By Kelly Kultys

Thirty million people—both men and women—in the United States will suffer from a significant eating disorder in their lifetime, according to the Multi-Service Eating Disorders Association. In fact, the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) cites, “Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, and a suicide rate that is 50 times higher than that of the general population.”

Despite their prevalence, especially in college-aged women and men, eating disorders are one of the least talked about illnesses.

“College students…do not seek treatment for many reasons. They may be trying to hide their disorder due to shame,” ANAD states. “They may not even realize that they have a serious health problem or may mistakenly regard their disorder as something they will grow out of.” Additionally, their friends may not understand what they are going through or how to help them.

Three students at Fordham are looking to change that. Emily Grasso, FCRH ’17, Corina Minden-Birkenmaier, FCRH ’17, and Robin Tornatore, GSB ’17, are trying to change the culture that can perpetrate eating disorders.

They are currently in the process of creating a club titled “Fed-Up” which hopes to help students reduce the traits that cause eating disorders, such as a negative body image and the prevalence of dieting and body-shaming in society.

“You can realize that you don’t have to talk about yourself that way; you don’t have to assess other people that way,” Grasso said. “We really want to start a dialogue about that — to make people more self-aware and try to pass on that message.”

The women believe a lot of these symptoms stem from the highly competitive environment that students endure before they get into college.

“It’s so frustrating to us in a school like Fordham, a school with a lot of high-achieving students who worked really hard in high school and were in high pressure environments – [eating disorders] are a symptom of that,” Grasso said.

Tornatore added, “People with eating disorders are high-achieving individuals who turn their eating disorder into another way to compete.”

This club, however, is not meant to be a support group or provide counseling support, as they are not certified to do so. However, they plan to share information about the many resources Fordham has to offer for students battling eating disorders.

At Fordham, students can work confidentially with a joint team from Counseling and Psychological Services and University Health Services to treat their conditions. Students can be referred or walk in under their own volition.

“We want to promote the resources we have on campus,” Grasso said. “People need to be made aware that it’s OK to ask for help when something like this is happening. It’s not something that you should be embarrassed of.”

The students believe that many do not understand the beginnings of their disordered thinking.

“We want to try and help people realize that you don’t have to be diagnosed with a textbook eating disorder in order to have it be a problem,” Minden-Birkenmaier said. “If someone is spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about the food they eat, how much they exercise, how they look — that’s taking energy away from something else they could be doing, so that’s automatically decreasing their quality of life, even if it’s not anorexia or bulimia.”

“Fed-Up” also wants to help students avoid getting “infected” with an eating disorder.

“Eating disorders, are in a way, contagious,” Minden-Birkenmaier said. “Especially when a lot of people they know have eating disorders, it’s easy to develop one. It is good to help and support your friends, but not at the expense to yourself.”

Once they are approved as a club, the group plans to begin its work with a poster campaign promoting positive body image. Their first unofficial program will take place on Sunday, Oct. 5, when they will participate in the National Eating Disorder Walk at Foley Square in Manhattan. So far, about 15 people have signed up to attend.

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Kelly Kultys is the Whatever Position for The Fordham Ram.