AMES, Iowa — Gain a better understanding of body image and eating disorder issues during a week of events at Iowa State University starting Feb. 24.
Body Image and Eating Disorder Awareness Week is part of a national effort to encourage a positive, sustainable lifestyle through awareness of body image issues and eating disorders and to identify resources on campus and locally.
Kara Richardson Whitely, a plus-sized author, public speaker and adventurer, will deliver “Gorge: My 300-Pound Journey Up Kilimanjaro” at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, in the Memorial Union Sun Room. This lecture is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow the lecture.
Richardson Whitely’s message of body acceptance, body love and health at every size are a vital message for everyone. Her life story, including an eating disorder, is one with which many people connect: emotional eating, using food to escape daily stressors, hiding food behaviors and feeling ashamed.
Hearing her process up the mountain and finding herself is awe-inspiring.
She has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro three times and wrote the memoir “Gorge: My Journey Up Kilimanjaro at 300 Pounds,” which is now being adapted into a film, produced by “This Is Us” star Chrissy Metz. Richardson Whitely also wrote “The Weight of Being: How I Satisfied My Hunger for Happiness.”
This lecture is co-sponsored by the Body Image and Eating Disorder Awareness student organization and the Committee on Lectures, which is funded by Student Government.
Find more information about ISU lectures online or by calling 515-294-9934.
BIEDA Week schedule of events
Mindful meditation
5-6 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25
Carver 0124
“Gorge: My 300-Pound Journey Up Kilimanjaro”
Kara Richardson Whitely
8:15 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26
Memorial Union Sun Room
Free, open to the public
Cycling class, with snacks
5:15-6:05 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 27
State Gym 2185
