News Report: Eating Disorder Awareness
Two Penn State clubs are working together this week to promote awareness of various types of eating disorders. The National Eating Disorder Association, NEDA, is working with Penn State and colleges across the United States to promote awareness and encourage young people to help get early intervention and treatment.
Penn State Nutrition Association and Penn State’s Active Minds club have teamed up to provide events throughout the week for NEDAwareness, whose theme for 2013 is “Everybody Knows Someone.” This theme is attributed to the growing awareness of eating disorders.
Marilee Fritsch, a junior nutrition major, is an active member of both Penn State clubs and has had her own experiences with eating disorders starting at age 11. She said her fixation with her weight began after she was made fun of at school. She started to exercise and eat healthy in order to lose weight and became obsessed. Fitsch said she never intended on having an eating disorder but the mental illness took over. Her sister was the one who intervened when she was 15 and sought her help.
Now, as a junior, Fitsch works with Penn State’s chapter of Active Minds in order to reduce the stigma related with mental illness.
According to NEDA, 10 to 20 percent of women and 10 percent of men are affected by eating disorders. Specifically in college, students can become prone to the disorders due to their increase in stress and social pressures to fit in.
NEDA and Fitsch both have hopes of making students aware that eating disorders don’t discriminate between males and females and that early intervention in key in the health of individuals.
