Cultural pressures and emotional vulnerability contribute to the development of eating disorders in one of five college women.

Stacy Kole, former Miss Arizona, spoke to a crowd of about 75 women Wednesday night at the Great Hall in the Memorial Union. She has written two books about eating disorders and self image.

“Eating disorders aren’t about empty stomachs, they’re about empty hearts. People’s souls are starving,” she said.

Kole said she battled anorexia-nervosa when she was 16 years old, while getting perfect grades, volunteering and entering her first pageant.

“Everyone said I was the perfect daughter and the model student,” she said. “With every compliment, my confidence soared and I started looking for something else to be the best at.”

Kole said she had never been a pretty girl and didn’t get asked to school dances.

Suddenly, she decided her looks needed improvement.

“I started out eating a diet shake for breakfast and half a sandwich and an apple for lunch,” she said. “By the end, I was throwing up the shake and sandwich and just eating the apple. I was literally wasting away.”

Kole said her disease came to a head after cramming for finals.

“I came home totally exhausted by the end, and woke up the next morning in an unexplainable shower of tears,” she said. “I kept telling my mom `I’m so scared’ over and over because of the sheer terror I felt at the thought of getting up and facing one more day of trying to be perfect and having to please everyone.”

After visiting with a counselor, Kole was diagnosed as an `extreme perfectionist developing an eating disorder.’

“I had gotten myself 180 degrees from where I wanted to be by trying to do it all,” she said. “My once very directed life seemed aimless and I’d lost my sense of self-worth.”

Participating in the 1998 Miss USA Pageant forced Kole to examine herself again.

“I walked in and saw perfect bodies, bouncy, shiny heads of hair and flawless faces,” she said. “I wanted to hop back on the plane and go home but I’m glad I endured it because by the end, everyone confessed they’d had insecurities about themselves.

“I found it tragic that even the most perfect people by society’s standards could think so little of themselves,” Kole said.

Kole said anorexia and bulimia occur in women in and out of the spotlight.

“Eight to 10 million people have these disorders, including 1 in 5 college women,” she said. “Ten percent of the eating disorder population are males.”

Kole said bulimia is 10 times more common than anorexia and is characterized by weight loss, frequent trips to the bathroom after eating, puffy cheeks and eroded teeth from stomach acid.

Though not as common as bulimia, anorexia is just as serious, she said; anorexia causes more deaths than any other psychiatric disorder.

Dark circles under the eyes, brittle hair and nails, baggy clothing and being cold frequently are indicators of anorexia, Kole said. Playing with food, rather than eating it, is another warning sign.

She said eating disorders can also occur in more subtle forms.

“It’s important to know that even occasional binging and purging or skipping meals doesn’t mean you don’t have disordered eating,” Kole said.

Counseling was necessary for her recovery, she said. People need someone to talk to, even just a friend, Kole said. Ninety-two percent of people with eating disorders would welcome help if offered.

“You can’t make people stop their behavior and denial is a big part of the disorder, but you can listen and be a link in the chain that might eventually lead to a recovery,” she said.

Kole said emotional trauma like death, divorce, rape or moving at a difficult time can create chaos and make people start to look for something they can control.

“It’s important to be open, supportive and available as a friend,” she said. “They will want help at some point, and wouldn’t you hate to have missed the opportunity to be there when they were ready to talk?”