National Eating Disorders Association

NEDAwareness Week Aims to Educate the Public about Eating Disorders and the Destructiveness of Negative Body Image with Hundreds of Community Events to be held throughout the Country

NEW YORK (February 24, 2008)—The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) is waging a war against negative body talk during NEDAwareness Week, February 24-March 1, its largest annual public outreach effort to raise the nation’s consciousness about the severity of eating disorders and to promote health body image.

“We say stop, take a breath and for one week in the year, let’s only weigh the size of our hearts not the size of our hips,” said Lynn Grefe, CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association.

“Every day we are bombarded in the media with images and messages telling us we never look quite right, that we should all be on a diet, sculpt our thighs or trim those hips,” said Grefe. Our society’s collective obsession with how we look and our body size, dissecting each and every body part, can be very destructive to young men and women who are forming their own identities, and can trigger eating disorders in those especially vulnerable.”

NEDA’s moratorium is generating interest nationwide, with nearly 1,000 volunteer coordinators of eating disorder events throughout the country using their local media muscle to spread the word. The theme of this year’s NEDAwareness Week is “Be Comfortable in Your Genes.”

During NEDAwareness Week, hundreds of events will be held in communities coast to coast, each structured around the “Be Comfortable in Your Genes” national campaign, and offering an opportunity for people to gather information and support for those with eating disorders. Among the events planned are seminars and workshops on college campuses, fashion shows featuring women and men in all healthy shapes and sizes, and Great Jeans Giveways to encourage people to get rid of jeans that don’t fit, and to buy jeans that respect one’s genes.

Eating disorders affect nearly ten million women and one million men. Many more suffer from negative self esteem, obsession with dieting and are unaware of the influence genetics can play in one’s body size and appearance. Eating disorders are preventable and treatable, yet hundreds of people die from them every year.

To reinforce the “Be Comfortable in Your Genes” message, NEDA has partnered with True Jeans.com and Paige Premium Denim. Through its embraceyourgenes.org website, True Jeans offers a special promotion on jeans to benefit NEDA and education on eating disorders. Paige Premium Denim’s denim bracelet, featured recently in CosmoGIRL!, can also be purchased on www.embraceyourgenes.org All proceeds benefit NEDA.

For information on NEDAwareness Week, and eating disorders in general, visit www.myneda.org. The website contains a listing of many of the NEDAwareness Week events being planned for February 24- March 1.