Individuals and Groups
to Contact

Support for Kids, Families, Teachers,
and Health Professionals

My Body (a bilingual web site)

¡Soy Unica! ¡Soy Latina!, a bilingual public education campaign for Latina girls would like to introduce "My Body." The "My Body" Web site teaches

The site offers good nutritional facts as well as safe and fun activities to help keep young girls fit. In addition, the "Body Beats" section, teaches popular and traditional Latin dance moves. And you can even listen to Salsa music as you read the articles. You can access the "My Body" site at:

http://www.soyunica.gov/mybody/default.htm.

"My Body" is a great tool to share with any girl you want to help avoid engaging in any potentially dangerous behaviors. With positive reinforcement and exercise and menu ideas, My Body offers alternatives and the information girls need and want for healthy lives.

Body Positive (a web site)

Body Positive® is a web site on body image issues which looks at ways we can feel good in the bodies we have. The section on children and weight is for educators, clinicians, and parents who want to help large kids build the skills to have better lives, with a focus on how the adults’ attitudes impact the kids. It includes resources and ideas for activism. Change your mind, change your culture, and let your body be!

Web site: http://www.BodyPositive.com

Founder, Debora Burgard, Ph.D., coauthor of Great Shape: The First Fitness Guide for Large Women. Contact her at 650-321-2606 or e-mail DrDeb@bodypositive.com.

"Body Talk"(a video)

Teens Talk About their Bodies, Eating Disorders, and Activism

 A group of University of California, Berkeley, nutritionists recently reviewed this videotape and were impressed by both the professional qualify of the video and the content. We highly recommend use of the video with middle and high school youth. If you are looking for a teaching tool to promote discussion among teens about the pressures they feel to be thin, and how they can resist these pressures, you will want to purchase this videotape.

Body Talk is a 28-minute video on body-acceptance issues for nine to eighteen-year-old girls and boys. It is based on the philosophy that the best way to reach teens is through the voices of their peers. Girls and boys of diverse ethnic/racial backgrounds, socioeconomic status, and body sizes discuss the messages they receive from media, family, and friends about their bodies and their eating patterns. This documentary focuses on their struggles with eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, and ways in which they have managed to overcome these problems. A very moving and impactful presentation. A facilitator’s guide is included with the video.

Produced by The Body Positive, 2417 Prospect St., Suite A, Berkeley, CA
94704, phone/fax 510-841-9389. List price, $225; educational - nonprofit price, $175. Visa, MC, check, or purchase order accepted.

From The Body Positive brochure:

Body Talk, the first project of our multimedia portfolio, is a video on body acceptance issues for twelve- to eighteen-old girls and boys.

The video:

1. encourages teens to develop critical thinking skills to deal with pervasive media messages and one-dimensional cultural beauty standards;
2. provides students with an opportunity to hear their peers discussing common body-related concerns so that they will not feel isolated;
3. prevents teens from developing eating disorders by addressing the dangers and futility of common dieting behaviors;
4. promotes beauty as diversity in size, shape, color, and age;
5. connects eating disordered teens with community treatment services.

EXTRA HIP

An Online Ezine

EXTRA HIP is a fresh, young, unique Ezine, and the only ’zine dedicated solely to the millions of young plus-size women in America.

Celebrating it’s second anniversary, this FREE quarterly is the brain-and-bodychild of Katie Arons, internationally known plus-size model and author of the hot new bestseller, Sexy At Any Size (Simon & Schuster, 1999). Katie started EXTRA HIP as yet another way of relaying her positive, size-free affirmations to today’s Generation Y.

With 70% of age-nine American girls dieting and an increasing number of young women suffering from eating disorders, our younger sisters and daughters need to hear that they are okay, that life doesn’t stop at size 8. EXTRA HIP serves that purpose. Style is an important aspect of fitting in and with the junior plus-size fashion industry in a major growth curve, EXTRA HIP is able to show these are new customers where to find the fashions and how to wear them.

EXTRA HIP readers also recieve inspiration as each issue profiles celebrities or models of size who are living their dreams now. It also shares stories and poems from other Hipsters just like themselves.

EXTRA HIP is the publication of the future, and its readers ARE the future.

Visit the web version of the Ezine at http://www.extrahip.com.

Healthy Body Image:

Teaching Kids to Eat and Love Their Bodies Too!

This is a school-based curriculum by Kathy Kater, LICSW. Available from EDAP (Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention, at http://members.aol.com/edapinc, phone 206-382-3587). Eleven cross-curricular, experiential lessons teach upper elementary and younger middle school children and their parents to accept innate bodies and embrace size diversity, develop perspective on today’s body image and eating attitudes, learn critical thinking skills regarding media messages, choose healthy role models, understand the counter- productive results of weight-loss diets and to be motivated to eat well and be active for health, vigor, satisfaction of hunger, fitness and self-esteem, rather than in an effort to manipulate size. Studies done in sixty schools show that when kids get the right messages early enough, it can make a significant positive difference. Long-term study is underway.

Presentations and workshops by Kathy Kater, LICSW, author of Healthy Body Image: Teaching Kids to Eat and Love Their Bodies Too!

Dynamic, engaging, multi-media. Audiences say, "I wish I’d heard these lessons when I was in fourth grade!" Geared for professional conferences, school sites, or lay audiences. Call 651-770-2693 or e-mail kathykater@isd.net.

Kids Come in All Sizes

The Council on Size & Weight Discrimination considers its "Kids Come in All Sizes" project to be very important, since it works to improve the body image and self-esteem of the next generation.

We have designed workshops for use in schools, and have written materials describing these workshops for those who want to do workshops of their own. We publish worksheets, written for middle school kids, that include:

IS IT DISCRIMINATION?

Samples of peer and adult behavior which may be thought to be instances of size discrimination, plus well-reasoned answers to help kids distinguish between proper and improper behavior. For example: It’s discrimination if a fat kid doesn’t get picked for the team even though she is a good player. It is not discrimination if your father gets a special, sturdy chair for your fat aunt.

 

THE TOP TEN REASONS TO GIVE UP DIETING:

Also written in language kids can relate to, this list includes information about looksism, self-esteem, and the failure of diets. This is the most widely used and quoted flyer produced by the Council.

 

KNOWING ABOUT FAT KIDS:

We often put this one on the top of the pile of handouts so that the kids see it first. Then we discuss their reaction to the word "Fat."

Two-part article from Healthy Weight Journal describing the workshops in detail. For the entire Kids Come in All Sizes packet, send $5 to CSWD, P.O. Box 305, Mt. Marion, NY 12456.

Project Manager Cathi Rodgveller is available to do workshops in schools, clubs, and other settings. Although she works with adults as well, she is a school counselor with a specialty in working with groups of at-risk middle-school students. She will also consult with those wishing to start doing their own workshops. She can be reached at: Cathi Rodgveller, 815 15th Ave East #4, Seattle WA 98112, 206-323-9354, e-mail: tie1dyecat@aol.com.

Kids Module

Department of Nutritional Sciences

Joanne P. Ikeda, M.A.,R.D.
Cooperative Extension Nutrition Education Specialist

We are busy developing teaching tools that health professionals can use to help parents establish good food habits and physical activity habits in their children. From research, we know that babies are born with the ability to self-regulate their food intake, that is, babies eat in response to hunger and stop when they are full. Newer research shows us that this ability to self-regulate food intake can persist into the preschool years. That is why we advise parents to let children decide how much to eat and whether or not to eat. Parents need to take responsibility for serving a variety of nutritious foods at regular meals and snacks but they should not try to control how much a child eats even if that child appears to be fat.

All of this is explained in our new "Kids Module," a teaching kit that contains lesson plans, camera-ready parent handout, and videotape for health professionals to use with parents. For information on this module, contact Rita Mitchell via e-mail at ritamitc@uclink4.berkeley.edu

We have an inexpensive booklet for parents on "If My Child Is Overweight, What Should I Do About It," which explains that being overweight may just mean a child is going to be bigger than other children his/her age, and is meant to be a large adult. The booklet answers questions that most parents, who are concerned about a child’s weight, want to know the answers to so they can help their child be happy and healthy. The booklet promotes size acceptance and body satisfaction for both adults and children. The booklet can be ordered by calling 1-800-994-8849.

We are consultants to many agencies and organizations concerned about children and weight issues including the California Department of Health Services, the California Department of Education, and Kaiser Permanente of Northern California. We provide in-service training and consultation to health professionals who want to increase their knowledge, attitudes and skills in this area. This is the philosophical basis for our training.

1. We recognize each child as a unique individual, and each family as a unique group of individuals.
2. We celebrate differences in body size and shape among children and adults.
3. We view all bodies as good bodies. There is no such thing as a bad body.
4. We respect the bodies of others even though they might be different from our own. We encourage our children to demonstrate respect for the bodies of others.
5. We believe that approaches to decreasing pediatric overweight must be based on sound scientific research research.
6. We promote body satisfaction, high self-esteem, and a positive body image for all children.
7. We believe that the vast majority of parents love their children and are committed to fostering their health and welfare.
8. We know that our children are our future; we are strongly committed to caring for them and creating a world in which they can thrive.

Joanne P. Ikeda, M.A.,R.D.
Cooperative Extension Nutrition Education Specialist
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720-3104
Phone (510)642-2790
FAX (510)642-0535
E-Mail: jikeda@socrates.berkeley.edu

Melpomene Institute for Girls

Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Melpomene Institute is a seventeen-year-old organization named for a Greek woman who scandalized officials at the 1896 Olympics by running in the marathon even though women were not supposed to compete. In the same spirit, Melpomene strives to foster social change by educating and creating more opportunities for women and girls in sports and physical activity.

The Institute offers education and publications on several issues important to women including: girls and self esteem, body image, exercise and pregnancy, motivation for physical activity,and menopause. Melpomene is currently the nation’s leading source of reliable information on the relationship between women’s health and physical activity.

Currently available from Melpomene Institute:

Healthy Body Image Curriculum—A self-taught curriculum of 11 lessons for boys and girls, to integrate into the 4th to 5th grade classroom, by Kathy Kater, LCSW.

Information Packets:

Girls, Physical Activity and Self Esteem. Parental role-modeling, myths about girls and women in sports and self esteem through sports. It includes Melpomene’s groundbreaking research.

Kids and Physical Activity. Skill development, socialization, wellness, organized sports and competition for girls and boys.

Body Image. Explores prevalence and problems with poor body image and strategies for improvement.

Video:

Heroes: Growing Up Female and Strong (curriculum also available). Focuses on the link between self-esteem and physical activity for adolescent girls. This is a documentary which shares the stories of four everyday heroes and explores the benefits of sports on self esteem while encouraging girls to examine their self image.

To learn more about Melpomene Institute and how you can become a member, contact Melpomene at (651) 642-1951. Or e-mail your request to melpomen@skypoint.com  Web site: http://www.melpomene.org.

New Moon

The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams

New Moon Magazine: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams, is an international magazine for every girl who wants her voice heard and her dreams taken seriously. With girl editors ages eight to fourteen, and girl contributors from all over the world, New Moon celebrates girls, explores the passage from girl to woman, and builds healthy resistance to gender inequities. Web site: http://www.newmoon.org

New Moon Network: For Adults Who Care About Girls. If you have a daughter, or work with adolescent girls, then you must read New Moon Network. Frontline stories, ideas and research on raising healthy, confident girls in a culture that wants to judges girls only for their looks.

	New Moon Catalog: http://www.newmooncatalog.com   Full of fun gifts and resources that carry a feminist message (a few are just plain fun). Also a Parent/Teacher Resources department
which contains several outstanding books and curricula. These items are chosen specifically for their ability to assist in teaching/raising health, strong young women. Proceeds from our catalog sales directly support New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and their Dreams and help to keep it ad free. Call 800-381-4743.

New Moon Publishing
P.O. Box 3620
Duluth, MN 55803-3620
218-381-4743
email: newmoon@newmoon.org
218-728-5507 or 800-381-4743

WIN Project: "Wellness in Wyoming"

Betty Holmes, a project leader
Extension 4-H Youth Specialist
University of Wyoming

We have sub-committees working with different age groups. I have presented programs to pre-school children, school-age children, adults, and seniors. The approach is different, but the message is very constant (see text below).

Our statewide collaboration promotes healthy living—WIN (Wellness In Wyoming). The creators are Betty Holmes, Suzy Pelican, and Diana Marie Hill-Chavez.

The University of Wyoming Cooperative Extension Service (UW CES) is coordinating WIN Wyoming, promoting the benefits of active living, healthful and pleasurable eating, positive self-image,and respect for body-size diversity.

More than forty educators and healthcare professionals have joined forces to conduct statewide, community-based wellness programs for the next three years. A UW CES competitive grant is funding these efforts. Three extension specialists serve as WIN Wyoming project coordinators: Betty Holmes, UW CES 4-H youth specialist; Linda Melcher, Cent$ible Nutrition program director, and Suzy Pelican, UW CES food and nutrition specialist.

Cooperating individuals and organizations drafted a set of guiding principles to help focus the group’s efforts. WIN Wyoming recognizes a positive self-image as an important component of well-being, and participants believe people should define good health as a condition of physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being, not as a function of body size. Because human beings come in a variety of ages, shapes, and sizes, the group explains that we should celebrate this fact as a positive characteristic of the human race.

"Size prejudice is creating serious health problems for our young people," said Melcher. "We have both the extremes of anorexia and obesity because kids seem to have difficulty understanding how to eat normally. The more obsessed children become with being thin, the more time they spend thinking about eating. This leads to either over or under eating. Children need to feel valued no matter what size they are."

Because U.S. obesity and overweight statistics state that one in three adults and one in four youth are overweight, Pelican wants the program’s goals to be clear. "We’re not saying that being overweight or obese is risk-free. Instead, we maintain that people who are obsessed with body weight—their own or other people’s—face another set of risks," she said. "The goal for well-being should be good health, not a specific body weight. We promote healthful lifestyles, attitudes and habits."

Pleasurable and healthful eating includes taking the time to enjoy the flavors, aromas, and textures, without rushing the experience. Eating is one of life’s pleasures, and WIN Wyoming defines healthful eating as including variety, moderation, and proportionality when selecting food. "One of my favorite sayings is, ‘bad hair days don’t hold a candle tofeeling fat days,’" said Holmes. "The theory goes that on bad hair days you can wear a hat, but on feeling fat days you cannot wear a full body bag. It is clear that feeling fat is not related to being fat. Women with x’s after their dress size can feel beautiful, and size-six women can feel fat. It is exciting to be part of a statewide collaboration dedicated topromoting total wellness."

WIN Wyoming has representatives from the following agencies, organizations, and programs: Wyoming Department of Education (Comprehensive School Health Education and Team Nutrition); Albany County School District Office #1-Food Service Department; Campbell County School District-Wellness Program; Wyoming Department of Health (Adolescent Health, Cardiovascular Disease Program, Division on Aging, and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) at the state level and in Park and Big Horn Counties; Indian Health Service at the Wind River Indian Reservation; Powell Hospital and Nursing Home; West Park Hospital in Cody; The Psychology Clinic in Laramie; Nutrition, Exercise, Wellness for Life (N.E.W. Life); UW College of Education (Department of Counseling and Educational Foundations); UW College of Health Sciences (School of Physical and Health Education, WWAMI Medical Education Program, Wyoming Area Health Education Center (AHEC) and UW Family Practice Residency Program in Cheyenne); UW College of Agriculture and UW CES (State 4-H Office and Foods and Nutrition and Cent$ible Nutrition Programs at the state level and in Albany, Campbell, Converse, Fremont, Hot Springs, Johnson, Laramie, Natrona, Park, Sublette, Sweetwater, Teton and Washakie Counties); Consumer Credit Counseling of Greater Wyoming (Casper, Gillette, Rock Springs and Sheridan); the Western Dairy Council, and the Wyoming Beef Council.

For more information on WIN Wyoming, visit their web site at http://uwacadweb.uwyo.edu/winwyoming   or call the UW Department of Family and Consumer Sciences at 307-766-5375.

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