For education junior Kacie Pugh, this past Thanksgiving was a time to be thankful for her body.
Relentlessly criticizing her body and counting calories in pursuit of attaining her perception of an ideal figure, Pugh found herself spiraling deeper into a dangerous mindset as she entered her second year of college.
After limiting her diet to oatmeal, yogurt and apples, in addition to working out for almost two hours everyday, Pugh said she derived a sense of power and control which fueled her addiction to losing more weight. The more weight she lost, the more satisfied she became.
“I just felt like I was on top of the world and that I finally fit the standards and blended in,” she said. “I thought the way that I was eating and exercising was healthy.”
Pugh began to frequently feel sick, and although she reached out for help, her behavior had already made an impact — she was informed that her body was gradually shutting down.
During the months of treatment that followed, Pugh’s body was able to rebuild and repair itself as she reflected on her internal battle and worked toward establishing a healthy and renewed mindset.
“I realized that there are so many things that I want to live for, and that I need my body to be healthy in order to do those things,” she said. “I just hope to get my story out there and share it with people. I mean, my story was really serious and I almost died, so I just want people to know that that’s what our society’s idea of beautiful can do to somebody.”
Shortly after acknowledging her new commitment to helping others that struggle with negative body image and eating disorders, Pugh found that she was able to identify with the message of Spartan Body Pride, which prompted her to join. She became the events coordinator there about one month ago.
As a student-run organization on campus, Spartan Body Pride works to combat eating disorders and their causes by promoting positive body image and self-esteem for students.
According to SBP President Sage Gauss, the organization strives to address the stringent beauty ideals that are present on campus, in order to demonstrate how these unattainable standards can have serious consequences.
“People just sit back and they have this idea that you can’t change the fact that society is like this,” Gauss said. “I really think you can change a campus culture if it’s a big enough movement, so that’s why I wanted to join (Spartan Body Pride). An eating disorder is the end effect of the entire societal and cultural pressure that exists, and I think educating campus about this is important.”
While the organization has monthly meetings focused on discussing these beauty standards within society, SBP’s goal is to significantly increase their membership through their upcoming events. These include National Eating Disorder Awareness Week in February, which is a fitness week that will provide yoga, Zumba and cardio kickboxing classes, and a lecture on intuitive eating from Anne Buffington, SBP adviser and MSU’s registered dietitian.
Through these meetings and events, SBP hopes to share a new perspective and reinforce the ways in which students can live a balanced life and feel comfortable with their bodies.
“We don’t tell people to be on a diet,” Gauss said. “We are just trying to create a more relaxed culture around food. We want to be able to impact as many people as we can, and make our message more clear.”
