NEDA Coach and Trainer Toolkits are Out! Part 1 : )

Not too long ago, I wrote a few posts on eating disorders and athletes. I had a chance to speak with Nancy Matsumoto, who coordinated and wrote the coach and trainer toolkits for NEDA, which are designed to educate coaches and trainers about eating disorders. According to Nancy, "One of the goals of the toolkit is to balance an understanding of the goals and methods of coaches and trainers with the perspective of the eating disorder professionals who treat affected athletes."

I wanted to re-post the interview, as well as provide a link for you to check out these toolkits. If you are an athlete, a coach, a trainer, or know anyone who is, I encourage you to send around the link so that they can access and download this information! One of the best parts? It's free!! : ) Find it here! Below is the first post on my athletes and eating disorders series (or check it out here)- I will be posting the second one tomorrow! Enjoy! And for more info on the toolkits, follow this link to check out Nancy's blog post about it here.

Just a few days ago, I was saddened to read about a 16 year old high school sophomore named Krista Phelps, who recently lost her battle to anorexia. A talented, high school athlete from Des Moines, Iowa, Phelps collapsed and died while running. Just a few days prior, she had been 'healthy' (according to this article-- which clearly she was not) and competing in her second state track meet. The community is grieving this devastating loss, and in the midst of their grief, some interesting questions about athletes and eating disorders are being raised. This is not a new topic of discussion- many athletes have come forward to share their experiences with eating disorders and disordered eating (read about Tanith Belbin's story here). An anonymous coach is quoted in this article about Phelps as saying "anyone who's coached girls sports long enough knows of at least one [girl who has had an eating disorder]."

There seems to be a very fine line among athletes who train to be as fit as possible to achieve their best performance, while also remaining healthy and taking good care of themselves. It seems to me that coaches are in a unique position to pick up on warning signs and act as a liason for their athletes who may be struggling with an eating disorder by directing them towards the proper treatment. The challenge is that many coaches do not know what to look out for, and do not always know how to handle such fragile and potentially life-threatening situations! For that reason, the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) has initated a project to make toolkits for trainers and coaches. Nancy Matsumoto, who co-authored The Parent's Guide to Eating Disorders and has written for publications such as People Magazine, The LA Times, The NY Times and The Wall Street Journal (among others), has been appointed to create these toolkits. I had a chance to ask her a little more about how she got involved and what NEDA is doing to help come alongside coaches to support athletes who struggle with eating disorders. In light of Krista Phelps tragic death, I think this is something that would benefit us all to hear.

Me: I have been excited to hear that you are working with NEDA to make toolkits for trainers and coaches to help educate them about eating disorders. I know that this is still a work in progress and is not yet available, but can you share a little bit about your involvement with this project?

Nancy: Sure! Through my work as a former People magazine correspondent and as co-author with Marcia on The Parent’s Guide to Eating Disorders, I have reported various articles on eating disorders and body image. NEDA asked me to bid on the job of Toolkit Coordinator for their newest online Toolkit for coaches and trainers, and I was lucky enough to be contracted to do the job. NEDA’s existing online Toolkits are the Parent Toolkit and the EducatorToolkit. I started working on the Toolkit in January. At the moment, the Advisory Committee, made up of about a dozen experts in the field, is reviewing the Toolkit. We hope it will be online in late spring or summer, and will be publicized at the NEDA conference in New York City in the fall. We are now brainstorming on ways to publicize the Toolkit, so you can definitely help with that by telling your readers about it. If you have other ideas of ways to publicize the Toolkit, please let me know!

Me: What kind of information is being provided to trainers and coaches in these toolkits, and what are the goals of such a project?

Nancy: The first sections of the Coaches Toolkit will provide basic information on the different eating disorders: anorexia, bulimia and EDNOS, binge-eating disorder and disordered eating. It will answer frequently asked questions and debunk common myths about eating disorders; detail factors that put athletes at risk for eating disorders (for example participating in a weight-class sport, such as crew or wrestling, aesthetic sports, such as gymnastics or figure skating, or endurance sports, cross country, Nordic track skiing); discuss eating disorder symptoms common to athletes, and the Female Athlete Triad (a syndrome of three interlocking symptoms, disordered eating, irregular periods and low bone mass). There will be sections on encouraging healthy exercise among athletes, the role of the coach in eating disorders, and prevention among middle and high school athletes. Oh, and there will also be athletes’ own stories and conversations with professionals: nutritionists, psychologists and coaches themselves. The goal is to reach out to, educate and offer support to coaches and trainers who are on the front lines of eating disorders, but often do not know how to recognize or handle the problem.

I think that Nancy highlighted very well an issue that is all too common- coaches and trainers, who are on the front lines, need education and support to properly handle athletes with eating disorders. To see what else Nancy had to say, check back here soon for the rest of her interview! And to find out a little bit more about Nancy, follow this link to view her website!

Project HEAL Q&A- Part Two

If you haven't had a chance to check out the first part of my interview with Project HEAL founders Liana Rosenman, Kristina Saffran, and Becky Allen, scroll down to my previous post or click here! These three teenagers are working hard to raise awareness about eating disorders, and they are also working hard to help people pay for their treatment by holding fundraisers and events. They have taken their own personal struggles with eating disorders and have used their experiences to give back and to help others. It sounds like this has been a helpful part of their own recovery! For the conclusion of my interview, continue reading below.

Me: What has this experience of giving back and helping others been like for you?

PH: It has been absolutely amazing! It is so rewarding to be able to speak with [our scholarship applicants] now and hear how our funding helped them regain their lives.

Our work with Project HEAL has also motivated us to stay strong and to remain fully recovered. We would never want to stand up in front of [people] presenting ourselves as people who we are not. We strive to be role models who are trying to recover and [role models] for everyone else dealing with body image issues. We would not want to be hypocritical.

4- If someone were interested in getting involved or donating to Project HEAL, what might you suggest they do? What opportunities exist to help?

If anyone would like to become involved with Project HEAL he or she should definitely contact us! We are interested in starting local chapters of Project HEAL at high schools and colleges. The main responsibility of the club would be to hold fundraising events including, but not limited to, bake sales, car washes, and the sale of Project HEAL merchandise. We would also encourage the club to hold regular meetings to discuss positive body image, self esteem, depression, etc. and to educate the younger grades on eating disorders. If someone would like to donate to Project HEAL or purchase Project HEAL merchandise, he or she is able to do so through our website. We also encourage everyone to look out for upcoming events on our website.

5- I work with a lot of young girls who have eating disorders, who struggle with the motivation to recover. I noticed a quote on your site: "We hope that people will be able to come to the same realization we have (without dealing with an eating disorder first!): We only live once so we must live it right. It is so much more fun to enjoy going out for ice cream with friends than to go running by yourself as punishment for eating an apple. Life really is worth living!" Having been there yourselves, what might you say to a peer, or a teenage girl, who is struggling?

In our opinion there are three key aspects to recovery:

1) Don't be afraid to admit you are struggling and need help -- Everyone deals with adversity. What truly separates us from one another is how we deal with that adversity; whether we let our adversity overcome us or whether we choose to overcome our adversity.

2) Remember that the physical weight gain almost always comes before one is actually comfortable with his or her body -- In the beginning food is like medicine. It is something our bodies need whether we want it or not. After (and during) weight restoration, we can work on our mentality- how we view ourselves. However, it is important to trust your treatment team. You may think you look overweight because mentally you are struggling. Trust your treatment team when they tell you that you are still too underweight. They are here to help, not harm, you.

3) Find a passion -- An eating disorder becomes one's identity. It consumes an individual and masks who he or she truly is. Thus, we encourage eating disorder sufferers to find something they love and to pursue that thing. Don't be afraid to try new activities no matter how old you are. Discover what you love, who you are. This will enable an individual to develop a new, healthy identity.

It is important to note that these young women are not trained therapists, but are women who have gone through their own personal struggles and are working to use their experiences to help others. If you are interested in finding out more about Project HEAL, follow this link to view their website. There are many ways to get involved- you can participate in a fundraising event, start a local chapter at your high school or college, you can donate money, or purchase merchandise from their site-- proceeds go towards scholarshipping individuals into treatment for an eating disorder. If you have any questions about Project HEAL, or would like to get more involved, you can contact them directly- their contact information is on their site, and is located here. A big thanks to the girls for all that they are doing to raise awareness and make a difference!!!

A Diet is a Diet is a Diet

Lately I've been ragging on celebrities- Kim Kardashian, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and now... Jessica Simpson. I've written about Jessica Simpson in the past (here and here) because she has been involved in many efforts to encourage women to examine what real beauty is, both through her show, Price of Beauty, and through her work with Operation Smile. She was also on Oprah a few months ago, sharing her thoughts about beauty, body image, and her renewed sense of self. At one point, she got teary-eyed and when Oprah asked her what she was feeling, she responded that she was frustrated by the pressure put on women by the media to be thin.

Well, this week, Simpson posted on twitter that she has started a strict vegan diet. While she later added that this diet has nothing to do with weight loss, and only has to do with being healthy, I was a little disappointed and surprised that after her campaign to focus on health, beauty and accepting her body, that she would publicly discuss her 'strict vegan diet' that she says 'shocked her system.' Because she has made body image and beauty her platform, it seems irresponsible of her to mention her latest fad restrictive vegan diet. Diets, as I have preached and preached about, are ineffective and BAD (why? find out here). If Simpson chooses to follow a vegan diet, that is her choice, but to announce that she has started a new diet puts the focus in the wrong place, whether this diet has to do with weight loss or not. Some may disagree with me, and that is ok! But I think that it would be better if she kept that information to herself, especially due to her history of engaging in fad and yo-yo diets and the ongoing scrutiny over her weight- as anyone hearing about her latest diet would naturally assume it has to do with weight loss (as all of her other diets have been in the past).

Our society is obsessed with dieting, who is eating what, losing weight fast, bodies, etc. It's tough to go onto facebook or twitter anymore without reading a status update or tweet about some kind of disordered behaviors/thoughts regarding food and exercise. I'm not calling anyone out here or thinking of certain people as I write this (well, maybe Jessica haha), but the more we call attention to these things, the more we are playing into the unhealthy dynamic created by the media. As much as Jessica Simpson has experienced criticism and pressure from the media, I would think that she would not want to perpetuate the focus and value on such things herself. I am afraid that by making a public point to share her latest diet plan, she is compromising the stance she has been trying to model with health and beauty. It's not that all of her progress and encouragement to women has been completely wasted and forgotten, but she is sending some pretty mixed messages. From here on out, it might be more helpful for her to refrain from promoting or discussing her current meal plan. And so should everyone else. We don't need a play by play via facebook or twitter about how many pounds you lost last week or how fat you feel or how intense your exercise routine is or how you can fit into your skinny jeans again. Food nourishes our bodies, it gives us energy and fuel to think well and be active. Let's keep the focus there and spend the rest of our energy, time and thoughts on things that matter more, like family, friends, our careers, and making the world a better place.

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

While I was browsing People.com for my daily dose of celebrity gossip this morning, I happened to see that Jennifer Love Hewitt was featured alongside a big headline that read, "Jennifer Love Hewitt Advises Girls to 'Love the Way You Look.' Coincidentally, she was pictured in a white bikini, showing off her body that has significantly shrunk in recent days/months/years. Does anyone remember when she was photographed back in 2007 in a bikini and was publicly ridiculed for the way that she looked in the pictures?? She was raked over the coals for the shape of her body, and I remember reading about how she started dieting and working out to lose some of the weight after that happened. Here is a brief excerpt from an article written shortly after that time:

Late last year (2007) the blogosphere got pretty mean about actress Jennifer Love Hewitt looking a little heavier than normal. At the time she said she was a size 2 and that she wasn’t fat, but she mostly worried about how the attention would affect image-conscious girls who saw the media calling her fat. While she says the two aren’t connected, she’s lost 18 pounds in the last four months with the help of trainer Stevie Sant’Angelo.

Hmmm. It seems odd to me that those two things were not connected. But either way, I find it all the more ironic that she is doling out such advice to young women to love the way their bodies look, since her way of loving her body was to change hers! Jennifer Love Hypocrite?

While I cannot even begin to imagine the kind of pressure a female in Hollywood must face to conform to unrealistic standards of beauty, I also do not think that this justifies hypocrisy. If she loved what she looked like so much, why did she feel the need to change? She is sending such an unfortunate message to young women because while she is saying, "When I meet young girls, I'm always like, 'Just do me one favor, love what you look like right now – and remember I said it 10 years from now because it's the greatest gift I can give", her actions are telling a very different story. This quote was taken from the People.com article, which you can read by following this link. A few lines down, she says that she was so embarrassed by the pictures of her body taken in 2007 that she gave up eating 'her beloved donuts' and started fitting in workouts to her schedule so that she could 'get healthier.'

I am all for being healthy. Trust me. But it just seems like she is sending a very mixed message! And I think we are all too often inundated with mixed messages from the media, to the point that we fail to see things as they really are. It's helpful to expose mixed messages when we see them, and I would encourage you all to be mindful of what you see and hear! When it comes to the media, what you see is not what you get.

I guess I just feel bad for Jennifer Love Hewitt because I feel like she is really the one who is losing here. You never win when you have to change your outer appearance in order to love yourself and be happy. Yes, sometimes we do have to make changes so that we can become more healthy, but happiness and love are not dependent on or defined by how we look in a bikini, or how good we look in pictures. Happiness, love and beauty really do come from the inside out- not by losing 18 pounds in 4 months.

Race For The Cure and Body Image

The Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure took place in Raleigh, NC this past Saturday, and it was such an inspiring event. It held special meaning for me, as I have a grandmother and an aunt who have both battled breast cancer-- and survived!!! My aunt was actually in town from Oregon for follow up care at Duke, and so we formed a group and all participated together in this event. I have heard that participating in a Komen race is very different than other races, and as a first time participant, I think I saw why. First, there were SOOO many people that participated. If you look at the picture below-- it is a little tough to make out-- but as far as you can see, there are people that fill up the streets.

The other thing that seemed different to me was the heart and spirit in this event. I think that most people participating had been touched in some way by breast cancer. While my grandma and aunt are survivors, not everyone wins their battle with breast cancer. One of my friends that participated on our team lost her mother to breast cancer. Many, many people have lost loved ones to this illness and it is really heartbreaking.

The picture below is actually a shot of a few of the women that were on our team-- "Breast of Friends" : ) and you will notice the hot pink paper on these women's backs. These hot pink sheets of paper served as memorials to write names of people that you were walking in celebration of (survival), or in memory of, for those who have passed away. It was really sobering and emotional to see all of the names of people who have lost their lives to this illness. I think anytime, with any illness or disease, seeing names or faces make an impact because it personalizes the illness. In talking to my aunt over the course of her visit to Raleigh, she shared with me that battling and surviving breast cancer has changed her life and the way that she lives it in so many ways. One thing that she said that stood out to me was that she is thankful every single morning when she wakes up and realizes how blessed she is to be alive, and to have a body that works and is healthy.
This really impacted me and made me consider how her wise words can be applied to those of us who have not battled breast cancer! First, I think that her attitude of thankfulness is one to be emulated. There are a million ways that having an attitude of gratefulness and thankfulness can impact us-- as well as those around us. Whether it means that we worry a little less, we appreciate what we have more, or take our eyes off of what we lack and what we wish we had and focus on what we do have, it is always good to have perspective, and to live in a way that reflects that attitude.

Secondly, I think that this relates to body image and the ways that we think of and care for our bodies. I want to be clear, like I am often, that eating disorders are a mental illness. Part of having an eating disorder (diagnostically) is experiencing a severe disturbance and preoccupation with one's weight, shape, size, body-- so this is in no way meant to minimize the severity and nature of these thoughts. What I will say though, is that for those of us who struggle with body image and have a negative self-image, this may be a good reminder and an encouragement about all that our bodies can do for us, and how blessed we are to have bodies that are able to function how they are supposed to, that allow us to be active, and that allow us to experience life! Yes, it may be upsetting when our jeans fit more snug; yes, it may get you down when you flip through a magazine and see nothing but airbrushed 'beauties'; and yes, it may be frustrating when you don't feel good about yourself! These are all feelings that most women have experienced before, so you are not alone! But I will encourage you with the words of my brave aunt, who said that she wakes up every morning, thankful to be alive and to have a body that works. Rather than focus so much on the way that our bodies look, maybe if we start to appreciate all that our bodies do for us, and the fact that they allow us to experience life, we may begin to embrace our bodies a little more and appreciate them for what they are and what they do for us.