UK student organizes walk to fight eating disorders

By Erin Melwing

More than 10 million women and more than 1 million men suffer from eating disorders in the U.S., according to the National Eating Disorders Association.

Although they may go unnoticed, some of these victims attend UK.

“For five years I fought the disease, up until the fall of 2007 when I spoke to a friend,” said Kimberly Hoffmeister, an animal sciences senior, in an e-mail to the Kernel. “I began outpatient treatment at the Kentucky Center for Eating and Weight Disorders and went on to inpatient treatment in Chicago.”

Hoffmeister is coordinating Lexington’s first annual NEDA “Walk Until Eating Disorders Are History” at 11 a.m. Saturday at Coldstream Park off of Newtown Pike.

“By coming out to the public, I hope to steer those affected toward treatment and educate the public that eating disorders are illnesses, not choices,” she said.

The walk is primarily to promote awareness of eating disorders, Hoffmeister said.

“I think it’s really important that students are aware of eating disorders and how to deal with them and how to recognize them,” said Hannah Alsgaard, a gender and women studies senior. “It is such a widespread and serious problem that if we can recognize the signs and symptoms with what’s going on with our friends, we can save somebody a lot of pain down the road.”

However, eating disorders are not only about food, which is why rehabilitation and counseling is extremely important for patients, Hoffmeister said in the e-mail.

“Eating disorders are about control and emotions. People with eating disorders find themselves fighting for control and hiding their emotions,” she said. “An emotion, let’s say anxiety, arises, someone with an eating disorder will not act on that emotion, but instead use food to either restrict, binge and purge, or binge to numb themselves from that emotion.”

Societal pressures include the stress and pressure of being perfect and also students wanting to feel accepted, Hoffmeister said. Consequently, some students resort to destructive behaviors to have the perfect waistline and the perfect grades, she said.

“It’s easy for people to get caught up in ‘How much weight has she lost?’ or ‘How is she going to look on spring break?’ College students get a negative image of their body and that can turn into an eating disorder,” Alsgaard said.

All funds collected at the walk will be directly donated to NEDA, Hoffmeister said in the e-mail. Funds will finance innovative eating disorder prevention programs, NEDA’s national toll-free helpline, NEDAwareness Week activities and research grants to improve treatment and prevention of eating disorders.

Various groups such as the UK Kentuckians for the Commonwealth and people in the Lexington community have publicized and volunteered many hours for the cause, Hoffmeister said. Businesses in Lexington have also agreed to allow advertisements for the walk in their buildings.

Although many people, especially college-aged women, are affected by eating disorders, it is easy to turn a blind eye to their illnesses, said Joe Gallenstein, a political science and history senior, who plans to walk Saturday.

“I’ve talked to several friends of mine who have faced this problem themselves, and I hope they’ll come out and realize they’re not alone and really get a good idea of how many people care or have also gone through this with them,” said Gallenstein, president of UK College Democrats. “I think it will be really empowering.”

Registration for the walk begins at 9:45 a.m. Saturday and ends at 10:45 a.m. On-site registration is $20 for adults and $10 for children.