*Trigger warning: Talks about eating disorders*
30 million people in the United States of all genders and ages suffer from eating disorders, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. This is not including others that are undiagnosed and untreated. As a way to bring attention to eating disorders, the week of Feb. 24 to March 1 was National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.
Multiple organizations on campus teamed up and worked throughout the week to recognize this by tabling in the lobby of the DiGiorgio Campus Center.
“I think a lot of the problem is [people] get caught up in ‘oh I don’t have an eating disorder.’ But their relationship with food is distorted or disordered. So they won’t necessarily qualify … as someone with an eating disorder,” Karin Evans, a human nutrition professor and event organizer, said. “That’s my kind of passion is the idea that healing your relationship with food and healing your relationship with your body is really crucial to development.”
Evans, the Winthrop Student Dietetic Association, the human nutrition department and counseling services at Winthrop teamed up to create different activities throughout the week to bring awareness and promote self-love.
“We really tried to mix up the activities and ideas because eating disorders have nothing to do with food. It has to do with everything else that contributes to why people are choosing to use food in that way,” Evans said. “A lot of people will talk negatively about their bodies … and it [may] not [be] something you say a lot necessarily but how you view food. It affects your relationship with your body.”
Each activity for the day of the week was different to give individuals a better understanding of the pressures that can lead to eating disorders. The groups focused on body positivity, mindful eating and emotional eating.
On Friday, Feb. 28, the Winthrop Chapter of the NAACP helped host Be Comfortable in Your Genes, a jean drive where people could donate their new or gently used jeans.
“We are saying … ‘listen you deserve to live now, you don’t need to wait until you fit into those jeans.’ So take those jeans and let’s donate them,” Evans said. “It kinda frees us to be in body we are designed to be in without having to feel pressured to fit into something that will never fit.”
Along with the activities, counseling services were provided with pamphlets, mirror clings and other forms of information to give to students from the Renfrew Center.
Counseling services at Winthrop offer appointments and help for people who may suffer from an eating disorder or have symptoms of one.
“We see a lot of students who use food or not food as their primary way of coping. Eating disorders have a lot of different factors that factor into it,” Jess Hudgens, Winthrop’s outreach manager for counseling services, said. “I think living in a culture that is so obsessed with the thin ideal definitely plays a role … and that’s true for men and women. Students with eating disorders use them as a way to self medicate.”
Counseling services offer same–day and ongoing appointments for students on campus who are struggling with an eating disorder.
You can contact them through their phone number at 803-323-3290. Their hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday.
Photo: Olivia Esselman/ The Johnsonian
