Why am I participating in the DC National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) Walk Sunday?

• I walk as someone who suffered from anorexia-bulimia in my late teens and early 20s.

• I walk in recognition of the fact that eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.

• I walk to support my students who have eating disorders or are in recovery.

• I walk to help raise awareness about NEDA, the leading nonprofit advocating on behalf of those with eating disorders. The organization focuses on prevention, access to quality treatment, and increased research funding. NEDA provides a confidential Information and Referral Helpline. The nonprofit also offers personal support to individuals who are suffering from eating disorders and the loved ones trying to help them.

• I walk in the hope that Roya will never see her body as anything other than beautiful.

• I walk in recognition of the fact that the media, advertising and entertainment industries do not promote healthy standards of female beauty.

• I walk in the hope that times have changed since the early 1990s and my college no longer needs to permanently lock the bathrooms by my dorm dining hall.

• I walk out of concern for a society in which approximately half of male CEOs are overweight, while only 5-22% of female CEOs are overweight.

• I walk to show my support for the 7 million females and 1 million males in the US suffering from an eating disorder.

• I walk alongside others who share NEDA’s mission of a world without eating disorders.

If you are in DC on Sunday, April 27, please join me on The National Mall to raise awareness about the National Eating Disorders Association and funds for its programs and services. If you’re not in DC, please help spread the word about this worthy organization.