We are now in a brand new century, a time of Pilates, Yoga and cosmetic surgery. Vast change is on the horizon, yet we are still unhappy with ourselves.
However much we try not to think about it, we still struggle with the emotional and physical devastation of eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.
From Feb. 26 to March 4, Eating Disorder Awareness Week will be in full swing here at ETSU. It will include events organized by more than 500 health professionals and educators from across the country to promote a healthy body image and self-esteem to thousands of participants in communities and on college campuses.
During the week, an information booth will be set up in the Culp Center Atrium from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Eating Disorder Awareness Week has been held on our campus for a couple of years,” said Dr. Gary Petiprin, director of the ETSU Counseling Center and coordinator of the event. “The two main things going on during this will be our booth set up in the Atrium and our two programs to be held in the forum on Wednesday and Thursday of that week.”
The programs to be held in the forum will have no main speaker, but rather, they will have a panel of speakers discussing the warning signs of eating disorders, and how to help a friend.
Considered a kind of mental disorder by the medical community, anorexia and bulimia are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, emotional, psychological, interpersonal and social factors. While eating disorders begin with preoccupations with food and weight, it can often be about much more.
About 90-95 percent of anorexia sufferers are girls and women, and between 1-2 percent of American women suffer from it.
Bulimia affects 1-4 percent of college age women, and approximately 80 percent of bulimic patients are female. Bulimia is twice as common as anorexia.
Currently it is estimated that one million males in the U.S. struggle with an eating disorder, and in many minority communities, anorexia and bulimia are on the rise.
“Eating disorders are becoming more and more common”, Petiprin said. “Look at the way images of beauty have changed since the 1800s. The body that we see as beautiful has gotten thinner and thinner, and of course the advertising industry has played a huge role in that.”
The theme for Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2001 is “Every Body is Beautiful” and it will celebrate the diversity of people from every ethnicity, size, age and gender. The emphasis this year is on teaching everyone to celebrate the diversity of every body.
Eating Disorders Awareness Week spreads the message that self-esteem cannot be weighed in pounds on a scale, it’s what is inside that counts.
“We need to try to imagine what we would see if we could see the inside of a person, not just what their body looked like,” said Petiprin.
The program “Everybody is Beautiful” will be held on Feb. 28, from 2-3:30 p.m. and on Thursday, March 1, from 7-8 p.m. in the Culp Forum. For more information on eating disorders, drop by the counseling center located on the third floor of the Culp Center.

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