By Patricia Talio, RD & Judy Scheel, PhD, Director

February 25-March 3, 2007 is recognized as National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.   Awareness about eating disorders is a necessary first step in helping to prevent them and in bringing education and resources to eating disorder sufferers and their family members.   Nutritional health is one of the areas addressed in eating disorder prevention.  There are many well-intentioned health issues, which address the public’s concern about our food supply and what our bodies need on a regular basis to stay healthy.  Topics that stem from the banning of hydrogenated (trans) fats, to the benefits of eating green, to the outbreak of e-coli in our spinach, to the need to make school menus healthier.  All of these topics are important and wise to bring to the attention of the public to help prevent ailments that are known to be nutrition linked, but as an eating disorder professional one has to be concerned about what impact some of these messages may have on an people with eating disorders.

How do we help individuals with eating disorders or those prone toward the development of one to sift through the myriad of messages received about nutrition based health concerns?  Sometimes well-intentioned information that is not presented carefully can cause some harm to a vulnerable population at risk for eating disorders.  For instance, banning hydrogenated fats does not mean banning all fats; fats are vital for the production of reproductive hormones, bone density and supplies our brain with nutrients.  Eating green is very important, but not when other nutrients are excluded, like protein, complex carbohydrates and of course fats.  A Registered Dietitian can translate what banning trans fat means and help individuals understand the importance of other types of fat in the diet.  Since many people with eating disorders view food and many other aspects in life with “all or nothing” thinking – that is all fat must be bad or only certain foods are acceptable – it is imperative that responsible professionals and those reporting on issues confronting nutrition or our food supply present a balanced perspective.

As the age of onset for eating disorders is getting younger and children in elementary schools are talking about “being fat” or not wanting to eat anything with fat  in it seems that more needs to    be done to help not only our children, but parents as well understand what is necessary for a well balanced diet for their child.  Also, a child’s body during the middle school years is supposed to    be rounder.   As puberty approaches the roundness stored usually in the abdomen will be redistributed elsewhere in the body, based on the child’s genetic makeup, when puberty sets in.  Sometimes it is a parents own issues  about weight and body that interferes with giving        appropriate messages to  their child.  So, if a parent is not comfortable with their own weight and body, it is more likely that this will impact how the parent views the child’s body and food intake.

Having a week that is geared to bringing awareness about eating disorders is a step in providing necessary information regarding these life threatening and life altering conditions.  It is also a time perhaps for all of us to examine our thoughts, attitudes and behaviors towards the information regarding nutritional health that we give to others and are given and how we use the information in our lives.