2012 National Eating Disorder Awareness Week

February 27 – March 2

Eating disorders are serious, life-threatening illnesses that have psychological, biological, and sociocultural causes. The good news is that prevention and recovery are possible.

The goal of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week is to spread awareness of eating disorders and body image issues while reducing the stigma surrounding them. This year, The Emily Program Foundation has partnered with universities in the Twin Cities and Duluth for a number of FREE events across the state in observance and celebration of eating disorder awareness.

Events

U of M Duluth Keynote Event: “Understanding Eating Disorders and how to support someone who is suffering” by Kitty Westin, MA, LP
Where: Bohannon 90, U of M Duluth
When: February 27
Gallery Hours: 7:00–8:30 pm

Kitty will share the story of her daughter, Anna Westin, who lost her battle with an eating disorder in February 2000 and how her family has turned the tragedy into hope. Kitty will leave participants with a basic understanding of eating disorders; the treatment and recovery process from an eating disorder; and how to best support a loved one who has been diagnosed with an eating disorder.* Free and open to all. http://www.d.umn.edu/hlthserv/

Film Screening of Beauty Mark
Where: Food Science & Nutrition Building, U of M Twin Cities
When: February 27
Gallery Hours: 6:00–8:00 pm

Beauty Mark examines popular culture’s emphasis on weight and looks through the eyes of Boulder-based psychotherapist and former world-class triathlete Diane Israel– who tells her own story while interviewing other champion athletes, body builders, fashion models and inner-city teens about their experiences relating to self-image. Discussion follow.

Presentation at St. Catherine University
Where: Saint Mary’s Residence Hall Lounge
When: February 27
Gallery Hours: 6:00–7:00 pm

Ashley Baldwin will lead a presentation and discussion on recognizing the signs, symptoms, and effects of eating disorders; how to effectively offer support to those struggling with eating disorders and body image; understanding and positively influencing the negative food and body image messages in our culture.

Art & Eating Disorders Gallery Exhibit
Where: Boynton Health Services, U of M Twin Cities
When: February 27–March 2
Gallery Hours: 8:00 am–5:00 pm

Recovery from an eating disorder is a complex process, and it often brings up many uncomfortable emotions that individuals must face and eventually overcome. Self-expression through art serves as an important outlet for coping with this process. Art therapy is often a component of treatment and helps those suffering explore issues like body image and internal conflict. Individuals at various stages of their recovery created the work in this exhibit.

Empowerment Yoga
Where: Boynton Health Services, U of M Twin Cities
When: February 28
Time: 12:00–1:00 pm

Yoga therapy is often included as a part of eating disorder treatment. Empowerment yoga focuses on creating a noncompetitive and accepting atmosphere for practice. Instructors encourage individuals to connect with their bodies without judgment. Society often teaches us that exerting control over our bodies and “powering through the pain” is the best way to be healthy. Empowerment yoga challenges individuals to listen to their bodies, explore their limits, and ultimately come to a place of balance.

Film Screening of America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments
Where: Coffman Memorial Union Theater, U of M Twin Cities
When: February 29
Time: Doors open at 6:30 pm, film starts at 7:00 pm

Award-winning director Darryl Roberts examines America’s obsession with dieting and thinness in the compelling new documentary America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments. Roberts questions the experts about the promotion of fad diets, disordered eating, weight-loss surgeries, and the accuracy of the BMI.

Presentation at Hamline University
Where: Sorin Residence Dining Hall
When: March 1
Gallery Hours: 11:30-12:30 am

Jillian Lampert, PhD, MPH, RD, LD of The Emily Program will give a presentation on how to recognize the signs, symptoms and effects of eating disorders; how to effectively communicate and address eating disorder behavior in a college setting; how to support individuals before, during, and after treatment; and how to promote health and well-being through joyful activity, nutrition and self-care.

Presentation at St. Olaf College
Where: St. Olaf, Northfield, MN
When: March 1
Gallery Hours: 7:00-18:00 pm

Keri Clifton of The Emily Program will lead a discussion on the prevalence of eating disorders in university culture; how to recognize symptoms, effectively provide support to those who struggling with eating disorders and body image, and how to influence positive body image within your community.

* ”Understanding Eating Disorders and how to support someone who is suffering” is sponsored by The UMD Commission on Women; The UMD Department of Psychology; The UMD Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation; the UMD Women’s Resource and Action Center; The Emily Program; The Junior League of Duluth; and UMD Health Services.

Art & Eating Disorders: Building Community Awareness

The Emily Program Foundation is sponsoring the second annual Art & Eating Disorders open-mic night! Art & Eating Disorders - Building Community Awareness will incorporate artwork, poetry, spoken word, music, theatre performance, and more that addresses themes of eating disorders, body image, and recovery.

When: Thursday, February 23
Open Reception: 6:30-9:00 pm
Where: The Emily Program – St. Louis Park
            Click here for directions

Join us for an evening filled with hope, compassion, understanding, and togetherness. Take in the show and support the advocacy & education efforts of The Emily Program Foundation!

Thank you to our event sponsors The Emily Program, Water's Edge Counseling & Healing Center, and The Joy Project.

Sign-up for The Emily Program Foundation’s Quarterly e-Newsletter

After much anticipation, The Emily Program Foundation’s new e-newsletter is now available! This  quarterly update will feature news about our advocacy and education efforts, as well as community initiatives that are happening on the ground. It’s a wonderful way to stay informed on what’s happening in the world of eating disorder awareness and advocacy and how we at The Emily Program Foundation are actively involved.

To subscribe visit our website at emilyprogramfoundation.org. Click on “Join our mailing list” on the Home page, enter your information and you’re registered!  Every three months or so you’ll receive information about what we’ve been up to and how to get involved.

Click HERE to sign up today!

Join us for Empowerment Yoga

The Emily Program Foundation is excited to bring you Empowerment Yoga.


Yoga is used in eating disorder treatment as a means of connecting breath, mind and body. Get on your mats to support a great cause and reconnect with your body’s inner wisdom. Supportive yoga leaders from The Emily Program will adapt yoga exercises to any body shape and any experience level for these classes. You will leave feeling empowered by your yoga experience.

A $10 donation is suggested to participate.

Date: Saturday, November 12
 
Time: 9:30-10:30 AM and/or 11 AM-12 PM
 
Yoga to Live Music: The 9:30 AM session will be lead by Lisa Diers, RYT, Tara Cindy Sherman, RYT and Amy Madson, Music Therapist. In this session you’ll enjoy a slow flow Vinyasa Class filled with LIVE music. Let the music move you!


Yoga Sampler: The 11 AM session will be lead by Tara Cindy Sherman, RYT. In this session you can enjoy a variety of yoga styles in one class! Tara will lead you through yoga postures as well as a sampling of yoga dance, chanting, and Yoga Nidra
.
Where: Yoga Center of Minneapolis
212 3rd Avenue N, #205
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Mark your calendars for some “zen” time!


To register, email us at volunteer@emilyprogramfoundation.org . Please be sure to include the name of the event (Empowerment Yoga), which session(s) you want to participate in and your first and last name. If you are registering for multiple people, please also include their first and last name(s) and session(s) they'll participate in. 
 
A special ‘Thank You’ to Yoga Center of Minneapolis for donating space for this event!

Quarterly E-Newsletters on the Horizon

The Emily Program Foundation is preparing for our new e-newsletters. There are so many things we’d like to share about our advocacy and education efforts as well as community initiatives. Therefore, we will begin sending out quarterly newsletters (hopefully in November!).

You can subscribe to our mailing list on emilyprogramfoundation.org.  Just click on “Join our mailing list” on the Home page and voila!  Every three months or so you’ll receive information about what we’ve been up to, what we are planning, and opportunities to get involved.

Click HERE to sign up today!

“Maggie” Needed A Change

Many of you are aware of a book that is in the process of being published called “Maggie Goes on a Diet”. TEPF Advocacy Group decided to contact the author to express the many concerns we and others have about the book. The group was disturbed by the book’s content, illustrations and overall message. TEPF volunteer, Hallie, took on the project with the help of TEPF Advocacy Group members. We hoped for, but did not really expect, a personal reply. To our surprise, the author did reply with what seemed like a canned response that was unsatisfying and unacceptable which included these words; “I am the author of, “Maggie Goes On A Diet”, … It is a children’s book written in rhyme intended to entertain. One of my major goals was and is to inspire children of all ages to exercise and eat healthy nutritious foods.”

However, in addition to the canned reply the author asked Hallie and the group to review the book, which he had attached, and to send him our comments. We were thrilled when the author responded to the letter we sent with the news that he has changed the title of the book and addressed some of our concerns by making changes in the content of the book.

This is advocacy at it’s best!

The back and forth with the author went like this (from beginning to end):

Dear Mr. Kramer,

As someone whose life has been directly impacted by dieting and eating disorders, I am writing to express my concerns of your soon-to-be-released book "Maggie Goes on a Diet".

According to the plot-summary of your book, the main character Maggie "goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal sized girl who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, "Maggie" becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image." The plotline, title and cover illustration ("Maggie" gazing into a mirror while holding up a dress smaller than her body, viewing a thinner version of
herself) of your book stand to perpetuate these harmful myths: when a girl loses weight she becomes happier; there is a 'normal' size; dieting transforms a person; people of various shapes, weights and sizes can't be a star soccer player; and wearing a smaller dress is a laudable goal for a young girl. I find it especially concerning that you define the "Maggie" on the cover of your book as "extremely overweight". You cannot tell if someone is overweight or normal, let alone "extremely overweight", just by looking at them. By defining “Maggie” as “extremely overweight”, your book serves to increase stigmatization and discrimination based on body-size. Since you also published a book on bullying, I call your attention to be more aware of the harm in judging someone on their outward appearance. A teenager from Michigan recently took her own life after being teased about her size. She was not overweight, but kids teased her for being "not skinny". It is important to teach children, and adults, that what is a normal size for one is not necessarily normal for someone else. Healthy bodies come in varying shapes and sizes.

While childhood obesity is an issue in our country, bullying based on body-size, dieting and eating disorders also wreak havoc on millions of Americans. According to the FREED Act, the Federal Response to Eliminate Eating Disorders, between 4 and 20 percent of young women practice unhealthy patterns of dieting, purging, and binge eating; eating disorders usually appear in adolescence and are associated with substantial psychological problems, including depression, substance abuse, and suicide; for children 12 years of age and younger, hospitalizations for eating disorders increased by 119% between 1999 and 2006; and body dissatisfaction in young girls has been shown in White, African-American, Hispanic, and Asian girls. It has also been shown that dieting is one of the leading pre-cursors to developing an eating disorder. With Eating Disorders being the deadliest of all mental illnesses, I hope you see why I feel your book's implied messages are dangerous at best, lethal at worst.

I encourage you to reconsider publishing this book. I also encourage you to speak with experts in the field of eating disorders to create a new book that teaches kids a non-diet approach to healthy living, as well as size-acceptance. In doing so, you can still accomplish what seems to be your intended goal – helping the nation's most vulnerable population: our youth; and you can do it without causing them harm.

I look forward to your response.

Sincerely,
Hallie
______________________

Dear Hallie,
It is very obvious that you are a very caring person and that you have spent a lot of time and energy putting together the email you have sent to me.

In the book, it does not say nor do I profess that If a girl or a boy loses weight they will automatically be happy.

However, it is my personal opinion they should be happy and pleased with themselves for shedding unwanted extra pounds which would definitely make them healthier and better able to physically function.

In this book I also do not profess that if one goes on a diet and loses weight they will become a soccer star or a hero or that all their problems will disappear.

If you would like me to send you a High Resolution PDF File of both the front cover, back cover, and interior of the book, will you then critique the book objectively with an open mind and then share your feelings with me after you have read the book? Please do share any positive thoughts if any and any negative ones that you might have after reading the book.

What are your thoughts on my proposal?
Respectfully,
Paul Kramer
_________________________

Dear Mr. Kramer,

Thank you for your thoughtful response to my email.  I would be happy to look over the book, and to share my knowledge on alternatives to "dieting" that could also improve health and overall wellbeing.  I believe we certainly have the same goal in mind, which is to encourage children to make decisions in the best interest of their health and wellness.  I hope that my looking over the PDF and giving both positive and negative feedback will be helpful in some way.

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Hallie
_______________________

Dear Hallie,
Please review attachments.
Please be aware this book is not a diet book. It is a make believe story to entertain.
I look forward to your non biased views.
Thank you
Paul Kramer
________________________

At this point the EPF Advocacy Group combed through the book to offer their suggestions to Mr. Kramer. After a couple of weeks they combined all their edits and Hallie sent them to Mr. Kramer.
________________________

Hello Mr. Kramer,

I apologize for how long it took me to get back to you, but I wanted to be sure to address your book in a very thoughtful and thorough way.  I discussed the issue with a group of advocates for eating disorders and obesity prevention, and I have attached the letter we composed.  I also attached a copy of international professional guidelines for childhood obesity prevention for your information.

I look forward to hearing from you regarding your reaction to our feedback.  Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Hallie

______________________

Hi Hallie,
Thank you once again for taking so much time and effort to get together with a bunch of people to discuss this matter in depth. I appreciate the response letter that you have attached. It is obvious to me that there was much time and effort spent into putting the letter together and as a result of your letter and other previous recommendations I have decided to make a number of changes in the book.

The first is that I will offer a new title for those who are offended by the word diet. This title will be called "Maggie Eats Healthier". After the first week of her positive lifestyle change Maggie was able shed a few pounds. There is no number given. From the beginning of Maggie eating healthier to the end of the book, Maggie lost way under the maximum amount of weight recommended to be both realistic and to sustain that weight loss. Maggie is only sometimes sad about the thought of giving up most junk foods but is happy and surprised that she discovered that many healthier foods actually were quite tasty and that made Maggie glad.

The word diet does not appear in this book, the word thin or skinny or slim does not appear in this book.

I wish to challenge you on one part of the statement you made in you response to the book and that is that I used the word fat repeatedly in the book. Other than the first page. There is no other reference to the word fat throughout the rest of the book. On the fourth page, first line it is stated that, "Maggie was teased and made fun of just about every day at school". Next sentence, "She was called fatty and chubby and other names that were very cruel".  I believe her response was clever and appropriate. After that every line on every page was used in a positive, encouraging, and deserving manner.

I do believe there will be many who were against this book previously who would now endorse this book as it is now written.

I would be happy to send you a copy of this newest version of the book but would like to talk with you on the telephone first to share some other things that would be more difficult and time consuming through the email process.

My telephone number is XXX-XXX-XXXX. I am 6 hours earlier than EST and 3 hours earlier than West Coast Time.

If you pefer you can email me back with your telephone number and a good time to talk.
Thank you,
Regards,
Paul Kramer
_______________________________

And that is how brilliantly advocacy can work!

A BIG congratulations to TEPF Advocacy Group and THANK YOU to Mr. Kramer for listening and responding in a positive manner!

Everyone can make a difference. And it all begins by using our voice.

Advocate. Make a Difference.

Reactions from Lobby Day, by Britt Ahlstrom

Lobby Day was “cool,” even “amazing” during the event, but it wasn’t until hours later that it’s true impact hit me. Throughout the day, I felt star-struck, walking through the capitol and shaking hands with senators. Yet, it was the last meeting with Senator Al Franken that changed my mindset.

Senator Franken was listening to me as if I had something important to say, as if my story had some meaning. He may already support the bill, but I felt I made an impact anyhow. Maybe I gave him more ammunition.

I know we made a difference by meeting with the other members. We are reminding them that they cannot simply ignore us - that their actions have real consequences and that when they turn down funding for eating disorders, they turn down real people.

Lobby Day was a life-changing experience that I hope to experience again. I never expected it to make such a difference, on Washington or on me. No matter if you are still struggling, recovered, a support person, or simply interested in advocacy, I wholeheartedly recommend that you attend. If you think advocacy doesn't make a difference now, I think you'll change your mind.