“There is always messages about how to lose 10 pounds or how to change this or that about your body,” Bleibtrey said. “There is an image created by the media and it’s not realistic.”

Bleibtrey, however, isn’t comfortable simply talking about the media’s twisted perception of body image — she feels most comfortable fighting it.

That’s exactly what Bleibtrey and the other members of Respecting and Understanding Body Image, or RUBI, intend to do at their meeting tonight.

“We really want to challenge the media and different messages being put out there about body image,” Bleibtrey said. “We want to tell people they’re OK the way they are. You don’t have to change your body for anybody or anything.”

Ronda Bokram, the group’s adviser and a nutritionist at Olin Health Center, said about 2 percent of men and 5 percent of women at MSU have eating disorders.

But three times that many students are at risk of developing eating disorders, including anorexia and bulimia, Bokram said.

Those are the people RUBI tries to help, Bokram said.

“We are trying to reach people who might not know they have an eating disorder,” Bokram said. “It provides an active way of doing that.”

RUBI’s activism includes showing movies that expose the health risks of certain diets and supporting students who are trying to break away from those diets, Bokram said.

Nationally, about 10 million women and 1 million men have eating disorders, according to the National Eating Disorders Association.

According to a 2006 survey of college campuses nationwide, about 20 percent of students said they believe they’ve had an eating disorder.

Lynn Grefe, CEO of the National Eating Disorders Association, said the numbers are much higher than the reported number.

“I think the concern is eating disorders are much more common than ever reported,” Grefe said.

“A lot of people don’t admit that they have an eating disorder.”

That denial stems from the fact that there is a negative stigma associated with eating disorders, Grefe said.

Groups like RUBI, however, are helping to break that stigma, Grefe said.

It’s a job that Bleibtrey said she finds rewarding.

“It is very inspirational and empowering,” Bleibtrey said. “I find it rewarding when I see other people catch on — I breathe a sigh of relief.”