Cal State Northridge is hosting its eighth annual Eating Disorder Awareness Week later this month to draw attention to the issues surrounding eating disorders and to empower men and women to become comfortable with who they are.

The week kicks off with "The Mind, Body and Spirit Fair: Every Body is Beautiful" from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 24, in the University Student Union's Grand Salon on the east side of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge.

"The fair is designed to not only raise awareness about eating disorders, but also to give women and men a day to pamper themselves and to escape the stress of everyday life," said Ellen Mayer, a counselor at CSUN's University Counseling Services and coordinator of Joint Advocates on Disordered Eating (JADE), an eating disorder awareness and prevention program.

The fair will feature a variety of activities, including free massages, henna tattoos, a psychic, balloon animals, a tea party, character artists, information booths, creating your own aromatherapy elixir, information on Greek life and sports clubs, a climbing wall and free screenings for possible eating problems.

Mayer said Eating Disorders Awareness Week has been taking place on college campuses across the country for more than a decade as a way of shedding light on the problem and providing treatment options.

"Unfortunately, thousands of girls, boys, women and men are still plagued with negative body images, an obsession with food and the fear of being overweight," she said. "It is estimated that 5 to 10 percent of women and men have some form of an eating disorder. It is our goal to reach out to this population with specific information and resource help."

Other activities include:

• A presentation by Sheri Barke, coordinator of nutrition and body image programs at the UCLA Student Health and Wellness Center, on food truths and myths at 9:30 to 11 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 25, in the Grand Salon.

• Betsy Corrigan, executive chef for CSUN's University Club, will offer lessons on how to turn the food in your refrigerator into tasty, healthy meals. "What's in the Fridge?" will take place from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. on Feb. 25 in the Marilyn Magaram Center for Food Science, Nutrition and Dietetics in Room 112 of Sequoia Hall just east of the Oviatt Library near the center of the campus.

• University Counseling Services interns will give a presentation on how to decrease stress and increase positive relationships with food from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. on Feb. 25 in the Pasadena Room of the University Student Union. The discussion, "Eating Disorders as a Reaction to Stress will also focus on the pressure to be thin and the resulting use of disordered eating practices.

• JADE peer educators will lead a discussion from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 25 on the role the media plays in body image issues, the causes and symptoms of disordered or stressful eating habits and how to help a friend with an eating disorder. The discussion will take place in the Pieza de Celes Room of the Satellite Student Union at the corner of Zelzah Avenue and Lassen Street.

• Sheri Barke will speak again at 10 and 11 a.m. on Feb. 26. Her presentation, "Body Talk: Freeing Yourself from Food and Weight Obsessions," will take place in the Grand Salon.

• University Counseling Services interns will talk about "Assertiveness and Body Image Pressures" from noon to 1 p.m. on Feb. 26 in the Pasadena Room of the University Student Union.

• "It Takes a VillageŠ", a lecture by licensed therapist and author Carolyn Costin, founder and director of The Eating Disorder Center in California and the Monte Nido Residential Treatment Facility for eating disorders in Malibu, will take place from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. and again from 12:30 to 1:45 p.m. on Feb. 27 in the Lake View Terrace Room of the University Student Union. Costin will talk about programs, activities and attitudes that promote a set of healthy values, and ways to understand and prevent addictions, eating disorders and other destructive behaviors.

• A film series hosted by the Marilyn Magaram Center will take place from 1 to 2 p.m. on Feb. 24, 25 and 26 in Room 112 of Sequoia Hall. On Feb. 24 and 26, the film "Dying to be Thin" will be shown, and on Feb. 25 the center will screen "Eating Disorders."

For more information about the week and its events, call the JADE office in University Counseling Services at (818) 677-7500 or visit its Web site at www.csun.edu/counseling/jade.html.