Former model to headline Eating Disorders Awareness Week at Southeast

Editor's Note: This story has been changed to reflect the fact that Lauren Jones has known of models who collapsed and died because of their eating disorders.

Although Lauren Jones, owner of the Source-Yoga 'n More in Cape Girardeau, spent many years as a willowy fashion model, she began to struggle with an eating disorder in college.

"It consumed my life in college -- thinking about it all the time," she said. "It's in your head all the time, and you're hungry all the time."

Her ordeal, and the fact she now leads a healthy lifestyle, made her an ideal choice as a kickoff speaker for Southeast Missouri State University's Eating Disorders Awareness Week on Feb. 23 to 28. A number of activities are scheduled around the campus next week.

Jones will give her talk, "How You Look is Not Who You Are," from 5 to 6 p.m. at Glenn Auditorium (Dempster Hall, Room 105) on Monday. She plans a 45-minute speech with 15 minutes for questions afterward.

"She is a lady who has had a lot of experience with this and has a unique perspective," said Jeremy Barnes, a professor at Southeast who is chairman of the committee for Eating Disorder Awareness Week.

Jones began dancing in a ballet company in east Texas when she was 11, and weight wasn't an issue then, she said.

She enrolled in Southern Methodist University in Dallas. By the time she was a sophomore there, she had become obsessed with weight and maintaining a body image she thought she needed to be considered beautiful.

"It's a trend that has continued with college students," she said.

Jones said she suffered with the most common type of eating disorder -- EDNOS, or eating disorder not otherwise specified. This means she tottered between anorexia and bulimia, sometimes going without food for long periods of time, overexercising and bingeing and purging. Jones said about 90 percent of women with eating disorders fall into that category.

Women who have bulimia purge, or vomit, after eating five or 10 times a day sometimes, she said. It's more difficult to spot bulimics because people see those girls eating and may not notice them excusing themselves quickly after a meal. Bulimics often maintain a normal-looking weight because they are ingesting some of the calories they eat, but they also may overuse laxatives as a way to get rid of food.

Anorexics deprive themselves of food, sometimes to the point of near-starvation. Jones said statistics for eating disorders are difficult to calculate because it's often not until someone requires hospitalization they are formally diagnosed.

Eating disorders are different from other types of addictive behavior because while drugs and alcohol can be eliminated from a person's lifestyle, that's not true of food.

"You have to learn to deal with something that you have to have to survive," Jones said.

The one constant with eating disorders is the havoc it wreaks on the body. Improper nutrition causes an electrolyte imbalance, which affects metabolism, heart rate, blood pressure and can cause weakness, confusion and a host of other problems -- some of which can be life-threatening.

Jones said she has known of models who collapsed and died from eating disorder-related conditions.

Though she has been featured as a cover model on several magazines, Jones described her work as a "fitting model." She said she was considered on the heavier side at that time -- 123 to 125 pounds for her 5-foot 8-1/2-inch frame.

"I was the real-world person they fit clothes on," she said, though she recalls many comments co-workers made about how big she was.

"Weight and size was always a discussion," Jones said.

Sizing of clothes can vary, she said.

"I know how much the fashion industry manipulates sizing. It's a business," she said.

Sizing has changed since her days in modeling. Back then, at a size 6, she was a borderline plus-size model. That's much different from today, when plus-size models are from size 12 to 18 and sometimes larger. But it's more realistic, because 50 percent of women are size 14 or larger.

Another thing that has changed is resources for women to get help for eating disorders.

"College campuses have counselors, and there are eating disorder centers," Jones said.

Though some studies have linked eating disorders and genetics, it's generally thought environmental factors contribute more. Women who have controlling parents sometimes develop eating disorders as a way to assert control over at least one area of their lives.

"Eating disorders are very self-involved," Jones said.

A major change in her life nudged her into dealing with her eating disorder.

"It changed for me when I got pregnant (22 years ago)," Jones said.

She said she wants to share with Southeast students that who they are is not reflected by an image in the mirror, and she wants them to become more aware of what they do with their bodies.

"You can overcome it," Jones said. "Even though you're there, you don't have to stay there. It's not a lifetime sentence."

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Eating Disorders Awareness Week

Monday

*"How You Look Is Not What You Are*"

5 to 6 p.m.

Glenn Auditorium, Dempster Hall, Room 105

Speaker: Lauren Jones

Tuesday

Eating Disorders Recovery Panel

6 to 7:30 p.m.

Glenn Auditorium, Dempster Hall, Room 105

Feb. 25

Documentary video *"Someday Melissa*"

Glenn Auditorium, Dempster Hall, Room 105

The story of 19-year-old Melissa Avrin, who died from an eating disorder in 2009.

Scale Smash and Smash Talk

5:30 to 6:20 p.m.

SRC-North, Multipurpose Room

Learn to focus on a positive body image.

PiYo

6:30 to 7:20 p.m.

SRC-North, Multipurpose Room

Sara Wagganer and Danielle Stueve lead a group exercise class (yoga and Pilates).

Feb. 27

The Faces of Eating Disorders

5 to 6 p.m.

Glenn Auditorium, Dempster Hall, Room 105

Skit about how eating disorders can affect people.

Feb. 28

5K Walk/Run

10 to 10:30 a.m.

Capaha Park, Pavilion 1

Help support National Eating Disorder Awareness. Registration is $20.