Body Pride Week began Monday on the Downtown campus to raise awareness and inform students and faculty about body image, eating healthy, eating disorders and available campus resources.
“It’s a positive twist on National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, which is sponsored through the National Eating Disorders Association in February each year,” said Karen Moses, director of Wellness and Health Promotion at ASU.
According to Moses, around 31 percent of female students and around 15 percent of male students at ASU said concerns regarding physical appearance had a moderate, high or very high effect on their stress within the past 12 months.
“Since stress is the top endorsed health-related academic impediment of the National College Health Assessment, helping students to attain a healthy body image can help them to have more positive outcomes both personally and academically,” Moses said.
A chef from Aramark, the primary company that provides on-campus food services for ASU, will be showcasing a healthy-cooking demonstration in the Taylor Place kitchen Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Jennifer Liscomb, president of ASU’s Downtown Phoenix Student Nutrition Council, will be providing attendees with the nutritional facts of the meal that is made.
“I want ASU students to start eating better,” Liscomb said, “When your body feels better, your self-esteem naturally increases.”
Liscomb said the demonstration will help determine how interested Downtown campus students are in nutrition, adding that she plans to host more healthy-cooking events in the future.
“I want this type of thing to continue for the ASU students,” she said. “Especially for those who live in the dorms.”
Journalism sophomore Lauren Jordan said she won’t be attending the event but would like to if she lived on campus.
“I’m trying to eat healthier but it’s kind of hard,” said Jordan, adding that, in her opinion, restaurants near the Downtown campus could be healthier.
Body Pride Week is also hosting a drive to donate clothing to HomeBase Youth Services, said Michele Rinck, member of DPC Aware, the organizer of the clothing drive.
HomeBase Youth Services is an Arizona-based nonprofit agency that addresses the needs of at-risk homeless youth 21 years old and younger in Arizona, according to the ASU website.
“The purpose of the Body Pride clothing drive is to encourage students to donate clothes that don’t fit to an organization that can distribute them to people who can use them now,” Moses said. “The idea is to accept who you are now.”
The clothing drive’s drop-off locations are at Taylor Place, the dean’s and career services offices located in the post office near North Central Avenue and West Fillmore Street, and the Nursing and Health Innovation I building.
“If your body is just not meant to be a certain way you can’t force it,” Rinck said. “Focus on what makes you happy and, of course, check with your doctor.”
Contact the reporter at mgutier8@asu.edu
