Posts tagged ‘eating disorder’
Can Your Daughter’s Friends Influence Her Eating Habits?
Is your daughter fixated on her weight? Does she consider herself fat? Does she feel that she gains weight no matter how little she eats? Right now I have a couple of students who worry about eating or drinking anything for fear of gaining weight.
As graduation approached for my daughter, I remember the photographer telling her that she needed to stop eating “all those cookies” and lose weight, so that she would look good in her prom dress. My daughter and I laughed at the time, but little did I know, that she took those words to heart, and began watching what she was eating. By the time prom occurred, she was tiny! So were her girlfriends.
According to Journal of Youth and Adolescence, a girl’s peers exert more influence on her dissatisfaction with her body, more so than TV actresses or social media. Dangerous weight control such as excessive dieting or bulimic tendencies often begins during the tween years. For some reason, excessive weight control does not affect girl “jocks”. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130130143628.htm
The words “You’re fat” can easily send a t(w)een girl into an eating disorder spiral.
This theory isn’t new to parents. Can’t you tell what peers your daughter is involved with based on how she acts? I certainly could. Are you concerned with your daughter’s obsession with weight? If so, ask your health care provider or school personnel to suggest a prevention or intervention program that will help her better control any obsessive eating tendencies.
C. Lynn Williams – #MsParentguru
Author & Parenting Coach
Trying to Stay Sane While Raising Your Teen (St. Paul Press, 2010)
The Pampered Prince: Moms Create a GREAT Relationship with Your Son (St. Paul Press, 2012)
America the Beautiful 2: The Thin Commandments
As I tried to eat “healthy” during the Memorial Day weekend, I ran across an email that talked about the unhealthy dieting habits of Americans, particularly women and especially our teenaged girls. Once they mentioned teens, I was especially interested, when I thought back to how my weight seesawed during my teen/twenty something years. I always felt overweight especially in my perception of how I looked versus how the models looked on the magazines that I loved to read!
There were two San Jose, CA high school essay winners on body image from EDRC (eating disorder education outfit). Here’s one:
“Perfectly Imperfect”
Well define perfect, am I not skinny enough? Is my skin not perfect? Is my hair not pretty? We feel the need to try to satisfy others, people who don’t take the time to look beyond our appearance. I will not let someone label me as not perfect because I am perfectly imperfect. Every single imperfection to you is just another thing that makes me unique, we are all special in our own way.
We are all beautiful and should not let anyone tell us otherwise, life is beautiful and so are you and when you can’t seem to find it look the person in the eye staring back at you in the reflection on the wall and smile back because it’s been there all along.
Check out this link and volunteer your time if you can, or at least be more aware: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drpvF7gszOU
Staying Sane While Raising Your Teens 
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