Faculty take part in Eating Disorders Awareness Week

Exercises and discussions educate adults about certain diet mentalities

Liz Palka / Reporter

Elon faculty and staff are taking part in National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, not so they may help educate their students on healthy body image, but so they can work on healthy body image themselves.

Faculty and staff gathered in Moseley Center Wednesday for a lunch and discussion on "Making Peace with Our Bodies" led by Elon personal counselor Annmarie Carter.

In the conference room, they sat in a U shape eating their lunches, writing, discussing and sharing their thoughts as if they were college students again. Many of the adults were wearing gray t-shirts and stickers that read, "Ask me about my genes" to go along with the week's theme of being comfortable in your natural body type.

While the main purpose of the discussion was to educate the adults on eating disorders, Carter attempted to challenge their thought process and even jog their memories a bit.

She ran through exercises with the men and women, asking them to come up with five things they were grateful for about their bodies rather than five things they wanted to change. Carter generated the most responses  when she asked the group to think back to their childhood and reflect on the attitudes their families had on body image.

Kim Giles, a secretary in the Biology, Chemistry and Physics Departments, remembered a time when her sister caught her measuring out cottage cheese and made fun of her.

"I can remember always trying to hide it from my sister," Giles recalled, "for fear that she would criticize me for measuring out my food."

Another faculty member remembers people telling her, "You have such a pretty face," but that's all, because the rest of her was larger.

"Think about the messages you got as a child," Carter asked. "How do you pass them on as an adult?"

Carter also asked the group to think about what they are passing on to their children.

She reassured the faculty that even when they'd eaten all the celery, the carrots and the bananas, that it was okay if they were still craving Oreos.  Sometimes it is necessary to listen to what your body is craving rather than trying to deny yourself the nutrition.

Be mindful of your body rather than have a diet mentality.

"Our health is not always reflected in our numbers, though we tend to think it is," said Carter, who is adamantly opposed to scales.

The "lunch and learn" was organized by Cindy Novak, Elon's Wellness Program coordinator for faculty and staff.

Novak believes it is important to make faculty and staff aware of how advertisers are skewing our idea of a healthy body image.

"I had several positive comments from people after the lunch," Novak said. "I think this was something out of the box for them.  Something healthy for them."

Novak says that adults who are concerned about their weight need to work towards living a healthier lifestyle and gaining wellness through that lifestyle.

Do not focus on scales, but try eating healthier and in modification.

"If you live a healthy lifestyle, everything else will follow," she said.

Contact Liz Palka at pendulum@elon.edu or 278-7247.

Important Statistics:

Approximately 7 million females struggle with eating disorders.

Approximately 1 million males  struggle with eating disorders.

With treatment, about 60 percent of people with eating disorders recover.

To build a healthy body image:

1. Come up with five things you are grateful for about your body, rather than five things you want to change.

2.  Sometimes it is necessary to listen to what your body craves, instead of denying yourself the nutrition.

3. Do not focus on scales.  Try eating healthier and in modification.