I’m pretty sure all of us have had at least one Barbie doll in our lives. In fact, I’m pretty sure some of us had an entire Barbie army. She was just too gorgeous with that luxurious blonde hair, that elaborate wardrobe that fit her body to a tee, those feet that fit perfectly into even the highest of high heels.

But in real life, Barbie isn’t so cute. Actually, Barbie is pretty scary.

At 5’9″, with a 39″ bust, 18″ waist, 33″ hips, and a size 3 shoe, this is what Barbie would look like as an actual person. And the best words to describe real life Barbie would be effing scary severely disproportionate. Read More »

It’s the hushed whispers in the floor bathroom after a girl walks out. It’s skipping meals and doubling up on gym time. It’s body-bashing other people’s and your own body with your friends. It’s losing friends and alienating people. It’s taking a risk with your health. It’s keeping quiet. It’s keeping you from living your life in college and beyond to the fullest. It’s time to talk about it!

But about what exactly? Eating disorders. Yep, it’s time to talk about them, girls. That’s the slogan for the National Eating Disorders Association’s (NEDA’s) National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (NEDAW), February 21-27th 2010.

The goal of NEDAW is “to ultimately prevent eating disorders and body image issues while reducing the stigma surrounding eating disorders and improving access to treatment,” says the NEDAW website. “Eating disorders are serious, life-threatening illnesses — not choices — and it’s important to recognize the pressures, attitudes and behaviors that shape the disorder.”

And that’s what we’ll be doing on CollegeCandy all week long. We’ll be covering the basics: what eating disorders look like, how to help a friend in need, disordered eating and losing weight the healthy way. We want to bring this difficult and serious issue to the forefront and help our friends in need.

So what do eating disorders look like? Well, just like people, they come in all shapes and sizes. Signs of eating disorders are far more varied than most people think. Sure, looking emaciated might be a tip-off that something is wrong, but there are so many more things to be aware of.

Each eating disorder, (there are four main types – Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder and Eating Disorders not otherwise specified), has it’s own set of signs and symptoms. Of course, many of these overlap. Read More »