On Jnauary 8th, 2007, IUPUI faculty received an e-mail forward from the Indiana State Department of health in which the details of a new weight loss program - "INShape" - were detailed.  The e-mail also encouraged us to share and promote this program on campus.

As a recovering anorexic, bulimic, and binge eater, this really pissed me off.  The Indiana State Department of Health should know better than to promote weight loss programs in an environment such as a university campus where decades of research have indicated a proliferation of eating disorders.  So, the next day, I sent this letter to the Indiana State Department of Health.

I received no immediate response, but was eventually told in March of 2007 - face to face - by a representative from the Indiana State Department of Health that that the matter would be addressed in their program and on their web-site.  So far, nothing of the sort has happened.

Here's the letter in its entirety, with a few relevant links inserted to help make sense of the other materials referred to.  Thanks for taking the time to give this a read.

 

Tue, 9 Jan 2007
 

To: Indiana State Department of Health, and INShape Indiana

My name is Chris Kraatz, I'm faculty in the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. I'm writing to give voice to some concerns within the local eating disordered community about your "Lose 10 in 10"
program. I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but yesterday (Jan. 8) all IUPUI faculty and students were forwarded your recent press release (from Jennifer Dunlap, ISDH) in which we are encouraged to share in the inspiration of Pam Smith ("of Martinsville, who represented Indiana on the latest season of NBC's The Biggest Loser") and lose 10 pounds.

Your program (as it is detailed in the press release and on your web-site) and your tacit endorsement of "The Biggest Loser" are medically irresponsible and inappropriate.

The Biggest Loser is not inspiring or entertaining to overweight people, although the general population seems to enjoy it immensely.  This modern day freak-show, as explicitly stated in the ISDH's press release, reinforces the idea that being overweight is the result of laziness, ignorance, and failing to "take charge of one's life."

The Biggest Loser is degrading to overweight people because it reduces a medical condition to mere entertainment. It is also dangerous because it promotes unhealthy dieting by making weight
loss a competition within a very short time frame.

The Indiana State Department of Health should be well aware that college campuses show an exceptionally high rate of eating disorders incidence and prevalence. The open encouragement of college students and faculty to take this show seriously is therefore irresponsible since a significant portion of the people who received this forwarded press release have eating disorders - as a recovering anorexic and bulimic, if I were to attempt to lose even the suggested 10 pounds, my life would become a disaster.

INShape Indiana's web-site hypes proper nutrition and good health, but contains no mention whatsoever of any eating disorder. How do you propose to facilitate healthy nutrition among the people of Indiana while at the same time failing to mention conditions which directly affect the eating habits of at least ten percent of the population? How do you think that we eating disordered people will be affected by encouraging us to view rapid weight loss such as that
portrayed on The Biggest Loser as socially and medically praiseworthy?

The press release that was sent to IUPUI students and faculty (as well as the INShape Indiana web-site) contains numerous allegedly helpful tips for losing weight, including calorie counting and
minimizing tricks, and suggestions for burning extra calories.  These suggestions, when posted on so called "pro-anorexia" web-sites, are quickly condemned as encouraging unhealthy behavior
because weight loss is dangerous for people suffering or recovering from anorexia and bulimia.

As a member of the Indiana Eating Disorders Coalition, I insist that you issue another press release immediately in which you explicitly state that The Biggest Loser constitutes an inappropriate model for weight loss strategies, mistakenly characterizes over-eating as mere
weakness of will, and degrades overweight people.

As an eating disordered person, I do not approve of entertainment that treats others with similar conditions as side-show freaks. As a published author in the field of eating disorders research and advocacy, I recognize that nutritional information that fails to mention eating disorders is irresponsible and incomplete. As a State Department of Health, you should realize that e-mails and press releases that encourage college students to diet are highly inappropriate.

I look forward to your press release in which these matters are corrected.

Sincerely,

Chris Kraatz, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy - IUPUI
Proud Anorexic, Bulimic, Binge-Eater
http://www.iupui.edu/~philosop/ckraatz.htm