Crosslines will not be receiving jeans from Missouri Southern students.

During the Great Jeans Event Feb. 25, not a single pair was donated. The event was held as a reminder of National Eating Disorder Awareness Week (NEDAW), but for event organizers it appeared Southern students forgot.

“We put out flyers and advertised, but maybe that just wasn’t enough,” said event coordinator Savannah Charleston, a graduate student from Missouri State University, who interns at Southern two days a week.

Charleston said she and the other counselors spent three days planning and preparing for the event. An assortment of pamphlets was on display, not only about eating disorders but also about healthy eating, body image, exercising and positive ways to lose weight.

“I just hope that this helps people to find the information,” Charleston said.

She planned the event so students could dispose of jeans hiding in the back of their closets and remind them of diets and to allow students to be more accepting themselves for who they really are.

The three major types of eating disorders are anorexia nervosa, defined by self-starvation and excessive weight loss; bulimia nervosa, a secretive cycle of binge eating followed by induced vomiting; and binge eating or compulsive overeating, which is uncontrollable, continuous eating beyond the point of feeling comfortably full.

While most people may not engage in a full-blown eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia, many people can be dissatisfied with their body. Charleston said she hopes her handouts help people to better understand their body image.

Consequences of eating disorders can be life threatening and can include osteoporosis, tooth decay, hair loss and kidney failure. In addition, an eating disorder may cause the heart rate to slow and blood pressure to drop, creating a higher risk of heart failure.

“Because my friend was a dancer she felt she had to be thin, and she really looked terrible,” said Tiffany Karlinski, freshman pre-med major. “You could see the hollows under her eyes.”

Karlinski found she had to take baby steps when she was helping her friend and let her start to eat slowly.

“The only optimistic thing my friend learned from the whole experience,” Karlinski said, “is that she learned how to discipline herself, and she can carry it on through all aspects of her life, there is a positive side, if you can get though it.”

Charleston said three key ways to combat the illness are to stick with counseling, watch control factors and develop a positive support system. She said people should keep giving pamphlets and handouts to friends, because even though it may be looked at and tossed in the trash some of the information may sink in.

For more information, about eating disorders students can contact the NEDAW at 1-800-931-2237 or visit their Web site at www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.