Eating disorder in our children

Society tends to put more pressure on a teen with an eating disorder than anything else. So your goal might be how to convince your children why and how to ignore that message of the perfect body constantly bombarding them through billboards, commercials, popular stars, magazines, etc...

I would start by building my kids' self esteem.
Teach them good coping skills for dealing with stress.
I would NOT comment on how they look unless it's absolutely sincere and not punitive.

I'd involve them in meal prep, so they can witness you making healthy food choices for the family.

DO NOT TELL YOUr KIDS TO FINISH EVERYTHING ON THEIR PLATE! This is a huge backfire. It's teaching your kids that it's wasteful (bad) to leave food on the plate and to keep eating even if they're full. If my mom did one righ thing by me, she taught me to stop when I'm full, no matter how much or what I ate. But even still, the societal feedback pushed me into an eating disorder when I was 15. My friends and I were each others' cheerleaders for taking any measure to lose wieght. I would see how many days I could not eat anything. The farthest I got was five days in a row. My mom had no idea I was fasting this way. I realize now that was a big part of the problem. My mom just wasn't tuned in. I translated that to mean she didn't care what I did; as long as I don't talk about it, it's fair game.

So a great place to start is fostering open and honest communicatioin with your kids. This involves asking tactful (non-confrontational, but positive and loving) questions to open the door for communication. When they share something bad, don't scorn them. FOr instance, my friend's 14 yo daughter told her she'd tried pot at a party. Gloria didn't flip out on her. SHe listened well and had an intelligent conversation on the pros and cons of smoking pot. She sort of guided her daughter into reaching her own understanding that smoking pot is not good, without have to yell at or lecture her.

Hope this helps. If you're a parent, I give you props for even wondering about how to protect your kids from developing an ED. Most of the time, parents live in la-la land and choose not to see it.

I agree with Stella on your question, James. I've suffered from eating disorders on and off for over 20 years, triggered by events that have happened to me. All it took was for someone to tell me I could do with losing weight (I wasn't overweight) at a time when I had very low self esteem, and I stopped eating. My ED didn't get acknowledged by anyone at that time, not even my parents. I believe that if I'd been given help at that time, I wouldn't have issues now, though I obviosuly don't know that for sure

When Your Child has an Eating Disorder is the first hands-on workbook to help parents successfully intervene when they suspect their child has an eating disorder. This step-by-step guide is filled with self-tests, questions and answers, journaling and role playing exercises, and practical resources that give parents the insight they need to understand eating disorders and their treatment, recognize symptoms in their child, and work with their child toward recovery. This excellent and effective resource is one therapists can feel confident about recommending to patients.

james12 wrote:What is Eating disorder? What can we do to prevent eating disorder in our children? I know it's not easy to do. But I want to save my child from such health issues.

Do they even have an eating disorder? If they dont, then theres not much point worrying.

I had concern one doctor about eating disorder of my child. That time, doctor told me that he is suffering from Food Addiction. His weight is also increased and That time he was suffering with number of health issues. After the 6 months treatments from expert. Now my child is free from addiction.

james12 wrote:I had concern one doctor about eating disorder of my child. That time, doctor told me that he is suffering from Food Addiction. His weight is also increased and That time he was suffering with number of health issues. After the 6 months treatments from expert. Now my child is free from addiction.

What treatment did the expert use?

There are many Eating Disorder Treatment Centers who provide daycare and outpatient services, specializing in high quality treatment of food addiction. How can we know that but the medicine from experts are always beneficial.

james12 wrote:There are many Eating Disorder Treatment Centers who provide daycare and outpatient services, specializing in high quality treatment of food addiction. How can we know that but the medicine from experts are always beneficial.

That was kind of my question, what was the treatment/medicin.