Ally Peters’ past eating disorder was not something she kept secret. She had struggled with shame and secrecy when she first developed disordered eating at the age of 11. After seeking help, however, she described herself as being transparent about her experiences.
Still, speaking as a panel member at the University of Oregon’s All Sizes Fit campaign two years ago was out of her comfort zone. She had never spoken in front of so many people about her experience before. Despite her initial apprehension, though, she found the experience to be a rewarding one.
“It was very empowering,” she said. “It was nice to answer people’s questions and clear up (misconceptions about eating disorders).”
Her experience as a panel member at that time has encouraged her to continue to be involved with All Sizes Fit. This year, she was heavily involved with planning and promoting the campaign along with counselor and campaign coordinator Liz Asta.
Through her involvement with the campaign, Peters has seen the powerful, positive effects it has. The campaign encourages health at all sizes and works to combat the stereotype that being thin equates with being healthy. She said this encourages people to focus on what their bodies’ health and capabilities are — as opposed to how they look.
Asta hopes the campaign will help to dispel the negative stereotypes of larger people, which can influence eating disorders.
“Our hope is through the week, we are promoting more positive images and ideas about body image to help decrease the likelihood that people feel they need to engage in unhealthy ways to change their size,” she said.
For Peters, this hits close to home. Growing up as a dancer, she had struggled with body image issues. When she first developed an eating disorder, she did not realize her behavior was unusual.
“I didn’t even realize at first that I had an eating disorder — I thought it was kind of normal to do what I was doing,” she said. “It’s socially acceptable to not eat in front of people, to be really into dieting and exercising. It just slowly became more extreme.”
She eventually got to the point where she was scarcely eating and was exercising at two o’clock in the morning so no one would know she was doing it.
Although she said she still struggles with body image issues, she is able to make the conscious choice to be healthy. Through working with All Sizes Fit and talking about her experiences, she hopes to encourage people to be healthy.
“There can be a lot of shame and secrecy involved when you have an eating disorder, especially when you identify as something other than a heterosexual white female,” she said. “And the eating disorder itself is very isolating, so I hope to show people you can talk about it.”