The National Eating Disorders Association observed National Eating Disorders Awareness Week with the theme “I Had No Idea…”

After 27 years, the National Eating Disorders Association [NEDA] continues to fight the stigma that follows the mental illness through the last week of February. February 23 through March 1 is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, designed to help erase the misconception Americans have on the topic.

“We expect to see eating disorders diagnosed among young girls and raging rampant in Hollywood and the advertising and fashion industries,” 2008 Miss America Kirsten Haglund says in her article “National Eating Disorders Awareness Week: Get in the Know.” “[But] the truth is that eating disorders look much like our population, affecting every socio-economic demographic — young/old, female/male, wealthy/poor, heterosexual/gay, Christian/Jewish, African-American, Hispanic, Asian and, yes, Caucasian.”

NEDA created the week to help raise awareness on the taboo subject, but also to direct people to the help that they need. National Eating Disorders Awareness week 2014 was a success with participation spanning the country and globe. The differences made in the week included: over 5,000 people took the new online screening to direct them for medical attention, people interested in helping with the NEDA rose by 40 percent, the NEDA website had its highest traffic ever recorded, 100 percent state participation in the U.S., NEDA social media campaign efforts raised awareness in 51 additional countries, and the Feeding Hope Fund for Clinical Research and Training raised $69,000.