Cara Jones
palmettoreport@gmail.com

(Rock Hill, S.C.) — The Human Nutrition Department at Winthrop University is stepping up to help bring awareness to eating disorders.

The department held a tabling event at the DiGiorgio Campus Center where students were able to ask questions, talk and view resources about eating disorders.

Event organizers used the National Eating Disorders Awareness week to promote various struggles many people may not recognize within themselves.

“ I didn’t realize I had an eating disorder until further down the line when I was in recovery, because I was just like ‘oh I’m super skinny there’s nothing wrong with that.’ But then there is, something wrong with not eating enough, not doing any of that,” said Morgan Henderson, a Winthrop sophomore studying business administration.

“Eating disorders, they kind of like wiggle around, you know I see them on the spectrum where it is anorexia or it is binge eating right, you can move along that. And so, at all points on that spectrum, your relationship with food, your relationship with your body are actually creating distress and impairment in your day to day life,” said Jessica Hudgens, a staff counselor and trainer at Winthrop.

With a different theme everyday, the Human Nutrition Department offers various types of resources such as stickers, pamphlets and websites.

Organizers say there are a lot of different stigmas around eating disorders, one of them being eating disorders are a mental health issue.

“There can be definitely be some embarrassment when seeking support, because we live in a culture that is so food focused and so over-indulgent with food on a lot of different levels,” said Dr. Karin Evans, an assistant professor of human nutrition.

“There is definitely an embarrassment to admit I have a problem with something that is so abundant in my culture,” Evan said.

Event coordinators say Eating Disorder Awareness Week is traditionally held nationwide during the last full week of February.

The Human Nutrition Department uses the week to schedule outreach each February to get information out to the campus.