Body image: Hype takes a backseat to health -- just in time for spring break
Bodies of all shapes and sizes are being celebrated on the Indiana University Bloomington campus this month as health and fitness professionals encourage co-eds to ditch the "fat talk" and uncomfortable jeans and to look upon their bodies with fresh eyes.
Students, faculty and staff can ditch their tight, uncomfortable jeans during Celebrate Every-BODY Week at IU Bloomington. Jeans dropped off at the SRSC and School of HPER will be donated to the Shalom Community Center.
"I feel fat so I'll go exercise today."
"I hate the way my stomach looks."
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe what I ate for lunch today."
"I don't think students realize how toxic 'fat talk' is and how damaging it can be," said DeeDee Dayhoff, staff therapist with Counseling and Psychological Services at the IU Health Center. "It happens constantly. It's this constant chatter that focuses on the negative."
Negative body image issues -- often exacerbated during the college years -- can develop into disordered eating behaviors that jeopardize health and can lead to social isolation and even death. To help students recognize this "constant chatter," Dayhoff, other health professionals and an army of student volunteers will ask students during IU Bloomington's third annual Celebrate Your Body Day (Feb. 25) to write down examples of fat talk. As in past years, students also will be asked to write on note cards comments about their own body features that they like. These celebratory cards, filled out in residence halls, recreational facilities, sororities and other sites around campus, will be displayed for all to see.
"Hundreds and hundreds of cards will be displayed; it's really neat to see," said Dayhoff. "Participants also can register to win meals, massages and other prizes donated by area businesses."
Celebrate Your Body Day falls within Celebrate Every-BODY Week (Feb. 23-27), sponsored by Campus Recreational Sports, which is challenging students to get rid of their tight, uncomfortable jeans. Jeans donated at collection sites at the Student Recreational Sports Center and the School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation will be given to the Shalom Community Center, which provides shelter and services to the poor and homeless in the Bloomington area.
"It's for a good cause, the Shalom Center," said Andy Fry, assistant director of fitness for Campus Recreational Sports. "We want people to embrace their body type and not feel like they need to wear a certain kind of jeans. We're trying to increase self-love in regard to people in bodies of all shapes and sizes."
Celebrate Every-BODY Week includes these activities:
- Guest speaker Jan Taylor-Schultz. Taylor-Schultz, a nationally recognized eating disorders specialist from Bloomington, will give a talk titled "Comfortable in Your Body? Learn how to love yourself"on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 8 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 275 N. Jordan Ave. Schultz is a licensed clinical social worker who has been through eating disorder treatment herself.
- Free showing of the movie Beauty Mark. The movie, shown at the National Eating Disorder Association's national conference last year, will be shown on Thursday, Feb. 26, at 7 p.m. in the SRSC auditorium. The movie will be followed by a discussion facilitated by Ron Thompson, an internationally recognized eating disorders specialist. He also practices in Bloomington. Beauty Marks examines popular culture's toxic emphasis on weight and looks through the eyes of Boulder, Colo.-based psychotherapist and former world-class tri-athlete Diane Israel, who tells her own story while interviewing other champion athletes, body builders, fashion models and inner-city teens about their experiences relating to self-image.
Celebrate Every-BODY Week is a louder version of a campaign Campus Recreational Sports began last fall to help people who use their recreational facilities become more aware of body image issues and disordered eating behaviors and to let them know who can help them or their loved ones.
Business cards, informational brochures and fliers explaining the main signs of eating disorders -- which can include excessive exercise -- were placed throughout the recreational facilities. After Celebrate Every-BODY Week, the campaign will shift its focus to healthy eating. Fry said recreational facilities have an obligation to help the people they serve with issues such as this, particularly since exercise can be part of the problem.
Campus Recreational Sports, for example, is finalizing its policy for identifying and helping people who show signs of excessive exercise, which is when they exercise beyond the point of exhaustion and often through illness or injury. Such behavior not only hurts the individuals, said Fry, but it creates an unpleasant environment for others exercising nearby. Dayhoff said disordered eating has a similar effect. The people with the behavior often tend to shy away from social activities, isolating themselves, yet people around them might still be aware of their harmful behavior.
"Because it can be uncomfortable to voice concerns about these issues, oftentimes, friends and family choose not to say anything at all," Dayhoff said.
More about body image and eating disorders
Dayhoff said studies show that 75 percent of adult women and 54 percent of their male peers are dissatisfied with their appearance and wish their bodies were different. She said 40 percent to 60 percent of college women will experiment with eating disorder symptoms, such as vomiting, over exercise, binge eating or laxative use.
Body image issues span a continuum and can include excessive dieting, preoccupation with diet, exercise and body image; avoiding eating with others; and avoiding intimacy. More extreme behaviors can include recurring binge eating and purging, obsessive fear of gaining weight and dangerously low body weight.
Tips for those concerned about loved ones' body image struggles:
- Be supportive and caring
- Talk openly and honestly with your friend or family member about behaviors that concern you
- Never diagnose, criticize, blame or pass judgment
- Listen to their thoughts and feelings
- Learn as much as you can about their problem and provide helpful information
- Suggest seeking professional help
- Talk about the positive aspects of recovery and leading a healthy life
- Be a good role model of healthy eating, exercise and self-acceptance
- Reinforce the positive behaviors of the person
For more information about body image or to seek help, contact the Indiana University Health Center at 812-855-5002, Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at 812-855-5711 or Health & Wellness Dietitians at 812-855-8230.
Dayhoff also co-chair of the Coalition for Overcoming Problem Eating and Exercise, a multidisciplinary group that formed two years ago to coordinate efforts to address these issues on campus. COPE members represent CAPS, Campus Recreational Sports, Residential Programs and Services, medical staff from the IU Health Center, IU Athletics, local eating disorder specialists and dieticians from Bloomington Hospital.
For more information about COPE, visit http://www.healthcenter.indiana.edu/cope/Home.html.
