Health doesn’t have a ‘look’

This past week, Feb. 1-7, was Canada’s Eating Disorder Awareness Week (EDAW). The week aims to promote body respect, inclusion, and a more compassionate understanding of health.

This year’s theme was “health doesn’t have a look,” which focused on four main goals: to take action at every level (in your own life, in your community and in larger social systems); to break the power of diet culture; to learn how to identify and resist harmful messages that influence our society on how we view food and body size; to create safe and welcoming spaces that don’t focus on weight at home, in schools, in health care, and on social media; and, finally, to explore trusted resources and services.

This campaign invited people to challenge the harmful message that thinness equals health, and instead to start conversations about diversity in all bodies. Eating disorders affect people no matter their gender, age, socioeconomic class, or ethnic background. That is why eating disorder groups across Canada have united to create this national week of action aimed at educating the public, showcasing available resources and advocating for lasting change.

Eating disorders are serious health conditions that affect both your physical and mental health. These conditions are categorized by problems in how someone thinks about food, weight, eating and body shape, thoughts which can lead to severely dangerous eating behaviours. These behaviours can affect someone’s ability to get the nutrients their body needs, resulting in damage to their heart, digestive health, bones, teeth and mouth. There are many different types of eating disorders, the most common being Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric diagnosis other than Opioid Use Disorder. Understanding the damage that eating disorders cause is extremely important when trying to break the weight stigma made by diet culture and our society’s narrow beauty standards.

According to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, eating disorders affect more than 1.4 million youth in Canada and only 25 per cent receive appropriate treatment. Dr. Nicole Obeid of the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute in Ottawa, found that there was a surge in hospitalizations for eating disorders during the pandemic. This caused her and her colleagues to conduct the first ever study on the social and economic impacts of eating disorders in Canada. From 2020 to 2022, there was a 126 per cent increase in emergency room visits from young people with an eating disorder and a 60 per cent increase in hospital admissions. The total estimated cost of services provided was $39.5 million, which, according to Obeid, is still a vast underestimate as it doesn’t include outpatient programs, medication, psychotherapy or nutrition counselling. This significant increase in rates of eating disorders highlights the greater need for earlier intervention and support.

As this year’s theme was made to break down the belief that healthy equals skinny, it’s impossible not to mention the influence of the body positivity movement. This social movement gained attention in the past few years because it promotes acceptance of all bodies, regardless of size, shape, skin tone and gender. It shifts the focus from the physical appearance of the body to the overall health of the body. The movement also strives for people to have a healthy body image, which is defined by the Office on Women’s Health as feeling good about how you look and feeling comfortable in one’s body. They report that having a negative body image can put one at a higher risk of mental-health conditions, including eating disorders.

As social media influence continues to shape younger generations, these positive changes help build healthier attitudes towards our bodies, contrasting the previous beauty ideal often referred to as the “2000s skinny.” However, with more and more celebrities and influencers quietly rejecting body positivity, and instead opting to take GLP-1 Agonists (a class of medication that can suppress appetite, Ozempic for example), it has become increasingly difficult for young impressionable teenagers to form positive views on their bodies. This shows that this year’s EDAW theme is still incredibly relevant.

While Eating Disorder Awareness Week has finished, there are still many resources available if you or someone you know needs support. Mindful Milestones Psychotherapy Centre is the largest trauma-informed clinic in Manitoba, and they provide in-person and online therapy sessions with professionals specializing in treating eating disorders. Prairie Mountain Health also has online programs aimed at helping people build healthy relationships with food. Registration for the “Empowered Eating” program is free at 1-877-509-7852. You can still help in achieving the goals set for this EDAW by continuing to learn about the damaging effects of weight stigma and strict beauty standards through viewing some of the many materials available through various organizations, and by creating a safe space for the people around you.

» Georgia Feng is a grade 12 student at École secondaire Neelin High School.