With permission from Susan Paxton, president of the Academy for Eating Disorders, I would like to share with you the letter recently sent to Mrs. Obama in support of her efforts to improve the nutritional habits of Americans -- without focusing on "ideal" weights. I love that the eating disorder organizations are getting together around this issue for the sake of people on all sides of the issue.
Here is the letter:
Academy for Eating Disorders – Binge
Eating Disorder Assoc. – Eating Disorder Coalition –
International Association of Eating
Disorder Professionals – National Eating Disorders Assoc.
January 7, 2009
Michelle Obama, First
Lady of the United States
Dear Mrs. Obama:
This letter is written
on behalf of several organizations representing clinicians, researchers, educators
and others concerned with the impact of eating disorders on the health and
well-being of children, adolescents and adults. These organizations include the
Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), the Binge Eating Disorder Association
(BEDA), the Eating Disorder Coalition (EDC), the International Association of
Eating Disorder Professionals (iaedp), and the National Eating Disorders
Association (NEDA).
First, we would like to
applaud your plan to develop an initiative to promote healthy lifestyle habits
in children. We agree that this is vitally important, but we believe the
emphasis should be on behavior rather than weight. We would like to offer our
support in helping to develop a program based on the latest scientific evidence
and best clinical practices to ensure the optimal outcomes for your efforts.
In this spirit, we are
including links to resources that summarize key points we would like to share
with you. In addition, leading experts in the field would welcome the
opportunity to meet with you to facilitate the development of an evidence-based
proposal/strategy to address this important health issue.
Unfortunately, many
strategies in the global “war against obesity” have had unintentional negative
consequences. Eating disorder organizations assert that the well-intentioned,
but under-informed and unproven strategy of focusing on weight fuels
weight-prejudice and neglects groups which may be in equal need of improving
their health and lifestyle. There is also the concern that these programs may
contribute to negative self-esteem, body dissatisfaction, and eating disordered
behaviors. Weight alone does not provide the full picture regarding health
status; consideration of lifestyle, activity patterns, and physical and mental
health measures are extremely important. Further, assuming illness based on
weight alone, without proven cause and effect, may lead to harmful and
discriminatory practices.
National and
international eating disorder organizations have joined forces to recommend
that health professionals, school administrators, employers, and health policy
makers focus more on health and lifestyle for all populations rather than on
weight.
· The AED has
developed “Guidelines for Obesity Prevention Programs”
(http://www.aedweb.org/media/Guidelines.cfm), which are intended to address potential
issues in combating rising weights.
· Additionally,
the EDC has developed talking points regarding BMI testing (http://www.eatingdisorderscoalition.org/documents/TalkingpointsBMI.pdf).
We request that our
representatives have an opportunity to meet with the involved members of White
House staff about this planned initiative and offer our feedback. We would like
to be able to endorse your program and help promote it.
Sincerely,
Susan Paxton, Ph.D.,
President, AED
Lynn Grefe, CEO, NEDA
Jeanine Cogan, Ph.D.,
Policy Director, EDC
Chevese Turner,
President, BEDA
Bonnie Harken, Managing
Director, iaedp
