Student Heath and Counseling will hold a body image screening today as part of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
"Appearance is a big deal, and it is OK to feel good about your appearance and take time to look good and feel good," said Jessica Spurrier, health education manager. "But there is a point at which it can go too far and become more of a preoccupation and a distraction from other things."
Spurrier said it is especially important for students who are making the transition into college life to consider whether they have a healthy body image.
"It's about being more aware of our relationship with food and our feelings about our bodies, and how we can have a more helpful attitude about both those things," she said.
Spurrier said skewed messages about body image can come from media but also from families.
"There's a big disconnect between what the average American looks like and what we as a culture hold up as being ideal," she said.
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Harry Linneman, director of Counseling and Therapy Services, said University students are more likely to have problems with body image than other age groups.
"Eating and body image and self-acceptance problems are a big deal in the college-age population," he said.
Linneman said a distorted body image can be caused by societal pressure or pressure from within.
"Body image distortions and eating problems are also frequently related to really much-deeper-seated kind of concerns about self and acceptance of self and being all right with who you are," he said.
Nutrition student Sherry Neal said she struggled with losing weight after she had her first child, and now she wants to help others with weight problems to be aware of what's healthy.
"I was like a lot of people, very unaware of the healthy way to lose weight," she said. "Exercise and eating right are healthy ways to do it," she said.
Neal said myths and fad diets can do more harm than good because skinny doesn't always mean healthy.
"I want to help other people get that knowledge where they can apply it to their life and not apply dangerous methods," she said.
Linneman said eating disorders often lead to physical and psychological problems.
Linneman said that when someone comes in for help with an eating disorder, the focus is rarely on food. Clinicians look at the problems leading to feelings of inadequacy, and treatment involves a partnership between teams in the medical, psychological and nutritional fields, he said.
"It's not an easy, simple approach, because usually by the time somebody comes in and they're worried about their behavior, they have had these behaviors for a long time - they become a real part of their lives," Linneman said.
Spurrier said all students should be aware of the screening and feel free to stop by.
"We want everyone to be healthy, and there's more and more evidence from national surveys that good health promotes good learning and academic success," she said. "It's about general heath first."
Healthy body image screening
Today, 10 a.m-2 p.m.
Outside Student Health and Counseling
