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The UA, along with on- and off-campus partners, is holding an educational event to help people understand the negative effects of eating disorders.

By La Monica Everett-Haynes, University Communications
February 26, 2008

The health services unit at The University of Arizona is taking part in a nationwide campaign urging women and men alike to abandon their impulses for too-small jeans and recognize that genetics do play a role in body size.

The UA’s Campus Health Services has joined others to explore body image issues during National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

Jaye Arouty, a National Eating Disorder Association volunteer, coordinated the event with the UA. Held on the UA Mall, Wednesday's event will follow the national association's theme this year: “Be Comfortable in your Genes.”

Tomorrow is the UA’s Love Your Body Day, falling right in the middle of the awareness week, which runs Feb. 24 through March 1.

The UA nutritional sciences department and the Ironwood Tree Experience are among those that will be participating, along with a number of vendors, such as Adventure Coffee Roasting, Dr. Hummus and the Community Food Bank.

The event, held in conjunction with the UA Farmer’s Market, will feature several activities encouraging the idea that there is nothing wrong with having a so-called imperfect body.

It’s all about body acceptance, said Gale S. Welter, a nutrition counselor at the UA’s Campus Health Services.

“People have all kinds of jeans in their closet they can’t fit into. But the tagline for the event is that women need to get real and wear the jeans that fit you,” Welter said.

The National Eating Disorder Association reports that, in the United States, an estimated 35 million people struggle with some kind of eating disorder.

The National Library of Medicine lists anorexia nervosa, binge eating and bulimia as the major types of eating disorders and notes that these are “serious behavior problems.” Although the agency notes that women are more likely to have an eating disorder, men also can develop an eating disorder.

The library also indicates that eating disorders carry risks including heart and kidney troubles, which can lead to death.

The UA’s Campus Health Services offers services for people dealing with eating disorders and UA researchers – including those in the College of Medicine, the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and the psychiatry department – are or have recently been studying issues related to eating disorders among various populations. The UA also has courses that speak to such issues, such as those in sociology and nutrition education.

For tomorrow's event, people are encouraged to clear out their closets of too-small jeans and visit the UA Mall that day to donate them. The donations will then be sent to the Brewster Center, an organization that supports domestic violence victims.

There also will be a raffle, a “No Weigh” pledge, an art therapy display and a 3-D Barbie that towers above adults of average height. Campus Health will have specialists on site to conduct healthy body image inventories and to speak with people about eating disorders and nutrition.

“It’s a psychological disorder, and it’s the only non-suicidal disorder that can lead to death,” said Welter, also the Farmer’s Market coordinator. “It’s serious business."