Eating disorder awareness was a heavy issue on the Winona State University campus last week.
The campaign for awareness week, “Be comfortable in your genes,” was sponsored by the Spreading Health Awareness through Peer Education club, better known as SHAPE, and students working on a group project from a persuasive communication class in collaboration with the National Eating Disorders Association.
Winona State awareness events promoting National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Events included scale bashing, round table discussions, quilting and movie night.
Awareness week is “all about feeling good about yourself,” said Megan Wiebers, a senior communication studies major currently involved in the persuasive communication class.
Wiebers said that educating people about eating disorders is important so people can be aware of the health risks and danger signals, therefore preventing extreme cases from happening to people close to them.
Natalie Jones, SHAPE president, said the event’s purpose was “to raise awareness and declare ourselves free from weight-obsessed world.”
Jones, who has struggled with an eating disorder since she was in fifth grade, said that she feels eating disorders are a problem on college campuses in general, and not something that is exclusive to the Winona State campus.
“[Back then] I didn’t know what I was doing was wrong. I didn’t even know what an eating disorder was,” said Jones, who attributes her eating disorder to a lack of education about body changes during puberty.
Jones said that as she noticed weight gain on her waist and hips in the fourth grade, she thought she was getting fat and began restricting food and compulsive exercising
She began doing 20 sit-ups every night, and eventually progressed to doing 2,000. “If I missed one night because I was too tired or something, I would do double the next,” said Jones.
“I used to think that if she had any fat on waist, boys wouldn’t want to dance with me [at the junior high

“Now I think ‘Where did I ever get the idea that I couldn’t have any fat on my waist?’” she said in retrospect.
Cindy Killion may have the answer.
A professor in the departments of mass communication and women and gender studies, Killion said that only 3% of women fit the “ideal” body type as seen in the media. “It’s an illusion created to sell products,” she said.
Though the media pretends there is no impact, research has proven that the impact is significant, said Killion, who supports any activity that promotes a change in perspective towards media-influenced body-type standards.
People need to be aware that photos in the media are manipulated through airbrushing techniques, she said.
The ideals of women seen in the media “affect more than just women,” said Killion. “Men who see these images then put these expectations on women. It’s detrimental to everyone involved.”
Faith Shulander* agrees, but acknowledges that media perspective is not the only source of pressure for “ideal weight.”
As a member of her high school track team, Shulander, who now runs for both Winona State track and cross country teams, admits her eating disorder was a gradual process. “I wanted to be smaller to run faster,” she said.
Shulander admits she didn’t have her period for almost two years due to her body weight, which the summer before her senior year in high school was just shy of 80 pounds. Her doctor told her that if she didn’t gain weight soon, she wouldn’t be able to have children. “That really scared me,” she said.
Running both before as well as after practice, and eventually eliminating all fat from her diet, Shulander’s body weight dropped so low that her parents were not going to let her go away to college and her track coach wasn’t going to let her run.
At one point a friend asked her, “Why don’t you eat cookies anymore?” She snapped back, “Why would I eat a cookie when I can eat a whole bag of carrots for the same amount of calories?!”
Now weighing 140 lbs and having recovered from her addiction, Shulander says, “I still eat healthy and work out, but there a balance. I eat cookies, chips, ice cream, things like that, but in moderation. It’s all about balance.”
Shulander says having a past eating disorder is difficult because she sees friends going through what she did, though they don’t see it. “Since I’ve recovered, they think I don’t know what they’re going through,” she said.
Ruth Schroeder, health services educator, recommends that if someone is concerned about a friend or loved one, they should confront them on a friend level and make “I’ve noticed…” or “I’ve observed…” statements followed by “I’m concerned.”
Schroeder emphasizes making a caring statement and being be specific, saying something such as “I’ve been with you all day and I haven’t seen you eat hardly anything’”
“Encourage them to talk to someone, even offer to go with,” she said. However, Schroeder stresses that friends are not to make diagnosis or accuse of an eating disorder, “it’s not about that,” she said.
Schroeder also encourages students to seek guidance at the Student Counseling Center.
Eunie Alsaker, a counselor at the Student Counseling Center, said that when students come to the counseling center with concerns about eating, “they will talk with a counselor about their concerns and then recommendations are made. [Students] are always welcome. They don’t have to come in on a certain day or week.”
Alsaker said that Awareness week is “important because it gets people talking and focuses on healthy eating habits and body image.”
“It takes a lot of courage just to start talking,” Alsaker said.

Reach Kelly at KLMullin5759@winona.edu.