The Women’s Center 5th Annual Health Fair featured Information booths lining the South Seattle Community College's Brockey Conference Center today.

Some represented were:

Hope Heart Institute: www.hopeheart.org
Cedar River Clinics, reproduction care: (800) 572-4223
Acupuncture: www.communichi.org
National Eating Disorder Ass.:www.nationaleatingdisorders.org (800) 931-2237
Vegetarians of Washington: www.vegofwa.org
King County Public Health: www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices
Consejo Counseling and Referral: www.consejo-wa.org (206) 461-4880

"You don't have to be a vegetarian to join Vegetarians of Washington," said Amanda Strombom at her booth. She is writing a book for the organization, "Say No To Meat".

"We do monthly dining events at the Mount Baker Club in Seattle where we have a different chef or restaurant cater it each month," she said. "We offer free cooking and nutrition classes.

"My personal beef with beef is the health aspect," Strombom added. "There is so much saturated fat and cholesterol in beef, and in chicken and fish. An added risk to eating fish is that industrial pollution gets absorbed in algae and tiny fish that then get eaten up the food chain. When you get up to the tuna it's got all of those toxins stored up."

Strombom said that dinner tonight will "probably be a Thai curry with tofu and brown rice or noodles."

Vegfest arrives March 26 & 27 at the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall. For information about Vegfest: www.vegofwa.org

"The programs we know are not going to be affected by budget cuts are the Washington Health Program, Basic Food Program, Health Insurance for Children who are U.S. citizens or with legal documentation, and the Utility Discount Program," said Daphne Pie, of King County Public Health. We encourage women's breast self-examination, and men's colon health, dental and vision care."

"About 10 million women and one million men have eating disorders in America," said Sarah Heniges of NEDA, National Eating Disorder Association, there to promote their help line, 800-931-2237. "We think the statistic on men is underreported because there is a stigma associated with it," she added.

"Binging disorder is considered the largest problem. Binging is not just eating large meals. It is when eating becomes compulsive and affects your life with negative emotions associate with it. t means not using food to nurture your body but in a way that makes you feel better at the moment but worse later, like most drug addiction.

"A lot of people die of bulimia," she said, which is both binging and purging. "We often attribute the death to a heart attack. But when you see 16 year-olds dying of heart attacks we look for bulimia as the cause."

"Most young people don't think that an STD will happen to them, but one in four sexually active teens will get one," said Jyotika Dua, of Cedar River Clinics in Tacoma and Renton, referring to sexually transmitted diseases.

"Gonorrhea is on the rise," she added. "Teens should always get tested when they have a new partner and be honest with each other whether they have other partners. Teens struggle with communicating with each other and talking about those uncomfortable things. The time to talk about sex is with your clothes on. Don't wait until last minute to talk about sex."