For Schools

How Educators Can Make a Difference in Schools

• Develop curricula for health classes about size and shape diversity, eating disorders, disordered eating patterns, body image concerns, and why diets don't work.
• Plan activities for Eating Disorders Awareness Week in February of each year.
• Contact us to receive information and materials.
• Help students understand advertising ploys that promote body image dissatisfaction and join in efforts against the cultural idealization of thinness.
• Establish programs that help students recognize and develop "inner"qualities (honesty, kindness, creativity, etc.).
• Sponsor events for students and parents which feature testimonies of fellow classmates who have chosen the path to recovery.
• Start peer support groups to help students talk to peers whom they suspect might have a body image concern or eating disorder.
• Don't allow school activities which promote weight loss or emphasize appearance.
• Request copies of the quiz Do You Have a Healthy Relationship With Food? and distribute them to students in health classes. Allow opportunities for discussion.
• Evaluate your own relationship with food and how well you respect your body (take the Do You Have a Healthy Relationship With Food? quiz).
• Refer students you are concerned about to The Renfrew Center.

Ten Things Coaches & Trainers Can Do to Help Prevent Eating Disorders in Their Athletes

1. Recognize the signs and symptoms of eating disorders and understand your role in helping to prevent them. Those with eating problems may often hide their symptoms to avoid calling attention to them. They are often aware the behavior is abnormal.
2. Provide athletes with accurate information regarding weight, weight loss, body composition, nutrition, and sports performance in order to reduce misinformation and to challenge practices that are unhealthy and even counterproductive. Be aware of local professionals who can help educate your athletes.
3. Emphasize the health risks of low weight, especially for female athletes with menstrual irregularities or amenorrhea. The athlete should be referred for medical assessment in these cases.
4. Refer an athlete to a sports psychologist or other therapist skilled at treating disorders if the athlete is chronically dieting and/or exhibits mildly abnormal eating. Early detection increases the likelihood of successful treatment. If left untreated, the problem may progress to an eating disorder.
5. De-emphasize weight by not weighing athletes and by minimizing or eliminating comments about weight. Instead, focus on other areas in which athletes have more control in order to improve performance. There is no risk in improving mental and emotional capacities!
6. Do not assume that reducing body fat or weight will enhance performance. While weight loss or a reduction in body fat can lead to improved performance, studies show this does not apply to all athletes. Additionally, many individuals respond to weight loss attempts with eating disorder symptoms. Improved performance should not be at the expense of the athlete's health.
7. Understand why weight is such a sensitive and personal issue for many women. Since weight is emotionally charged for many, eliminate derogatory comments or behaviors, no matter how slight, about weight. If there is a concern about an athlete's weight, the athlete should be referred for an assessment to a registered dietitian or sports psychologist skilled in treating eating disorders.
8. Do not automatically curtail athletic participation if an athlete is found to have eating problems, unless warranted by a medical condition. Consider the athlete's health, physical and emotional safety, and self-image when making decisions regarding an athlete's level of participation in his/her sport.
9. Explore your own values and attitudes regarding weight, dieting, and body image, and how these values and attitudes may inadvertently affect your athletes. Try to understand your role in promoting a positive self-image and self-esteem in your athletes.
10. The annual mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is more than 12 times higher than the death rate of all causes of death for females 15 to 24 years old in the general population.

Click here for more detailed information on signs and symptoms. (tambien en español)

Read books about eating disorders. Here are some links with additional resources.

Contact us for guidance and more information about our services or call 1-800-RENFREW.