Teens Take a Positive Approach to Eating Disorder Prevention
 he connection
between self-image and health can be profound - and at times disastrous.
The Body Positive, an organization based in Berkeley, is helping teens recognize the
consequences of taking drastic steps to change their bodies and instead to accept physical
differences in body sizes and shapes through an Eating Disorders Prevention Program funded
with a two-year, $100,000 grant from TCWF.
"This program has successfully developed a peer-education model and partnered with
schools to reach many more young people than they could have otherwise. The Body Positive
provides critical information that usually isn't provided by other health-related
programs," said Fatima Angeles, TCWF program officer.
At the heart of the Eating Disorders Prevention Program is a 22-member Teen Task Force
trained to educate fellow students about the relationships between poor perceptions of
body image and adolescent health issues and how to deal with emotions involved with such
issues.
   Although the program originally targeted
four high schools in the Berkeley area, nine girls from three additional campuses joined
the Teen Task Force to make classroom presentations, co-facilitate campus support groups
and conduct community outreach. As a result, more than 6,000 students have received
information through the Eating Disorders Prevention Program.
"Support groups help teens realize that discrimination based on body size is a
diversity issue and often keeps people from achieving - and enjoying - their natural body
size," said Connie Sobczak, The Body Positive's executive director. "We need to
accept our ancestral heritage and embrace that as beautiful."
Because of body dissatisfaction, she said teens often resort to drastic dieting and
develop dangerous eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and compulsive eating,
resulting in severe health problems and even death.
"How can young people learn when they're starving their brains or grow up as
healthy adults when they're starving their bodies?" Sobczak asked. "Body
dissatisfaction affects all populations, every socioeconomic class. Every ethnic group has
reasons for eating disorders. Immigrants coming from cultures where 'fat is beautiful' are
suddenly exposed to our obsession for thinness."
The program emphasizes a healthy lifestyle, based on exercise and healthful foods in
moderation, to achieve natural body size.
"It's wonderful when people really inhabit their bodies," Sobczak said.
"Their radiance and confidence become so apparent."
The Body Positive has replicated its program among professional community outreach
teams across the state to establish school-based eating disorder prevention programs for
adolescents.
"The Body Positive has developed a cadre of young leaders who continue to work
with school administrators and students and train younger girls for the Teen Task
Force," said TCWF's Angeles. "Other communities can learn from programs like
this to help prevent eating disorders before they need to be treated."
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