Body connect

Program tackles eating disorders one bite at a time

Barbi Heimbach-Webber yearns to give others what was given to her - a second chance after surviving anorexia and bulimia.

"My support motto is 'Let's take this one bite at a time,'" she said.

Heimbach-Webber found an outlet by joining her "Body Connect" mentoring with dietitian Linda Fredenberg at nutrition services and Wendy Olson in community health promotion at The Summit.

"All of a sudden, we had a base at The Summit," she said with a smile. "We have a huge referral list and the task force."

Operating under the umbrella of Northwest Healthcare, Heimbach-Webber and Fredenberg created a task force that included medical, mental health and dietetic professionals dedicated to preventing and treating eating disorders in the community.

"We've been meeting for months to tenderly put together a wider area of healing opportunities," she said.

They selected National Eating Disorders Week - Feb. 25 to March 3 - to reach out to those suffering in secret the physical and emotional devastation of anorexia and bulimia as well as compulsive overeating.

On Feb. 21 and 28, a support group meets at The Summit for presentations, including a parent's perspective and nutritional information from Fredenberg.

Starting in March, she and Heimbach-Webber present a weekly Body Connect class designed to improve body image and develop a trusting relationship with one's body.

As an eating-disorder survivor, Heimbach-Webber knows the guilt and shame faced by those ensnared by this illness, which can lead to self destruction.

"It's people who strive for perfection," she said.

Because high achievers often fall victim, Fredenberg said parents often don't look for problems with children earning 4.0 GPAs and enjoying wide circles of friends. They hide by wearing baggy clothes and not eating with the family.

Fredenberg said she got her initiation into the widespread problem as a dietitian at Montana State University, where she had a large caseload of students with eating disorders.

"We're seeing a national epidemic out there," she said.

She said younger and younger people now exhibit disordered eating patterns. Victims include children as young as 7, and more of them are boys.

Heimbach-Webber said youngsters feel pressured to become World Cup soccer players. She said tweens and teenagers jump up at the crack of dawn in pursuit of perfection before they make their appearances in school.

Now 47, Heimbach-Webber well remembers those days.

"Oh, the pressure," she said. "I fell apart when I was a teenager of 15 or 16."

Her parents provided what they thought was a great opportunity when they sent her to a prep school in Connecticut. The distance from Duluth, Minn., geographically and culturally, turned her world upside down.

"I didn't fit in," she said.

Heimbach-Webber said she left her extremely nurturing family with no skills for coping with change. Her cry for help surfaced in a dysfunctional relationship with food.

"I decided to starve," she said.

When Hiembach-Webber arrived home for Christmas vacation from prep school, her parents saw a skeleton with an orange tinge from all the carrots she had consumed. She said she should have been hospitalized but, in those days, anorexia was unknown. Her family doctor tried to help, but then she returned to Connecticut for school.

"I had lost the ability to eat," she said. "Everything I put in my tummy hurt."

Heimbach-Webber's eating disorder continued into her college years. When others were near and she felt compelled to eat, she compensated by bingeing and purging.

"All the while, I knew in my heart that it was wrong," she said. "I literally decided to wake up."

Like other victims of eating disorders, she faced a problem not confronted by people addicted to other destructive behaviors like smoking, drinking or drugs.

"We have to continue feeding ourselves 24/7, every day of our lives," she said.

Heimbach-Webber said the basic concepts of "Body Connect" began with her personal decision to cure herself. Along with her sister, she evolved the program to teach others to listen to and trust their bodies' physiological and emotional cues.

To escape anorexia and bulimia, she used mindfulness to liberate her inner "toddler eater."

Instead of restriction and control, Body Connect emphasizes permission and inner management. Heimbach-Webber developed a box of recipes designed to separate food feelings from stress.

"I try to keep it simple so anyone can understand it," she said. "I tell people to take three bites and put their utensil down. It breaks the chaos of life. Take a sip of something soothing. Take a breath. Check in with your stress."

She helps people find "a satiety zone" that has nothing to do with stress.

Heimbach-Webber first began sharing the "Body Connect" ideas while earning her bachelor's degree in social work at the University of Montana. She approached girls in the dorm after hearing them purging.

"I would ask them if they wanted to talk about it with someone who understood," she said.

In recent years, she began sharing her personal story by accepting invitations to speak in schools. Heimbach-Webber said her husband and two children have 100 percent supported her decision to speak out.

She tells teenagers about the physical price she paid for anorexia and bulimia, including tooth erosion, varicose veins and hormonal disturbances affecting fertility.

"When I met the man of my dreams, we wanted to make a family," she said. "I had almost destroyed that ability for us."

To expand her mission, Heimbach-Webber approached her friend Olson in community health promotion at The Summit.

She called Fredenberg "an angel that dropped down from heaven" with the nutrition credentials to complement her motivational work.

They created support groups and a large referral network.

"A key part of this is: We want them to be seen by a therapist," Fredenberg said.

She sees their role as providing an information clearing house for eating-disorder victims and their families and friends who want to help but had nowhere to start. For more information call Fredenberg at 751-4128 and Heimbach-Webber at 257-7757.

They offer confidentiality and a way to tackle eating disorders "one bite at a time."

Reporter Candace Chase may be reached at 758-4436 or by e-mail at cchase@dailyinterlake.com