Help your teen build a better body image

Parents are role models. Adopt the healthy eating & physical activity patterns that you would like your children to follow.

As a parent, you play an important role not only in what your children eat, but also in how they feel about food. Children pick up on many things adults say, including comments about dieting and food. It’s good to encourage healthy habits like avoiding high-fat foods and watching portion sizes. But as children, especially girls, enter their teen years, having strong ideas about dieting can lead to problems. Many things — even advice that is intended to be helpful — can spark weight concerns for girls and impact their eating habits in potentially unhealthy ways. For example, girls can feel pressured about their weight when:

• Their moms are overly concerned about their
  own weight.
  
• Their moms are overly concerned about their daughters’ weight/looks.
  
• They experience natural weight gain and other body changes during puberty.
  
• There is peer pressure to look a certain way.
  
• They struggle with self-esteem.
  
• Media images show the ideal female body as thin.

Many average-weight teenage girls are dissatisfied with their bodies because they believe they are overweight. Acting on these concerns can harm their social, physical, and emotional growth. Skipping meals or taking diet pills can lead to poor nutrition and learning difficulties. For some, extreme efforts to lose weight can lead to eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia. To learn more about these disorders, visit our website at upmchealthplan.com. The pressure to be thin increases the chances that a girl will try to lose weight in unhealthy ways, such as through smoking.

Your children pay attention to what you say and do — even if it seems like they don’t. If you complain about your weight or feel pressure to change your body shape, your children may learn that these are important concerns. If you are attracted to “miracle” diets, they may learn that restrictive dieting is better than making healthy lifestyle choices. If you tell your daughter that she would be prettier if she lost weight, she will learn that the goal of weight loss is to be attractive and accepted by others.

Parents are role models. Adopt the healthy eating and physical activity patterns that you would like your children to follow — for your health and theirs.

Source: The Natonal Women's Health Information Center
(www.4women.gov/bodyimage/kids)

Body image is an important and sensitive issue for growing children and teens. At times, they may develop a distorted perception of their body image that can leave them susceptible to three types of eating disorders. And eating disorders can lead them to serious health problems, such as organ damage, thin bones, depression, substance abuse, and heart disease.

The three types of eating disorders are:

• Anorexia: which is characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight loss and is life-threatening
  Warning signs: perfectionism, dieting when already thin, excessive exercising, infrequent or stopped menstruation, and out of the ordinary eating habits like avoiding meals or eating in secret
  
  
• Bulimia: which is characterized by episodes of binge eating followed by purging, sometimes through self-induced vomiting or using laxatives
  Warning signs: abusing drugs, alcohol, laxatives, or diet pills, binging on large amounts of food, mood swings, overemphasis on physical appearance, disappearing right after a meal, regularly spending time in the bathroom after eating, and scarring on the knuckles
  
  
• Binge eating: which is characterized by regularly eating large amounts of food within a couple of hours or less; out-of-control eating
  Warning signs:eating alone or in secret, eating when stressed or in emotional turmoil, eating when not hungry, and compulsive overeating   

Children and teens are vulnerable to developing an eating disorder based on a mix of biological, behavioral, and social factors. Poor self image can be reinforced by low self-esteem, unrealistic cultural images, and peer or family pressures. Unhealthy eating behaviors are then triggered as a way of coping with these negative thoughts, feelings, and situations.

Fortunately, there are several ways to effectively treat eating disorders in children and teens. Treatment options include individual and family therapy, medication, residential centers, and support groups. If you suspect that your child may be developing an eating disorder, call your child’s doctor immediately. The sooner an eating disorder is addressed, the more effective treatment becomes.

For additional information and treatment resources:

UPMC Health Plan Behavioral Health Search 

National Institute of Mental Health Treatment Locator  

National Eating Disorders Association
24-hour information and referral help line: 1-800-931-2237
www.edap.org

UPMC Facility:                                                                                                                                            
COPE - Center for Overcoming Problem Eating
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic
3811 O'Hara Street, 8th floor
Pittsburgh, PA 15213                                                                                                                                 
412-647-9329

Source: WebMD^®
(www.webmd.com)