Let's F.E.A.S.T.

A quick update on recent advocacy initiative on school-based BMI screening, surveillance and reporting. EDC reports the following : As a result of the Dear Colleague letter and conversations on our behalf with CDC about the concerns expressed within the  Facts and Concerns About School-Based BMI Screening, Surveillance and Reporting   , CDC decided to IMMEDIATELY start working on several changes to improve availability of information to schools conducting in-school screenings!! These immediate changes include: CDC will update changes to the BMI measurement in schools information available on their Healthy Youth webpage: Create a web page that emphasizes the safeguards and considerations outlined within the BMI Measurement in Schools journal article and executive summary Send out the new page to CDC grantees and CDC partner organizations to disseminate Offer the new page to the Department of Education to send out through their grantees and partner networks Provided target

M.O.M. (Mothers and Others March) Recap from F.E.A.S.T. Board Member, March Social Media Committee Member and Mom, Becky Henry As the plane left Minnesota heading to D.C., the reality set in that we were changing history with this first ever joining of forces by over 29 eating disorders organizations to change how these biological brain illnesses are seen, researched and treated. You see, over 15 years ago MN Senator Paul Wellstone told early eating disorders Mom Pioneer  Kitty Westin, "Kitty, what you need to do is bring a group of angry mothers to Washington D.C. to get the attention of Congress." It was actually about to happen! Finally. After too many years of moms silenced behind locked doors in shame and fear while our children die and some, including my firstborn Jessica, are lost indefinitely as eating disorders have hijacked them from our lives, we put aside different agendas, different perspectives and joined forces, arm in arm. M.O.M. March Planning Committ

F.E.A.S.T. is thrilled to have collaborated with EDC (Eating Disorder Coalition), AED (Academy of Eating Disorders), BEDA (Binge Eating Disorder Association) and STRIPED (Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders) on a new document:   "Facts and Concerns About School Based BMI Screening, Surveillance and Reporting " This issue is of concern to families and we hope that this document can be of support and assistance.

For the virtual marchers who were there in spirit but not in person, here is the full text of Laura Collins '*,  speech, delivered at the March against ED in Washington DC on Tuesday: *For those who may be new to F.E.A.S.T, Laura Collins is the founder of the FEAST and the Around the Dinner Table Forum.  Laura has been a tireless voice for parents for the last decade and has 'risen the tide' by changing the world around eating disorders for families.   The Ghost of Parents Future September 30, 2014 Laura Collins Lyster-Mensh "I am today the ghost of parents past. Guilt-ridden, hidden, and contrite. We listened in terror but were afraid to speak. Ours was a March of worried deference. We heard that our beloved children were damaged irrevocably, that we had failed to protect them or even that we were the perpetrators of unspeakable and un-parental crimes. We went from seer to seer, promise to promise, cure to promised cure. We grabbed at hope,