by Briana Crawford
In the United States alone, over 30 million people currently suffer or have suffered from various forms of eating disorders. Many people take drastic measures to achieve what they deem to be ideal body sizes and such weight battles are chronicled almost every day in the media. To mark this year’s National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, University of West Georgia’s Health Services recently organized a panel discussion to shed light on the truth about and dangers of eating disorders and body image issues.
The event, titled “Dying to be Thin,” included a question and answer session for students to ask a range of questions concerning eating disorders. The five members of the panel were Sara Wilburn, registered dietician and nutrition consultant; Rebecca Uranga, student and soccer athlete; Haleigh Hughes, another student; Sadie Young, counselor and assistant director of UWG’s Career Services; and Jill Hendricks, patient advocate at UWG’s Health Services. Liz Butts, health and wellness promotions coordinator for UWG, was the mediator.
“We brought this panel discussion to offer for students as part of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week,” Liz says. “We wanted to make sure students understood more about the realities of eating disorders, their available resources at UWG, and how to help others have healthy attitudes.”
The panel assisted in discussion of several eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, and the difficulties and symptoms of each. Some even provided personal accounts. For more information, please visit the Health Services website at www.westga.edu/health/.
