Body Image Workshop Debunks Myths

About 30 young women listened to Nicole Roberge share her near-death experience with anorexia, an eating disorder characterized by malnutrition and excessive exercising, at  recently.

Sponsored by a pilot club called H.I.P.S. (“Health, Image, Power, Success”), Roberge’s appearance was part of an educational Body Image Workshop. Trumbull High School juniors Rebecca Kaiserman and Bonnie Deal founded the club as a way to raise awareness about eating disorders and body image.

The author of a memoir, “Hang in There, Wherever ‘There’ Is,” Roberge described growing up as an overweight child. “My weight was how I judged myself,” Roberge said.

 After college, Roberge moved to Los Angeles to study screen writing and, without intending to, lost some weight. When she returned to Connecticut months later for a visit, she was surprised by the response of family and friends.

“I had all of these exciting stories to share about what was going on in my life but all anyone wanted to do was talk about my weight. I had never lost weight before and this was all everyone wanted to focus on,” she said.

Returning to the west coast, Roberge was homesick and lonely and so she joined the gym. Her one hour workouts rapidly turned into four-hour daily visits. Her diet was reduced to a few bites of food and she lost a great deal of weight.

When frightened by chest pains, which is a symptom of cardiac arrest induced by anorexia, Roberge was misdiagnosed by several doctors. Breaking through her own denial, she finally revealed to a medical professional that she was not eating enough. His response was to write a prescription that read, “Eat more; Exercise less.”

Roberge said, “You can’t tell someone with an eating disorder to just eat more. It’s more complicated than that.”

Finally, she was admitted to a hospital that specializes in eating disorders. “I’m here to tell you that you have to learn about self-acceptance,” Roberge stated. “I learned that you can’t judge your worth by the numbers on the scale. It’s been a long road but I can finally say that I’m happy with myself.”

LaurieAnn Scher, a registered dietician, helped to dispel some myths surrounding dieting. For example, she pointed out that if your body takes in, over time, more calories than it needs, you will gain weight. However, everyone has different metabolic rates. “Some people actually need less food,” Scher stated.

She urged the high school students to “pay attention to how hungry you are, pay attention to how full you are, and pay attention to how you feel when you’re eating.”

 Rebecca and Bonnie were moved to start H.I.P.S. when they learned about young girls –middle school and younger—who were already preoccupied with dieting.  Although they would eventually like to bring an educational workshop to a younger audience, the two friends decided to begin their awareness campaign with a pilot club for high school students.

 This year its members—about 20, in all—participated in a fundraiser walk sponsored by the National Eating Disorder Association in New York. They also rolled out a “Fat Talk Free Week” for Trumbull students in February.

 H.I.P.S. members are also selling bracelets that say “You Are Loved!” and “Be(You)tiful!”

 “We try to do activities for our whole school community,” said Jeanette Nicolette, club advisor and English teacher. “People have been very supportive.”

Emily Green, 16, said that she was drawn to H.I.P.S. because she feels that people are too obsessed about their bodies. “It’s annoying,” she said.

Sara Thies, a therapist in private practice and social worker for a non-profit organization located in a local high school, said that media images depicting what a girl is supposed to look like drives these obsessive thoughts. She explained that before the 1950’s, when the advertising industry soared, people based their concepts of “what was attractive” by their neighbor. Now, though, young women are looking at glossy photos of models that have been touched up and digitally transformed into perfect, albeit unrealistic, bodies. She told the Trumbull gathering that teenage girls strive to look like these models, yet these models don’t even like, in real life, like how they’re portrayed in the media.

“I encourage you to really start questioning where your ideas are coming from,” Thies said.

 Jess Hayduk, 16, felt that the Body Image Workshop was informative. “Everyone struggles with this,” she said.

Carly Kramer, 16, said that it’s important to provide information about eating disorders and distorted media images because “it helps to raise awareness and brings people together.”

Jenielle Morrison, 16, said that she’s known people who suffer from these issues. “They may seem fine but I learned today that they’re going through really difficult things. You don’t know what goes on behind closed doors.”

For more information about H.I.P.S. and the Body Image Workshop, email nicoletj@trumbullps.org.