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February is National Eating Disorder Awareness Month
Eating Disorder Awareness: What should we know?
National Eating Disorders Awareness Month is a time to learn about eating disorders and enable those who need treatment to gain access to the necessary, potentially lifesaving resources. Most importantly, it’s a time to promote acceptance and respect for all bodies of every size and shape.
In order to better recognize, support, and effectively treat eating disorders, public awareness is key. This year, organizers are asking you to “Get in the Know” and learn about eating disorders, get involved in raising awareness and share information and resources.
According to the National Eating Disorders Association, eating disorders are much like many illnesses in that they impact a wide variety of people of all body types and sizes. Body shape and size are influenced by many biological and environmental factors. You cannot evaluate a person’s health or tell if they have an eating disorder by looking at them.
Unfortunately, our culture does value certain body types and shapes over others. Individuals whose bodies do not align with these culturally valued body shapes or sizes often experience bias, teasing, judgment and discrimination. Many eating disorder experts and advocates support a more weight-inclusive approach to health that embraces the diversity of human sizes, has a broader view of well-being, promotes weight neutrality in healthcare and defies the belief that weight status determines health.
Health At Every Size® (HAES®) offers such a framework, holding that health is highly individualized and may vary over time. HAES offers an alternative to weight-centered definitions of health offering principles to guide individuals and healthcare providers to make health-related decisions. This perspective aims to encourage acceptance and respect for the broad variety of shapes and sizes of people, end weight discrimination, extinguish fat phobia, lessen cultural preoccupation with thinness and dieting, promote balanced eating, and encourage pleasurable physical activity.
The guiding principles of HAES include:
- Weight Inclusivity
- Health Enhancement
- Respectful Care
Whether you have or know someone with an eating disorder or you don’t, practice acceptance and respect for all bodies. If you do have a possible eating disorder or know someone who does, get help. See your doctor and be truthful about your symptoms and condition. Care coordination can help you find the right treatment, services, and resources to help. For more information, call the number on the back of your ID card.
For more information on eating disorder resources and information, read here.
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