Diane Israel, co-producer and star of "Beauty Mark, uses 'beauty rocks' to reward people for being kind to others.

Diane Israel, co-producer and star of "Beauty Mark, uses 'beauty rocks' to reward people for being kind to others.

Challenging the way society views beauty is to rewrite the deeply engraved ideologies of chiseled abs, curvy hips and puffy lips. With a new tell-all documentary called "Beauty Mark," and a bag full of rocks, Diane Israel said she is up to the lofty task of redefining the tired standards of beauty.

"It's almost as if there is this beauty god standing above all of us, telling us how to look," Israel said. "I'm on a mission to correct that. People shouldn't have to feel like there is something fundamentally wrong with them just because they are different and authentic."

The 75 minute "Beauty Mark,"--co-produced by Israel and Carla Precht and co-directed by Precht and CU's own Kathleen Mann -- is a tellingly honest testimony about Israel's life as an athlete battling anorexia and an eating disorder called exercise bulimia. The film has been screened several times in Boulder including once in front of 800 people at the Boulder International Film Festival. By the awareness that it raises, Israel said the film has a chance to leave its own beauty mark on society.

"I'm really hoping that the film starts a discussion and people can participate in an open dialogue," Israel said.

For Israel, raising awareness about eating disorders and true beauty doesn't just stop at screenings of her film; she also hits the streets with rocks in her pockets.

In an attempt to illustrate that beauty transcends physical attractiveness, Israel passes out 'beauty rocks' to people who perform random acts of kindness in any setting. Whether it's on the street or in a coffee shop Israel said beauty should be recognized everywhere.

"When I give people the rocks, they just light up with gratitude and are a little bit uncomfortable. They're not used to a stranger giving them a gift," said Israel, who has handed out over 2,000 beauty mark rocks in just one year. "The rocks reward what I call birth right beauty. I usually say, 'you're beautiful because you've been born and what you do for people is awesome and powerful.'"

No larger than a skipping stone, each rock that she distributes dons the words "Beauty Mark," deeply etched in silver paint. Under bright light, the polished black rocks shimmer as if they're purposively emulating the people who receive them.

"Every rock is completely unique in its own shape and size, much like each face, each body and each person I give them to," Israel said.

Boulder psychotherapist Carolyn Aibel said Israel's lessons are empowering for those suffering from eating disorders. Aibel refers "Beauty Mark" to patients, especially athletes.

"Boulder is so fitness obsessed that there is more pressure to look a certain way," said Aibel, whose patients are mainly CU students. "An eating disorder is lonely and isolating, so for people with eating disorders, it's easier to face their problems when they see someone else reflecting on their own (problems)."

Many Boulder psychologists agree with Aibel, saying Boulder's fitness culture causes an obsessive interest in looking good. At CU in particular, the statistics for eating disorders-especially anorexia- are substantially higher than the national average among universities. According to a bi-annual poll taken by the American College Health Association & National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) in 2007, 2.9 percent of CU students suffer from anorexia and 2.3 percent suffer from bulimia. The national averages at other universities show that 1.8 percent of students suffer from anorexia, while 2.2 percent suffer from bulimia.

Alisa Shanks, Ph.D., is an eating disorder clinician and the program coordinator at Wardenburg Health Center. Shanks said that the statistics for eating disorders are slightly skewed since so many cases go unreported and untreated. For colleges everywhere, this is particularly alarming considering most eating disorder cases occur in college, she said.

"Eating Disorders have a bi-modal onset, meaning they most commonly occur during two different stages in life: first during puberty and second when going to college," she said. "Sometimes people use an eating disorder to cope with change, so universities are a hotbed for eating disorders."

With the thought of the freshman fifteen always looming, some college students try to combat weight gain by hitting the gym. Shanks said this can cause another disorder called exercise bulimia.

Exercise Bulimia is characterized by excessive exercise to the point that regular eating habits, and even one's social life, are shoved to the side. In some cases, someone suffering from the disorder will exercise for up to eight hours or more per day.

"We have a considerable number of students on campus grappling with exercise bulimia," said Shanks, adding that most people struggling with the disorder don't frequently seek help. "It's easy to hide exercise bulimia on teams and in sport clubs, because abnormal levels of working out are normal in that culture."

According to Aibel some patients finally seek help when the eating disorder "turns on them."

"At first they're losing weight and feel in control of food," she said. "Suddenly it turns on them and they're not so happy anymore. They feel isolated; they can't go out to eat and they have to constantly exercise. They used to be in control, but the eating disorder starts controlling them."

Although Israel was clinically diagnosed as an anorexic, she also suffered from exercise bulimia and highlights its dangers in "Beauty Mark". She said that while her eating disorder was rearing its ugly horns while she was in college at Hobart William Smith College in upstate New York, she was dedicating four hours everyday to exercise without any days off. Her daily regimen-a rigorous schedule that composed of long distance running, weight lifting, and tennis- combined with her flaring eating disorder caused extremely low bone density.

"I ran on 17 stress fractures, broken bones and fractured metatarsals through college and for almost 14 years," Israel said. "My body was deteriorating."

Low bone density is one of the many biological consequences caused by eating disorders. Other common complications include fatigue, depression, depleted muscle mass, increased electrolytes sometimes resulting in cardiac arrest, and the loss of a menstrual cycle in women.

Israel sought therapy, but since eating disorder awareness in the 1970s was not nearly as prevalent as it is now, she was unable to find it.

"I could not find a therapist that actually understood my ailment and what I was going through," said Israel, who is still enduring the process of recovering from her eating disorder. "From that day forward, I told myself that I would one day be a therapist for college students and the youth. I wanted to be where others were not for me."

Israel realized her dream of counseling youth 17 years ago. In 1991 she earned her master's degree for psychology and counseling from Naropa University. From an athletic standpoint, she understands what young athletes suffering from an eating disorder are experiencing.

"When a star athlete goes from home to college, their identification as an athlete gets shook up. People no longer see you as the great cross-country runner, or the best football player," said Israel. "When people are insecure, they look to find ways to gain control. Athletics and food is what athletes have direct control over."

Dani Weiss came to CU from Westlake Village, Calif., in 2004 after being recruited to join varsity track. Midway through her sophomore season, however, she chose to quit the team due to her eating disorder.

"Everything was spiraling downward; my grades, my relationships and my life. Getting off the team was something I needed to do for myself," she said.

Weiss, who is now the president of the triathlon team at CU, immediately sought therapy. She said that outside treatment was the only way toward finding a cure.

"The eating disorder was bigger than something I could have tackled on my own," said Weiss, who is now a senior set to graduate in December.

Like Israel, Weiss hopes that her experience can help other people suffering from the same illness.

"I am willing to share my story because I know eating disorders are more prevalent than people are willing to admit," she said. "I'm one of many people who went through it, had a hard time, but came out the other side of the tunnel successfully.".

Contact Anthony Lee Bowe about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 112 or sports@coloradodaily.com