Student from Jackson advocates for eating disorder education

By Kenadie Mlujeak, Delta College Student Submission

Peyton Lowder grew up in Jackson, Michigan as a classical dancer. Despite her skills and passion for the craft, the people that surrounded her at the studio did not encourage body positivity. This led to Lowder’s development of an issue that 30 million Americans will struggle with in their lifetime – an eating disorder.

Her own struggles led her to become an advocate for eating disorder education, a topic that she feels very passionate about despite the stigma that surrounds it.

Lowder feels that she must be a voice in the community that brings more attention to this crucial topic.

“It’s not talked about enough,” she said. “When something as big as this is ignored, there are consequences.”

Eating disorders are a serious issue in the United States. They hold the second highest mortality rate of all psychiatric disorders, and somebody dies every 52 minutes from complications related to an eating disorder.

These statistics are just one example of something that motivated Lowder’s latest venture: her partnership with EDEN, the Eating Disorders and Education Network.

EDEN is a global program run by eating disorder survivors that aims to offer community to those who are struggling through providing online education programs, peer coaching, and support group sessions. Through this partnership, many Michiganders have received the guidance that they need to recover.

“Our latest collaborative project was a short film about the journeys of those living with eating disorders,” Lowder said. “It went to over 50 classrooms across the state of Michigan.”

Beyond this impact, Lowder also raises awareness for eating disorder education through her social media, with a combined following of over 48,000 people. Although social media can often be a negative environment for those struggling with eating disorders, Lowder aims to be a positive force by sharing videos of her day-to-day activities and how she is thriving despite her past experiences with eating disorders.

Impacting such a large group of people can be a large task to handle, but Lowder says that her passion for educating the next generation on warning signs like compulsive eating behaviors, fatigue, and mood swings.

“If I can help just one person recognize the signs and symptoms before it’s too late, I’ve done my job,” she said.

Although her passion carries her through, Lowder’s advocacy has not come without its own set of challenges, both personal and systemic. Her journey of recovering from her eating disorder has been a struggle, but she is determined to use her story of resilience and recovery to inspire others and show them what is possible.

Additionally, Lowder notes that the greater public and even the eating disorder community itself has an issue in recognizing that people do not have to be thin to be diagnosed with an eating disorder.

This is a real concern, with studies showing that patients with higher body weight are diagnosed with an eating disorder half as frequently as those who are normal weight or underweight. This is despite the fact that patients with higher body weight have more than double the chance of engaging in disordered eating behaviors.

“Eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes, and even we need to be reminded of that sometimes,” Lowder said.

The footprint that Peyton Lowder has left on the eating disorder community is immense, but she insists that her work is not done as she aspires to break stigmas like those mentioned above and stretch her engagement to our state congress.

“I hope to expand the network of congressman and women I have spoken to about ensuring Michigan no longer counts BMI in its diagnoses of anorexia,” she said.

BMI, or Body Mass Index, is a calculation of height and weight that has long been used to determine one’s health, but it has recently come under fire for its flaws.

It has been shown that there is no connection between eating disorders and BMI ranges, which supports the idea that eating disorders can happen to anybody regardless of their size.

A law was passed in Colorado in 2023 to rid BMI from eating disorder diagnoses, and Lowder hopes that the same law can eventually be passed here in Michigan.

Although the battle to educate the public on eating disorders is not an easy one, Lowder is not stopping anytime soon and she hopes that during this time of deep division, we can come together to raise awareness on this topic and help people feel less alone.

“Struggling with disordered eating sometimes feels impossible,” she said. “Together, we can shatter the stigma around eating disorders.”