Monday, February 25, 2008

UCSF to Raise Awareness of Eating Disorders This Week

Student Health Services, along with a few other departments, is sponsoring the week-long campaign on campus to raise awareness of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which begins today (Feb. 25).

The campus community is invited to attend the series of lectures and workshops on the topic and can wear purple ribbons to support eating disorder awareness. The schedule of free events is as follows:

• • Monday, Feb. 25, noon to 2 p.m.: Kick off event: Pick up treats, purple ribbons and information, Medical Sciences Building Lobby, Parnassus campus.
• • Tuesday, Feb. 26, noon to 1 p.m.: Rebecca Krueger, CLS Wellness coordinator, will talk about healthy snacking in the School of Nursing, room 225, Parnassus campus.
• • Wednesday, Feb. 27, 12 to 1:30 p.m.: DO I LOOK FAT? Documentary on Gay Men, Body Image, and Eating Disorders. Film & Discussion, Cole Hall on the Parnassus campus.
• • Thursday, Feb. 28, 5 to 6 p.m.: Peach Friedman, fitness and eating disorder educator and author of “Diary of an Exercise Addict,” will talk about her work in the Medical Sciences Building, room S 214 on the Parnassus campus.
• • Thursday, Feb. 28, 3 to 4 p.m.: Neesha Patel, PhD, will talk about how to eat with awareness and enhance the experience of eating, Genentech Hall, room 204, on the Mission Bay campus.
• • Friday, Feb. 29, 6 p.m. and 7:45 p.m.: Cole Hall Cinema, on the Parnassus campus, screens a free movie, “Real Women Have Curves,” starring award-winning actress America Ferrera. This is the story of a young woman’s journey discovering that physical appearance is not a problem to be solved, but a fact to be celebrated.

         

 

Peach Friedman

The campus also will be collecting donated jeans as part of the national eating disorders awareness theme: “Love the skin you’re in, wear the jeans that fit the real you! Donate the jeans that don’t!”

“National Eating Disorders Awareness Week highlights the fact that body size and shape are strongly influenced by biological factors - such as genetics, while also calling attention to some of the new discoveries surrounding the role of genetics in the development of eating disorders,” the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) website reports.

“Too often individuals struggle against their natural, genetically influenced size just to fit into that pair of ‘skinny jeans’ in the back of their closets. Fighting your natural size and shape can lead to unhealthy dieting practices, poor body image and sometimes eating disorders,” the NEDA website reports.

A spokesperson for NEDA, Peach Friedman, who will talk about her own struggle with over exercising and battling anorexia at UCSF on Thursday, Feb. 28, now works as an educator and outreach coordinator for Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program in Sacramento.

For more information on the UCSF events, please call Kelly Garner 415/514-4732 or Neesha Patel 415/514-4728.

Related Links:

National Eating Disorders Association

Peach Friedman

Student Health Services