Launch the media gallery 1 playerAre Your Children Eating Healthy?
Recognize Unhealthy Eating Patterns in Your Children
As the primary caretaker for your children, nobody is better able to recognize unhealthy patterns of eating than you. As childhood obesity has become an epidemic in our country the most obvious unhealthy eating pattern in kids is habitual consumption of fried foods, pizza, fatty snacks, and sugar-filled drinks. Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are rare in children under eight years of age, but as more kids become overweight, more of them will try to lose weight, and many of them will resort to unhealthy diets, just as we adults often do.
Unfortunately, eating disorders are not that rare in teens. According to the American Psychiatric Association, about 1% of late-adolescent women meet criteria for diagnosed anorexia, and another 2% of teen females meet criteria for bulimia. Even more, at any given time another 10% of teen females report symptoms of eating disorders even though they don't meet all of the criteria sufficient to diagnose a specific eating disorder.
There are many types of eating disorders, but the three most common are anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating. Anorexia nervosa is characterized by the triad of self-restricted caloric intake, weight loss to an unhealthy level, and an intense fear of weight gain. Bulimia nervosa is characterized by a dramatic pattern of binge-eating and then forcing oneself to vomit, or purging. People who suffer from bulimia often binge on high-calorie foods and eat in secrecy before vomiting or abusing laxatives. Many of them are plagued by feelings of shame or feel "out of control." Binge-eating disorder is similar to bulimia but without the purging. Binge-eaters just eat a lot of food at a sitting. Sometimes they binge all the time, and sometimes the binges happen every few days.
Your kids will develop eating habits based on how you eat and how you feed them. They will feel good about their bodies if you feel good about yours and you don't teach them to feel bad about theirs. To this end, be a good role model and adhere to the following rules:
• Stay away from fad diets and don't put your child on a diet unless advised to do so by a physician.
• Don't use food as a reward, pacifier, bribe, or punishment. This leads to unhealthy psychological associations and poor eating habits.
• Accept your children's decisions when they say they are full and never force them to eat everything on their plate.
• Praise your kids and foster self-confidence in them.
• Make healthy eating and sensible exercise a family philosophy.
• Never tease your kids about their appearance.
• Teach your kids to differentiate between a healthy physique and the anorexic images they see on TV and in magazines.
• And finally, if you believe your child may be suffering from an eating disorder, talk to your pediatrician about it.
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