The Ball State Counseling Center will provide information about eating disorders and body image during National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, Feb. 26 through March 3. The theme for the week is "Be Comfortable in Your Genes."

"We want to help people recognize if they have or if they are at risk for developing an eating disorder," Gorman said.

The week's events include free screenings to assess individual risks for developing an eating disorder. The confidential screenings will be offered from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Art and Journalism Building Atrium and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday in Teachers College, first-floor concourse.

While many people associate eating disorders with women, Gorman noted that men have their own body issues.

"Older statistics suggested that very few men had eating disorders," Gorman said. "As a result, issues involving men were being ignored."

While the concerns men have about body image are different from those of women — for instance, many men are concerned with developing muscle mass rather than losing weight — Gorman pointed out those issues can be just as problematic and unhealthy.

"Starving in Silence," a program addressing the symptoms of eating disorder behavior in men, will be offered at 2 p.m. Feb. 28 at the Student Center, Pineshelf Room.

Programming throughout the week includes mindful eating, athletes and eating disorders, medical complications of obesity and other seminars focused on healthful eating and body image issues. 

Special challenges have been issued for each day of the week, such as "No Weigh Wednesday," when students are encouraged to take a break from the dictates of the scale, and "Freedom Friday," when they are encouraged to eat something they usually don't let themselves enjoy.   

The complete schedule for Eating Disorders Awareness Week can be found at the Counseling Center Web site, www.bsu.edu/counselingcenter/.