Guess What?? It's Fat Talk Free Week!!

Guess what this week is?? Fat Talk Free Week!! I just heard about this and I am so excited. What a great idea! So, what in the world is Fat Talk Free Week anyways? It is five whole days set aside, from October 19-23, to raise awareness of body image issues and to bring attention to how damaging the 'thin ideal' is for women in our society.

The following is a video which has been put together to inspire and impact, and I highly encourage you to watch it! The formatting is not working on the video below, so CLICK HERE to watch!

And another one! Because it is so good! CLICK HERE!!

Also, here are some facts that were put together by TriDelta, the sorority and Greek organization that is headlining this week's End Fat Talk campaign. You may find these facts surprising, interesting, disheartening. They may inspire you to join the fight! I lifted these facts to share from the End Fat Talk website (http://www.endfattalk.org), and they can be accessed by clicking on the 'stats' button.

81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat. 51% of 9 and 10 year old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet.(Mellin LM, Irwin CE & Scully S, 1992)

Barbie, the best selling fashion doll in the world, has unattainable and unhealthy body proportions. If she were alive, her waist would be smaller than patients with anorexia nervosa, and she would be unable to menstruate. Research has shown that very young girls (ages 5-7) who are exposed to Barbie have lower body esteem and want a thinner body than they have.(Dittmar, Halliwell, & Ive, 2006)

IN THE UNITED STATES...

More than 2/3 of women ages 18-25 would rather be mean or stupid than be fat and over 50% would rather be hit by a truck.(Martin, 2007)

1 in 4 women have avoided engaging in a physical activity or sport because they feel badly about the way they look.(Dove, Beyond Stereotypes: Rebuilding the Foundation of Beauty Beliefs)

According to a national survey, 60% of adolescent girls are currently trying to lose weight(1) and more than 50% have engaged in unhealthy weight control behaviors such as fasting, skipping meals, vomiting or smoking in the past year(2). Girls who use dangerous weight control behaviors like vomiting are more likely to attempt suicide(3).(1)http://www.cdc.gov/HealthyYouth/yrbs/pdf/yrbss07_mmwr.pdf; (2)Neumark-Sztainer, Story, Hannan, Perry, & Irving, 2002; (3)Crow, Eisenberg, Story, & Neumark-Sztainer, 2008)

Adolescent girls who are less satisfied with their bodies engage in less physical activity.(Neumark-Sztainer, Paxton, Hannan, Haines, & Story, 2006)

Fashion models are thinner than 98% of women. (Smolak, 1996)

As many as 10 million females are suffering from anorexia or bulimia. That's more than are suffering from breast cancer. (National Eating Disorder Association)

AROUND THE WORLD...

Eating disorders are as prevalent in Italy as in the United States. (Favaro, Ferrara, & Santonastaso, 2003)

On a list of items including suicide, depression and drugs, Australian girls ranked body image as their most concerning issue. (National Survey of Young Australians, 2007)

63% of women in Brazil have considered having cosmetic surgery to enhance their appearance. (Dove, Beyond Stereotypes: Rebuilding the Foundation of Beauty Beliefs)

After three years of Western television, the rate of purging in Fijian girls went from 0% to 11% and 74% of Fijian girls now report feeling too big or too fat at least sometimes. (Becker, Burwell, Herzog, Hamburg, & Gilman, 2002)

Percentage of girls in one Israeli study who are...afraid of becoming fat: 63% and who are unhappy with their figure: 87%. (Latzer & Shatz, 2001)

Half of all women in Japan have avoided going to the doctor because they feel badly about their looks and more than half have avoided going on a job interview for the same reason. (Dove, Beyond Stereotypes: Rebuilding the Foundation of Beauty Beliefs)

When given a range of body types to choose from, 12% of Mexican girls selected the anorexic body size as their ideal body shape. (Austin & Smith, 2008)

Almost 1/3 of women in Saudi Arabia report crying because they feel badly about the way they look. (Dove, Beyond Stereotypes: Rebuilding the Foundation of Beauty Beliefs)

Click HERE for more detailed information on Fat Talk Free Week or visit www.endfattalk.org.

Finding Balance

I recently came across a website that is a great resource for anyone struggling with disordered eating. The site is www.findingbalance.com and can be accessed by clicking HERE. Finding Balance is a faith-based nonprofit whose goal is to provide resources, support, information and encouragement for those struggling with food issues.

This site was started after a study was published in SELF magazine in 2008 by Cynthia Bulik, director of UNC's Eating Disorder Program, which reported that 75% of women have eating issues of some kind. This statistic is astounding. The creator of Finding Balance, Constance Rhodes, author of Life Inside the Thin Cage, was inspired to create the site as a way of reaching out to the many girls and women who struggle with food issues, as a tool to help and encourage. To read about Constance and her journey of recovery from disordered eating, click here. The site also aims to eliminate the stigma associated with eating and body image issues. For more information, visit the site at www.findingbalance.com.

Thoughts on the Freshman 15, Courtesy of Newsweek...

This fall, Newsweek Magazine wrote an article entitled "Rethinking The Freshman Fifteen." I was immediately drawn to this article for obvious reasons, as I work with eating disorders, but I also remember the hysteria surrounding the ominous freshman fifteen that I was bombarded with when going off to college. I remember hearing about these alleged 15 pounds that my fellow freshman and I needed to watch out for- relatives, people in my dorm, my RA, friends, professors, strangers who found out I was a freshman, etc... it all felt just a little bit much. What I liked about this article is that it highlights an at risk group- college freshman, and really, college students in general- but it also highlights a cultural notion- the freshman fifteen, which can trigger disordered eating in many college students who begin to fixate on not wanting to gain these 15 pounds.

While we know that each person responds differently to environmental stimuli, we also know that the trend in college dining halls to display caloric and nutritional information for all food being served has been difficult for some people. For this reason, Harvard University pulled the caloric and nutritional information from their dining halls last year, instead opting to feature it online for those who were interested. For some who may be recovering or trying to recover from an eating disorder, this information is triggering and may prove to be detrimental. For others who struggle with disordered eating, or for those who have no history of eating issues, the presence of such information can bring about an unhealthy awareness. The argument that a school like Yale makes (Yale University refuses to remove this information in their dining halls) is that obesity in our country is rising, and this is a helpful way to encourage healthy eating and weight management.

What stands out in my mind (click HERE to read this article) is not so much the debate over whether or not to display caloric and nutritional information about the food being served in dining halls, but how we help to engage college students in healthy ways of living. The number of EDNOS diagnoses (Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified- a diagnostic term which includes disordered eating behaviors that do not meet the exact criteria for anorexia and/or bulimia) has doubled, and according to a statistic in this article from the American College Health Association, 38 percent of college students are using eating disordered behaviors to manage weight. The need for education, therapy and healthy approaches to our bodies and food is something that we ALL need, but this article just reminds me that college students are at risk. Prevention efforts aimed at college students, as well as treatment, is essential.