Positive Self-Image Focus of 'Love Your Body Week' Events

Love Your Body Week kicked off at Sac State this week with a series of events designed to educate and promote healthy and positive body image.

Love Your Body Week, a collaborative effort between Student Health Services and Psychological Counseling Services, began four years ago under the coordination of Kalyn Coppedge. Coppedge, who is a health educator for the Fitness, Healthy Eating and Lifestyle Program, designed the week of events to coincide with National Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

The decision for this cross-promotion was intentional, said Shauna Schultz, nutritionist and coordinator of this year's events.

Like Love Your Body Week, National Eating Disorder Awareness Week focuses on body image issues and providing resources and education to raise awareness. On Tuesday, both of these overlapped with the "How to help a loved one with an eating disorder" discussion hosted by Jennifer Lombardi, director of admissions at Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program.

The discussion, which happened after The State Hornet went to press, was to be centered on eating disorders and tips on how you can provide support to those suffering from an eating disorder or are in recovery. It also planned to touch on the overlaying theme of body image and self-esteem and how important they are in living a healthy lifestyle.

Body image is, of course, the focal point of Love Your Body Week.

While Love Your Body Week is in its fourth run, and although the events change annually, its purpose remains the same. The aim is to give students the education and resources to help them in improving their body image and self-esteem.

"Having a poor body image can affect all areas of your life," said Schultz. "Body image is definitely important."

This week's events feature everything from lectures to documentaries to open forum discussions to even raffles all intended to create a greater awareness of the importance of a positive body image.

Peer Health Educator Macelina Amonoo organized today's event "Not My Hair," an educational event about African American hair. The event also discussed how issues with African American hair can affect one physically and emotionally.

As part of the the "Not My Hair" project, the documentary "Good Hair" will be shown in the Student Health Services Lobby at 6 p.m. Comedian Chris Rock created the documentary, which focuses on the subject of African American women's hair and how it correlates to society's norms and African American culture. Headscarves will be distributed after the showing following a discussion panel to remind people "we are more than our hair."

Thursday will highlight Peach Friedman, a spokeswoman for the National Disorders Association. From 11 a.m. to noon, Friedman will be reading excerpts from her book, "Confessions from an Exercise Addict," as well as holding a raffle to give away 20 signed copies. Friedman will share her own experiences with exercise bulimia and how to exercise in a healthy way.

Closing out Love Your Body Week is Lori Roberto, a clinical psychologist for Fit HELP. In a lecture titled "Body Image Busters," Roberto hopes to dispel common body image myths in today's culture and provide stepping stones for students who want to better their self-image.

When asked why the focus on students in Love Your Body Week, Schultz said, "With college-age students, there's a higher prevalence of body issues. They're at that age in which they're coming into themselves as adults."

Schultz also has high hopes for Love Your Body Week.

"I hope that it increases awareness," Schultz said. "Hopefully (students) will walk away from it with a greater acceptance of their bodies and feel comfortable in their own skin."