Eating disorders are serious health conditions that affect both physical and mental health. According to the Mayo Clinic, these conditions involve problems with your thinking about food, eating, weight, shape, and eating behavior. While anyone can suffer from an eating disorder, these often begin in the teenage and young adult years. As a parent of a teen, one needs to be vigilant about their child’s diet and educate them about eating disorders to reduce the risk of developing these and promote a healthy and nurturing relationship with food.
Child development expert and therapist Sakshi Singla quotes Virginia Woolf as saying, “If a person does not eat well, he or she cannot think well, live well, love well, sleep well.” This quote “reflects the importance of food and nutrition in our physical, mental, emotional and brain health.” The expert adds, “Yet this is not something we discuss with our teens. And so, many of our children, as they move into adulthood, lose their way and develop a complex and unhealthy relationship with food. This can lead to a variety of mental health problems and eating disorders.”
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Factors Contributing to Eating Disorders in Teens
Factors that contribute to eating disorders include genetics, environment, low self-esteem and body image issues. Experts say that “social media, fashion and entertainment industries often promote unrealistic beauty standards, encouraging comparison and competition.”
Other risk factors include academic pressure, high stress levels, and the prevalent diet culture. Sometimes, a parent’s relationship with food can also put a child at risk of developing an eating disorder. “Unfortunately, parents inadvertently perpetuate the diet narrative by promoting their own purging, weight loss goals, ‘clean’ eating habits, or negative talk about their bodies,” explains the expert.
It’s important for children to have a healthy relationship with food. Photo Credit: iStock
Types of Eating Disorders
It is extremely important to educate yourself and your teen about the following eating disorders:
1, anorexia nervosa:
Anorexia nervosa involves weight loss or maintenance through extreme dieting, starvation, or excessive exercise.
2. Excessive Eating:
This involves consuming an unusually large amount of food at one time.
3. Bulimia nervosa:
Bulimia nervosa involves symptoms such as purging, taking laxatives, exercising, or fasting to prevent weight gain after binge eating.
4. Orthorexia:
Experts explain that it is a “new eating disorder defined by an obsession with healthy eating. People with orthorexia focus on eating only ‘clean’ or ‘pure’ foods and may become anxious or distressed when they are unable to follow their strict dietary rules.”
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Tips for parents to protect their teens from eating disorders
To nurture a compassionate bond with food and protect against eating disorders, adults need to guide teens on a journey of self-discovery and self-love. Teach your teens to “embrace food and nutrition with curiosity and gratitude,” the expert shared, adding that they should “listen to body cues, celebrate uniqueness, and enjoy a variety of flavors.”
A simple and straightforward healthy relationship with food can instill lifelong nourishment, self-care, and vitality in your children.
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