Originally published in 1998 by the National Eating Disorder Association, this fully updated Second Edition was released November, 2005.
Healthy Body Image: Teaching Kids to Eat and Love Their Bodies Too! Second Edition by Kathy Kater Promoting healthy body image, eating, fitness, nutrition, and weight in developing children Contains scripted lesson plans for students in grades 4 - 6. Lesson concepts and activities may be adapted for any age, pre-school to adult.
Leigh Cohn, Editor-in-Chief of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention described Healthy Body Image in this way:
"This updated edition of the most widely-used curriculum for preventing disordered eating and body image issues is even better than the original. Kater's orientation is rooted in the most successful prevention programs and research. She presents a resource that should be incorporated into every fourth, fifth, and sixth grade classroom."
Anxiety about weight and shape, as well as unhealthy lifestyle habits diminish the self esteem and integrity of growing bodies and egos, as well as consuming attention and energy that should be available for other important developmental tasks. The compelling wish to be slim provides the seeds for a host of body image, eating, fitness, and weight problems that are extremely difficult to reverse once established, including an alarming rise in the rate of fatness While much remains to be learned, enough is now known about the toxic messages that promote body image and weight concerns to prevent these problems before they start.Healthy Body Image (HBI) is recommended by the U.S. Department of Health. Office of Women's Health in its BodyWise information packet for educators, and is in use in hundreds of schools across the country.
Those who have enjoyed teaching the original HBI lessons will find these newly revised lessons to be familiar but improved by recommendations of educators and updated empirical data. As before, carefully planned, engaging, age appropriate, cross-curricular lessons based on widely recognized prevention principles teach students to:
Develop an identity based on inner strengths, not on appearance
Gain historical perspective on current unhealthy body image attitudes
Understand normal weight gain during puberty
Respect genetic diversity of body size and shape
Become aware of the dangers of dieting
Develop incentives for healthy eating and active lifestyles
Think critically about media messages
Resist unhealthy cultural pressures regarding weight and dieting
Margo Maine, leading expert and author of several books on body image and eating disorders described Healthy Body Image in this way:
"The Healthy Body Image curriculum should be in the hands of every elementary school teacher in the United States. The revised edition has the potential to transform classrooms, and is the resource for any school that wants students to develop positive self- and body esteem, resist unhealthy messages regarding weight, shape, appearance, fitness, and food, and be equipped with the building blocks to a healthy lifestyle.”
Click on Resources to view the curriculum Table of Contents, results from outcome studies, and many other sample pages from Healthy Body Image
Scroll down to read why the Healthy Body Image curriculum should be taught to every girl and boy growing up today, and for more reviews by experts.
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Read on to learn why the Healthy Body Image curriculum should be taught to every girl and boy growing up today
—Negative body image and the unrealistic drive to be thin
It is rare for today's adolescent girls to feel content with their natural bodies. On average, 70% report unhappiness with their shape and say they "feel fat," a disparaging self-judgment that often has little to do with actual fatness. While people have always been interested in appearance, the current emphasis on physical beauty for women and the pressure to be thin in order to achieve it is unprecedented. In response, attempts at weight control through various methods of restrictive eating have become the norm. Up to 70% of teenage girls report they have engaged in restrictive eating practices in an attempt control or lose weight. Compared to the 1960s, when about 30% of older teen and college-age females fell into this group, today's obsession now affects increasingly younger children, with half of sixth-grade girls terrified of gaining weight, and one-third of their nine-year-old sisters already attempting to diet. The cultural crisis over body image is no longer limited to girls. Boys have caught fat phobia too, while longing for a "ripped" look that makes the use of dangerous steroids tempting.
—A rising rate of overweight and obesity
Since the drive to be thin and efforts to lose weight have become pervasive, the incidence of overweight and obesity has more than doubled. When adjusted for changing standards, the number of Americans considered to be overweight has risen from somewhere around 14% in the 1960s to over 50% today. Clearly weight loss or even weight control as a goal has failed and continues to fail.
—Generalized complacency about healthy lifestyle choices
“Why should I eat healthy if it won't make me thin?” —Fourteen year-old girl
“I exercised five times a week for three months, but I didn't lose any weight. What's the point?” —Mother of three young girls
Underlying the extremes of eating disorders and the rapid rise in obesity are the culturally propagated seeds for the full range of body image, eating, nutrition, fitness, and weight problems that negatively affect almost all children today. It is these cultural risk factors that must be the focus of our educational efforts. It is important to note that students would not need a curriculum such as Healthy Body Image in an setting in which body esteem, respect for size diversity, internal hunger regulation, wholesome eating and physical fitness were well supported. Unfortunately, the context in which today's children grow up, instead, presents them from an early age with multiple, conflicting messages that specifically promote unhealthy perspectives and behaviors. These messages have an especially negative effect as children experience the natural reshaping of their bodies that comes with puberty.
—The need for an effective, pro-active, comprehensive prevention model
Body-angst, eating, fitness, and weight problems are extremely difficult to reverse once they are established. While much remains to be learned, we now know enough about the toxic cultural risk factors that give rise to these concerns to prevent much of the trouble before it starts. Children can and should be taught from an early age to recognize and resist unhealthy pressures, to maintain body integrity, and to make competent choices that will enhance their health and well-being. This Healthy Body Image curriculum is designed to positively and proactively support that objective.
Rather than warning children about what to avoid, Healthy Body Image lessons provide students with the information and behaviors needed to maintain integrity in the face of these unhealthy pressures. Each lesson is based on one or more of the Body Image Building Blocks that together create a foundation for Healthy Body Image, eating, nutrition, fitness and weight.
WHAT TEACHERS WILL FIND IN THE HEALTHY BODY IMAGE CURRICULUM
Eleven engaging, cross curricular lessons are adaptable for any age, pre-school through adult, but are scripted for upper elementary school children in grades 4 through 6. Many teachers see the need for prevention initiatives in upper elementary school, but don't have time for another "add-on" curriculum. They like Healthy Body Image because the lessons fit into existing science, social studies, health, literature, and art classes. Click on Resources to view a complete overview of this manual, including an annotated table of contents and complete sample lesson.
Healthy Body Image is the first of its kind to demonstrate positive measured outcomes (click on Research for details), and is recommended by the U.S. Office on Women's Health BodyWise Packet for Middle School Educators (click on Links for further information).
Teacher comments about Healthy Body Image:
"I believe my own life would have been different if I had (this material) in the fourth grade."
"Everyday the kids asked if they got to have health. That has never happened with a health unit."
"I wish you could have seen how this material produced magical moments in the classroom."
"I questioned the need for this (at this age) until I overheard two of my (fourth grade) girls talking about feeling fat."
"One of my students who is quite fat came up after class and said, 'Thank you.' No one else had ever told her that her fatness might be at least partly genetic."
"It was a very pleasant experience to teach these lessons. The students understood the central point of just believing in and doing what you know is right and true even you feel pressured or tempted to do the opposite."
Student comments about Healthy Body Image:
"I learned to feel good about who I am and not worry about what I look like."
"I liked it all, but the best was you don't have to be thin to be cool."
"No one is the same, and there's no such thing as a 'perfect' weight."
"I learned that I should not believe every advertisement. They are very often misleeding [sic]. "
"You can't really change how you look. Just eat a lot of good food and don't watch so much TV and your family geens [sic] will tell your body how to turn out right for you."
"I know that I could never look like those models, and it's good to learn about body image."
"I learned to never judge someone by their looks alone."
"I learned it is best to find who I am rather than trying to copy everyone else."
"My dream was to be a model, but now my mind may have a different idea to feed on."
MORE PRAISE FROM THE EXPERTS ABOUT HEALTHY BODY IMAGE
“Simply put, the Healthy Body Image curriculum contains the best tools available for effectively teaching the concepts that children-and adults, for that matter-need in order to encourage healthy, realistic body images. Its elements are a breeze to integrate into almost every learning environment and subject area. In today's appearance-obsessed culture, it is essential for adults who work with children to have Healthy Body Image in their toolkit.” —Joe Kelly, President, Dads & Daughters
“Effective prevention programs have five core characteristics: They (1) are based on solid research; (2) are carefully tailored to the needs of teachers and to the developmental level of students; (3) provide engaging and creative activities; (4) challenge teachers and students to think critically about cultural and personal norms, values, and practices--and to take public action in creating healthier environments for everyone; and (5) acknowledge that students, teachers, administrators, parents, and people in general need to work together to promote positive body images, healthy eating, and active lifestyles. In the newly revised Healthy Body Image, Kathy Kater does another exceptional job in the making these characteristics crystal clear to teachers and students alike.” —Michael Levine, PhD, Kenyon College, former President of the National Eating Disorders Association
"I think Kater's Healthy Body Image curriculum is an outstanding contribution to the much needed area of fostering healthy body image in children and should be a required curriculum in every school in America." —Glenn Gaesser, Professor of Exercise Physiology, University of Virginia, author of Big Fat Lies.
“The Healthy Body Image curriculum meets a critical need today. It addresses vital age appropriate developmental needs and is truly one of the most exciting new programs that have come along in my 26 years of teaching.” —Helen Nelson, Dept. of Epidemiology, University of MN, Health Educator for over 20 years
“Kathy Kater's Healthy Body Image (HBI) curriculum is a wonderful program, and the Board of Jewish Education of Greater New York has urged its use elementary schools. For many students, these are their 'favorite classes' and parents are heartened that their children are learning these important lessons so enthusiastically. Real Kids Come in All Sizes is the perfect supplement to the HBI curriculum, as now parents can be educated in how to support the curriculum concepts, and most importantly, how to help their children be healthy and feel comfortable with their bodies.” —Shayna Oppen, CSW, Director, Dept. of Student Health Services, Board of Jewish Education of Greater NY
“Kathy Kater's Healthy Body Image (HBI) curriculum is incredible. . . I have found great benefit using the lesson concepts for both children and adults. This powerful program teaches children the skills they need to manage food and weight successfully for the rest of their lives. The smiles and sense of confidence radiating from children who have had the HBI lessons speak for themselves. —Karin Kratina, PhD, RD, LD/N, Nutrition Coordinator, Eating Disorders Program, University of Florida
“The Healthy Body Image curriculum should be in the hands of every elementary school teacher in the United States. The revised edition has the potential to transform classrooms, and is the resource for any school that wants students to develop positive self- and body esteem, resist unhealthy messages regarding weight, shape, appearance, fitness, and food, and be equipped with the building blocks to a healthy lifestyle. Incorporating the most recent research, the Healthy Body Image user-friendly lessons may be adopted for use beyond grades 4-6 and across the curriculum. Kater proposes and illustrates a clear model for the creation of a Healthy Body Image and includes hand-outs, overheads, and lesson scripts, as well as sufficient background information to prepare teachers to address this timely and sensitive issue. HBI teaches lessons will result in fewer children needing referrals to people like me. Thanks to Kathy Kater for creating and revising such a useful resource.” —Margo Maine, PhD, Author of The Body Myth: The Pressure on Adult Women to Be Perfect, Father Hunger: Fathers, Daughters and the Pursuit of Thinness, and Body Wars: Making Peace With Women's Bodies
“As a parent of four children and a pediatrician, I was honored and pleased to review the Healthy Body Image curriculum. I found these innovative lessons to be a sorely needed approach. I hope Healthy Body Image will be widely used with young children to prevent eating disorders, body image, and weight problems.” —Marjorie Hogan, MD, Hennepin County Medical Center, Staff Pediatrician
