Eating Disorders News archive

Political Bingeing

I was just going through some online clippings the other day and came across an article from earlier this month by Ellen Goodman, the syndicated columnist.  She was talking about Super Tuesday, and said "Well, so much for political bingeing.  Super Tuesday, Super Duper Tuesday, Plus Size Tuesday, Vastly Engorged and Rotund Tuesday turned into a serious case of political bulimia."  I guess we have done such a good job of raising awareness about eating disorders that they've now become part of the political vernacular.  I can't say that's the way I really want life threatening illnesses talked about, but it just highlights the ignorance and how much more we need to do.

Lynn Grefe
President
National Eating Disorders Association

Big Thanks to Microsoft

Another big thank you to Microsoft and MSNBC for supporting our work again this year by hosting our online banner campaign.   We are working hard to get the word out about embraceyourgenes.org.  Don't forget to tell your friends to come to the site to learn more about eating disorders, the importance of healthy body image, and buy jeans from True Jeans to support our many effective programs.

Lynn Grefe
President
National Eating Disorders Association

Happy Eating Disorders Awareness Week!

Happy National Eating Disorders Awareness Week!  Our heartfelt thanks to the hundreds of volunteers all over the country who are working so hard to get their events off the ground this week.  All for the sole, very important purpose of raising awareness of eating disorders. 

It is immensely gratifying to hear about people willing to take time out of their busy schedules to host seminars, fashion shows, yogathons, candlelight vigils, days of beauty and great jeans giveaways all in the name of educating the public about the dangers of eating disorders.  These events take time to plan, implement and market.  Yet, people do it, on top of everything else they have to do because they understand that changing the way people think about eating disorders takes time and a lot of hard work.   And the more people who are involved, the better chance we'll gave to achieve our goal.

For all of you wondering what it takes to put an event together, here's an example of how the day of beauty at the Blu Salon in Edgewater, New Jersey came about.   

Last month, I had an appointment at Blu, a hair salon in my neighborhood.  As I sat in the chair, my hairdresser Melina commented how much she enjoys the work she does, primarily because she loves helping women take care of their bodies.  To her, cutting and coloring hair was not about trying to achieve some sort of beauty ideal, but about respecting one's body. 

I started to tell her about our "Be Comfortable in your Genes" theme for NEDAwareness Week.  The more we talked about the importance of people feeling good about their bodies, whatever its healthy shape or size, the more excited she got about the prospect of becoming involved.   She decided right then and there that she would talk with her colleagues about hosting an event to engage women in pursuit of a healthy body image, and to raise funds for NEDA.

 

The result:  Blu hosted an event for us on Tuesday.  Usually the slowest day of the week, the salon was busier than ever! And NEDA Ambassador Emme stopped by to thank the salon and its patrons.    

The Blu event is just one of hundreds of similar events happening in your community and all over the country.  Please go to http://www.myneda.org/ to find out what events you can attend and support.

Lynn Grefe
President
National Eating Disorders Association