More people attend Love Your Body Week

By Jaryd Wilson

Published Feb. 9, 2007

Love Your Body Week will conclude today after events throughout the week promoted a healthy image and brought awareness to common myths and struggles associated with body image and eating disorders.

The Student Health Center gave a presentation about an alternative approach to struggles with body weight and eating disorders Monday to begin the week's events. The presentation focused on the connection between weight, eating disorders, dysfunctional eating, size prejudice and unhealthy weight loss. The lecture focused on intuitive eating rather than dieting.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center Coordinator John Faughn said attendance has been good for these sessions.

"We gave free lunch to the first 25 people at a few of our sessions, and we ran out of food," Faughn said.

Michael Adams, a psychologist at the MU Counseling Center, spoke about cultural factors involved in leading men to develop eating disorders and why they are kept secret among men.

"The goal of my presentation was to break down some of the myths around eating disorders, that it is simply a woman's disease," Adams said. "I also wanted to raise awareness with male populations of the cultural factors that influence how men perceive their body image and talk about their eating."

Adams said athletes, gay men and men with low self-esteem have a higher risk for developing eating disorders.

"I was hoping to educate men so that they would be able to identify the signs and symptoms of anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating and identify groups of men who may be at higher risk for developing an eating disorder," Adams said.

Adams said the attendance for his discussion was encouraging.

"I have done this presentation two years in a row now, and the turnout was a little better this year," Adams said. "The one thing that was encouraging this year is there were more men who attended this presentation than last year."

Adams said he hopes the increased attendance means more men want to be aware of the dangers of eating disorders.

In addition, the Women's Center sponsored a discussion about self-esteem and body image, which Faughn said was the most inspiring event of the week.

"The Full of Ourselves presentation was very motivating and inspiring," Faughn said. "They did a good job giving people ways to feel good about their body image."

Bobby Reis, a psychological intern at the Counseling Center and member of the Eating Disorders Task Force, enjoyed the event as well.

"There was a great message behind it, and it was a new way to look at body size," Reis said. "In our society, it seems normal not to be happy with your body, and the discussion showed you can be happy."

Pam Darby-Mullins, also a psychological intern at the Counseling Center, said what the media portrays isn't what should be the focus in regards to body image.

"The media is a billion-dollar industry thriving on making people feel bad about their body," Darby-Mullins said. "They have an influence over body image, but these sessions are trying to get people to ignore what others say."

Reis and Darby-Mullins also co-facilitated a private discussion about body image and eating issues.

The events close today with a discussion about dieting in the LGBT Resource Center.