Encouraging healthy eating
By Jesse Moya
Published on Tuesday, April 18, 2006
To the Editor:
I think there's an important clarification that needs to be made in Andrew Lane's "Battling Obesity" (April 14). He imprudishly begins with the line that "Americans need to put down the fork," only to later clarify that obesity is caused by "poor eating habits and sedentary lifestyles."
While the first line was likely meant as nothing more than rhetoric, it can actually reinforce the dangerous misunderstanding that many young women and men around us share: that eating makes you fat. It is this mindset that drives the eating disorders that we see around us on this campus.
We would instead do well to be clear with our language -- Eating is good for you. If you think I'm wrong, or if you even disagree a little, I encourage you to start a dialogue with any of the dozens of Eating Disorder Peer Advisers on campus. We're a friendly bunch, and we're waiting to hear from you anytime about any related issue, big or small.