Older News Items and Graphics
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project brEAThe presents Silver's Light
Tuesday June 26, 2012 8:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Riverside Park Picnic area |
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This is a candle lighting event for everyone to come and remember those who have lost their battles with an Eating Disorder, to think of those who are struggling, and to honour those who are in Recovery!
There will be a band playing for a period of time while you arrive.... Lindsay Gemmell will be speaking around 8:30pm, and the candle lighting will take place when it gets dark around 9pm.
Bring yourself a blanket or a towel to sit on, as well as a small candle to light.
Donations to Project BrEAThe will be welcomed to support eating disorder treatment and other related initiatives. Please contribute what you can!
http://projectbreathe.webs.com/
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Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Eating Disorders Coalition
Celebrates International No Diet Day
No diet is the best diet.
That’s the message of International No Diet Day, which is now celebrated worldwide.
Established in 1992 by anti-diet campaigner Mary Evans Young, International No Diet Day challenges cultural attitudes and values that contribute to chronic dieting, weight and size preoccupation, eating disorders and size discrimination.
The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Eating Disorders Coalition celebrates International No Diet Day on Sunday, May 6, 2012.
“On International No Diet Day we ask everyone to put aside their preoccupation with dieting and weight loss, to celebrate diversity of body shapes and sizes and to reject society’s narrow standards of beauty,” says April Gates, Program Co-ordinator of Homewood’s Eating Disorders Program.
This year, for the fourth consecutive year, downtown businesses in Guelph will join the Eating Disorders Coalition in celebrating International No Diet Day. From April 30 to May 6, a number of local downtown businesses have agreed to host window displays that promote healthy body image and acceptance of our natural body shapes and sizes.
Here are 10 suggestions of ways to participate in International No Diet Day:
- Take a break from dieting. Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Listen to your body’s signals.
- Stop thinking about foods as “good,” “bad” or “junk food.” Taste, savour and enjoy all foods to the fullest!
- Make health, not weight loss, your lifestyle goal.
- Give up, or better still, smash the weigh scales.
- Clean out your closet and get rid of all your “thin” clothes. Donate these items to a charitable organization.
- Ask local bookstores to display anti-diet and “Health at Every Size” books this week.
- Stop focusing on appearance. Don’t make comments like “You look great! Have you lost weight?” Look for other praise-worthy qualities to highlight, other than personal appearance.
- Engage in physical activities for pleasure and health benefits, rather than regimented exercise for the primary purpose of weight loss.
- End weight discrimination by celebrating size diversity. Beauty, health and fitness come in all sizes.
- Check out downtown Guelph store windows, particularly those hosting slogans that promote positive body image and size acceptance.

The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Eating Disorders Coalition
works to increase public awareness of eating disorders and unhealthy body images
and to provide eating disorder resources to the community.
For more information about the coalition, visit www.eatingdisorderscoalition.ca.
For more information about the treatment and prevention of eating disorders,
visit www.nedic.ca and www.whatseatingyou.com.
April Gates, Program Co-ordinator, Eating Disorders Program
Telephone: 519-824-1010, ext. 2292
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For an example of one of our 2012 panel addresses please click here.
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Download a Printable Acrobat Poster

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Download a Printable Acrobat Poster

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Eating Disorders Awareness Coalition
a service of

Presents the 17th Annual
Professional Development Conference
ACTivities to Treat Body Image Dissatisfaction:
Acceptance & Commitment Therapy
For Clients With & WithoutEating Disorders
with
Dr. Michelle Heffner Macera, PhD
Author, The Anorexia Workbook and
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Body Image Dissatisfaction.
FRIDAY, October 28, 2011
Kitchener Holiday Inn
30 Fairway Road South
Kitchener, Ontario,N2A 2N2

dowload the brocure [rtf format]
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International No Diet Day is May 6, 2011
The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Eating Disorders Coalition is taking this year’s International No Diet Day celebrations downtown and to Stone Road Mall.
Several stores will host affirmation slogans in their windows during the first week of May. These signs challenge societal pressures to diet and change our bodies and encourage the acceptance of our natural shapes and sizes.
The Coalition will also sponsor a screening of Jean Kilbourne’s film, Killing Us Softly 4, on Saturday, May 7 from 3 to 4 p.m. at the Bookshelf Cinema. This film analyzes current media advertisements, revealing damaging images and messages that reinforce unrealistic and unhealthy perceptions of beauty, perfection and sexuality.
Established in 1992 by British anti-diet campaigner Mary Evans Young, International No Diet Day is now recognized world-wide as a day to raise awareness about the dangers and futility of dieting and to proclaim independence from society’s narrow standards of beauty.
The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Eating Disorders Coalition works to increase public awareness of eating disorders and unhealthy body images and to provide resources to professional care providers. For more information about the Coalition, visit www.eatingdisorderscoalition.ca.
Some of the ways you can participate in International No Diet Day include:
- Take a break from dieting. Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Listen to your body’s signals.
- Take food off the “good” and “bad” or “junk food” lists. Taste, savour and enjoy all foods to the fullest!
- Affirm that weight loss is unnecessary to obtain health and happiness. Reclaim health - not weight loss - as a lifestyle change goal.
- Give up, or better still, smash your weigh scales. They do nothing for your self-esteem!
- Cleanse your closet of everything you’ve been saving until you “get thin,” and donate items to a charitable organization.
- Ask local bookstores to display anti-diet and size acceptance books this week.
- Refrain from focussing on appearance. Stop saying “You look great! Have you lost weight?” Each of us possesses many praise-worthy qualities that are unrelated to personal appearance.
- End weight discrimination by celebrating size diversity. Beauty, health and fitness come in all sizes.
- Put the lid on diet products. Save your time and money. Diets don’t work!
- Reclaim health – not weight loss – as a lifestyle change goal.
Contact: April Gates
Tel: 519-824-1010 Ext. 2292
Email: gateapri@homewood.org
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Download a Printable Acrobat Poster

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Download a Printable Acrobat Poster
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Download a Printable Acrobat Poster

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Health at Every Size Workshop Details
A professional development workshop featuring
Jonathan Robison, Ph.D., MS
September 23, 2010
An Effective, Science-Based Alternative for
Helping People with Weight-Related Concerns
Governments and health organizations
around the world have declared a war on
the “epidemic” of obesity. Acceptable body
weight standards have been repeatedly
lowered so that more than 60% of the
North American population is now
considered to be overweight and in
need of treatment, yet there is no
evidence that these treatments are
effective.
As a result, women of all sizes, and increasing numbers of men. suffer
from an intense fear of fat. This fear
plays havoc with self-esteem and promotes
disordered eating and exercising behavior.|
In this workshop, Dr. Jonathan Robison
explores the social, political, economic
and scientific foundations of traditional
approaches to the issue of weight and
health. The philosophical and scientific
basis of an effective, alternative approach
for helping people with weight-related
concerns will be described, and practical
applications for the workplace, private
practice and public health policy will be
presented.
Workshop Details
Date: Thursday, September 23, 2010
Time: 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. - Registration
9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - Workshop
Venue:
Italian Canadian Club
(135 Ferguson Street, Guelph)
Cost:
$65.00 per person
Objectives
Upon completion, participants will be
able to:
1) Critique the scientific foundations and
efficacy of current approaches to
helping people with weight-related
concerns.
2) Discuss the economic, social, political
and health consequences of the “war
on obesity.”
3) Describe the philosophical foundations
and major components of an
alternative approach for helping people
with weight-related concerns.
4) Begin to implement the “Health At
Every Size” approach in clinical, public
health, recreational, academic and
worksite settings.
EDC Brochure and Registration form
(Right click to save, left click to view in browser)
Workshop Poster
(Right click to save, left click to view in browser)
"Health At Every Size" from Jon's website
(Right click to save, left click to view in browser)
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From the Guelph Mercury:
Body image concepts need rethink, health adviser tells Guelph audience
GUELPH — People need to rethink their
concepts of body image and obesity, educator Jonathan Robison told
local health care professionals Thursday.
“We know people can be fit and fat,” he told those attending a Health At Every Size forum organized by the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Eating Disorders Coalition.
The keys to a healthy weight is
“normal eating,” described as natural, relaxed, appropriate consumption
that avoids overeating; as well as an active lifestyle and a
self-acceptance of the body a person has by rejecting seductive
idealized images of skinny models in the media, said Robison, a Michigan
professor with expertise in health education, exercise physiology and
human nutrition.
Among the 55 people attending the
forum was University of Guelph honours psychology student Ashley
Skinner, 26, who struggled with anorexia from six to 20 years of age and
today runs the campus Acceptance Without Limits group focused on body
awareness and eating disorders.
Skinner, raised in Newfoundland, said
in an interview it was vital for her to improve her attitude toward her
body and build self-esteem to overcome anorexia.
“I really wish I had heard messages
like this when I was growing up,” she said, relating to much of what
Robison addressed in a lengthy presentation at the Italian Canadian
Club.
Robison, using projected images of
sickly thin magazine models, called for a “new peace movement” to make a
societal shift from weight-centred to health-focused, where “thin is
not in” and fat is not seen invariably as leading to an early grave.
People, he stressed, come in all
weights and sizes and need not spend their lives struggling
unsuccessfully to lose pounds and keep them off. (Ninety-five per cent
of dieting people gain the weight back within five years, he reported.)
Robison described a healthy weight as
where the body settles when people transition into active, fulfilling
and meaningful lives where they feel comfortable with their fitness and
eating habits. He termed society’s obsession with thin bodies as
“weightism,” and put it “on the same level” as racism, sexism and
homophobia.
“There’s a lot of body dissatisfaction,” coalition chair April Gates said in an interview. “It gets to an unhealthy level.”
It’s an issue not only for the
public, but health professionals seeking what’s best for people, said
Gates, who works at the Homewood health centre.
Along with Robison, she brushed aside
public concern about an ‘obesity epidemic.’ “There’s no reliable
research to support it,” said Gates, whose organization is now
celebrating its 10th year. Fear, she said, merely energizes the dieting
industry.
Robison dispelled common myths like
obesity leads to adult-onset diabetes, also known as Type 2. “Eighty per
cent of fat people don’t have Type 2 diabetes.”
He also warned against making a link between overweight conditions and illnesses, saying that’s proven elusive to assess.
Further, someone may tip the scale above a perceived ideal weight and still be healthy.
“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” Robison advised.
He attacked Hollywood’s obscenely
idealized image of a female model with a 23-inch waist, which he said is
the same circumference as a soccer ball.
As to losing weight to improve health and longevity, Robison was succinct. “This is an unsubstantiated hypothesis.”
Robison, warmly received by the
coalition, was also slated to give a free public address Thursday
evening at the University Centre, titled Weight, Health & Culture: Exposing the Myths; Exploring the Realities.
vkirsch@guelphmercury.com
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Coalition Celebrates Eating Disorder Awareness Week
2009

CLICK TITLE TO PRINT ADOBE PDF-=- FACES OF RECOVERY LECTURE
To celebrate National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Eating Disorders Coalition hosts the ever-popular annual event Faces of Recovery. This panel of women and family members in recovery from an eating disorder takes place on Wednesday, February 4 at Guelph’s Italian Canadian Club, 135 Ferguson Street, from 7 to 9 p.m. This event includes a body activism event, No Fat Talk!, which will challenge the damaging impact of fat talk and society’s thin ideal.
The University of Guelph also celebrates Eating Disorder Awareness Week with the following activities:
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A screening of Travis Mathews’ documentary Do I Look Fat?, highlighting body image issues encountered by the gay (male) community, will be held in Rosanski Hall, Room 105. Tues. Feb. 3, 6:30-9:30.p.m.
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Guest speaker and therapist Candy MacNeil addresses body image issues in her talk, Oprah’s a Victim of Thin Thinking: Are You, Too?, at the University Centre, Room 103, Wed.Feb.4, 12:00 to 1:30 p.m.
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Elora photographer Sophie Hogan features her body image collection, Photographs of REAL Women and a New Way of Looking at Body Image, in Peter Clark Hall on February 9 and 10, with a reception being held on February 9 at 6:00 p.m.
All events are free of charge.
For additional information on these events, contact April Gates at 519-824-1010 ext. 2292.
For more information on National Eating Disorder Awareness Week,
which runs from February 1–7, 2009, visit www.nedic.ca. |
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International
No Diet Day is May 6, 2008
The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph
Eating Disorders Coalition celebrates International No
Diet Day on Tuesday, May 6. Established in 1992 by British
anti-diet campaigner Mary Evans Young, International No Diet Day
is now recognized around the world.
International
No Diet Day was created to challenge the cultural attitudes
and values that contribute to chronic dieting, weight and size preoccupation,
eating disorders and size discrimination. It is a day to intentionally
stop obsessing about dieting and weight loss, to celebrate the diversity
of body shapes and sizes and to proclaim our independence from society's
narrow standards of beauty.
Some of the ways
you can participate in International No Diet Day include:
- Take a break
from dieting. Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.
Listen to your body's signals.
- Put the lid
on diet products. Take food off the "good" and "bad"
or "junk food" lists. Taste, savour and enjoy all foods
to the fullest!
- Affirm that
weight loss is unnecessary to obtain health and happiness. Reclaim
health - not weight loss - as a lifestyle change goal.
- Give up, or
better still, smash your weigh scales. They do nothing for your
self-esteem!
- Cleanse your
closet of everything you've been saving until you "get thin,"
and donate items to a charitable organization.
- Ask local
bookstores to display anti-diet and size acceptance books this
week.
- Refrain from
focussing on appearance. Stop saying "You look great! Have
you lost weight?" Each of us possesses many praise-worthy
qualities that are unrelated to personal appearance.
- End weight
discrimination by celebrating size diversity. Beauty, health and
fitness come in all sizes.
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EDC on the Internet
- Read and respond
to Victoria Brunet's Review ofyear's Faces of Recovery Presentation click
here to visit U of G's Cannon Website
- TVO Parents'
website has posted helpful information about body image issues here.
- Listen to a telephone interview with individual and family therapist Candy MacNeil as she warns about the consequences of a
poor body image in our children.
- Listen to
a telephone interview with April
Gates,
Program Co-ordinator of the Eating Disorders Program at Homewood
Health Centre, about the treatment and prevention of eating disorders.
- Follow
up to our Public Lecture:
Listen to the tiltle track of Jenni Schaefer's Life Without
Ed - How One Woman Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder
and How You Can Too. Click here to visit her site.
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Coalition Sponsored Events Raising Awareness
About Eating Disorders
2008

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE.
FACES
OF RECOVERY -=- CLICK TITLE TO PRINT ADOBE PDF-=- JENNI
SCHAEFER LECTURE
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Coalition
Sponsors Events to Raise Awareness About Eating Disorders
Guelph,
Ontario - The Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Eating Disorders
Coalition is serving up some food for thought as National
Eating Disorder Awareness Week approaches.
The Coalition,
which consists of representatives from various community agencies,
is proud to sponsor two events this year. Faces of Recovery
is a community panel discussion taking place on Wednesday,
January 30, 2008. The panel will include individuals on
the road to recovery from an eating disorder, as well as family
members who have helped their loved ones cope with this problem.
The discussion runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Guelph Community
Health Centre, 176 Wyndham Street North. Admission is
free, and no registration is required.
On Wednesday,
February 6, the Coalition also presents Declaring Independence
from Eating Disorders: A Personal Journey, featuring Jenni
Schaefer, author of Life Without Ed: How One Woman
Declared Independence from Her Eating Disorder and How You
Can Too. Jenni is a unique speaker who reaches any
audience through an interesting presentation that includes
an inspirational story of her struggle with anorexia and bulimia,
intertwined with poetry, humour and song. She has been featured
in Cosmopolitan, Woman's World and The Washington Times and
has also appeared on The Dr. Phil Show and Entertainment Tonight.
She shares a lifetime of experience - from intimate thoughts
written in personal journals to the ultimate freedom that
she experiences today, inspiring hope within the hearts of
her listeners.
Declaring
Independence from Eating Disorders: A Personal Journey takes place on Wednesday, February 6 at the Italian
Canadian Club, 135 Ferguson Street, Guelph. It runs from
7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Admission for this event is also free, and
no registration is required.For additional information on
either of these events, contact April Gates at 519-824-1010
ext. 2292.
For more
information on National Eating Disorder Awareness Week, which
runs from February 3-9, 2008, visit www.nedic.ca [see ad below]
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For more information on
National Eating Disorder Awareness Week
visit
the National Eating Disorder Information Centre

www.nedic.ca.
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