CAMPUS/AREA
University Daily Kansan / Monday, April 6, 1992
3
Dieting can be unhealthy
Women often have unrealistic self-image
By Katherine Manweiler
Kansan staff writer
Debbie Gunnin went on her first diet when she was 12 years old.
That initial diet started a cycle of dieting that lasted until Gunnin, St. Louis graduate student, was a freshman in college.
Gunnin said pressure from her gymnastics coach and society in general caused her to think she needed to lose weight.
"Our coach would tell us that we all needed to lose weight," she said.
Gunnin would set a goal to lose 10 pounds, then lose about five pounds and quit the diet. She said she repeated this pattern several times a year.
Gunnin said she decided during her first year of college that she would not diet anymore.
"I would always like to lose a few pounds, but I don't really go on diets anymore because I'm not that dissatisfied," she said.
Repeated attempts to lose a few pounds present more of a health risk for most people than being 15 to 20 pounds overweight, according to the study.
A study released last week by the National Institute of Health showed that millions of people, predominantly young women, try to lose weight when they do not need to.
Ann Chapman, dietitian at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said it was important to work toward a good fitness level, instead of a specific weight, when dieting or establishing an exercise program.
"Women, especially, are too obsessed about numbers," she said. "They get this fixed number in their head that they have to weigh 130 pounds or 115 pounds."
Percentage of body fat is a more reliable guide than the scale for someone who needs to lose weight, Chapman said.
"I think it is because of distorted body image and the pressure to be thin that comes down from the media," she said. "Women tend to see themselves 10 to 20 percent larger than they actually are."
Chapman said that many students who tried to lose weight for cosmetic reasons needed a fitness program that included aerobic exercise instead of a diet.
"I tell them. 'You may feel that you need to lose weight, but you might not be any happier with five pounds off,'" she said.
Nancy Donehaay, clinical dietitian at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, said dieting for cosmetic reasons was often a result of society and the media heavily promoting a body image that people perceive as the ideal body size.
"If people don't feel like they fit that image, they'll never be happy with how they look, and they'll try to change their appearance," she said.
Donahey said using more people of average weight in advertisements would help people have a more realistic view of themselves and feel less of a need to diet excessively.
"I think that's a starting point, but I won't sure that will ever change because our society is so appearance-oriented," she said.
Measure for Measure
John Munson, left, and Matt Wilson from the band Trip Shakespeare perform for a crowd in the Ballroom at the Kansas Union. The Minneapolis band played for about 90 minutes to an audience of about 300 people Friday night.
Coalitions debate issue of experience
By Jay Williams
Kansan staff writer
Experience was the word last night as the two coalitions in this year's Student Senate elections debated at Ellsworth Hall.
'Unless' questions relevancy of topic
Kansan staff writer
Jean Winter, Unless presidential candidate,
said that although her coalition lacked Senate
experience. Unless candidates had experience in
other organizations.
The decision students will face in the Student Senate elections Wednesday and Thursday will be one of Senate experience, said Brad Garlinghouse, Vision presidential candidate.
Garlinghouse said Vision, with 10 current Senate members running for office, understood that the company had already announced plans.
"Are we going to allow Unless six months to learn the job?" he said.
"I'm surprised they are addressing the issue," he said. "If I were running the campaign, I would shv away from it."
After the debate, Garlinghouse said that Vision would be aggressive about the differences in experience until the election.
Winter said she did not think Senate experience was an important issue in the campaign.
"We have people with real-life experience, like parents with children," she said. "To invalidate that experience because it was not in Student Senate is wrong."
Winter said Vision had stepped up its attacks on Unless.
"They are running this like a congressional campaign." she said.
Both presidential candidates said they were pleased with the debate. The two said they had used the debate to prepare for their next debate, and he promised to tomorrow night in the Kansas Union Ballroom.
"I think both of us got a look at each other's position." Garlinghouse said.
Most of the people at the Ellsworth event were members of the coalitions, but some nonaligned residents watched the debate.
Wendy Wanner, Lenexa sophomore, said Vision appeared more structured and formal.
"It sounds like Vision has more experience, but I am not sure how necessary that is." theo said.
Shari Greenfield, Overland Park junior, said Unless appeared to be more casual and open.
The four candidates for president and vice president, along with two Nunemaker and Liberal Arts and Sciences senators from each coalition, debated several issues:
- The two coalitions debated the plan to give students direct control over the student activity fee, called the check-off plan.
Sarah Smith, Unless Nunemaker candidate, said her coalition favored an immediate change to a modified form of the check-off plan in which $1.64 of the $25 activity fee would be allocated by students.
Further modifications could be made later, she said.
Kathryn Price, Vision Nunemaker candidate, said that Vision endorsed further research on the project. The committee formed to do that was BruceBrockelmann, Vision architecture candidate.
- The most heated exchange of the evening occurred when the coaltions debated recycling.
Ken Martin, Unless Nunemaker candidate, said that Vision posters and early campaign fliers were not recyclable like Unless materials.
He said that campus recycling organizations such as Environs should receive more money.
When Jill Betchel, Vision Nunemaker candidate, asked Martin where the money for Enviros would come from, Martin said Senate could take money from other students groups and give it to Enviros.
Betchel said that Vision had a committed stance on recycling and that this week it would provide bins on campus for recycling campaign materials.
She said Vision wanted to promote awareness about the environment without taking money from other groups.
Meyers could represent Douglas County, KU
Kansan staff writer
By Gayle Osterberg
TOPEKA - U.S. Rep Jan Meyers could represent Douglas County and the University of Kansas during the next congressional session.
Democrat Jim Slattery currently represents Douglas County.
On Friday, the Senate voted 30-8 to approve a bill that would group Douglas County with Johnson and Wyandotte counties in the 3rd District, represented by Meyers, a Republican.
The measure now will go to the House for a vote.
Because Kansas' population did not grow as rapidly in the 1980s as other states, state legislators are forced to reduce the number of U.S. congressional districts from five to four.
The bill would put Republicans Pat
Roberts of Dodge City and Dick Nichols of McPherson in the same district.
Russell Getter, professor of government, said several things could result from moving Douglas County to the 3rd District.
"In the 2nd District, represented by Slattery, Lawrence was a pretty good-sized community, so Lawrence tended to get more attention," he said. "If we are now attached to Johnson County, that's where all the people are, relatively speaking, so Jan Meyers may not make it over to Lawrence often."
Getter also said the particular interests of KU could be at stake as well.
"Whether or not Jan Meyers knows her way around the interests of higher education remains to be seen," he said. "Her constituency in the past has not demanded it."
Getter said U.S. representatives
were important to a university because they could help find grants that were available and open doors for university interests.
"They can act and eyes and ears for the grants that do exists," he said.
State Rep. Betty Jo Charlton, D-Lawrence, said KU's interests probably would not be negatively affected.
"If something came up with Kansas State or KU, I think all the congressmen would be supportive," she said. "On issues concerning our state universities, I think we'd get good representation from our entire delegation."
In addition to the specific concerns of higher education, Lawrence lawmakers are not sure the plan is the best one for Douglas County.
"I don't like it," said State Sen. Wint Winter Jr., R-Lawrence. "There is no question we have a significant community of interest with Johnson County.
But Douglas is a fast-growing county and in 10 years we will be too big to be together. Over 11 years, we will go back and forth twice."
New congressional districts
The proposed redistricting would move Lawrence from U.S. Rep. Jim Slattery's 2nd district to the third, represented by U.S. Rep. Jmeyers.
Current districts
Proposed districts
Source: Legislative research
Jeff Meesey. Daily Kansan
Charlton agreed.
"Within a couple of years, we will be underrepresented," she said. "I would prefer to keep Douglas in the 2nd District."
Glickman says House scandals will cause changes
By Jay Williams
Kansan staff writer
"House Democrats met with pollsters last week and said the instructions from the voters are clear," he said. "What they expect is change."
U. S. Rep. Dan Glickman said that in the wake of recent abuses the U.S. House of Representatives and some of its practices would have to change.
Glickman said the recent discovery that some representatives abused their banking privileges would change how he would run for re-election this year. Glickman is in his eighth term.
Glickman, a Kansas Democrat, spoke to about 15 people Friday morning.
ing at the International Room in the Kansas Union. He was in Lawrence to speak at a Kansas Press Association event, where he will Inn Holding 200 McDonald's Drive.
He said the check controversy and the rise of incumbent-bashing would
be liabilities for him.
"We sure learned a lot," he said. "It was not a proud moment in the history of the House."
The disclosure of abuses in the House Bank changed how Congress will do business in the future, Glickman said.
The bank's closure was one step toward ending House perks and reducing the number of staff, he said.
"We've done a lot of things we shouldn't have," he said.
Glickman disclosed in March that he had overdrawn his House checking account 107 times for a total amount between $19,000 and $20,000.
He was not identified as one of the representatives who seriously abused their banking privileges, but he was one of 298 current representatives who overdrew their account at least once.
The bank did not inform representatives that they had overdrawn their accounts, he said. Also, deposits were not processed quickly.
Joe Bernstein, St. Louis sophomore, said that Glickman's campaign strategy was smart because of the public's negative perception of Congress.
"I think people perceive a need for new blood." he said.
In front of the Kansas and Burge Unions, April 7th and 8th,9 a.m.-4 p.m.