Grefe said. “These are treatable illnesses, but the earlier we steer people to appropriate treatment, the better the chance of success in recovery.”
Ragen Chastain, a professional speaker, writer of the blog danceswithfat.wordpress.com, said in an email that she recovered from an eating disorder and is a self-proclaimed “fat woman” who believes in “health at every size.”
“Eating disorders thrive in a society where we are encouraged to be ashamed of being, and terrified of becoming, fat,” Chastain said. “We must focus on health, not body size. As a nation we will never become a successful role model for public health until we stop being a failed role model for public thinness.”
She suggests talking about these issues with other people.
“We can open a dialog about how our culture’s obsession with thinness is hurting everyone,” Chastain said. “We can search our own lexicon and eradicate any language that shames or stigmatizes bodies, including our own. We can point to the mountain of evidence that shows that fitness is a far better indicator for health than body weight. We can stop conflating weight and health. We can be for healthy people without being against fat ones.”
Jenni Schaefer, a NEDA ambassador who herself struggled with an eating disorder, and the author of “Life Without Ed,” said in an email that she is already seeing some changes due to efforts of NEDA and activists.
“People are beginning to understand more than ever that eating disorders are real, life-threatening illnesses - not choices,” Schaefer said.
“What people still don't seem to grasp is the general idea of body acceptance. Society constantly tells us to nip, tuck, and trim our bodies. We are told to focus on what our body looks like instead of what it does. (My recovered body enables me to ice climb in Alaska!) My hope is that we can all start viewing our bodies as vehicles for life rather than as objects to be controlled.”
Although eating disorders have been gaining more attention recently, sometimes it may be the wrong type of attention.
“As more attention is paid toward understanding eating disorders and not just on sensationalizing those who have one i.e. celebrities, perhaps there is less stigma for women diagnosed with eating disorders,” said Judy Scheel, the executive director of Cedar Associates, a New York eating disorder clinic, in an email.
Sources:
Grefe, Lynn. Email interview. Jan. 17, 2012.
Chastain, Ragen. Email interview. Jan. 17, 2012.
Schaefer, Jenni. Email interview. Jan. 17, 2012.
Scheel, Judy. Email interview. Jan. 17, 2012.
NEDA LAUNCHES 25TH ANNUAL NEDAWARENESS WEEK, THEMED EVERYBODY KNOWS SOMEBODY, FEB. 26-MARCH 3. THE OPEN PRESS. PUBLISHED JAN. 10, 2012. Received the press release via email on Jan. 9, 2012.
http://www.theopenpress.com/index.php?a=press&id=127783
Reviewed January 19, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith
Add a Comment7 Comments
Thank you for posting this. As a survivor it frightens me how many disordered eating behaviors are promoted through the media. Let's stop punishing our bodies...our bodies don't deserve it.
January 20, 2012 - 2:46pmThis Comment
Amen. The latest craze of "The war on Obesity" has lead to "size" and "health" being considered one and the same, to no one's benefit. This is a potentially dangerous oversimplification that leaves much to be overlooked and/or ignored. Eating disorders are only one of the issues that fall between the cracks, but certainly one of the most serious. Making healthy choices in regards to diet and exercise become easier when you know you will be loved no matter what size you are. Shame is not an effective motivator for healthy change.
January 20, 2012 - 1:14pmThis Comment
It's incredible how little emphasis our society puts on self-acceptance.
Throughout our lives, we will suffer, change, and grow, but we ourselves (mind and body) remain. Whatever you are recovering from, be it injury, trauma, abuse, addiction, eating disorder, body dysmorphia, etc., self-acceptance is needed. Self-acceptance does not entail "giving up" or stagnating but rather a commitment to kindness and self-care of the most important kind.
January 20, 2012 - 8:09amThis Comment
Well said.
January 21, 2012 - 12:55pmThis Comment
When fitness and health are actually the yard stick by which we measure fitness and health in our society, the pressure on young men and women to force their bodies to fit a shape and size image won't be present - imagine what healthy, happy, productive young adults this would create!
January 20, 2012 - 7:28amThis Comment
I'm so glad to see more attention being paid to the issue of disordered eating and its causes. If we, as a culture, could focus on *health* instead of size, I think we'd *all* be a lot better off -- whatever size we are.
January 20, 2012 - 5:45amThis Comment
Body dissatisfaction isn't a new problem but I do think it is increasing. Most models are photoshopped to impossible perfection, and even the very slender ones are sometimes photoshopped to make them even more slender. Women with average/midsize bodies are decried as "fat" and some people see being fat as literally worse than having cancer. Our views as a society are terribly erroneous and destructive.
January 20, 2012 - 1:30amI do have an eating disorder myself. I currently am not forcing myself to vomit but I often react to personal criticism by first binging and then starving myself for several days afterwards. I think that the fact that I became bulimic at 13 and the extreme dieting that I did throughout my teens, twenties, and thirties wrecked my metabolism. Now in my late forties, I'm trying to accept myself as I am and not see exercising as a means to losing weight but as a means to gaining strength, lung capacity, and other positive things. I actually like to exercise but tend to avoid it because I equate not losing weight with failure. It's a very difficult battle.
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