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Is There A Way to Help Prevent Teens From Eating Disorder? It is inevitable that parents would worry about the health of their children, especially when theirs are overweight or even obese. The reason is simple. Being overweight or obese, one is at a higher risk of getting heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and even some cancer. The health of our body is greatly dependent of what we eat each day. Unfortunately, the foods favored by most teens nowadays are mainly those of high fat and unhealthy. These so-called junk foods will eventually make these kids overweight or even obese. So what should the parents do? Perhaps, they should relax and just cook a healthy Sunday dinner! Instead of pushing diets or teasing about weight on their children, parents should focus on having family meals, creating a positive atmosphere at mealtimes, promoting physical activity and building self-esteem. This is the message conveyed by researchers from the University of Minnesota in their paper published in the November 2007 issue of American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Spanned over a period of 5 year, the study examined more than 2,500 adolescents and reinforced things that doctors have found among their parents. This included destructive behaviors like vomiting or abusing laxatives that are prevalent among overweight teens as well as their too-thin peers, and body attitudes and perceptions that can play a big role in future weight problems. Researchers conducting the study believed that these behaviors tend to actually contribute to weight gain over time and there is a need to address these behaviors with overweight kids.
It was found that 44 percent of the girls and 20 percent of the boys were either overweight, engaged in binge eating or had used such extreme weight-control measures as purging or abusing laxatives, diet pills or diuretics. Among the overweight adolescents, about one fourth of the girls reported using extreme measures, while 10 percent reported using extreme measures as well as binge eating. Interestingly, there was only about 12 percent of overweight boys used extreme measures. Aiming at understanding the intersection between eating disorders and obesity, and how both can be prevented, the study showed that problems on both ends of the weight spectrum can stem from the same issues of low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and risky eating behaviors. The study also found that girls who reported being teased about their weight were about twice as likely to be overweight 5 years later comparing to other girls in the study. They were also about 1.5 times more likely to be binge eating and use extreme weight-control behaviors. As a matter of fact, focusing on obesity in children has prompted some negative approaches, for example, a physical education teacher who weighs their students in front of their peers. The study showed that people are really going in the wrong direction to put more attention and more pressure on kids to lose weight, which unfortunately further stigmatizes them. Parents are required to send the right and balance message rather than just tell their kids to 'diet, diet, and diet.'
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