Starting last night, Northwestern joined schools across the nation in advocating Eating Disorders Awareness Week, a week-long event that reminds students to embrace who they are, no matter what size or shape they might be.
NU’s Eating Concerns Assessment and Treatment Team and NU’s Counseling and Psychological Services co-sponsored the week to promote awareness about eating disorders and challenge students to improve their self concept and body image. For the first time in the event’s 21-year history, Eating Disorders Awareness Week is being held at NU.
The week challenges people to be “comfortable in your genes” and includes the Great Jeans Giveaway, where everyone at NU can place jeans that no longer fit them in drop boxes around campus. These jeans will be donated to Chicagoland resale shops and the Evanston Women’s Board of Northwestern University Settlement Association.
“We’re asking people to donate jeans that no longer fit them properly, the idea being to shed society’s expectations of what size should be,” said Sarah Levi, a CAPS psychologist and Eating Concerns team coordinator.
There are 12 drop boxes located around NU’s Evanston campus and six drop boxes on the Chicago campus where students, faculty, staff and administrators can donate their jeans. The team members hope to collect 1,000 pairs of jeans by the end of the week, Levi said.
“Part of this whole idea to embrace your genes is to recognize there’s not much we can do to change our body size and shape,” Levi said. “A lot of it has to do with genetics.”
As well as the campus-wide jeans collection, the Eating Concerns team and CAPS sponsored a presentation for 330 sorority women from NU’s 12 Panhellenic Association chapters last night in Fisk Hall.
“We thought this would be a good way to attract a lot of people and get out a lot of information in one shot,” said Panhellenic President Brittney Bahlman, a Communication junior.
By moving away from merely defining and classifying the dangers of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia, the four speakers instead promoted a healthy lifestyle. Levi based her presentation on refocusing students’ views about dieting.
In front of an audience full of sorority women, Dr. David Shor, a CAPS psychologist, discussed the impact of men’s body image beliefs on themselves, women and relationships.
Oehme Soule, a registered dietician and nutrition therapist, discussed the practice of intuitive eating and offered the audience some new ideas to “chew on.”
“How you eat is just as important, if not more important, than what you eat,” Soule said.
Also challenging traditional viewpoints, Dr. Jon Englund, a family medicine and sports medicine physician, warned attendees against the dangers of excessive exercise and exercise addiction.
“It is possible to exercise too much,” Englund said.
McCormick freshman Alyssa Novak said she appreciated speakers’ suggestions and enjoyed the exercise segment of the presentation.
“I didn’t think (the presentation) was going to be as helpful as it was,” Novak said.
Levi said the Eating Concerns team plans to build on the inaugural Eating Disorders Week and make it an even bigger event next year.
“This is a kick-off year for us so we’re kind of seeing how it goes and hoping that next year we can do a lot more with it,” Levi said.
