Sunday, February 26, 2012

A Week of Awareness



This week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and I take a annual break from interior design to make you all aware. Eating Disorders are not diets and they are not fads, they are a life threatening disease and addiction. They are more prevalent than you may think and they have the highest mortality rate of any psychological disorder including schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease and yet they are the least recognized.



They not only affect women but men as well. An estimated 10 million women and 1 million men suffer from eating disorders including Anorexia, Bulimia, Binge Eating, and EDNOS.

This year's theme is "Everybody Knows Somebody" which for me means exactly what I said above, we are all affected by eating disorders. We need to be more active about prevention, and to bring eating disorders out into the open to put an end to them (maybe wishful thinking but at least try to bring the numbers down).
Want to get involved? Check out this site and get involved in events in your area. Sounds dramatic but the great thing is that recovery is possible and like any addiction, with the right support sufferers can be free--being healthy is awesome! Please contact NEDA or yours truly if you need help or advice on this--as an activist I always want to make a difference! Be healthy and be good to yourselves.



Alicia B.

2 comments:

ashie said...

thank you for the important reminder! especially that healthy is a way to be/feel NOT look! xxx

LindsB said...

I was in a sorority in college so the subject of eating disorders is something I close to. I had many friends who suffered from it and it was awful to watch them go through this. Its such a horrible disease that should totally be made aware of.

PS- not to change the subject on this important post but I wanted to let you know that tagged you in my post today :)