GUEST COLUMN: Stop hating, start healing

say eating disorders are an epidemic destroying our generation. An epidemic is feeding on our society. It can affect anyone at any time. It takes an especially heavy toll on the young. It wastes the body and afflicts the mind. Although causes have been identified, there is no easy remedy. This disease is not caused by a virus or a bacterium. It cannot be prevented through simple measures such as using a condom or getting vaccinated. It rages through the American population, yet it is less recognized than other epidemics. The disease is distorted body image, which manifests itself in a wide range of behaviors. Binging. Purging. Starving. And the less noticed but more prevalent yo-yo dieting and compulsive exercising. Over five million Americans suffer from eating disorders and countless others from disordered eating. There is a way to prevent these illnesses, but no doctor can give you the prescription. It is mere self-acceptance. Doesn't that seem like a relatively simple measure to prevent a raging epidemic? Although self-acceptance seems even easier than using a condom or getting a shot, there is nothing simple about it. People fail to realize that self-acceptance does not come in a plastic bottle or a little wrapper; it must come from within. The relentless pursuit of a perfect body is an epidemic that deserves more attention than it receives. Society's attitude toward eating is two-fold. From one perspective, eating is considered a rewarding, pleasurable and social activity. Yet women are expected to be thin and fit, to fulfill the ideal set for them. With glossy media images of unrealistic bodies bombarding us from all sides, it is very easy to fall victim to the diseased mentality of idealizing an unattainable body. As individuals who fell prey to the epidemic ourselves, we know we are not alone. Living in a culture that equates thinness with beauty, it was almost the norm for us to idealize bodies other than our own. There was no limit to how far we were willing go to achieve this ideal. To escape the embarrassment of the nickname "fatso" and to look flawless in bikinis, we took any measures necessary to reach our distorted goals. Extreme food restriction, purging after meals, taking appetite suppressant pills and laxatives were all part of our strategies to thinness. These steps seemed like easy ways to achieve our goal. Little did we know that the time we were wasting on our unhealthy obsessions could have been used to appreciate ourselves and our bodies.# We bring these experiences to our work with GUIDE (Guidance for Understanding Image, Dieting and Eating), a peer-health education group advocating healthy body image as a remedy for the obsession. Recognizing the prevalence of distorted body image and the accompanying lack of self-acceptance within the University community, GUIDE hopes to generate awareness of the need to love oneself and one's body. To convey our message, we are sponsoring Body Image Awareness Week, a part of National Nutrition Month this March. Tonight, to kick off the week, we are honored to host Jane Hirschmann, renowned author of When Women Stop Hating Their Bodies, a book encouraging all women to "stop renovating their bodies" and start treating them with the love and respect they deserve. She will give us a taste of her philosophy tonight in Meyerson B-1 at 7 p.m. Hirschmann believes that the root of the obsessive disorders plaguing our society is insufficient self-acceptance, leading to an obsession with dieting. Tomorrow night, a video about eating disorders, sponsored by the Harvard Project, will be shown at 9 p.m. at the Delta Delta Delta sorority house, 3539 Locust Walk. Bonnie Sherman, a College junior featured in the video, will speak about her personal struggle as a victim of an eating disorder. Both events are open to the entire campus and admission is free. Through these activities, we hope other members of the University community will gain new insight into this epidemic ravaging our generation. Life is short. Time is limited. Too many people waste so much of it obsessing about dieting, counting calories and coveting another body. What we fail to realize is that our bodies are the only ones we've got; they keep us alive and allow us to function. Rather than trying to "renovate" our bodies, we should respect them for all that they do. So, the next time you catch yourself reading a food label for fat content or longing for a different body shape, take those brief moments and use them to appreciate yourself and your accomplishments.